Feet Cookie's Medical Thread

[Jess12345]

Hello! I believe my guinea pig, Cookie, has a spur on one of his front feet? I looked at some other threads on here and it doesn’t really look like an extra nail to me, or a case of bumblefoot, but I would love some other opinions in case I’m wrong.
I hadn’t noticed it before (I hadn’t even noticed it the last time I trimmed his nails), so I think it may be new? Is that abnormal?

im going to try and attach some pictures, but please forgive me if they aren’t the best. Cookie doesn’t really like to sit still when being held, and my camera didn’t want to focus?



Thank you for your time!

 

[bpatters]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

Have you soaked his feet to make sure it's not dried poop??

If it's a spur, you can trim it. Just don't trim so closely that you make his foot bleed. See https://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html#spurs.

 

[Jess12345]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

Have you soaked his feet to make sure it's not dried poop??

If it's a spur, you can trim it. Just don't trim so closely that you make his foot bleed. See https://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html#spurs.

I just noticed it not long ago, so i haven’t yet. Do I just soak his foot with warm water? Or do I need epsom salt (I think that’s how you spell it) to add to it?

 

[Jess12345]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

Update: I soaked Cookies foot in some warm water for a while (not too long though, since the water started getting cold rather quickly) and nothing seemed to change, it didn’t soften or loosen or anything like that? It still feels very attached to his foot, and I’d still as hard as it was before. I don’t know if I should try soaking his foot longer, or if I should just go ahead with the idea that it’s a spur?

 

[Jess12345]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

I really hate replying to my own thread so much but I’m going to give soaking it another shot. I think i May just be too impatient.

 

[Jess12345]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

Really long story short, this time I soaked his foot for at least thirty-ish minutes in warm water, and a tiny bit seemed to come loose? The biggest portion wasn’t budging so I went ahead and clipped it off (I didn’t make his foot bleed, thankfully) and he didn’t seem to be in pain as I did it. I’m still unsure as to what exactly it was, but it’s off his foot now. If it is a spur I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if it grows back.

 

[amarinello489]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

I just found spurs on the front feet of one of my girls for the first time. she never had them before, but I have only had her for a year. I only noticed because she would flinch each time I touched her foot to clip her nails. Then i noticed she had these long things growing off of her feet. She's kept on aspen. Mystery as to why she grew them as the others didn't. I trimmed them back myself and she seems a little happier for it.

 

[Jess12345]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

I do wonder why Jin didn’t have a spur like Cookie did. They’re on the same bedding (paper bedding; we don’t really use a specific brand, but we do tend to get critter care or carefresh more than any others) and everything so it is a bit of a mystery. I didn’t notice anything on his foot before I made this thread originally, and I have no knowledge of him having any Spurs before I got him either. I really only noticed it because he was squeaking more than he usually does, and when I picked him up I saw it. It had to have appeared between the time a clipped his nails and then, so it really just popped out of nowhere. Or at least, popped out of nowhere to my knowledge, since he didn’t show any signs of discomfort before I noticed the spur. Anyway, all of this is said under the assumption that Cookie did indeed have a spur, rather than poop stuck to his foot lol.

 

[Mike221]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

One of our boars gets spurs on both of front feet.
We use a special cream from Gorgeous Guineas to treat it every evening.
Spurs always fall off by themselves, but new ones keep growing.

He is just prone to it I guess. Or maybe the way he walks.
It's been like that for 2 years and never had any issues.
Just make sure it doesn't get infected so he doesn't develop bumblefoot

 

[ItsaZoo]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

I was trimming my guinea pig’s nails tonight and noticed a spur. I didn’t know what it was at first. She has pink skin so this was light colored and looked like a piece of a veggie stuck to her paw. I trimmed it down with a nail clipper, then checked the rest of her feet. They looked kind of dry. I didn’t have anything to use as a moisturizer so i used some olive oil on a swab. I rubbed it into her feet, then kept her busy with some fresh veggies. Hopefully this is okay until I can take another look at her foot tomorrow.

 

[bpatters]

Re: I think my guinea pig has a spur, would like some other opinions.

That's exactly what you should have done.

You might want to get some cold pressed virgin coconut oil to use instead of olive -- it has both antibacterial and antifungal properties, and can be used on a lot of skin conditions.