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Hello I'm new here

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I live in the United States and I have 2 female guinea pigs
And they both have this like dry flap of skin on their front left paw 🐾
https://imgur.com/AfKYrGx
(image) is this a sign of bumblefoot or a spur
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. It looks like a spur to me. It does look a bit redder than the rest of the foot. So I’d keep a close eye on it for a while.
 
I'm so glad i found this forum reddit doesn't always help
Thank you is this something i should be going to a vet for ?
This is what it looked like after we cleaned my moms piggie ill try and get a pic of my piggies foot tomorrow
 

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Welcome

A foot spur is a harmless area of overgrown/dry skin. They grow on the sides of the feet. It is best left alone.
If it catches, pulls, bleeds then do see a vet.

Bumblefoot is open sores, wounds, or inflamed areas on the foot pad itself. These always require vet care as it is where infection has set in.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Welcome

A foot spur is a harmless area of overgrown/dry skin. They grow on the sides of the feet. It is best left alone.
If it catches, pulls, bleeds then do see a vet.

Bumblefoot is open sores, wounds, or inflamed areas on the foot pad itself. These always require vet care as it is where infection has set in.
Click to expand...
Oh okay I'm gonna try and get my other guinea pigs foot in a picture and upload in the comments tomorrow
 
We always advise if you are worried about your pet then a vet check is a good idea to put your mind at rest. If it was one of my pigs I personally wouldn’t go to the vet yet. I’d keep an eye on it.
 
weepweeps said:
We always advise if you are worried about your pet then a vet check is a good idea to put your mind at rest. If it was one of my pigs I personally wouldn’t go to the vet yet. I’d keep an eye on it.
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Okay thanks 😊
 
lavendergirl1 said:
I live in the United States and I have 2 female guinea pigs
And they both have this like dry flap of skin on their front left paw 🐾
https://imgur.com/AfKYrGx
(image) is this a sign of bumblefoot or a spur
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

These are spurs from dead skin overgrowth. They are perfectly harmless and will generally not get in the way of your piggy moving around. About a quarter of pet piggies will develop them.
Please do not interfere unless a harder spur is sticking out to the side where it could catch and rip at the edge between the dead and live skin. If you cut too close to live skin, it is incredibly painful and can cripple. We recommend to see a vet or vet nurse with guinea pigs if a spur really needs cutting (thankfully this is not often the case).

The skin colour on the foot pads is also perfectly normal and healthy. Please keep in mind that in pink skin, the level of redness is determined by the blood flow through the skin, which is how guinea pigs control their body temperatures. The feet are the main heat shedding areas next to the ears.
You only need to worry about fuchsia coloured red localised spots if they are punctual and well defined and not repeated on the other foot. Please also be aware that the more you treat feet, the more you soften the hard skin on the soles and allow bugs to get into tiny cracks. It is often better to leave be as long as there is no open sore/infection and letting the normal body defences do their work.

Guinea Lynx :: Guinea Pig Feet and Foot Problems
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not?
 
Wiebke said:
Hi and welcome

These are spurs from dead skin overgrowth. They are perfectly harmless and will generally not get in the way of your piggy moving around. About a quarter of pet piggies will develop them.
Please do not interfere unless a harder spur is sticking out to the side where it could catch and rip at the edge between the dead and live skin. If you cut too close to live skin, it is incredibly painful and can cripple. We recommend to see a vet or vet nurse with guinea pigs if a spur really needs cutting (thankfully this is not often the case).

The skin colour on the foot pads is also perfectly normal and healthy. Please keep in mind that in pink skin, the level of redness is determined by the blood flow through the skin, which is how guinea pigs control their body temperatures. The feet are the main heat shedding areas next to the ears.
You only need to worry about fuchsia coloured red localised spots if they are punctual and well defined and not repeated on the other foot. Please also be aware that the more you treat feet, the more you soften the hard skin on the soles and allow bugs to get into tiny cracks. It is often better to leave be as long as there is no open sore/infection and letting the normal body defences do their work.

