Buumblefoot?

[Trotter95]

Hello,

I'm posting this thread on behalf of my customer who has 2 guinea pigs who isn't sure what to do next and neither am I. I've got 10 guinea pigs of my own and used this forum in the past.

One of the guinea pig foot has been swollen for some time now (a month or two). The owner took him to the vets (vets4pets) and they said it was tumour and prescribed him with antibiotics and antiinflammatory for a week and said see if it changes anything. I advised her to go to see exotic/specialist vets. According to this forum our nearest one is Stamford Bridge. The customer then went to this place and they said it's not tumour and prescribed him with antibiotics and antiinflammatory and come back within a week. So they did and went back and they said there's isn't much they can do.

So I'm asking to see if anyone went through similar experience or has advice for what to do next?
My next thought is to get a sample of the foot as it still bleeds a little (can be seen attached picture) and send it off to the lab to find out what the best treatment. I recommended the customer to get zithromax antibiotics as it worked (like a charm!) on one of my guinea pig who suffered with abscess for some time.

 

[Freela]

Yes, that definitely looks like very sore bumblefoot... I have never dealt with a case that looks that severe (though Hadley occasionally gets red/irritated foot pads and tiny sores, which we treat with keeping the cage really clean and dry, cleaning to foot pads with an antiseptic, and applying Polysporin, as per my vet's suggestion.) This looks too severe to be fixed by those elementary solutions, though using an antiseptic, keeping the cage VERY clean and dry, and ensuring that there is no mesh bottoms or rough bedding is a starting point. Hopefully someone with more experience can come along and help soon.

 

[PigglePuggle]

That looks extremely worrying, I am unsure how any vet could not admit this animal for immediate in-patient treatment actually. From the photos I doubt that foot can be saved...

Can you tell us the timescale of this from first symptoms to getting so bad? And why it hasnt been treated earlier? I'm also a bit confused about this being a "customer's" piggy, are you a vet? A pet shop owner? A rescue organisation? What is the history of you seeing this condition and advising on it? You seem to be recommending tests and antibiotics to use but it would help us a lot if we knew some background...

 

[Trotter95]

That looks extremely worrying, I am unsure how any vet could not admit this animal for immediate in-patient treatment actually. From the photos I doubt that foot can be saved...

Can you tell us the timescale of this from first symptoms to getting so bad? And why it hasnt been treated earlier? I'm also a bit confused about this being a "customer's" piggy, are you a vet? A pet shop owner? A rescue organisation? What is the history of you seeing this condition and advising on it? You seem to be recommending tests and antibiotics to use but it would help us a lot if we knew some background...

My thoughts exactly! Just to clear things up, I'm a pet groomer so I do dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs. I also have 10 guinea pigs of my own so naturally I would give advice to my customer as if this guinea pig is one of my own. I'm only giving advice based on my experiences and it's partially common sense, if the vets (exotics) don't know what it is - take a sample and send it off to the labs and find what treatment will work. It has happened to one of my guinea pig who had abcess and I went to see the specialist and they advice to take a sample and send it off and tried all sort of antibiotics and turned out none of any antibiotics works apart from zithromax and within a month it all cleared up after couple of month operations/trips to the vets.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Ok thanks for clarifying! I doubt your customer has been very rigorous with their vet checks, this looks pretty grim. No vet would ever see that and just give metacam and baytril, a wound like that needs debriding the heck out of it daily and dressing with manuka honey and a course of very strong antibiotics, but this all requires commitment from the owner and almost daily vet checks and honestly this looks pretty far gone.
I have no experience of bumblefoot per se but clearly no animal can go round with a huge sore like that on a weight bearing foot... I will tag in some more experienced health advisors for you now @Abi_nurse @furryfriends (TEAS) and hopefully they have some practical advice but that looks very bad... poor piggy!

 

[Trotter95]

Brill. Thank you! I did question her about vets trips but I needed to remember my place as she is one of my customer but now i think because it's getting worse she asked for some more advice and I kept saying just go back the vets because it certainly isn't right. She came to me today for nails cut and I did move the paw around but he didn't show any sign of pain but then I was told many time that usually they don't show any sign of illness until they're really really ill. Neither have I (experienced bumble foot) but it certainly will help me in the future, should I come across one!
My heart certainly do go to this poor piggy.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Brill. Thank you! I did question her about vets trips but I needed to remember my place as she is one of my customer but now i think because it's getting worse she asked for some more advice and I kept saying just go back the vets because it certainly isn't right. She came to me today for nails cut and I did move the paw around but he didn't show any sign of pain but then I was told many time that usually they don't show any sign of illness until they're really really ill. Neither have I (experienced bumble foot) but it certainly will help me in the future, should I come across one!
My heart certainly do go to this poor piggy.

This sounds like a very awkward situation for you, sorry if I initially sounded a bit suspicious but we sometimes get "backyard breeders" who have knowingly sold sick piggies asking us for advice after the fact!
If the piggy isnt feeling any pain with a paw like that its not a good sign, it suggests to me that maybe the nerves are gone and that amputating the paw is the best option... you could always contact the RSPCA anonymously but to be honest with limited resources to help animals that could be bad enough to be a put to sleep situation...
Hopefully the health experts I tagged in will get back to you tomorrow with some better advice, I've never seen something this bad with my own piggies (and I'm sure you havent either!) but our experts who deal with rescue piggies in a bad way have unfortunately probably seen this sort of thing before!

 

[BossHogg]

I've just lost a piggy to bumblefoot, my vet tried for 6 months to clear it with no joy. The infection spread and we made the sad decision to help him over the bridge.

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

I've never seen a case of bumblefoot this severe and I must say, I think the prognosis is poor. However, we have dealt with a couple of piggies with severe bumblefoot, here at TEAS and we've had very good results using the antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin). This p.iggy needs to see a guinea pig savvy vet asap, or it will be too bad to treat and euthanasia will be the only option.

 

[Trotter95]

I've never seen a case of bumblefoot this severe and I must say, I think the prognosis is poor. However, we have dealt with a couple of piggies with severe bumblefoot, here at TEAS and we've had very good results using the antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin). This p.iggy needs to see a guinea pig savvy vet asap, or it will be too bad to treat and euthanasia will be the only option.

When the customer first messaged me about this guinea pig foot I came straight to this forum and looked for any thread that include bumble foot and told the customer to go to exotic vets that do specialise guinea pig which is Stamford Bridge. I've been there with my own guinea pig and they are brilliant so I was shocked when she told me they're not sure what to do next.

Right from the start I've told her to ask for Zithromax because it worked like a charm on one of my guinea pig when all other antibiotics couldn't get rid of abcess.
I will pass on all of your recommendation to my customer and hopefully will help this pig to recover

 

[Lady Kelly]

It might also be worth in future passing details of this forum to customers too so they can see all the information for themselves and ask questions

 

[Trotter95]

It might also be worth in future passing details of this forum to customers too so they can see all the information for themselves and ask questions

I did the customer this website to help them further also informed them that this website is also full of advice/tips how to look after the piggies.