Feet Gimbly's bumblefoot history

[4boipigs]

Gimbly was adopted from Texas Rustlers in Dec 2020. They treated him for bumblefoot, but idk how bad the infection was. It did deform his foot to where it always looks swollen. It reminds me of a walrus flipper! His toes curl to the side and I imagine all of this could be contributing to what I'm seeing on his feet. Both front feet have these black areas - it's worse on the right. I don't know if the left foot had bumblefoot. It is also misshapen but not as bad as the left. He doesn't seem to be in pain, no discharge, smell, scabs. Is this something we should see the vet about or watch/treat at home?

I hit enter on accident before I could finish the post so I will be adding pics!

 

[4boipigs]

It's nearly impossible to get a good shot of his foot, so I included bad pics that kind of show the dark spot on his right foot. His nails seem long, but they are cut as short as I can get them. They are angled in a weird way that makes it very hard for me to cut them compared to normal nails.

 

[bpatters]

See if you can find any help here. Be sure to read the links at the bottom.

https://guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html

 

[4boipigs]

New development. I noticed a huge area of hair loss on his side. Idk if it is ringworm...it is nothing like Maple Leaf's ringworm. This is a massove bald spot with pink skin and some white crust. I know ringworm can come back, but this developed way different from Maple Leaf's lesions...so guess we should go to the vet.

 

[bpatters]

It definitely looks fungal. You could try a topical antifungal a couple of times a day for several days and see if that makes any difference.

Google "ringworm" and click on Images. You'll see what ringworm actually looks like, which is far different than many people think. It's called RING worm because there's an actual ring, and Gimbly's lesion looks sort of similar. But some of those images have the white plaques inside, which he also has.

 

[4boipigs]

The areas on his feet looked bigger yesterday also. I don't see any other patches on him or Maple Leaf. This is like one single big patch on his left side along his ribs. I've read ringworm can reoccur if you don't disinfect the area well enough. When Maple Leaf's was spreading it was random tiny patches all over. Gimbly never got it, probably because we got on meds soon enough.

I do have some shampoo left from before, so I used that. We also have intrafungol, but I'm not dosing them til I know what's happening.

I'm wanting it to not be ringworm...because I'm going to have to dose for a month and then try harder to clean. I switched hay to SPS and am ordering it off Amazon, so I wondering about mites also.

There's some other things about Gimbly...how he's always had that random diarrhea caused by veggies and he's felt a bit skinny. I noticed he's been super itchy too so maybe it's all just simple. But all the itchy areas aren't on the bald spot. When Maple Leaf had ringworm, those areas were always itchy. Gimbly will chew on himself and make sounds while doing it. I've also noticed this big dark spots around his nipples, like humans have, but I haven't seen this in guinea pigs.

 

[4boipigs]

Gimbly is going to our vet tomorrow. I have been checking him over but I don't see it spreading, and Maple Leaf still looks fine. I showed the pics to my coworkers where I work, but no one is really sure.

 

[4boipigs]

So Gimbly definitely has bumblefoot and the black I'm seeing is scabs. Doctor also thinks his feet are swollen, but they have always been big and she could immediately see he had foot issues before.

They did a woods lamp on the bald areas, but nothing glowed. We're doing a fungal culture, and then both boys got Revolution in case it is mites. Little Bear, Chico, and Amigo have all had Revolution so I'm not too worried about that.

What I'm most worried about is the vet said his teeth are a bit long. I'm already concerned Chico has long front teeth. Money isn't the issue right now, but I really am tired of trouble with these boys. I do everything I can for them and it always seems like it isn't enough.

Gimbly now has a pain med and antibiotic. As always, hoping this resolves easily.

 

[bpatters]

I wouldn't do anything about his teeth until something tells you, besides the vet opinion, that they're giving him trouble.

 

[4boipigs]

Is there anything else I can do for his poor little front feet? I bought some new washable pee pads for the kitchen in case the original/older ones are starting to get worn out. I'm changing them daily instead of twice a day, and making sure there's no wet spots at all. I've always changed the kitchen every couple of days and fleece usually twice a week. And they get poop picked up twice a day at the least. I feel bad with his front foot being so swollen. Granted it's probably not a "bad" case of bumblefoot, but I don't want it getting worse of course. Is it true that a pig whose had bumblefoot before is prone to getting it again?

As for his bald spot, nothing has changed and it hasn't spread, so I'm not really concerned about it rn.

 

[bpatters]

Good info on bumblefoot over at GL: https://guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html

What kind of bedding is in the kitchen? If it's not fleece, it might help to put fleece down over it.

As far as I know one episode of bumblefoot doesn't predispose a pig to another.

 

[4boipigs]

What kind of bedding is in the kitchen? If it's not fleece, it might help to put fleece down over it.

(broken link removed)

Originally they served as the main bedding for the pigs before I got fleece. Recently I noticed they seemed to not soak up urine as well and I could smell ammonia, which has never been an issue in the past. So maybe they need to be retired. I also think Kooltail is an Asian brand, possibly knock off, so I made sure to buy something that, afaik, isn't a knock off. The difference in thickness/softness with the new pads is very noticeable.

I've used paper bedding in the kitchen before, but it's such a mess and I hate having to buy paper bedding.

 

[bpatters]

The top link doesn't work. But if you can smell ammonia, that's definitely a possible cause of the bumblefoot.

But puppy pads often have a deodorizing agent in them, and that could also affect Gimbly's feet.

 

[4boipigs]

The top link doesn't work. But if you can smell ammonia, that's definitely a possible cause of the bumblefoot.

But puppy pads often have a deodorizing agent in them, and that could also affect Gimbly's feet.

These are the pads I've been using - (broken link removed)

They're washable and not disposable so I'd hope so they don't have any chemicals on them and even if they did, it's long been washed away.

 

[4boipigs]

The swelling has gone down, but I'm not sure how his feet are doing. I don't think the areas are spreading at least. As for the bald spot, no change there either and no spreading. Maple Leaf has no bald spots either. I'm starting to wonder if maybe some fur got pulled out when they went in a house together and tried to get out or got spooked.

 

[4boipigs]

Gimbly's bald spot is growing in. I'm still suspecting there was a mishap somewhere and it all got yanked out. It hasn't spread. His foot was looking really bad the other day...the scab was coming off and it appeared to be spreading on both feet. This morning I took a good look, and on his left it seems to be healing much better. Not sure on the right foot, but it wasn't as bad as it was. For a while there was a deep purple area like it was spreading, but it's decreased.

 

[4boipigs]

I FINALLY got a clear pic of Gimbly's foot. His left one is looking great! His right foot is clearing up a lot better than I thought. He had sores on the black part which look to be gone, and the big spot on the pink area is shrinking. It looks to just be a scab and isn't ulcerated or moist anymore.

 

[4boipigs]

It's been a month since we started treatment and his condition isn't resolved. Ironically the vet called to check on us yesterday (I didn't answer...probably should have). The spot on his foot is bigger than that pic, but up until last night it had been just a scab. Now it looks like it is starting to get funky again. It is also still swollen. I'd been giving the Metacam past the 14 days the vet said, decided to stop since it was time to stop the Orbax (21 days) also. Now it's back to being swollen. So we'll need to go back to the dr.

The vet did ask how his skin was, but by now I'm convinced it was just a mishap from Maple Leaf's shenanigans. It's all grown back.

 

[4boipigs]

Going to the vet on Thursday. I'm going to see if they'll have us do soaks on his foot. That's what the rescue did for him after all.

 

[bpatters]

Have you read the GL links on pododermatitis that I posted above. There are some gnarly cases on there that have cleared up very well.