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Smudge Has A Broken Foot.

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Doragon

Doragon

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Since we now know what the foot actually was caused by, I thought I would stop posting in the old thread: Here and keep all updates about Smudge in a new place! Going to keep this as a little diary thingy for Smudgey!

After the diagnosis of Bumblefoot yesterday, followed by an anti-inflammatory injection and I've started Smudge on Baytril (0.45 ml twice daily); we were back at the vets bright an early this morning with a change of vet (who was a lot better than the last one!) for a re-assess of the wound and a potential re-dress depending on how Smudge dealt with the bandage. Smudge had managed to get the dressing off (and some bedding stuck to it, so as the vet pulled it off to have a look at it there was blood...quite a lot of it...) and after cleaning Smudge up (including her little chin as she decided to start licking it before we cold stop her! Pink chinned guinea at the moment...) we decided to not go ahead with more dressing for the moment and see how it starts to heal. Although the vet said that enough though it was very swollen, there was no pus so she's hoping that Smudge will recover. Smudge was also prescribed some Metacam to help with the pain, current dose is 0.4ml once daily.

On Monday I need to take Smudge back in - if Smudge keeps messing with the wound then she's prepared to re-dress her and then even put a collar on her - the dressing I'm okay with, the collar I really would rather not unless we have no other option as Smudge is already stressed enough as it is. I still have to keep her separate from the rest of the herd and keep Smudge on newspaper only. Hopefully over the weekend and come Monday the vet will have a better idea if Smudge will heal or not as the vet warned me it can be very difficult to treat, even at this stage.
 
The vet put a collar on my Eddie once because he had a sore on his back he wouldn't leave alone. Needless to say, it didn't work. We ended up having to put sticky bandage around his middle to keep him away from it. Last resort, we tried everything.. Hopefully Smudge will leave the foot alone once he gets some pain relief on board and it will heal up easily!
 
Oh, right! The vet also said to wash the wound in salt water. She said to use ordinary salt, so I'm assuming she means just..table salt? She didn't give me an idea of how much to put in, though, so I was wondering what you guys think she meant? Been trying to get a hold of her but not much luck!
 
I know at work we just use natural salt to bathe a lady's foot. Just as much as will dissolve in the water. But humans are probably different to pigglies. More experienced forum members will be online soon.
 
I hope so! Some research has suggested to use Epsom salts, which I've never even heard of, let alone seen, so I may pop to some chemist's before work to see if I can track some down...

I was also looking into purchasing some Gorgeous Guinea's F&M Ointment for Smudge's feet too - think that may be a good idea?
 
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Should be able to get Epsom salts from a pharmacy and they're mainly used in humans as a muscle soak type thing in the bath. But I don't know as I would use them on a guinea pig unless advised by a vet.
 
One of my old girls came to me with
Bumblefoot I soaked her foot in Epsom salts. For about 5mins (complex task) twice a day.
I used boiled cooled to tepid/warm water &used an old clean Marmite lid. I dissolved the tip of a teaspoon quantity of the salts in it (when the scab came off I used less salt as it was an open wound &thought it would sting more).

I armed myself with a clean towel, prepared solution in Marmite lid full up on towel &a heap of goodies snacks for her.
Placed Boo on the towel &put her foot in the lid, convincing her to keep still with gentle support holding her foot in the solution with one hand &stuffing carrot tops etc in her mouth with the other!

Not sure why Epsom salts opposed to table salt but using Epsom salts &drying her foot off afterwards gently. Then applying gorgeous guineas foot cream twice daily was working wonders.

I only had her a few weeks however &lost her to other health issues- but the foot was far less swollen &inflamed,the pus was gone &it was healing nicely with little scab.

Can u use towels or fleece instead of newspaper for her as this will cushion the foot &help it heal quicker. Or puppy pads that soak up the wee so that she doesn't stand in it &its cushioned.
Preventing any further rubbing or infection problems.

Its like walking on carpet barefoot with sore feet or out on the pavement....
Much more comfy for her. :))

Healing vibes&speedy recovery.
Xx

Edit - Epsom salts were about £2-3 if that &from the local pharmacy.
Also I used towels with not too much lint/fluff that would come off &get stuck on/in the wound. Xx
 
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@GPTV Wow! Thank you very much for all the information!

