Can This Lead To An Infection?

[Chelseaspiggies]

Hi
Today I was clipping my youngest piggy Maisy's claws. She fidgets when I cut them and I ended up cutting the quick.

I immediately put her paw into some plain flour to ensure the bleeding stopped but now I'm paranoid that she might become infected where I cut her. Can this happen?

 

[helen105281]

It is not something I have heard of happening so you would have to be very unlucky. You did the right thing stopping the bleeding.

 

[Chelseaspiggies]

Its terrible when you cut them isnt it. I felt so guilty but she writhes so bad when you trim her. I wish piggies understood that they need to have their nails done

 

[helen105281]

If it makes you feel better I go to a piggy clinic run by a lady who has 20 odd years of experience with pigs and even she cuts the quick sometimes, pigs can move their feet so quickly.

 

[MintyAndGarry (TEAS)]

Your piggy should be fine. Although they seem to bleed a lot, they also clot very quickly. This is their natural barrier to avoid infection coming in. It's very easy to catch them, especially when they are wriggly pigs. I tend to just tidy up the nails so that they are comfortable, but not take them too short. I'm sure she'll be fine.

 

[Kerrie74]

Yeah, they are little fidget bums! We only do one of our guinea's claws because the others have black claws and I'm really weary about hurting them, so they go off to the vet to be clipped.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi
Today I was clipping my youngest piggy Maisy's claws. She fidgets when I cut them and I ended up cutting the quick.

I immediately put her paw into some plain flour to ensure the bleeding stopped but now I'm paranoid that she might become infected where I cut her. Can this happen?

Once the bleeding has stopped, you can disinfect the nail with with saline solution or hibiscrub, which you can get at any pharmacy. In an emergency, you can make saline yourself by mixing 1 teaspoon of salt with 1 pint/500 ml of boiled cooled water.

 

[Freela]

I've had it happen before (also had a guinea pig rip their nail off at paw level after getting caught on the cage door jumping in. Ouch!) Fortunately, none of them ever got infected, so I would say it's not very common. I would just keep an eye on it. You could always rinse it with sterile saline daily until it looks healed, but honestly, I just kept an eye on it and no one had an issue.