Injuries from playing rough............possibly.

[chocoholic85]

So Sherman and Panzer are 18 weeks old now and becoming bigger by the day it seems :-) Quite soon after we got them Sherman came down with an eye infection. The vet said it could have been caused by an injury from Panzer but couldn't find any scratches etc. This week we noticed his was flattening his ear and had gunky black discharge........ sorry if too much info! This was only on one side.He also seemed a little quiet so off to the vet we went. He said it looked like blood was mixed in and it was definitely an ear infection of some sort but he wasn't sure what/ how it had started. Again, he suggested maybe a cat bite from Panzer but he couldn't find any evidence.......... So he had an antibiotic injection and we were given drops and instructions to return 2 days later- which is this evening.

My question is...... is it likely that these are injuries from rough play or is Sherman just prone to infections?????? They do play rough and bite at heads/ necks etc but we do make sure claws are kept short. They love playing like this and if the mood strikes them you can only stop them by putting them in different rooms which resuts in crying/ miowing from both. I separate them with thick gloves on if one yelps/ it looks too rough as they like the water spray........little monkeys. Apart from the expense of the vet :-( Sherman also hates going in the car especially without his brother. Is there more I can do to dampen down their antics or is it unlikely to even be caused by rough play??? Apologies for the long post by the way............

[Antonia]

I have no idea if the injuries are caused by the rough playing. But here’s a tip I often use when El Monto gets obnoxious toward little Minnie (not biting or scratching but trying to mount her although they’re both fixed). I throw a towel over him which distracts him enough to make him stop his antics. The next few minutes he’s busy working out how to get the towel off him, lol.