Bumble Foot? What Do I Do?

[Curtis Cavies]

Hoping some of you lovely people can help? Two weeks ago I took in 5 piggies that were looking for a new home. Their previous owners had had piggies for several years and had bred them and sold locally to families. They have been reasonably well looked after but had woefully tiny cages and were on wood shavings. And they have only been handled for cleaning out purposes and to put on grass, i.e. they are so terrified if you go try to offer food or stroke them that it's fifty laps round the cage!
I have let them have two weeks to settle and get used to me. On Thursday I managed to catch the two males who are really happily bonded brothers, though they look nothing alike. We had some cuddle and calming time, then I set about tackling their grossly overgrown nails! With the help of my daughter, we managed in about 1/2 an hour!
Tonight, I have just gone through the same trauma with the three girls. Oh my! I've never witnessed such knarled, long and twisted horrors first hand before! Seen plenty of pictures on rescue sites. To my horror, two of the wee girls look to have 'bumble foot'? Very red, swollen and like a black hard scab on the soft sole. Thankfully only one foot on each little poppet is affected. I have some recently purchased but not yet used F and M ointment from Gorgeous Guineas. I had hoped to treat the new members of my clan to a pampering with shampoo and foot cremes as a soothing 'getting to know you' session. I know I'm waffling on, so I'll get to my health question. What is the correct course of treatment for bumble foot? Should I bathe, or keep dry? They are now on megazorb bedding and tons of hay, I think they only got small amounts before, so a teeth length check is in order soon too!

 

[Poppy'sMum]

I'm not sure, but I am fairly certain they will need to see a vet for diagnosis & treatment as it involves antibiotics Well done for saving them x

 

[gizzy]

bumble foot ? unusual ! what do you bed him on ?

wash in week saline solution . the see vet for anti b's asap

 

[biscandmatt]

you need to see a vet for this so they can advise the best treatment as it can vary alot and can easily be made worse sometimes with home treatment. . like you say, sometimes you can keep it too dry, or bathe it too much, how often creams etc are applied varies alot depending on whether the skin is just raw, broken, or whether infection has set in. antibiotics may be needed also

 

[VickiA]

Firstly well done for taking in these poor piggies that had been used /kept by breeders. I'd agree that they should see a vet for confirmation and treatment plan but in the meantime anything you can do to make them more comfortable is a good thing. So I'd keep them off shavings and on some soft fleece/ bedding if you can.

 

[Abi_nurse]

Bumble foot can become extremely nasty and is painful so I would suggest a vet trip for a long course of appropriate antibiotics for it.

Well done for taking them on.

x

 

[TAN]

My Bumble has just recovered from Bumblefoot - his was severe( after two bouts of major surgery ) my vet is a piggy specialist and one of her own sows had bumblefoot after giving birth - it is difficult to treat but she has never had a case she hasnt cured - Bumble was started on an ointment called flamazine which is used on burns victims - my vet says the trick to treating it successfully is to keep as much pressure off the foot as possible - so soft bedding - Bumble was on fleece and vetbed - something that i think was called Aluyrin and is a type of foam dressing went under the pad to help keep the pressure off - the foot was then wrapped in gauze and then wrapped in sticking plaster - Bumble had to have his dressing changed every 3 days for the first few weeks - and then reducing down to every 5 days - he was permanently on 0.5ml of septrin twice a day and 0.25 metacam twice a day - (some vets prescibe baytril but Bumble likes septrin so it made things easier for him ) he has made a full recovery -
If you have someone to hold the piggies after seeing a foot done by an experienced vet you should be able to treat the feet yourself and just keep taking the piggy to be checked over by the vet every so often - but you will be in for a long haul with the antibiotics - the aluyrin (really dont know how you spell it ) was expensive - about £10 for a strip approx 10 " by 10" - but you only need to cut a small bit to go under the pad - ordinary wadding isnt enough of a cushion for it - it is the keeping the weight off the foot and the prolonged antibiotics that is the key (keeping a clean cage and poo picking goes without saying )
Good luck with your piggies - hopefully as it is not on all feet and not too severe they will heal within a few weeks and not months like my Bumble.

 

[Curtis Cavies]

bumble foot ? unusual ! what do you bed him on ?

wash in week saline solution . the see vet for anti b's asap

Thank you. I bed all my clan (11 at the moment) on Megazorb. Then tons of hay to run through, play and hide in and of course eat! When I get the chance, I'm going to fetch them inside into c&c cages with vet bed or fleece, something which I'm longing to do. But for now they are in a fully insulated purposely purchased shed, so megazorb is the most practicable bedding at present.

 

[Curtis Cavies]

Firstly well done for taking in these poor piggies that had been used /kept by breeders. I'd agree that they should see a vet for confirmation and treatment plan but in the meantime anything you can do to make them more comfortable is a good thing. So I'd keep them off shavings and on some soft fleece/ bedding if you can.

Thank you. They are currently on Megazorb and plenty of hay as a softer bedding option.

 

[Curtis Cavies]

My Bumble has just recovered from Bumblefoot - his was severe( after two bouts of major surgery ) my vet is a piggy specialist and one of her own sows had bumblefoot after giving birth - it is difficult to treat but she has never had a case she hasnt cured - Bumble was started on an ointment called flamazine which is used on burns victims - my vet says the trick to treating it successfully is to keep as much pressure off the foot as possible - so soft bedding - Bumble was on fleece and vetbed - something that i think was called Aluyrin and is a type of foam dressing went under the pad to help keep the pressure off - the foot was then wrapped in gauze and then wrapped in sticking plaster - Bumble had to have his dressing changed every 3 days for the first few weeks - and then reducing down to every 5 days - he was permanently on 0.5ml of septrin twice a day and 0.25 metacam twice a day - (some vets prescibe baytril but Bumble likes septrin so it made things easier for him ) he has made a full recovery -
If you have someone to hold the piggies after seeing a foot done by an experienced vet you should be able to treat the feet yourself and just keep taking the piggy to be checked over by the vet every so often - but you will be in for a long haul with the antibiotics - the aluyrin (really dont know how you spell it ) was expensive - about £10 for a strip approx 10 " by 10" - but you only need to cut a small bit to go under the pad - ordinary wadding isnt enough of a cushion for it - it is the keeping the weight off the foot and the prolonged antibiotics that is the key (keeping a clean cage and poo picking goes without saying )
Good luck with your piggies - hopefully as it is not on all feet and not too severe they will heal within a few weeks and not months like my Bumble.

Thank you. Oh my! I had no idea it would be such a long and expensive haul! Glad it's only one foot each. Fingers crossed I've noticed it in early stage. May treat to vet bed and keep them separate from my other girls for a while longer then. Shame. Was looking forward to starting introductions! But their health and well being comes first, not to mention it will be easier to catch them for treatment applications! Glad your Bumble has fully recovered. You sound to have an incredibly knowledgeable vet. Lucky you!