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Swollen Toe

K

kendrab

New Born Pup
Joined
Dec 26, 2020
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95
Location
South Africa
Hi all, I need some advice.

My skinny pig, Snowflake, has had a swollen toe for 2 weeks now. When I saw that it was swollen, I immediately started on Betadine soaks and antibiotic cream. It got much better and then last Saturday night when I checked on him it was quite a bit worse. I got a vet appointment on Monday morning and he has gotten an antibiotic and anti inflammatory injection everyday since, Monday through to Friday. This morning when I went, my normal vet wasn't there and the vet I saw put Snowflake on oral antibiotics, Baytril, for the next 10 days, this is what my normal vet said she was going to do if it wasn't better.

But then this doctor, who I haven't seen before, said that if it gets worse at all they will remove the toe! My normal vet had never once in seeing her for 5 days straight even mentioned this. I was quite shocked. I understand that in some cases this is necessary, but the vet didn't even mention first getting an x-ray or anything to actually make sure that it would be 100% necessary. His words to me were "just bring him in and we'll quickly take it off," I did NOT like the way he said this! If it does not carry on improving I will be going back (to my normal vet) to see what she suggests. The last thing I want to do is rush into something that might not be necessary when I know that piggies have a higher risk with regards to anaesthetic, but I also need to do what is best for Snowflake. The vet this morning also mentioned that the there will be a lot of scar tissue so the swelling will take very long to go away completely, is this true? It makes sense but to me but I want to make sure?

As a side note, Snowflake's normal vet specialises in exotic animals whereas the vet who I saw today specialises in dogs and especially in dog breeding.

Snowflake's house gets cleaned everyday, he has a fleece bedding with newspaper underneath. I have started keeping a visual diary of his toe, with the attached pic being taken this evening.

I would really appreciate any advice and recommendation with regards as to what I should and shouldn't do.

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My Guinea pig had to have her toe taken off. I was scared for her but she is completely fine now.
 
I’ve no experience of this. Can you get a consult with the exotics vet?
 
As mentioned above I would book to see the exotic vet next week and see what she says. Did she say what she thought may have caused it?
 
That's a strange one, as the nail and toe look ok in front of the lump... and that lump is a bit near the foot to make removal and recovery easy, even if it was medically justified... this does need an experienced vet opinion, it looks rather red and swollen which suggests infection, possibly a splinter or thorn from the hay? This needs a proper examination to determine the cause, and certainly a course of antibiotics and anti inflammatory medication to begin with, then if it doesnt improve an xray as you say, before any surgery decisions are taken... hope you can get some more experienced vet advice x
 
Siikibam said:
As mentioned above I would book to see the exotic vet next week and see what she says. Did she say what she thought may have caused it?
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Every few months he gets a bout of bumblefoot but has never had it bad or to the point of antibiotics. There weren't any scratches or sores anywhere on the foot and he had a tiny bit of inflammation on the foot in the beginning but that has since cleared up. So she said she can't be sure what caused it.
 
PigglePuggle said:
That's a strange one, as the nail and toe look ok in front of the lump... and that lump is a bit near the foot to make removal and recovery easy, even if it was medically justified... this does need an experienced vet opinion, it looks rather red and swollen which suggests infection, possibly a splinter or thorn from the hay? This needs a proper examination to determine the cause, and certainly a course of antibiotics and anti inflammatory medication to begin with, then if it doesnt improve an xray as you say, before any surgery decisions are taken... hope you can get some more experienced vet advice x
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Thank you for this, I will definitely go back to my normal vet as she never rushes into anything and is very thorough, it was just unfortunate that she wasn't there today. There were no sores or scratches on the toe or foot, the only thing that was new was the two little black dots on his nail, but it doesn't seem to be anything. Since he was born, that toe's nail has been a little abnormal, but never caused any issues and he has just turned 3.
 
I think if there are no obvious sores or breaks in the skin then waiting for a proper examination is best. Possibly he might have jumped and landed funny and broken a toe bone, or it could be arthritis- my late grandmother had arthritic finger joints that looked similar! I've not seen anything like this in a piggy but it might improve just from a course of prescribed loxicom/metacam pain relief anti inflammatory medicine while the vet does some xrays to figure things out.
Healing wheeks anyway, its frustrating when you dont get the best vet experience but if there are no open sores its probably better to wait a few days and see an expert vet rather than rush into a surgery without a proper examination and diagnosis x
 
PigglePuggle said:
I think if there are no obvious sores or breaks in the skin then waiting for a proper examination is best. Possibly he might have jumped and landed funny and broken a toe bone, or it could be arthritis- my late grandmother had arthritic finger joints that looked similar! I've not seen anything like this in a piggy but it might improve just from a course of prescribed loxicom/metacam pain relief anti inflammatory medicine while the vet does some xrays to figure things out.
Healing wheeks anyway, its frustrating when you dont get the best vet experience but if there are no open sores its probably better to wait a few days and see an expert vet rather than rush into a surgery without a proper examination and diagnosis x
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I will definitely discuss the possibility of arthritis, when he was getting injections last week they only gave him an anti inflammatory for 3 of the 5 days and during those days it seemed to get better than while he was only on the antibiotic injection. It is very frustrating as I have really battled finding an experienced enough vet where I live.
 
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