Laura-CCC4
Senior Guinea Pig
Gwenivere is my lovely deaf PEW girlie, an absolute sweetie but she seems to be quite prone to medical trouble. She's a rescue pig so age is uncertain, but it's thought she is around 4.
After bathing her this morning I had a good look over her and came across not one, but three very sore feet. I had been treating her back feet with Perfect Paws ointment and Nurofen as there was a little swelling around the joint of her hind leg and a lot of redness. I treated her for a week and it seemed to ease right off, so I stopped the treatment and a few days later, this is how it's developed:
There is a 'scab' on there, hard to tell from the photo but it looks clear under the scab i.e it doesn't look like pus (yet, anyway). Lots of redness there though - well, purpleness if truth be told!
I checked her front feet. I had noticed before now that her toes were 'thinning' out, looking a bit more gnarled, which I felt was her age. But I wasn't expecting to see this:
Her other front foot has the same problem, but to a lesser degree.
I suppose the yellow, 'crusty' part could be a foot spur but it is the condition of the foot pad itself that worries me and makes me wonder if it's actually the start of bumblefoot. The spurs I have cut off have a clear attachment to the pad, these two Gwen's got now seem to be part of a scab. There is a little swelling where the redness is. I'm reluctant to trim the ''spur'' off because I can see some redness, blood, pretty far down it...which again leads me to think it's not a spur at all.
Any ideas, anyone come across the same sort of thing before?
I am also wondering if she has heart trouble. I get exactly the same feeling with Gwen, as I did with Tuppy. I was sure Tuppy had heart trouble, all her symptoms pointed to it and I never got a diagnosis or treatment because I was told her heart sounded fine. With Gwen, the symptoms are along the same lines but a even more notable:
- Inactivity - she's a sedentary pig, always has been, and very quiet in character;
- Bouts of grumbly breathing - previously put down to allergy but questionable for heart problem;
- Not laying down - she will not lay down as every other pig does, instead hunching up on her feet to sleep and her breathing rocks her back and forth;
- Deep, heaving breathing from her sides;
- Changing ear colour - when stressed her ears go very pale (in the bath this morning, they were tinged with yellow right on the edges), and when sedentary they range from pale pink to deep red/purple;
- Pale nose and mouth - sometimes a vivid pink colour, but increasingly variable, more often pale;
- Weight loss - over the course of the last year she has had bouts of losing a little weight, then stabilising for a few months, losing again and stabilising etc.
- "Pot belly" appearance - thin elsewhere on her body, but quite a chubby (soft) abdomen.
And now the feet.
She's going to Vedra this evening so hopefully I'll have a better idea of what best to do re the feet. If Vedra doesn't think Gwen has a heart problem then I'm going to ask her to give Gwen a full MOT, as something is just not adding up here.
I realise age will be playing a part, some pigs age worse than others and will develop symptoms like those above. But...I don't know, call it a mothers instinct. You know when your pig isn't right, and I've had this same feeling before.
Positive things is she is eating well and is able to walk fine. So it's not all bad. *touch wood*
After bathing her this morning I had a good look over her and came across not one, but three very sore feet. I had been treating her back feet with Perfect Paws ointment and Nurofen as there was a little swelling around the joint of her hind leg and a lot of redness. I treated her for a week and it seemed to ease right off, so I stopped the treatment and a few days later, this is how it's developed:
There is a 'scab' on there, hard to tell from the photo but it looks clear under the scab i.e it doesn't look like pus (yet, anyway). Lots of redness there though - well, purpleness if truth be told!
I checked her front feet. I had noticed before now that her toes were 'thinning' out, looking a bit more gnarled, which I felt was her age. But I wasn't expecting to see this:
Her other front foot has the same problem, but to a lesser degree.
I suppose the yellow, 'crusty' part could be a foot spur but it is the condition of the foot pad itself that worries me and makes me wonder if it's actually the start of bumblefoot. The spurs I have cut off have a clear attachment to the pad, these two Gwen's got now seem to be part of a scab. There is a little swelling where the redness is. I'm reluctant to trim the ''spur'' off because I can see some redness, blood, pretty far down it...which again leads me to think it's not a spur at all.
Any ideas, anyone come across the same sort of thing before?
I am also wondering if she has heart trouble. I get exactly the same feeling with Gwen, as I did with Tuppy. I was sure Tuppy had heart trouble, all her symptoms pointed to it and I never got a diagnosis or treatment because I was told her heart sounded fine. With Gwen, the symptoms are along the same lines but a even more notable:
- Inactivity - she's a sedentary pig, always has been, and very quiet in character;
- Bouts of grumbly breathing - previously put down to allergy but questionable for heart problem;
- Not laying down - she will not lay down as every other pig does, instead hunching up on her feet to sleep and her breathing rocks her back and forth;
- Deep, heaving breathing from her sides;
- Changing ear colour - when stressed her ears go very pale (in the bath this morning, they were tinged with yellow right on the edges), and when sedentary they range from pale pink to deep red/purple;
- Pale nose and mouth - sometimes a vivid pink colour, but increasingly variable, more often pale;
- Weight loss - over the course of the last year she has had bouts of losing a little weight, then stabilising for a few months, losing again and stabilising etc.
- "Pot belly" appearance - thin elsewhere on her body, but quite a chubby (soft) abdomen.
And now the feet.
She's going to Vedra this evening so hopefully I'll have a better idea of what best to do re the feet. If Vedra doesn't think Gwen has a heart problem then I'm going to ask her to give Gwen a full MOT, as something is just not adding up here.
I realise age will be playing a part, some pigs age worse than others and will develop symptoms like those above. But...I don't know, call it a mothers instinct. You know when your pig isn't right, and I've had this same feeling before.
Positive things is she is eating well and is able to walk fine. So it's not all bad. *touch wood*
Her feet do look sore 
Lets hope it is not bumblefoot as it seems strange it is in three of her feet rather than just the odd one.
