possible bumble foot?

[Liz024]

Hi!

Our piggy lost a lot of weight and energy in the past month. We took her to the vet and the vet wasn’t entirely sure what was wrong with her, but put her on antibiotics. She started with baytril for two days, then we noticed blood in her stool, so the vet switched to metronidazole. The blood went away quickly. We syringe fed her critical care and her weight was stable.
A few days later she had more interest in food, but her energy level was still low (not moving around). We ran out of the antibiotics after a week, have tried to reach out to our vet for a week now but he just never called back. Today we noticed she is not eating as much again. I also notice her feet have red spots, wondering if they look like bumble foot? Any suggestions before we find a vet? I was going to try Espom salt water.

Thank you!

 

[Liz024]

Also, I found a recipe of the espom salt water, but how long should I soak for?

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

Yes, that looks like the beginning of bumble foot unfortunately.
You should try to keep the place where she is laying as dry and soft as possible. You also have to use a soft bedding in the whole cage.

The soaking should be done for 5 minutes twice a day in the beginning. You can use different creams afterwards. Some prefer manuka honey, I used Bepanthen (plus). It's a bit of a try and error situation what works best.

Your vet doesn't sound very interested in guinea pigs. Could you go to a different vet?
Bumble foot is a nasty condition that needs a cavy savvy vet.
You probably have to continue with the antibiotic and should discuss pain medication with your vet.
Good luck!

 

[Liz024]

Yes, that looks like the beginning of bumble foot unfortunately.
You should try to keep the place where she is laying as dry and soft as possible. You also have to use a soft bedding in the whole cage.

The soaking should be done for 5 minutes twice a day in the beginning. You can use different creams afterwards. Some prefer manuka honey, I used Bepanthen (plus). It's a bit of a try and error situation what works best.

Your vet doesn't sound very interested in guinea pigs. Could you go to a different vet?
Bumble foot is a nasty condition that needs a cavy savvy vet.
You probably have to continue with the antibiotic and should discuss pain medication with your vet.
Good luck!

Thank you so much! Now that she is not moving much, she’s often sitting on her own pee and poo. I will move her around more.

We know a clinic with vets specialized in Guinea pigs, we will schedule an appointment with them. Until then, we will try to treat her at home.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Piggies&buns]

You don’t need to move her around as such, but you need to make sure you clean her cage multiple times a day. Use a soft bedding such as vetbed or fleece and use additional smaller pieces of it where she is sitting most as its easier to remove a smaller section a few times a day and replace it with a dry piece.
what is she currently bedded on?

i would definitely find a savvy vet

Guinea Lynx :: Pododermatitis

 

[Liz024]

You don’t need to move her around as such, but you need to make sure you clean her cage multiple times a day. Use a soft bedding such as vetbed or fleece and use additional smaller pieces of it where she is sitting most as its easier to remove a smaller section a few times a day and replace it with a dry piece.
what is she currently bedded on?

i would definitely find a savvy vet

Guinea Lynx :: Pododermatitis

Got it! Thanks for sharing the info. We normally use paper bedding. I have been researching and chenille bath mats sounds like a good option that is easy to get, I will grab some of that today.

 

[Free Ranger]

If she is an older girl you might consider the possibility of arthritis? My boy started to get impacted before he turned 4 so we were trying to encourage him to move about more to help with that as he was pretty chubby. He went for a check up at the vet just to make sure I was doing the right thing with the impaction and she picked up straight away that he had 'creaky knees' and hair in his teeth from where he nibbled at the sore joints. As he wasn't 4 yet I'd never considered this as I didn't think of him as 'old' but he went on twice daily metacam and a glucosamine supplement and he did became more active and lost a little weight. I know some forum pigs suffer from arthritis in the spine which must be quite painful. Is your girl an old lady yet?

 

[Liz024]

If she is an older girl you might consider the possibility of arthritis? My boy started to get impacted before he turned 4 so we were trying to encourage him to move about more to help with that as he was pretty chubby. He went for a check up at the vet just to make sure I was doing the right thing with the impaction and she picked up straight away that he had 'creaky knees' and hair in his teeth from where he nibbled at the sore joints. As he wasn't 4 yet I'd never considered this as I didn't think of him as 'old' but he went on twice daily metacam and a glucosamine supplement and he did became more active and lost a little weight. I know some forum pigs suffer from arthritis in the spine which must be quite painful. Is your girl an old lady yet?

We adopted her so we are not exactly sure but she is at least 3 and a half.

Just a quick update, it has been a few rough days. She had so many more issues on top of the feet. She quickly turned very weak and once she started fighting against my syringe feeding I knew it was time to let her rest. Last night before our emergency visit, my partner and I had a hard time deciding whether we should keep trying or just let her go. We finally decided to give her a slice of apple and send her off to the rainbow bridge. She managed to take a bite of her favorite fruit. Before we could even get to the vet she passed away on my laps in the car.

We managed to have her recover from pneumonia two winters ago, this time we couldn't help. We are still very sad that she suffered but we are happy that she's now pain free. We will always remember her as our chubby goofy girl.

I came across to this forum recently and I am so glad I found you all. This is such a resourceful place!

Here's our little Bajie.

 

[Siikibam]

I’m so sorry you lost her. You did everything you could, including making the hard decision at the end. All the best

 

[Wheekallweek]

Aww bless you and Bajie, what a lovely name. She was obviously so well loved. RIP Bajie

 

[Liz024]

I’m so sorry you lost her. You did everything you could, including making the hard decision at the end. All the best

Aww bless you and Bajie, what a lovely name. She was obviously so well loved. RIP Bajie

Thank you both for your kind words! It really means a lot!

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I'm sorry for your loss! Bajie was a beautiful girl.
Sleep tight, sweety!

 

[Free Ranger]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Sometimes everything just starts to go wrong as they near their end. She was with you when she passed and she knew how much she was loved. She was a beautiful little girl

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so sorry you lost beautiful Bajie. You did all you could. Enjoy the apples over the bridge. Take care