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Hazelnut Has To Have Toenail Surgery

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Lilly

Lilly

Adult Guinea Pig
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Whilst washing his grease gland yesterday I noticed what looked like a growth on one of his front paw toenails. I had just trimmed his toenails 2 weeks ago & not seen any problems. I have been cutting his toenails for over 3 years now & not seen any problems.

Well, I popped him in for a consult at the vet's as soon as he was dry. Turns out it is a curled toenail with hardened debris caught up in the curve. He is risking either infection from the buildup of debris or the toenail eventually piercing his foot. So, he is booked in Monday morning for a cut right back to the point before it curls. As this will bleed & be painful I am told he will have to have light anesthesia (gas). Now I am worried as he has never had anesthesia before & had a dreadful nightmare last night wherein Hazelnut's eyes had detached themselves & there were rivulets of blood running down his back!

How could a toenail turn so nasty so quickly and after all these years?
 
In terms of the debris, is it something you can clear out by soaking his foot in warm water for awhile? One of my pigs has corkscrew nails, for lack of a better term (they start to twist and turn very quickly) and she will sometimes get poop and miscellaneous crud under her nail, but I've always been able to dislodge it by soaking the foot in warm water for a bit and then picking at it. Then I trim the nail back as short as I can without hurting her (hard because the quick is long in her nail, so I have to trim short lengths often.)
 
Are you able to show us a picture of his toe. From your description, it sounds like something that is easily sorted yourself rather than risk possibly unnecessary surgery.
 
Dindypig said:
Are you able to show us a picture of his toe. From your description, it sounds like something that is easily sorted yourself rather than risk possibly unnecessary surgery.
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As requested, here are photos. I just don't fancy trying to trim this!



 
Freela said:
In terms of the debris, is it something you can clear out by soaking his foot in warm water for awhile? One of my pigs has corkscrew nails, for lack of a better term (they start to twist and turn very quickly) and she will sometimes get poop and miscellaneous crud under her nail, but I've always been able to dislodge it by soaking the foot in warm water for a bit and then picking at it. Then I trim the nail back as short as I can without hurting her (hard because the quick is long in her nail, so I have to trim short lengths often.)
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He had his feet soaking for quite some time in the warm water whilst I was washing his grease gland. I did try to remove the debris whilst drying him off but no luck. It was one of the reasons I rushed to the vet - I reckoned it might be a growth of some sort. She confirmed it was just debris as she was able to flake off a bit, but really the stuff just isn't coming off. Check the photos above & see if you can think of anything I might do to at least get the crud off.
 
My piggies often get this & I tend to just scrape it off with my finger nail or use a baby wipe. I'm on nail clipping duties at my local rescue this morning & will probably come across at least one piggy like this. If it's the front outside nail which do have a tendency to curve then I cut the nail where I would normally cut it & then break the build-up away with my finger nail.
 
Stewybus said:
My piggies often get this & I tend to just scrape it off with my finger nail or use a baby wipe. I'm on nail clipping duties at my local rescue this morning & will probably come across at least one piggy like this. If it's the front outside nail which do have a tendency to curve then I cut the nail where I would normally cut it & then break the build-up away with my finger nail.
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Ta, it is so good to know you have seen this before. Yes, it's the front outside nail that is curving. I have the weekend so will definitely give it a go as per your suggestion. Is this something that happens as piggies get older, do you know? This is the first time for Hazelnut & I have had him for over 3 years.;
 
It looks like a normal curled nail to me. It's very common. The hardened poo in the curl can be a fiddle to remove, a pair of narrow tweezers might help.
 
Miss moo used to have a curly nail very similar that used to get caked in poo. We used to soak in warm water with a little shampoo to dislodge the poo and scrap it carefully off. We had to trim it often and use a little file on it. Love to Hazlenut x
 
Many of Linney's nails are similar to that (they seem to want to grow in a corkscrew fashion.) We just soak/pick at any crud that gets stuck, and then trim the nail bit by bit. I also have a heavy-duty metal nail file (that she hates) that I can use to sand off the edges further. I have found that nails get thicker/more likely to curl as pigs get older. Those cute little baby nails seem to be corkscrewed monstrosities by the time pigs hit 4 for 5!
 
Freela said:
Many of Linney's nails are similar to that (they seem to want to grow in a corkscrew fashion.) We just soak/pick at any crud that gets stuck, and then trim the nail bit by bit. I also have a heavy-duty metal nail file (that she hates) that I can use to sand off the edges further. I have found that nails get thicker/more likely to curl as pigs get older. Those cute little baby nails seem to be corkscrewed monstrosities by the time pigs hit 4 for 5!
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Ah, well Hazelnut will be 4 in November! I will do my best with this today to at least get the crud off so I can see where to cut the nail. I had already determined that whether I or the vet sorts this initially, I will have to trim that nail more often so it does not curve.
 
sport_billy said:
Miss moo used to have a curly nail very similar that used to get caked in poo. We used to soak in warm water with a little shampoo to dislodge the poo and scrap it carefully off. We had to trim it often and use a little file on it. Love to Hazlenut x
Click to expand...

This is one of the many reasons why I love this forum - every time I panic with something new with my boys, I discover many on here have faced the same problem! It makes me feel calmer.
 
Just an update. Try as we might with my son holding him while I worked away, I just could not dislodge enough of the debris to cut the nail back. It just made the nail too thick for the clippers & I was scared to try & cut it anyway.

So he kept his appointment with the vet. A little whiff of gas, an injection of pain killer & the deed was done. Hazelnut gobbled up his packed lunch of cos lettuce immediately after.

Now, I am going to trim his nails a little once a week instead of once a month so that this does not happen again.
 
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