I've just found out that I can get Epsom salts from boots (hopefully) so I'm going to pop out now and try and find some stuff for her! Newspaper I'm providing tons off and changing it twice daily to prevent her sitting in it, but I will add towels (ones without fluff) to my list to find in a minute so that it's a little more comfy for her.

I'll also place my order for the Gorgeous Guinea pig cream right now! Hoping it will arrive quickly so I can start using that too. And I will arm myself with lots of her favorite treats! (big shopping list for me!)

Probably will get a lot of pictures after I finish my shopping of the first attempt at bathing her :P
 
Just given her first bath in the salt water! She was a very good girl; say there happily and didn't even try and run or wash herself with it! She was so good, she didn't even want to take the treats from my hand.

I'm just drying her leg off (and her chin...) and then I'll have to sort out her emergency hutch - I bought some towels for her to snuggle in; and then a new water bottle as the current one is tied in with string xD
 
I would also suggest vet bed for the bumblefoot as you need to keep the pressure off it - as previously said it is like walking on soft shagpile carpet as opposed to lino - the vetbed will wick away any wee - whereas the newspaper will get soggy and you will need to keep changing it every time a wee comes along xx
 
End of Day One: Smudge has been SUCH a sweetheart while having her little foot soaked in the warm salt bath; she's been such a good girl. Baytril, on the other hand...she likes to try and spit out and fight me getting it into her. Metacam she'll take with no fuss, though!

I've also noticed that the swelling in her leg has started to go down. On Monday her whole leg felt swollen, but now it's just the foot that's swollen! I'm hoping that's a step in the right direction. I've seen that Smudge is either playing with the scab or it's catching on something as I've seen some blood around the hutch - but judging by her pink chin I'm assuming it's because she's been licking it! If this continues will speak to the vet about putting her in a dressing again (sorry, Smudge...) so that the foot can be allowed to heal.

Been updating a lot on snapchat and showing lots of footage of her....college class are fed up of seeing her on there!

Smudge says goodnight to you all ~
image.webp
 
End of Day 2:
The swelling is beginning to slowly go down from Smudge's foot. You can see where it was so swelled up that the nail was pushing into the skin - but it's good it's beginning to go down! And today the scab stayed on and there was no bleeding! Yay!

Smudge is also getting more used to the Baytril and isn't trying to spit it out every time I give it to her now! She's gradually coming out more and more and eating tons - lots of poos today! And she ate so much, I ran out of hay! I have enough for the night, and parents will go and get some for me in the morning so they won't be without it for too long - been a manic night this evening I just completely forgot to get some hay. Ooopsie! Will make sure they have extra nuggets and hay tomorrow and then give them all a massive helping once I can get my hands on some hay tomorrow.

Bad news is I noticed a hay mite on Smudge's back - only saw it while grooming her, nasty little white thing crawling across her back. I'm assuming since Smudge has it, all my animals including the rabbit will have it, so I need to add hay mite spot on to my list on Monday to give all my animals treatment for that.
 
Wanted to post s picture of the foot to see how it's healing and to see what more experienced members have to say about it.

Be warned, it is all scabby and horrible so be prepared if there happen to be younger people viewing this that don't like things like that!

Sorry about teh photo quality - Smudge hates, and I mean hates, having her front legs played with.

image.webp
 
That looks like it is healing nicely! Bumble's bumblefoot is coming back on the first infected foot it started on - this is due to his immune system being very low after having his 3rd operation in 3 months - despite him being bedded on vetbed (which is washed daily ) and having his hay changed twice a day - so wonder how bad it will get after his operation tomorrow - proof that bumblefoot isn't just caused by piggies being kept in unclean conditions !
 
Oh no! I hope you can cure the Bumblefoot and it doesn't get too bad! I wish Bumble all the best in his operation tomorrow - let me know how it goes!

My Georgous Guineas cream order is complete and it should be here by Tuesday! I'll start adding that to her foot after the Epsom baths when it arrives.

I think a part of it is down to her genetics. I don't want to put the blame away from myself, I know I played a factor in her having it from the bedding - but she HAS got some genetic trouble as both she and her sister Pumpkin (who died suddenly from ringworm, which suggests there was something else going on underneath all that!) so that makes me feel better; but will make sure to put more bedding in from now on! Learned my lesson big time.
 
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I think I may have to speak to the vet about the possibility of putting Smudge in a collar.

Came home from work and she'd been chewing it at -massive amounts of blood; so much that I originally thought it was urine! Checked her chin and caught her red-handed. More like red-chinned.

