Possible Foot Spurs

[gus+walter]

I was giving the boys their usual nail trim when I noticed what looked like a dry poo on Walters paw. I gave it a soak and tried to remove it with a cotton bud. When this didn't work I soaked it a bit more and tried to get a good look at it. It's quite yellow in colour like hard skin. He's got one on both of his front paws. Can't see any on Gus though. Is this something I can remove with nail cutters or is it a vet job?

 

[Wiebke]

It sounds like typical spurs; they are pretty common under their front paws. They don;t cause any problems generally, so I would leave them if they are not impeding him. If want to cut them back yourself, be careful not to cut too close to live skin.
http://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html#spurs

 

[biscandmatt]

eddie has one at the moment but i'm too scared to trim it! should have mentioned it to the vet when we went but completely forgot!

 

[gus+walter]

One is really small so don't want to chance cutting it and hurting him. I'll wait for the OH to come home so he can hold him while I tackle the other one.
It doesn't seem to be causing him any discomfort, I'm just worried he'll get it caught and hurt himself.

 

[gus+walter]

Glad to read this is a common thing. Obviously I panicked as soon as I spotted it!

 

[Julie M]

I think my old Guinea pig snowball had these. The vet showed us how to trim them and we cut them back with clippers. He had them for years.

 

[Freela]

Some guinea pigs just develop foot spurs for no real reason and aren't bothered by them at all (out of my two pigs, Sundae has them, Linney doesn't.) You can trim them back with nail clippers if you want (not too close to the foot, you don't want to make them sore) but I just leave them if they aren't catching on anything.