Guinea Lynx :: Guinea Pig Feet and Foot Problems
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not?
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So I shouldn't clean it?
 
lavendergirl1 said:
So I shouldn't clean it?
Click to expand...

You cannot clean off dead skin that is fimly attached to the foot (A spur is like a hard skin callus that keeps growing, just often a bit softer) and if it is something caked on (which is impossible to decide from that blown up blurry picture), then it will come off on its own or your piggy will clean it off themselves.
 
Wiebke said:
You cannot clean off dead skin and if it is something caked on (which is impossible to decide from that blown up blurry picture), then it will come off on its own or your piggy will clean it off themselves.
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I just don't want it getting infected
 
This is my other guinea pigs foot
She hates her feet touched 🥲
 

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lavendergirl1 said:
This is my other guinea pigs foot
She hates her feet touched 🥲
Click to expand...

Thank you, that is much clearer and more helpful. Those feet are a bit redder than they should be and look somewhat sore.

What is your bedding and how often do you change it; what do you wash it with if you are using fleece?
 
Wiebke said:
Thank you, that is clearer. They are a bit redder than they should be and look somewhat sore.

What is your bedding and how often do you change it; what do you wash it with if you are using fleece?
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This first and second picture is my moms guineas foot and the and the ones I just posted are my guinea pigs feet and we use fleece we wash them twice once with soap and once without and dry them with nothing but themselves no dryer sheets or anything
 
Wiebke said:
Thank you, that is clearer. They are a bit redder than they should be and look somewhat sore.

What is your bedding and how often do you change it; what do you wash it with if you are using fleece?
Click to expand...
I change the bedding Mondays and Thursdays and micro clean in between we also have pee pads under the bedding
 

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lavendergirl1 said:
This first and second picture is my moms guineas foot and the and the ones I just posted are my guinea pigs feet and we use fleece we wash them twice once with soap and once without and dry them with nothing but themselves no dryer sheets or anything
Click to expand...

How often do you change them? What most people are not aware of it that urine particles will build up on top of the fleece while in use as not everything is wicked down and that an occasional hotter wash may also help to remove that and any bugs that can build up with just low temperature washes.

What kind of soap/detergent are you using? Sorry, our posts have crossed.
 
Wiebke said:
How often do you change them? What most people are not aware of it that urine particles will build up on top of the fleece while in use as not everything is wicked down and that an occasional hotter wash may also help to remove that and any bugs that can build up with just low temperature washes.

What kind of soap/detergent are you using? Sorry, our posts have crossed.
Click to expand...
Wash in hot then wash in cold we use gain then no soap change is mondays and Thursdays with micro cleaning in-between and we have urine pads under the fleece
 
Wiebke said:
How often do you change them? What most people are not aware of it that urine particles will build up on top of the fleece while in use as not everything is wicked down and that an occasional hotter wash may also help to remove that and any bugs that can build up with just low temperature washes.

What kind of soap/detergent are you using? Sorry, our posts have crossed.
Click to expand...
No worries your good yall are the experts lol
 
I would recommend to wash the fleece occasionally at 140 F / 60 C. It may shrink a bit though. Even more so if you boiled the fleece at 200 F / 90 C.

It does however contribute to minimising the risk of bumblefoot since it eliminates bugs building up in the surface of the fleece that can get through tiny cracks in the skin of the weight bearing pads.

Unfortunately, I am UK based so perhaps a US based forum member could recommend a suitable cream that doesn't dry out the skin (can cause cracks) to apply only very thinly and only as long as the soles are sore.
 
Wiebke said:
I would recommend to wash the fleece occasionally at 140 F / 60 C. It may shrink a bit though. Even more so if you boiled the fleece at 200 F / 90 C.

It does however contribute to minimising the risk of bumblefoot since it eliminates bugs building up in the surface of the fleece that can get through tiny cracks in the skin of the weight bearing pads.

Unfortunately, I am UK based so perhaps a US based forum member could recommend a suitable cream that doesn't dry out the skin (can cause cracks) to apply only very thinly and only as long as the soles are sore.
Click to expand...
I talked to guinea dad and they said I can use neosporin or Bacitracin
 
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