• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Fungal Infection or start of bumblefoot?

L

LaurenJ

New Born Pup
Joined
Dec 9, 2019
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
85
Location
New Jersey
I am currently fostering a female guinea pig for a shelter as she is on pregnancy watch before she can but put up for adoption - she is very young and I believe they told me she had 2 babies 5 weeks ago but was found housed with a male. We noticed when they gave her to us a week ago, her toes on one of her back feet appear slightly swollen and more red that the other foot and with some flaking skin/fur, and the underside of her foot appears dry and with dry creases and is not the usual shiny smooth skin. I am not sure if this could be a fungal infection or the start of bumblefoot or something else.

Its the foot with the black markings, in the picture. You can also see that the bottom of this foot has a small spot of a hard crust in the middle. I shared this info with the small pet specialist at the rescue center who will relay the info to their vet techs, but she didn't think it would be fungal or we would see other lesions in other areas on the guinea pig. We have had other fosters with fungal infections and we successfully treated them but none of those had anything on their feet. I have my doubts that they have the best knowledge about biggie care so wanted to see what everyone thought of these pictures here. Thank you for your advice.IMG_3002.webpIMG_3001.webp
 
I can see the dry crusty skin. I would say just have it checked out by the vet - in person rather than just describing it.
 
Yes - I am waiting for them to let me know when I can bring her back to be seen. In the meantime they suggested we soak with Epsom salt. I sent these pictures as well. Thank you
 
LaurenJ said:
I am currently fostering a female guinea pig for a shelter as she is on pregnancy watch before she can but put up for adoption - she is very young and I believe they told me she had 2 babies 5 weeks ago but was found housed with a male. We noticed when they gave her to us a week ago, her toes on one of her back feet appear slightly swollen and more red that the other foot and with some flaking skin/fur, and the underside of her foot appears dry and with dry creases and is not the usual shiny smooth skin. I am not sure if this could be a fungal infection or the start of bumblefoot or something else.

Its the foot with the black markings, in the picture. You can also see that the bottom of this foot has a small spot of a hard crust in the middle. I shared this info with the small pet specialist at the rescue center who will relay the info to their vet techs, but she didn't think it would be fungal or we would see other lesions in other areas on the guinea pig. We have had other fosters with fungal infections and we successfully treated them but none of those had anything on their feet. I have my doubts that they have the best knowledge about biggie care so wanted to see what everyone thought of these pictures here. Thank you for your advice.View attachment 161971View attachment 161972
Click to expand...

I would have your boy looked at in a hands-on examination by a vet for a possible fungal skin infection.

Bumblefoot is a very localised infection/open sore that is caused by germs getting through a crack in the skin; most commonly on a weight bearing front foot pad. It is a lot less common in well kept pets than you may expect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top