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Bumblefoot treatment

Raymond92

Raymond92

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello, my 8 month old piggie Norbert has a very swollen front paw, he isn’t putting any pressure on it so is currently limping. The pad has a little scab on it and the paw is completely swollen. After doing some research online it looks like it’s Bumblefoot. I’m going to take him to the vets tomorrow to get him treated.
Out of curiosity, what is the treatment for Bumblefoot? And how quick is treatment?
Also I know Bumblefoot can be caused by unsanitary conditions or not enough padding in the cage (wire bottom cages also being an issue). Just want to add that we clean cages regularly so both my piggies are living in a nice clean environment and there’s always plenty of padding (we use sawdust) 😊
 
The treatment is a longer term issue in most cases. Since your piggy is quite young to develop bumble foot, I would guess that he hurt his paw somehow.
It's good that you're seeing a vet quickly to get a proper diagnosis and treatment. It will probably include oral antibiotics and pain medication. Bumble foot is often treated with paw soaks and special cremes like Flammazine or Bepanthen (plus) as well. But you will see what the vet prescribes.
All the best for Norbert's paw!
 
It's sometimes hard to clear bumblefoot and can be a long treatment course. Usually the treatment is antibiotics orally plus some sort of topical soak or treatment. One of my pigs had Flamazine cream by prescription (which didn't work well) and then my vet suggested trying over-the-counter Betadine ointment from the human drugstore and that actually worked really well. Try not to beat yourself up about this- I felt awful when Hadley had bumblefoot because we tend to hear about it as a disease of pigs who are not well-cared for, but the truth is a lot of pigs who are well-cared for develop it to due to a minor cut/scrape on the foot pad, aging, circulation issues, etc. It happens, it's not your fault!
 
Good luck at the vets Norbert. I hope you are soon feeling better 🤞🏻
 
I love the name ❤️
Do you have a picture of Norbert for us to drool over?
 
sorry for the delayed reply but thank you everyone for your responses.
The vet had a look and she’s given him a course of anti biotics and pain relief for a week so we’ll see how he gets on. She also gave a treatment - Hibiscrub to apply if it leaks which is has started to do.
I was a bit surprised but one of the options was also for the vet to cut the infection and drain the fluid but she decided against that as it all looked pretty compact.
@Viennese Furbabies - yes he’s quite a firecracker 🙂 so I imagine he’s cut it on something sharp or caught it on one of his nails? I try and keep him trim but his nails seem to be so sharp! Whereas my other pig has quite blunt nails. I reckon he sharpens them ready to attack if he’s not been provided enough veggies 😉
@Freela - thank you. Really good to know your experience. I will see how we get on and I’ll consider the Betadine with the vet if we aren’t having much luck. Absolutely - I did feel awful when I realised. I try and keep everything clean and check up on them regularly so I was really surprised to see this had happened.
@weepweeps thank you!
@fluffysal thank you 🙂 yes I do - will attach. He’s very wild, love zoomies and winding his cage mate up
 

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Thank you 😊 swelling is reducing a little this morning so looks like all the meds are kicking in 🤞
 
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