Sudden Bumblefoot?

[Auster]

Hi all

I’m very worried about one of my sows. She’s been absolutely fine with no signs of problems or anything, she was even perfectly fine this morning when pestering for her breakfast. However I immediately noticed upon getting home from work that she had blood on her fur and one of her front paws had swollen significantly. On close inspection it looks exactly like bumblefoot with the huge swelling and the big scab, but how could it develop so quickly? In all our years keeping piggies we’ve never had a case of it before because I’m on top of their cleaning and they have a lot of space to run around but I’ve done research. The earliest I can get her seen by an exotic vet is Monday but I’m worried she might need attention before then. Will she be alright until then? We have some metacam which we’ve just given her. The only vets we can get to out of hours aren’t exotics but if the swelling doesn’t go down I don’t think I’ll have a choice. Does anyone know if it could be something else?

Thank you

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all

I’m very worried about one of my sows. She’s been absolutely fine with no signs of problems or anything, she was even perfectly fine this morning when pestering for her breakfast. However I immediately noticed upon getting home from work that she had blood on her fur and one of her front paws had swollen significantly. On close inspection it looks exactly like bumblefoot with the huge swelling and the big scab, but how could it develop so quickly? In all our years keeping piggies we’ve never had a case of it before because I’m on top of their cleaning and they have a lot of space to run around but I’ve done research. The earliest I can get her seen by an exotic vet is Monday but I’m worried she might need attention before then. Will she be alright until then? We have some metacam which we’ve just given her. The only vets we can get to out of hours aren’t exotics but if the swelling doesn’t go down I don’t think I’ll have a choice. Does anyone know if it could be something else?

Thank you

Hi
I am very sorry.

Most vets have emergency slots on the day if you ring first thing in the morning, usually around 8.00 or 8.30 am before the clinic opens but if needed see a general vet or at the worst ask the clinic for their advice on how to get your girl through the weekend.

If it has happened that suddenly on both feet without warning, then your girl should be seen before the weekend if at all possible since she may need an antibiotic as well as topical treatment because there could be an underlying immune system or blood circulation lowering problem.

Guinea Lynx :: Pododermatitis
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

 

[Auster]

Hi
I am very sorry.

Most vets have emergency slots on the day if you ring first thing in the morning, usually around 8.00 or 8.30 am before the clinic opens but if needed see a general vet or at the worst ask the clinic for their advice on how to get your girl through the weekend.

If it has happened that suddenly on both feet without warning, then your girl should be seen before the weekend if at all possible since she may need an antibiotic as well as topical treatment because there could be an underlying immune system or blood circulation lowering problem.

Guinea Lynx :: Pododermatitis
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Thank you for the advice, it was good to know that I needed to keep an eye out for other feet swelling up as I had never heard of it being related to a blood pressure issue. Very thankful that didn’t happen with her and everything else stayed normal.

I did end up taking her to an emergency vet on Saturday (no exotics or specialists anywhere near us are open out of hours) because by Saturday morning it had started to turn a worryingly dark colour and I was scared it could be turning necrotic. The vet thought it was either bumblefoot or some kind of trauma like a broken bone. We had already started her on Epsom salt baths twice a day and metacam; she was also given an oral antibiotic, an antibiotic cream to put on after the baths, and an opioid painkiller because she was obviously in a lot of pain. The opium stopped her from repeatedly re-injuring herself as she wouldn’t stop biting at her foot beforehand.

Took her in to see the normal exotics vet on Monday who knows me quite well after all these years and knows the conditions my piggies are kept in, she said that even though the appearance seemed to mimic bumblefoot, it was basically impossible that it could have developed so quickly. She didn’t want to x-ray unless they had to go in for surgery (and she wanted to go the least invasive route possible since the treatment path would be the same), but she thinks my piggie (Neri) has managed to fracture a bone in her toe or foot while we were at work and a lot of the damage has been done by Neri gnawing at it. Heaven only knows how she’s managed to break a bone, we’ve had the same setup for years without issue and I can’t think what she must have done it on!

