Sore foot

[Momma2000]

I brought my three boys home 4 days ago. Snickers had a small cut on his foot when I went to pick him up. So, the rescue vet gave him antibiotics and probiotics. She also told me to soak his little foot four times a day in epsom salt water, then dry it, put neosporin on it, and wrap the foot. I just feel so bad for the little guy. Is there anything else that you would suggest? He limps a little bit, but he has been eating and drinking fine.

[lemonham]

If Snickers will keep it on, maybe keep gauze on the foot to keep things out of the cut. When we adopted Penelope she was missing a toe with an open wound. She wouldn't get Penny to wear gauze but kept her on clean fleece to avoid getting things in the wound. So make sure that you don't use regular chips as bedding.

[Momma2000]

He is on fleece. I have tried to wrap it, but he won't keep anything on it. Thanks for the advice. I just needed reassured.

[lemonham]

Yep you are doing your best! Keep the fleece as clean as possible and just watch that it doesn't get infected. Good luck!

[ThePigAlchemist]

I'd suggest being extra-careful about keeping the fleece clean to avoid infection.

Ninja'd, but I just wanted to let you know that if there aren't any underlying issues, you probably won't have to worry for very long. I had a guinea pig get an extra toe pulled off (so he had a fairly large wound on his foot) and after only a couple days of being really careful, he healed up pretty nice. :)

[Momma2000]

I started this post two weeks ago. Snickers foot healed up, but then 4 days later another sore appeared. the vet says he has early stages of bumblefoot, and he put him back on antibiotics for four weeks this time. I am once again soaking in epsom salts, and I can now use neosporin and wrap his foot. My question is this, he has been running around the cage a lot. Should I move him to a smaller cage to force him to rest his poor foot?

[Momma2000]

can anyone help?

[cavycomforts]

I'm not sure how correct this is but I would have thought movement would help to drain the wound, if it is bumblefoot it will be full of pus/fluid.

You can make little booties from gauze and vet wrap which do stay on if you can wrap it higher than the ankle joint. Is it on the front or back foot? Xx

[cavycomforts]

Also ongoing antibiotics are not ideal to keep them on for long periods of time. So after he finishes this lot, I suggest you just treat the symptoms if they recur x

[Momma2000]

It is his front foot. He does keep the bandage on now. Thank you for the feedback on keeping him mobile. And it maked sense that movement would keep the blood flowing to the area.

And, i thought the antibiotics were needed to cure the infection?