Flaky Foot in 4mnth old piggy...

[Cavy_Queen]

Hi,

I am new to this forum :-)

My husband and I have two 4mnth old female piggies. One of our pigs (an orange and white Abyssinian) has developed a dry, flaky patch on her rear right foot. We didn't notice it at all, but the vet did when she went in for a routine check-up. The vet has done a scraping for ringworm, but we won't get the results until about the 19th. In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone could offer me any other suggestions for what it might be?

She is not scratching or itching at all and the flaking is isolated to that one foot, on the top. The hair looks like it may have fallen out, but seems to be growing back. We checked her over thoroughly after the vet visit and, although she has very thick hair, we think we have established that there are no other flaky areas on her body and she does not appear to have a dander issue anywhere other than that particular foot.

The skin on that foot is very dry and feels rough to touch. However, the foot is not red or inflamed at all and it doesn't appear to be bothering her. Her foot is her natural pink colour. There is no bleeding or anything like that. She is currently separated from our other piggy (which they are very unhappy about!) and the other piggy seems to have no symptoms - although... she did have a dry patch on her ear a few weeks ago which cleared up on its own, and we thought she had injured it playing with the other piggy.

I've heard that with ringworm the most likely affected areas are the face and trunk? Is it possible to have ringworm that only affects one foot?

Sorry for the long posting! I've never had this before, so I'm trying to figure out all the possibilities. Is it possible that she just has dry skin? Do piggies get dry skin? Until she went to the vet, she (Ella) and the other piggy (Penny) were living together. Since ringworm is contagious I figured Penny should also have it, if that's what it is? And we have no symptoms either, and we handle her every day!

Anyways, thanks for any advice! :-)

Keira (and Ella and Penny!)

 

[nutmeg]

Hi Keira, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your piggie's foot. There are lots of people here (when they wake up!) that I am sure can help you out. I am not knowledgeable enough to offer advice. However, I do know that what you say about ringworm is true. Unlikely to start on the feet, more usual for face, ears. It is contagious (to piggies and humans), but strangely not all piggies catch it, even when been in close contact. ? There are a number of creams that can help ease itchy flaky skin. Galens Garden Green Cream is great stuff. Also Chrissie at Gorgeous Guineas is very helpful, if you e mail her pictures, she can often recommend products. I see that you are in Canada, so not too familiar with what products you can get there.
Best of luck, I am sure someone will be able to offer more advice.
Enjoy the forum.
x

 

[lovelygirl]

no ideas for you but i hope she gets better soon!

 

[Charl]

Hi there Kiera, and welcome to the forum

I have just done some research on the web for you, and I have found that your problem could well be mites. But I'm not a real expert, so I'm unsure really.

Whilst you are waiting for your results, you could use these creams on the foot if you like (only if you want to) :

Daktarin Cream

Gorgeous Guineas Lavender & Myrrh Lotion

Hope this helps xx

 

[Glynis]

Hi Keira welcome to the forum from us in OZ (aka Australia)
Which province are you from? i lived in Ontario for 8 months and still have a lovely girlfriend who i met back in 1980-81 x) then i travelled across your beautiful country
I see our lovely friends on here have advised you some great creams etc... if in doubt about getting them, go onto their websites, many of them ship overseas, and seeing as you're just across the water from the UK they shouldn't take too long to arrive if you decide to buy them.
Have you asked perhaps at your local petstore if they have natural products that you could bathe them in, without it making them itchy :{
I'm sure some more of our lovely people will post more advice soon, looking forward to chatting to you all soon
Good luck with Ella and Penny x)x)

 

[tab]

be very careful it could be catching to humans, i had the same thing with one of my piggies about 10 weeks ago now - just as you say dry flakey on top of foot and at the time i got scratched by the claws on this foot i have had an infection in the skin now and it is spreading it was an inch scratch annow is covering 4 iches of my arm and no sign of getting better the skin is very dry and flakey and looks the skin keeps dying and peeling off going back to doctors today - again! have tried so many creams?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi Keira

Could you take a picture and post it on here? Then we can get a better idea!