Anyway she’s been weened off the opium today and so far she hasn’t started biting it again so fingers crossed. It still looks terrible but the colour is looking more normal and I think today the swelling has started to go down so I’m really hopeful she won’t need any more vets trips and she’ll recover without issue. Hopefully sooner rather than later because all these treatments are exhausting me and her!

Thank you again!

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for the advice, it was good to know that I needed to keep an eye out for other feet swelling up as I had never heard of it being related to a blood pressure issue. Very thankful that didn’t happen with her and everything else stayed normal.

I did end up taking her to an emergency vet on Saturday (no exotics or specialists anywhere near us are open out of hours) because by Saturday morning it had started to turn a worryingly dark colour and I was scared it could be turning necrotic. The vet thought it was either bumblefoot or some kind of trauma like a broken bone. We had already started her on Epsom salt baths twice a day and metacam; she was also given an oral antibiotic, an antibiotic cream to put on after the baths, and an opioid painkiller because she was obviously in a lot of pain. The opium stopped her from repeatedly re-injuring herself as she wouldn’t stop biting at her foot beforehand.

Took her in to see the normal exotics vet on Monday who knows me quite well after all these years and knows the conditions my piggies are kept in, she said that even though the appearance seemed to mimic bumblefoot, it was basically impossible that it could have developed so quickly. She didn’t want to x-ray unless they had to go in for surgery (and she wanted to go the least invasive route possible since the treatment path would be the same), but she thinks my piggie (Neri) has managed to fracture a bone in her toe or foot while we were at work and a lot of the damage has been done by Neri gnawing at it. Heaven only knows how she’s managed to break a bone, we’ve had the same setup for years without issue and I can’t think what she must have done it on!

Anyway she’s been weened off the opium today and so far she hasn’t started biting it again so fingers crossed. It still looks terrible but the colour is looking more normal and I think today the swelling has started to go down so I’m really hopeful she won’t need any more vets trips and she’ll recover without issue. Hopefully sooner rather than later because all these treatments are exhausting her me and her!

Thank you again!

Thank you for coming back. Less than optimal blood circulation can contribute to bumblefoot in the elderly (it's the infection not the swelling) - together with sitting a lot in their faeces and a lowered immune system.

It all pings off each other and can happen even with the best of care and constant replacement of bedding.

I was wondering as well as bumblefoot usually doesn't happen as quickly; hence why I recommended to see a vet as soon as possible. Sight unseen we can only pick up through the filter of your own perception.

Wishing her a good recovery.

 

[Auster]

Hi

For whoever might still be interested, I have a complicated and devastating update.

Neri passed away earlier this afternoon. I don’t know what to do with all this grief and anger.

It’s been about five weeks since she first injured herself and we took her into the emergency vet and then to her proper vets. The proper vets said she wouldn’t need an x-ray and the current treatment path would work. It didn’t. She wasn’t healing. She went back in on Monday for the x-ray she should have had five weeks ago. I was right, she had broken her toe so badly the fractured pieces of bone were just moving around loosely and never would have healed naturally. They also found signs of some kind of brittle bone issue or osteoarthritis (most likely genetic, she was a faux-albino), so this is probably why it was such a messy break. We still have no idea how she broke it. They operated today to remove most of that toe and to cut out as much of the infected tissue as they could. About an hour after the operation she crashed and went into cardiac arrest and they couldn’t save her. They called me this morning saying she was under the weather (she was fine when we took her in) but they still said she wasn’t high risk for surgery.

I feel like they should have done this five weeks ago before it got to this point. I feel like it never should have gone on this long, especially with me telling them to do the X-ray back then. I feel like they’ve killed her.

