Dirty Feet?

[Silvershine]

I just adopted a new female piggie (SO cute). She looks very young, maybe only three weeks or so. I have her quarantined in a 2x2 C&C cage, and she is pooping a lot. I've noticed, though, that she seems to be stepping on her poop a lot, and with those sharp little claws, she seems to be getting some of it stuck to her feet (between her toes, on the bottoms of her feet). It doesn't seem to bother her at all, but it seems weird to me. Whenever I hold her, I get little bits of poop on my hands. I was wondering two things.

1. Is this a serious problem? She doesn't have any trouble walking, and she rests on those feet normally, so she doesn't seem to have bumblefoot or anything.

2. Any tips for cleaning her feet and keeping them clean? She's really jumpy and nervous, so it's hard to get her to sit still long enough for me to even get a good look at her feet, much less clean them. Should I give her a bath?

I'm going to introduce her to my other piggie on Friday, and then she'll be in a 2x4 cage, which I was thinking might help.

[Pretty Piggies]

I can't answer your first question. But for your second question I would suggest holding her and calming her, then gently scrub her feet with a warm wet rag. Try to clean her cage as much as possible so she can't step in the poop. Maybe when she gets older you could litter train her.

[pinky]

Try trimming the tips of her nails to see if that helps. What kind of bedding are you using? You might want to spot clean more often to see if that helps. I had one pig that always had poop stuck on her feet. The others didn't but it seemed like she had larger feet and the poop would wedge between her toes. I was constantly cleaning off her feet.

[Silvershine]

I'm using fleece for bedding. I think her nails are a little short to trim right now, but the frequent spot cleaning works pretty well. I think when she's in a bigger cage, she won't be standing in her own poop as much. Thanks!

[bpatters]

The bigger cage will help. So will trimming her nails so they aren't so sharp.