Mouse healing/scab recovery

Question
Okay so I have this cute little PEW named Yuki that recently had a problem with mites. I caught it early and treated him for it pretty quickly but during his recover he scratched at his ear so much he nearly scratched it off so now his ear is very scabbed up. My question is if it would be safe to put something like neosporin on it to help its healing and stop possible chance of infection? If not neosporin, is there something that I could get for him for that? I'm just mainly worried it may get infected.

Answer
Hi Arielle,

Yes, a triple antibiotic ointment like Neosporin is safe to use on his ear.  You want to make sure however that you apply it with a clean hand, only a little bit (because he will likely clean most of it off), and once or twice a day is plenty.

Another thing you can do if he is calm enough to allow you is to get some betadine, which is a safe and gentle iodine solution.  Just put enough drops in a cup of warm water to turn it the color of tea, then use a gauze pad dipped it it to dab at the ear gently.  This will disinfect the visible skin, then you can gently dab again with a clean bit of gauze dipped in plain water to remove as much as you can comfortably get.  It's okay if a little bit gets left on, just do the best you can.  By doing this before applying the ointment, you can help to clean his ear a bit better, then protect it from dirt and debris using the antibiotic ointment which forms a temporary physical barrier ('cause it's sticky).

If at any point the ear starts to look infected - swollen, oozing (especially colored or smelly stuff), irritated, or warm - it would be time to consider antibiotics.  If it looks normal, however, just scabbed up, betadine and neosporin are a great way to keep it as clean as you can as it heals up.

I'm sorry to hear his ear bothered him so much, but I am glad it is getting better, and I hope his ear feels much better soon!  Let me know if there is anything else I can help with,

-Tam