# Pinkish/Puffy skin on sides and near ears



## cardiologineer (Sep 29, 2012)

While clipping Zannah's nails tonight I noticed the skin behind her ears and on her sides appears pink and almost looks kind of swollen. I've noticed her skin is normally pretty pink on her sides but this seems more so than normal and the puffiness doesn't seem normal at all. I would almost say it looks pretty similar to what I've heard people describe on here and have found out it was a burn of some sort. But I have no clue how she could have gotten burned. I did give her a bath last night but I'm very careful with that, so I know it couldn't have come from that. I don't use a heating pad or anything like that. She has only one 100watt CHE because we keep the room heated a little bit and the CHE just adds the little extra heat for her and the cage stays right around 74-75 degrees.
She doesn't seem to be too bothered by me touching it but it's hard to tell for sure because nail clipping tends to stress her out a bit. So she was a bit jumpy/huffy in general but didn't seem to be any more so when I was touching her side. I just put her back in her cage for now and will check on her again in a bit to see if I can tell for sure if it bothers her to have it touched. I got a few pics but she was pretty wiggly so I don't know how much you can actually tell from them.









I don't know if it's apparent from the picture but the skin beneath her quills looks perfectly normal and doesn't start being puffy until past the quills.









Her side, looks more reddish/pinkish than normal.

The only thing I can think is that I have recently started using Humilac spray for some dry skin she's been having, so perhaps she's having a bad reaction to that? I'll definitely try stopping that for a bit to see if it gets better, although I've been using it for probably 2-3 weeks now with no reaction previously. But are there any other things that can cause this? Also, would a vet visit be recommended? If so, should I make one right away or wait a few days and see if it improves? I'll obviously take her in whenever is the best for her health/safety, but I am pretty busy the next few weeks so I also don't want to take her in unnecessarily. She's just got me worried! :?


----------



## cardiologineer (Sep 29, 2012)

So it doesn't seem to be causing her any pain, as far as I can tell. She's eating normally (hasn't gone on her wheel yet but I'll check the odometer in the morning) and she doesn't seem to be responding any differently to me touching her. So I don't really know what it is but I figure my best bet right now is to just keep an eye on it for now, since it doesn't appear that she's in pain or that it's having really any impact on her normal behaviors, unless someone suggests otherwise.

Edit: Also for reference in the first picture above, you can kind of see where it's swollen and where it connects to the normal skin on her back. Right behind her ear where it's a very light pink color seems to just be...puffy is the best word I can think of.


----------



## lilythehedgie (Sep 20, 2012)

I'm sorry Zannah is hurt! I hope she will get better. Maybe something just irritated her skin and she scratched it too hard? That's the only thing I can think of that isn't a burn that can look like that. The safest thing to do is take her into the vet and get her looked at. The skin might be a sign of something more serious.


----------



## cardiologineer (Sep 29, 2012)

Yeah, that's really the only thing I can think of. Although the only recent things I can think of are that I've added a tiny bit of olive oil to her food and have been using the Humilac spray, both for her dry skin. I can't think how either of those would be able to irritate her, but I'll try removing them and making giving her a really thorough bath to remove anything that could have gotten on her skin and irritated her.She went 5 miles on her wheel last night and her poops are normal too, so it seems that everything except her skin is normal and even that doesn't hurt her. So I have no idea. I am planning on seeing how she looks today and tonight and if it still looks puffy, I'll call and make a vet appointment. Hopefully if I have to take her to the vet, it will be something pretty simple!


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

There have been people whose hedgies have had reactions to Humilac, one was severe. I would discontinue using it for now. Having used it for two or three weeks, it's less likely to be it unless she is becoming allergic to it. Have you changed laundry detergent recently? 

She is on liners isn't she? I'd give her a bath and good rinse off and clean bedding and see if it goes away. You could even add a bit of vinegar to the rinse water of her bedding to cut any detergent residue. 

I don't think she needs an immediate vet visit. She may have been scratching herself and irritated the skin, or it's the humilac or laundry detergent. Or if she is on shavings or carefresh, that would almost certainly be the cause.


----------



## cardiologineer (Sep 29, 2012)

Nancy said:


> There have been people whose hedgies have had reactions to Humilac, one was severe. I would discontinue using it for now. Having used it for two or three weeks, it's less likely to be it unless she is becoming allergic to it. Have you changed laundry detergent recently?
> 
> She is on liners isn't she? I'd give her a bath and good rinse off and clean bedding and see if it goes away. You could even add a bit of vinegar to the rinse water of her bedding to cut any detergent residue.
> 
> I don't think she needs an immediate vet visit. She may have been scratching herself and irritated the skin, or it's the humilac or laundry detergent. Or if she is on shavings or carefresh, that would almost certainly be the cause.


Ok, I am definitely stopping it just in case. Laundry detergent is the same, unscented, no dyes etc. She has fleece liners and sleeping bag and I just changed them out yesterday right before she woke up for the evening, so maybe if something on the older ones, it will be gone now. I have the ones I just took out in the washer to wash as soon as I get the chance, so maybe I'll add a bit of vinegar to that too.
I'll give her a good bath tonight and keep an eye on her. Glad it's not urgent, thanks!


----------



## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

It could be the Humilac, and I agree to stop using it for the time being, but it sounds unlikely. The few reactions I've heard of were within the first day or so of use, and it wouldn't make sense that it would be on that area but not the under-quill skin, which is where the Humilac is applied.

If she has dry skin still, that could be causing some over-zealous itching.


----------

