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My poor little Trudy :'(

S

Sparklepetal

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I had another thread about Trudy having an itchy back which the vet says is due to harvest mites (anybody had trouble with this? I can't find anything when searching the forum...) She is no better with his first line of action and has nibbled lots of fur off her back, so we're booked to go back and see him on Friday morning.

I just popped the piggies in their grass run once the heat of the day had gone off a bit. Came back from kissing the children goodnight and found the gory sight of Trudy's chest covered in blood! On further inspection she has somehow ripped or snapped off one front claw and then dangled her chest fur in the blood. I gave her a cuddle for a few minutes but then she let me know she'd had enough of that and has gone back in her hutch with Hazelnut for the night. What should I be looking out for with a broken claw? Is it OK to wait and show the vet at our Friday appointment? Poor girl she is not having a good week 😢
 
If it's just that a nail has been torn off, then you just need to be sure that it has stopped bleeding. You can use unperfumed talcum powder if you haven't got anything medical for that purpose, just dip the bleeding toe in some.
If the toe/foot is damaged though, I'm not sure what to do or if it needs the vet right away - I hope it's not that though.
Hope she is better soon!
 
Poor girl, she is having a time of it.
Don’t worry about the paw.
As @Qualcast&Flymo said if it’s the nail then dip it in talc. Flour also works.
Anything else then a vet check wouldn’t go amiss.
Jemimah managed to tear s nail out the very first time she came out to play. It worried me but didn’t bother her at all
 
We've been back to see vet John Chitty again today. He said it could be "a mite infestation" and gave her an "anti-mite shot". We're to return a week on Monday to see if that has worked, if it has Hazelnut will have an injection too. I am to continue dabbing the area with hibiscrub. Trudy doesn't seem so cross and itchy today. The claw is fine, phew!

Do you think he is thinking it's mange mites now? Or still harvest mites? I didn't ask what was in the injection. Too flustered by controlling children at the same time. At least he talked more clearly today!
 
Trudy saw vet John Chitty for her follow-up this morning. Sadly the injection has had no effect, the bald patch is larger and quite rough, although it's hard to tell what you're looking at with the Hibiscrub. He says to stop the Hibiscrub for the next week to let everything get "nice and crusty" and then drop her off for a biopsy. I think he is leaning towards it being ringworm (says of course it doesn't look like the "textbook case", they never do!) and he says he may prescribe a ringworm spray to start treatment after doing the biopsy while awaiting results.

I've had a read through the forum ringworm guide and seen no mention of a spray treatment. Would it be like the dip, where you spray the fur wet all over do you think?

As I need to be ready for disinfecting from ringworm I will order some F10 today. Will also get some of the human shampoo. They live in an outdoor wooden hutch, so I guess I'll need to temporarily re-home them to give it a proper clean. They're on fleece with washable absorbent layer, so all that can be hot washed. Just wondering whether to start precautions before I get his confirmation to treat as ringworm? I normally wash bedding at 50 degrees.

Argh, it's all running round and round my head. Stressing a bit about our holiday at the end of the month. I haven't organised anyone to come and feed them yet because I'm worrying about leaving medical instructions too - I don't think I could ask any of my friends to take on so much. They may have to come on holiday with us in the static caravan. Hubby is going to be extremely grumpy if that's the case - apparently I promised him that getting guinea pigs would make no difference to his lifestyle!

On the bright side, Trudy is well in herself, still eating happily, continuing to gain weight at weekly checks (they're only youngsters still) and neither Hazelnut not any humans have any itchy patches to date (well, other than my usual eczema fun).
 
Poor you and poor Trudy.
Hope it doesn’t turn out to be ringworm but whatever it is you can get a clear diagnosis.

Holding you in my thoughts
 
Aw, a stressful time for you, sending hugs x
Hoping Trudy makes a full recovery. I can imagine your husband, he sounds just like mine! 😆 We take our two boys with us if we go away as they can have dental flair ups so I dare not leave them with my son. Old grumpy git is always saying if only we didn’t have to take the piggies we could do this or go there etc, he loves them really x
 
Finally got the results back from Trudy's skin biopsies, which revealed... absolutely nothing! Since she went in for the tests, Trudy has been improving lots. Her fur is growing back on the bald places, just need the stitches to dissolve to be able to see what those two places are like. John Chitty thinks it may have been a reaction to parasites - maybe the harvest mites he originally thought it was when we first took her in. I am to go on bathing the patch with saline and also rub in some Savlon cream, then email him a photo in a fortnight. So Trudy and Hazelnut will be having a caravan holiday starting on Saturday!
 
That's good news although it's frustrating when you don't get definite answers. I hope you all have a very enjoyable holiday.
 
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