How to treat external injuries in farmed masked palm civets

Masked palm civets are often kept in groups, where fights and bites frequently occur, leading to external injuries. If external injuries are not discovered and treated in time, they will cause infection and suppuration. Clinical symptoms: (1) Fresh wounds show split skin and flesh, bleeding, pain, and dysfunction of tissues and organs; severely affected civets develop systemic symptoms such as pale mucous membranes, weak pulse, and rapid breathing. (2) Infected wounds are caused by fresh wounds becoming infected with pathogenic microorganisms, with swelling, increased temperature, pain, and suppuration of the wound surface and its surroundings, sometimes with purulent scabs; if pus drainage is poor, it can develop into cellulitis, and in severe infections it can cause systemic pyosepticemia, resulting in the death of the sick civet. Treatment of external injuries: (1) For fresh wounds, clean the area locally, cover the wound surface with sterile gauze, clip off the hair and blood scabs around the wound surface, disinfect with 70% alcohol or 2% iodine tincture, and clean the surrounding skin with soapy water disinfectant. Then wash away foreign matter and accumulated fluid on the wound with normal saline, excise necrotic tissue, sprinkle penicillin powder, anti-inflammatory powder, or iodoform sulfonamide powder (1:8) onto the wound, partially suture the wound, set up a drainage opening, and bandage the wound. (2) For infected wounds, enlarge the wound opening, remove pus and foreign matter, excise necrotic tissue, flush the wound cavity with 3% hydrogen peroxide, 0.2% potassium permanganate, or 3% boric acid solution, and use hypertonic saline or sulfonamide emulsion (made of 5 g sulfanilamide, 30 g cod liver oil, and 65 mL distilled water), iodo-sulfonamide emulsion (10 g iodoform, 10 g sulfonamide, 100 g cod liver oil), etc. for wound cavity drainage without bandaging. (3) When there is excessive bleeding, blood transfusion and fluid replacement should be given; when the injury is severe and the infection is severe, antibiotics should be injected to reduce inflammation, and when necessary, cardiotonic and detoxifying treatment should be given.