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Swollen Toe

Martina97

Martina97

New Born Pup
Joined
Dec 10, 2015
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Location
Milan, Italy
Hi everyone,
This is Martina from Italy. I'm very worried about one of my two piggies. Last Tuesday, while I was trimming his nails, I noticed that he was missing one and that he had a swollen toe. I can't really think about when he could have lost it - never found any bloodstain in the cage nor the toe itself. I immediately took him to the vet who prescribed him 10 days of antibiotics and told me to come back in a week (which would be Friday 13th). The vet also said that if the infection didn't reach the bone yet, the toe should start to deflate in days. The thing is that after six days of antibiotics my piggy'so toe is always the same. I'm very, very worried about that. I know Friday is not far away, yet I can't stop blaming myself for having not noticed that the nail had fell off. I'm afraid that the infection could have reached the bone already. By the way my piggy is okay, eats and jumps and calls me all day long.
Did anyone have any similar experience? Every suggestion will be well accepted.
(Also, please forgive any language mistake.)
 
No language mistakes at all your English is very good! No experience of this but just hoping your piggy gets better.
 
Martina97 said:
Hi everyone,
This is Martina from Italy. I'm very worried about one of my two piggies. Last Tuesday, while I was trimming his nails, I noticed that he was missing one and that he had a swollen toe. I can't really think about when he could have lost it - never found any bloodstain in the cage nor the toe itself. I immediately took him to the vet who prescribed him 10 days of antibiotics and told me to come back in a week (which would be Friday 13th). The vet also said that if the infection didn't reach the bone yet, the toe should start to deflate in days. The thing is that after six days of antibiotics my piggy'so toe is always the same. I'm very, very worried about that. I know Friday is not far away, yet I can't stop blaming myself for having not noticed that the nail had fell off. I'm afraid that the infection could have reached the bone already. By the way my piggy is okay, eats and jumps and calls me all day long.
Did anyone have any similar experience? Every suggestion will be well accepted.
(Also, please forgive any language mistake.)
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

It is not uncommon that nails catch on something and are torn out. This can also impact on the whole toe and the nail may never grow back. It doesn't impact on your guinea pig's movement.

Please don't panic. Does the toe look very red and is it hot to the touch? In this case, it is infected and I would contact your vet again for another round of antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory/painkiller. What medication is your piggy on (what weight and brand/dosage)?

If the toes is still swollen, but not inflamed, i.e. hotter than the other toes, then don't worry; it is likely staying like that for a goodly while or even forever. ;)
I've had this happen with piggies of mine. It has neither impacted on their quality of life nor their longevity, and they haven't needed any further treatment for their toes. Please keep in mind that toe without a nail is looking rather blunt and wide at the end.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi and welcome

It is not uncommon that nails catch on something and are torn out. This can also impact on the whole toe and the nail may never grow back. It doesn't impact on your guinea pig's movement.

Please don't panic. Does the toe look very red and is it hot to the touch? In this case, it is infected and I would contact your vet again for another round of antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory/painkiller. What medication is your piggy on (what weight and brand/dosage)?

If the toes is still swollen, but not inflamed, i.e. hotter than the other toes, then don't worry; it is likely staying like that for a goodly while or even forever. ;)
I've had this happen with piggies of mine. It has neither impacted on their quality of life nor their longevity, and they haven't needed any further treatment for their toes. Please keep in mind that toe without a nail is looking rather blunt and wide at the end.
Click to expand...
Hi Wiebke, and thank you very much for your reply!
First of all: this morning I've managed to take a good picture of my Garfunkel's (i.e. my piggy) nail, I'll upload it so you can see it yourself. It seems to me that the nail has already started to grow back. The toe doesn't look red nor hot to the touch. It is just very swollen. Also, my piggy is taking Baytril twice a day (it should be 16 notches of an insulin syringe, my piggy weighs around 825 grams), no painkillers on purpose, because the vet was afraid that, without any pain, maybe the piggy could start biting/stressing the toe.
By the way, what you said about your piggies is reassuring me a lot. I really hope it could stay like that without any furter treatment/problem.
I'll keep you updated as soon as I see the vet again!

20180409_191526.webp
 
Martina97 said:
Hi Wiebke, and thank you very much for your reply!
First of all: this morning I've managed to take a good picture of my Garfunkel's (i.e. my piggy) nail, I'll upload it so you can see it yourself. It seems to me that the nail has already started to grow back. The toe doesn't look red nor hot to the touch. It is just very swollen. Also, my piggy is taking Baytril twice a day (it should be 16 notches of an insulin syringe, my piggy weighs around 825 grams), no painkillers on purpose, because the vet was afraid that, without any pain, maybe the piggy could start biting/stressing the toe.
By the way, what you said about your piggies is reassuring me a lot. I really hope it could stay like that without any furter treatment/problem.
I'll keep you updated as soon as I see the vet again!

View attachment 84384
Click to expand...

I think that you and your piggy will have to live with the toe as it is; it is not going to affect the mobility.
It can be that one of the joints has moved. I had a swollen finger for years when it happened to a finger of mine in PE; it's never quite gone straight.

However, there is no sign of an infection, so I would recommend to just finish the course of bayril and otherwise stop worrying.
 
Hi everybody, here's an update.
Yesterday my piggy and I returned to the vet. The toe's size and color are always the same. Talking about the toe, the vet said that the fact that the toe is the same color of the other ones is good, so she thinks that it is still that swollen because the piggy might have broken it. She also said that you obviously can't plaster such a small toe, so we're simply going on taking antibiotics for another week and then we'll see the vet again.
Hoping for the best! Personally I'm happy because there's no sign of infection, better a broken toe than an open wound.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.
Glad that Garfunkel’s toe is mending.
They do like to scare us.
Your English is excellent- no need to apologise.
 
It doesn't look inflamed or infected, which is great. It's possible the toe was broken in the initial incident (I've also had a pig rip a nail off- it can happen easily!) and has not set completely straight. It doesn't look as though it is festering or anything, though, which is good!
 
Hi & Welcome to our friendly forum. It is only natural to worry, but Garfunkel will be fine.
By the way your English is better than mine and I've lived here for 64 years. :D
 
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