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt that Ashleigh Vets in Chorlton has caused more harm than good. A few years back one of my piggies had a heart condition and the vet made a typo in the medicine dosage so we’d been giving her nearly triple what she should have been on - and then she died soon after. It was our first experience with a piggy with a heart disease so of course we trusted the specialist vet and didn’t question the dosage for weeks until we needed a refill. This is just one example.

I want to find a new vet for them but I don’t know where to go. I’m so angry and lost. I loved Neri so very much. She was only 3 1/2 years old. She had the most incredible personality, she had the most beautiful soul. She was my rock when I lost a family member last year. I’m sorry if this is incoherent rambling, I’m just beyond devastated and can’t stop crying.

Thank you for reading

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

For whoever might still be interested, I have a complicated and devastating update.

Neri passed away earlier this afternoon. I don’t know what to do with all this grief and anger.

It’s been about five weeks since she first injured herself and we took her into the emergency vet and then to her proper vets. The proper vets said she wouldn’t need an x-ray and the current treatment path would work. It didn’t. She wasn’t healing. She went back in on Monday for the x-ray she should have had five weeks ago. I was right, she had broken her toe so badly the fractured pieces of bone were just moving around loosely and never would have healed naturally. They also found signs of some kind of brittle bone issue or osteoarthritis (most likely genetic, she was a faux-albino), so this is probably why it was such a messy break. We still have no idea how she broke it. They operated today to remove most of that toe and to cut out as much of the infected tissue as they could. About an hour after the operation she crashed and went into cardiac arrest and they couldn’t save her. They called me this morning saying she was under the weather (she was fine when we took her in) but they still said she wasn’t high risk for surgery.

I feel like they should have done this five weeks ago before it got to this point. I feel like it never should have gone on this long, especially with me telling them to do the X-ray back then. I feel like they’ve killed her.

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt that Ashleigh Vets in Chorlton has caused more harm than good. A few years back one of my piggies had a heart condition and the vet made a typo in the medicine dosage so we’d been giving her nearly triple what she should have been on - and then she died soon after. It was our first experience with a piggy with a heart disease so of course we trusted the specialist vet and didn’t question the dosage for weeks until we needed a refill. This is just one example.

I want to find a new vet for them but I don’t know where to go. I’m so angry and lost. I loved Neri so very much. She was only 3 1/2 years old. She had the most incredible personality, she had the most beautiful soul. She was my rock when I lost a family member last year. I’m sorry if this is incoherent rambling, I’m just beyond devastated and can’t stop crying.

Thank you for reading

BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry for your loss. A worst case scenario in terms of the break is pretty unusual and sadly, even with the best uof uoperating vets, you will never get a 100% success rate. I have lost piggies during or after operations as well; no vet can predict how piggies react to GA. Unfortunately, you would have lost her without the operation, too, so you have bought Neri a chance at a life beyond her badly damaged foot.

You have not failed Neri as an owner because you have done your best for her.

When you lose your pet under somewhat traumatic circumstances, you usually focus your anger onto yourself with strong feelings of guilt or as strong, mindless anger outside onto another person or instution. You seem to be doing both at once.
Both the anger and guilt are an expression of how deeply you feel but they do not necessarily reflect facts in a balanced way. Unfuortuonately, you will never find a perfect vet who will always get it right. Vets are normal people, not know-all magicians. They are also the profession with the highest suicide rate because they, too, care deeply and get badly upset when things go wrong.

You can officially complain to the clinic management via letter or email and of course you are entitled to register with another vet. There is however a great mobility within the profession, so you cannot necessarily rely on seeing the same experienced vets for years and younger vets will have to gain experience as well. Hopefully, a local member can advise you.

Please try to be kind with yourself and contact the free Blue Cross pet bereavement services to talk it out of yourself. Talking is the best thing you can do for yourself. Bad luck happens but Neri has sadly drawn one of the big ticket.
Pet bereavement and pet loss
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I'm very sorry that you lost Neri under such devastating circumstances.
Take care!