I'm not really keen on doing that as I don't want to cause more stres to her, as she's already stressed out from being separated from Holly and Bramble (although both parities are beginning to adapt...I'm dreading the thought of getting them back in together when this is all over) and Smudge is eating well, lots and lots of hay today as well as nuggets and veggies and lots of water. But I can't see it healing if she keeps on ripping off the scab all the time...
 
What time is your vets appointment tomorrow ? This is a real shame as it sounded like thigs were going well in your last post.
 
My vet appointment isn't until half past 4; after I finish college. Hmm. I'll mention it to the vet and see what she thinks - maybe it's a one off and Smudge won't do it again. If she does it again overnight or while I'm at college then I may step in...but if not, leave her to it. This sounds silly but I'm a little concerned with how much blood she's lost from this scab coming off! It's been bleeding a few times during the diagnosis and when the vet cleaned it and things....
 
Metacam absolutely fine! She resists me doing the actual syringe feed, but it all goes into her. Baytril she resists more - but Metacam, at least. she doesn't try and spit out.
 
Well, at least she's taking her painkiller OK. How long will you need to keep her seperated from the others?
 
The Vet didn't say - I asked her if I could put her back in with Holly and Bramble last Friday but she said no and gave me absolutely no indication on if and when I could put Smudge back in with them. I hate keeping them separate as I know it's stressing them all out. Hell, I'll even go and buy tons more tea towels and have them all on just newspaper and towels for weeks if I have to..I'll ask the vet again tomorrow and see what she says.
 
When I had to separate my boar Max ( he had an abscess) , I used puppy pads in his cage . I prefer using puppy pads to newspaper as newspaper is inclined to go soggy.

I also remember that I was fearful that my 2 sows would get used to not having him around . He was as miserable as sin and they were OK!

I remember the day he went back in with them . He was SO pleased to see them ! My 2 sows made a few greeting like wheeks and things were back to normal again very quickly. I hope your guineas are OK when it's time to reunite them.
 
Good news!

Good news number one: no more bleeding through the night and no signs she'd been playing with it!

Good news number two: where the scab came off, now looking at it in the daylight I can see that there's a portion of skin that's completely healed! The scab has dropped off from this section! The skin is beginning to heal with the rest of the foot; but it varies with how deep the cracks go (one bit is significantly deeper than the other) so I think we're getting there!

Will see what the vet had to say later.
 
Smudge is being left at the vet for X-Rays. Vet now thinks that it's tramua, from the bike accident, which is what I said IN THE FIRST PLACE. Honestly.

I don't know how in the heck I'm going to afford the X-Ray, but I had to sign her in anyway. If she has broken her foot (the vet was concerned that it wasn't going down and in all fairness, she's actually really good. The vet that handed Smudge over to this vet was the one to wave off my worries about tramua with that bike). Since Smudge's appetite is also going down, we thought it was best to do it now.

I explained the financial situation and the vet promised me she'd do her best to not put Smudge under for the X-Ray - for her safety and to save me some money, too.

Just waiting for the phone call. They squeezed Smudge in tonight so that I would find out what's going on.
 
Guess what?! It WAS BROKEN! I knew it! I knew it was from that bike accident!

I'm so hacked off, you have no idea. I've just paid £100 for an X-Ray, which I could have told you from the start, and all I got for advice was "oh, try not to let her use her foot, we're not going to put it in a sling or anything for an animal her size and we'll just check in a couple of weeks" I was blown off, I've had to pay a lot of money for Bumblefoot treatment which I didn't need to do! They couldn't even tell me how bad the foot was broken in the first place, just said it was "out of place".

I have no words. This is the second time they've messed me about, the first time is when they blew off my concerns about Cookie and she ended up dying because they misdiagnosed her, too. I'm not using them anymore; that's for sure.

I need to calm down....if anyone wants a GG Bumblefoot cream, you're very open to it.
 
I can understand why you are upset . The most important thing is that Smudge has the right diagnosis.

Have you been able to talk to anyone at the practice about the fact you've paid for treatment that Smudge didn't need ?
 
I haven't had a chance to speak with them yet. I'm going to wait until I calm down as I'm absolutely fuming. I need to ring them back as to when exactly I can put them back together as I'm fed up of them stressing out. O suppose I can't right now as the ramp would stop Smudge's foot healing, right?

Going to be writing a very professional letter asking for the £50 + I had to pay for the Bumblefoot back.
 
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