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Bumblefoot? Help please!

Charlottibiscot

Charlottibiscot

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all, Ermintrude has recovered really well from her spay 2 weeks ago. You can hardly even see the incision now. I have been really avoiding picking her up and turning her over to avoid stress/damaging the healing process, and just maintaining her daily weigh-ins - she's gained almost 50g in 2 weeks!

Unfortunately I have been silly and forgotten to keep up with checking her feet 😟 She has a health checkup appt on Monday so I am taking her in then.

I've attached a picture... sigh.

She's had red feet forever and we've always monitored it, she's on fleece and I never let them sit on wet material, wash it regularly... but this has happened in the last 2 weeks.

I wonder if it has progressed because she spent the first week of recovery not moving around as much, and me being silly we've not caught it until now. Lesson learned.

It's not bleeding currently but the scab is slowly peeling so it will bleed again soon and has recently bled and clotted, from the look of the photo.

The best I can do now is treat it. But I've heard that it's difficult and this looks severe.

Before I see the vet, what steps can I take right now? Epsom salts? Not sure. Please advise. Thank you :(

P.S her temperament/personality is, out of the hundreds of guinea pigs I've ever handled, one of the least cooperative, for extra context.
 

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Aw poor girl. Do you have some vet bed she could sit on! Might add a bit of cushioning and spread her weight a bit?
I’ve had success with leucillin and manuka honey cream too, might be worth a go until you can see the vet 👍
 
Wheekallweek said:
Aw poor girl. Do you have some vet bed she could sit on! Might add a bit of cushioning and spread her weight a bit?
I’ve had success with leucillin and manuka honey cream too, might be worth a go until you can see the vet 👍
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'll look those both up! Upon further inspection, all 4 feet are affected 😪

I have done a few things today:
- completely disinfected and cleaned out her run
- purchased bandages in case we need them, but not used them yet
- given her a warm epsom salt soak for 15 minutes
- sprayed some ear piercing spray on her feet (this one contains guinea pig safe ingredients and specifically kills staph bacteria by breaking down the bacteria cell walls)
- tried to find iodine solution but have ended up with some cetramide ointment instead - as an emergency step, I have applied a small amount and waited for it to soak in and dry but won't apply any more, will soak it off shortly and will find a better alternative
- placed her back in the clean run. Will change everything out once a day. My main concern is the hay tray.

Tomorrow she will likely be put on baytril or similar. My poor little girl.
 
Poor baby - I’ve had a budgie with it in the past and we’ve had plenty of pigs in through the rescue with it. Had a house bunny with sore hocks too - she had special bunny boots to wear with padding in which helped massively - don’t think this would work for tiny piggy feet though! Fingers crossed the vets can get her sorted x
 
Sorry to hear your poor lady has bumblefoot, my last old lady pig got it too in one paw in her last months.

Do you have any pet safe antiseptic wipes you could clean her paws with? I was recommended CLX wipes, active ingredient Chlorhexidine (same stuff as in mouthwash🤢) you can buy them online or your vet may sell them.

I also used F10 barrier cream at first, and Flamazine cream was also prescribed for her later. She had baytril for the infection and pain relief (which she was already on for arthritis). Bepanthen was suggested by another forum member as it's antiseptic and healing but I didn't use that as I had all the other things.

I had a routine of medicines twice a day and paw cleans followed by the wipes and Flamazine once or twice a day (can't remember now). Poor Winifred was not happy with me, she had never liked being handled and had to endure it twice daily...

Hope your vet can help you get on top of it for your Ermintrude. Sending healing vibes 💓
 
This is the thread mentioned above: Billie's paw
In Billie's case it was an ongoing battle for many months.
I used bandages for quite some time. They did help but I don't think you can bandage all four feet. There is also always the danger of reduced circulation in the paw which can have dramatic side effects.

Billie was on long-term Baytril and pain medication. I used Bepanthen plus and Flammazine but also other ointments. Whenever I felt that the paw was getting worse despite of the treatment, I switched to a different ointment.

I hope that your girl's paws will heal better than Billie's.
 
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