For more info on ringworm follow this link: http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

 

[Cavy_Queen]

Flaky foot: Update

Hi

Thanks to everyone who's been replying to my posting! Since I posted last night, the vet called. Although we weren't supposed to get any results back for another week, she told me that Ella tested positive for ringworm 8...

I have to go and pick up the medication from the pharmacy tomorrow, and I'm going to treat both piggies so that I don't have to keep them separated. (And I'm going to look into some of the creams that you guys mentioned. Since it's localized just to her foot, I'm thinking that a topical cream would help).

Now, the vet told me to just disinfect the cage and playpen and toys and wash everything the day they start the medication, and then I just have to keep cleaning the cage as I normally would after that. Does that mean I should throw out their timothy hay toys? Or is there some way to clean them so that they would be safe?

They have a wooden bridge which they use as their house and I'm going to replace that tomorrow because I heard that ringworm spores are difficult to disinfect from wood. But they also have a woven timothy hay basket which I use as a hay dispenser, two woven timothy hay balls (which are hollow, and I stuff with sweet grass every day), a woven timothy hay hut and a couple of woven timothy hay mats and woven timothy hay basket. Is there any way to clean these things? I practically just bought them! I spent probably over $100 on all of this stuff and I'm shuddering at the thought of having to throw it all out... some of it they've only had for a few days!

And what didn't make any sense to me, is that even though they will have started their medication tomorrow, and everything will be cleaned, they (Ella, at least) will still have ringworm for several weeks while they're on the medication... so does that not mean that the spores will reinfect the new things if I buy new stuff? Am I better off attempting to clean the existing toys?

I asked the vet all these questions on the phone, but she simply said 'disinfect everything and start anew'. I asked how best to keep everything clean from now onwards and she just said to do everything as normal? I'm a little bit confused! :{ I don't understand how I'm supposed to keep the toys clean, and I don't want to remove all their timothy hay toys for the whole month they'll be taking the medicine - they'd be so bored! lol

Does freezing work? Could I put them in the freezer and would that kill the ringworm spores? I know that works for mites. I could freeze them overnight and then sit them out in the sun on the patio to dry them off again.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Keira, Penny & Ella

P.S. I am using Urine Off to clean their cages etc. Does anyone have any experience with this product? Is it available in the UK? It's the number one product here in Canada.

 

[Cavy_Queen]

Hailing from BC!

Hi Keira welcome to the forum from us in OZ (aka Australia)
Which province are you from? i lived in Ontario for 8 months and still have a lovely girlfriend who i met back in 1980-81 x) then i travelled across your beautiful country

Hi

I live in BC, although I'm originally from the UK. I live in Lower Mainland BC, in Langley. I don't know how familiar you are with BC, but Langley is about an hour's drive from Vancouver.

I have relatives in Oz!

Keira

 

[Glynis]

Hi

I live in BC, although I'm originally from the UK. I live in Lower Mainland BC, in Langley. I don't know how familiar you are with BC, but Langley is about an hour's drive from Vancouver.

I have relatives in Oz!

Keira

Sorry had to look up where Langley is :red
I did stay around Vancouver and also went to Victoria Island x)
I thought that Vancouver was very much like OZ !

 

[Glynis]

Regarding your question re the timothy hay toys, i think i'd discard.......but see what other people recommend, i'm one for if in doubt chuck out!
I'm sure somebody will come along and advise what you could do

awwwwwwww poor little munchkin, sending healing wheeeeeeeeks from me and the girls xx>>>xx>>>xx>>> give Ella lots of mini kisses and hugs from us as well xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Laura-CCC4]

One of my sows had a flaky foot at 3 weeks old, since then she has had a constant (though mild) fungal skin infection. She's now 17 months old, so has had it a long time! Her symptoms tend to be limited to very sensitive skin, with random flare ups where she has a small patch of active infection. I have tried various treatments to completely cure the problem to no avail, her skin is always very sensitive. When she has an active fungal patch I treat her with diluted Povidone Iodine baths once a week unil the problem clears up, which I believe should be the similar to the treatment for ringworm.

Back when she just had a flaky foot, I used Gorgeous Guineas Lavender & Myrrh lotion, which helped a lot.