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Treating suspected Bumblefoot

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hartleyhare

hartleyhare

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi,

I think my pig Dougal has Bumblefoot. He has been to a vet but we live in a rural area and the vets here are large animal vets doing small animal work and unfortunately they don't have much expereince of piggies. They also seem unwilling to listen to anything I have to say. I pointed out Dougal's sore feet and vet just glanced at them and said he thought Dougal may have dental problems. He did give me some Baytril but only a week's course. I have been treating Dougal myself by soaking his feet in Hibiscrub solution and applying Flamazine cream. Does anyone on here have expereince of Bumblefoot in piggies, please ? I have treated a rat with it but despite intensive nursing support from me and anti-biotics/flamazine he didn't improve and was PTS.
 
Treating a guinea pig no, a hamster yes I do :-)

The hamster saw a good small animals vet and was put on a high dose of baytril, metacam whilst his feet were really puffy and iodine tincture dips 3 x daily he recovered just fine, within a week his feet were normal sized and just scabby, after 2 his feet were almost normal and any infection had not spread. He is now 8 months old and he was 3 months when he had the problem. Not entirely relevant granted but he was a rodent successfully treated :-). His cage was kept religiously clean and he was on cardboard bedding.
 
I think gorgeous guineas do a ointment for bumble foot. You can email them and explain then see if they have a suggestion.
 
Dougal has now been seen by 2 vets and we are no further forward. Vet we saw this time would not give anti-biotics or pain relief but did give me a tube of Fuciderm. His feet are starting to look a little better but I am very concerned about the weight loss. I am syringe feeding 2-3 times a day and he is managing to eat a little soft veg ( although he is picky about which veg ). He is still losing weight and is quite thin now. I mentioned to both vets about possible dental problems as a cause for his weight loss and bublefoot ( thinking that the bumblefoot is a symptom of another problem rather than the cause ). He has no history of dental problems and has always eaten a good quality diet since I've had him, unlimited hay, selection of fruit and veg each day, extruded nuggets,etc. Apart from the weight loss I've not seen any of the typical symptoms associatd with dental issues like dribbling, difficulty in eating, etc, but of course that doesn't mean he doesn't have dental spurs. I'm trying to build him up a little before subjecting him to an anaesethic for an exploratory on his mouth. I don't know what else to do :( I don't have much experience with piggies. I would welcome any ideas/suggestions. Could something else be the cause of his problems other than dental spurs ?
 
What beddings are you using? Defo use the foot ointment from gorgeous guineas, you might be right about it being a side ailment. I would weight your pig every day and record everything. What location are you? Can you upload a photo?
 
lil said:
What beddings are you using? Defo use the foot ointment from gorgeous guineas, you might be right about it being a side ailment. I would weight your pig every day and record everything. What location are you? Can you upload a photo?
Click to expand...

He is on vetbed. We are on Anglesey. I am already weighing him. Before he was ill he was 1050g, he is down to 800g now.
 
Been looking at the F + M ointment and want to try it but can I still use the Fuciderm ? His feet look a little better from having the Hibiscrub soaks and the Fuciderm so want to continue with these.
 
Speak to Gorgeous Guineas as they will have a better idea on how their creams will react with Fuciderm.
 
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