Bumblefoot and poor mobility

[Pamb01]

Hi

Looking for some advice if possible. I've had guinea pigs on and off for over 20 years but never encountered cases of bumblefoot thankfully. Until now, my 7 ¼ year old piggy Diego has such a horrible issue with it.

Background of her is I "rescued" her and her sister from a friend who bought them for her kids and had never given them hay in their lives. They lived on puppy pads on a hard plastic base cage, and were going to be PTS as she couldn't look after them. Diego had major teeth issues, and after having 2 ops and an abscess treatment at our local vets I started taking her to Northampton to the Cat and Rabbit clinic. 150 mile round trip every 2 weeks and teeth shaving but she coped, and after a year seemed ok. August Diego developed a cyst under her mammary gland, it doubled in size overnight and she couldn't walk. Urgent surgery at our local vet and she lost a lot of movement in her right hind leg.

The loss of movement means for most of the time she drags her foot, so I believe this is what set up the bumblefoot in that foot, it was horrific. The scab dropped off and I had never seen so much blood. I started cleaning it out with hibiscrub and could see no infection. I used manuka honey to pack the wound and it was getting better. When I could get her into the vets they had a look, said there was no infection and only removed some of the dead skin. They gave her loxicom (she loves this) but no need for antibiotics and told me to continue as I was. It was still not getting any better so after much research on here I decided to start bandaging and vet wrapping. I introduced using bepanthen and it is amazing. Again it has shrunk and is no longer squidgy. However, she has obviously been less mobile and keeping her weight off that foot, and so her opposite front foot also got bumblefoot. Typical hey! Same treatment started and curved syringe flushes also introduced. Again it is so much better. Completely dry and almost normal sized paw pads again, yay!

The question I have is the front pad tonight has a solid scab, should I be removing this or leaving it to allow the skin underneath to heal? She is an OAPiggie so I don't want to stress her too much.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I'm very sorry that you have to fight bumble foot. It's a horrible condition that can be very resistent to treatment.
My late Billie had a bad and persistant case of bumble foot. You can find our story here: Billie's paw

My vets prescribed Baytril for life because there is always the change that there is an infection that moves to the bone. Apart from that, I treated the paw similar to you.
Billie has had heavy bleeding episodes that were only managable with a bandage.
In my experience it's better not to remove a scab because this can trigger massive bleeding.

 

[Pamb01]

Thank you. That is what I thought about the bleeding (although I'll take a few spots of blood over pus any day!). I was working on the premise that humans are advised to wait for the scab to drop off naturally so it can't be too dissimilar for piggies.

I read Billie's story, it was so inspiring to read how the treatment you gave is similar to what I am doing. And also hard when it got worse after getting so much better, so I am prepared for that to happen. Sending big thank you hugs for all the advice I gleaned from your posts x

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

Thinking of you and Diego. I adopted a guinea, Amelie, with terrible bumblefoot. Had to be bandaged etc too, basically similar to what you're doing. You seem to have made better strides with Diego though. Good on you for that, it needs persistant care which I didn't always manage.

I'm interested to read about the cyst under Diego's mammary gland because a different oldie guinea of mine, Suzie, had a cyst beside her mammary gland tumour. I don't know if Diego has a tumour there? Suzie did anyway and kept going for about 2.5 years anyway with the tumour somehow emptying via the cyst. I was at the vet's an awful lot with her but it was worth it for her (and me). She was such a little fighter.

 

[Pamb01]

No evidence of a tumour, although one vet was adamant it was a tumour and advised her to be PTS, however she was fighting so I took my lead from her and opted for the op. A different vet did the op and found it was a cyst, removed the sac and some surrounding tissue that had gone a bit manky. They were concerned as she refused to eat when she came round, and wouldn't take the rescue food they had. She is fussy and will only eat critical care at an exact temp so when she came home I gave my OH the instructions for it as I was at a hospital appointment. He was less than forceful with her and was convinced she was going to die. I got home and refused to let her not eat, shovelled it in and the next day it was like nothing had happened. She is resilient like that. They put her on baytril for that and it made her pee pink, amongst other side effects she didn't like so I will avoid for as long as possible- she hates the probiotics I give her when she is on it too.
X

 

[Urmel]

In addition to all the stuff you're already doing (which seems great, keep it up!), make sure that the puppy pads are always completely dry. Put extra pads on top in areas where the piggies sleep and pee, and exchange them daily if necessary. We have dealt with bumblefoot on a limping pig, and besides the uneven walking, moving less and lying around in slightly moist spots was definitely part of the issue. Once it's all healed well enough that open wounds are no longer an issue, you might want to consider switching to more absorbent bedding, such as hemp with a wood or straw pellet underlayer. Puppy liners are pretty absorbent, but when the piggies pee on them, the wet spot is just a bit larger and dries a little bit more slowly than with some other types of bedding. This is no issue at all for most piggies but it can make a difference for a piggy that is less mobile and pees where it sleeps just a bit more often. In our case, only one of 15 piggies we've had on liners has ever struggled with bumblefoot. After we made the switch to hemp lining, the recurring bumblefoot issues in our limping piggie disappeared almost completely.

 

[Pamb01]

Having a rant, and I know you guys will understand. Was due to go to Glasgow for Xmas to spend the week with my OHs family. With Diego needing all the attention ATM the plan was to take her with us via a travel cage (she travels really, really well), regular breaks and lots of fluids filled veggies to get her through the journey. The only warm place in the house for her is in the room we sleep in, and we had a plan. OH spoke to his mum tonight to be told that no the plan will not be allowed to work for positioning in case the TV gets damaged though moving it, Diego will have to go in the dining room. She is too old to have such extremes of temp, if we pack her normal cage with hay she'll eat that and not her food this missing out on vital nutrients she needs right now, and it is just not fair on a piggies that is elderly, ill and put of sorts from the journey. I am so angry that a TV has been put before the life of Diego. I get the concern for the TV but what about for Diego.

Looks like Christmas with my piggie whilst my OH and the dog go to Glasgow. I remember now why I hate this time of year, it is too stressful and the expectation to spend it with family regardless of other issues is just not right.

Sorry, rant over. Piggo comes first, always xx

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

Piggos first, in-laws second at best, TV-"health" rank 1000.

 

[Pamb01]

In addition to all the stuff you're already doing (which seems great, keep it up!), make sure that the puppy pads are always completely dry. Put extra pads on top in areas where the piggies sleep and pee, and exchange them daily if necessary. We have dealt with bumblefoot on a limping pig, and besides the uneven walking, moving less and lying around in slightly moist spots was definitely part of the issue. Once it's all healed well enough that open wounds are no longer an issue, you might want to consider switching to more absorbent bedding, such as hemp with a wood or straw pellet underlayer. Puppy liners are pretty absorbent, but when the piggies pee on them, the wet spot is just a bit larger and dries a little bit more slowly than with some other types of bedding. This is no issue at all for most piggies but it can make a difference for a piggy that is less mobile and pees where it sleeps just a bit more often. In our case, only one of 15 piggies we've had on liners has ever struggled with bumblefoot. After we made the switch to hemp lining, the recurring bumblefoot issues in our limping piggie disappeared almost completely.

Ah that is great, thanks lovely! I was thinking about fleece but this is a great alternative! X