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Post by courtney11111 on Oct 27, 2012 4:22:01 GMT
I am hoping someone can suggest a new treatment or antibiotic for my guinea pig who has had severe bumble foot for just over a year now. At first his vet had him on bay trill and his foot was bandaged. After quite some time had gone by with no improvement his vet switched antibiotics and decided to leave the foot unbandaged. We have tried many, many combinations of oral & topical medications. Right now he is on back on bay trill, metacam, and silver sulfadiazine is applied to the foot before it is bandaged. The foot stays very swollen but the blister will heal just before it appears again in a different place on the same foot. I have been vigilant about keeping the cage clean and giving his medications as the vet instructed. It has been such a long time and I am not seeing any improvement. He has a very good vet, but he is just out of ideas. I am too. Has anyone had this same experience or know of any new treatment I could try? At this point I am willing to try anything. Thank you in advance.
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Post by Kayleigh on Oct 27, 2012 9:47:53 GMT
Hi sorry to hear about your pig, how is he in general? Eating ok etc?
Continue with the antibiotics, Now what im going to suggest really is time consuming but should hopefully work. (unless of course you have already tried it)
My suggestion is soaking his foot 3 times a day in a hibiscrub/warm water solution for 5 minutes each time. Then apply the cream sulfadiazine after. Hopefully after a few weeks you should see a great improvement.
Which feet/foot are infected? Also what bedding is being used? Sadly bumblefoot can take a long time to cure. The fact hes had it so long is slightly worrying, has the vet done an xray to determine how infected it is, and if the bone is infected?
Fingers crossed the above works. Keep us posted
Kayleigh
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Post by Orlaith on Oct 27, 2012 9:54:46 GMT
My girl had urine scald on her feet and I found that applying fuciderm, letting that soak in and then putting a layer of vaseline on her feet three times a day was very helpful. If you've already tried fuciderm then according to Gorgeous Guineas soaking the feet in dilute iodine can help. They also sell an ointment that has worked for a lot of people, so you might like to give that a try. Keep us updated! |
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Post by courtney11111 on Oct 28, 2012 4:40:40 GMT
Hi Kayleigh,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate it.
About his appetite: it has decreased some. He started to loose weight & I was concerned so I started giving him Oxbow Critical Care. His weight is now back to normal and he is eating again but not enough for me to stop giving the powered meal replacement. Do you know if they can become dependent on it?
I am using CareFresh Ultra bedding. Do you know of a better or softer bedding I should try?
If I try the soaking 3 times a day that you recommended, should I bandage the foot after each time? I don't mind at all that it is time consuming, I will try anything that others have had good results with.
Thanks again.
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Post by Kayleigh on Oct 28, 2012 9:04:44 GMT
Aslong as hes eating thats good. I personally would take him off carefresh and put on a simple flat bedding of newspaper and a flat cotton towel for a few weeks. Again time consuming but may be a little easier on the foot.
Yes i would bandage it up for the first couple of weeks, until the sores are less imflammed etc. When it starts to improve somewhat then id soak, apply cream and then leave so the air can get to it.
When you say a powdered meal replacement, what exactly is it? If its not critical care. Im curious!
You can try feeding a good quality pellet with critical care sprinkled over it, this is how i enticed my boar to start eating properly again. Plenty of fresh veg and hay. As the veg will keep condition on too. Beetroot, corn, spring greens etc are all good for weight.
Keep us posted with the progress. Fingers crossed it works
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Post by courtney11111 on Oct 30, 2012 21:42:55 GMT
Kayleigh,
Wonderful ideas! I am so glad I found you!
Of course, I give fresh veggies and salads everyday, but I have never tried beets. As soon as I read your post, I went to go get some. Both of my piggies loved them.
When I wrote "powered meal replacement" I did just mean Oxbow Critical Care. Sorry if I got your hopes up about a new product. It had never occurred to me to just sprinkle the power on their food before. So in addition to mixing with water and feeding with a syringe I will try that to ease him back into a normal routine.
I have a vet appt. this afternoon where I hope the one suture on the bottom of his foot will be removed. If we do have to keep it bandaged a little longer I will start soaking his foot 3 times a day as soon as it comes off.
I am also going to ask my vet about the fungiderm that Orlaith mentioned. I don't want to do too much at once and possibly aggravate it, but I feel like I have some new ideas to try.
Thank you.
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Post by Kayleigh on Oct 30, 2012 22:25:21 GMT
Ahh ok, yes just try sprinkling the cc over the food. It may be worth offering some softened pellets to in a seperate dish. Iv triedamy things to get pigs eating again. Oats are great for weightgain too.
Let us know what the vet says...hopefully the foot will start to heal once the soaking starts.
Time consuming but usually has better results than cream and bandage only.
Maybe keep a photgraphic diary of the foot, so you can see the improvement.
Keep us posted.
Always here and happy to help wherever we can.
Kayleigh
Sent from my GT-I9000 using proboards
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Post by courtney11111 on Oct 31, 2012 2:50:16 GMT
While searching for new products I found one that looks promising. It's all natural and the one person I know who has used it said it worked well. I thought I would share it with you just in case you ever have the need (and I hope you don't.) It's called Vetericyn. It says it's a one step wound & skin care for cleaning and debriding. I'll let you know what I think of it once I have tried it, if you like.
You mentioned that you have had some trouble, at times, with getting your guinea pigs to eat as well. One thing that I have tried and got good results from is Mirtazapine. I'm not sure if you have tried this before, but it has seemed to help some for my piggie. Although, my vet warned me that you must be very careful with proper dosing with this medication.
Just thought I'd mention it in case it is something you might need sometime.
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Post by Kayleigh on Oct 31, 2012 8:00:25 GMT
Iv never heard of it, ill google it later (when in on my laptop) to see if it goes by another name. Thankfully cc and a mish mash of baby foods and oats has always kick started my pigs eating.
As for the foot, i would strongly suggest trying the soaking etc first, try not to do too many different things as you may not know which works best.
Whichever you decide to try let us know how it goes and keep us posted. Its always good to hear treaments working and to see the progress.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using proboards
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Post by Orlaith on Oct 31, 2012 14:30:46 GMT
Keeping photos of progress is a great idea as it helps you when you feel like there's no improvement. Here's a link to the post where I showed how Hilda's feet had improved. Looking at them every day I felt like she wasn't getting better, but the pics clearly show a big difference: click here |
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Post by Kayleigh on Nov 1, 2012 20:07:07 GMT
Hows your pig doing? What did you decide to do treatment wise?
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Post by courtney11111 on Nov 3, 2012 1:27:37 GMT
I have a quick question for you guys. Today at our appt. the vet decided to remove the bandage so the foot could get some fresh air, but he wanted to leave the one stitch in that is on the bottom of his foot for a little while longer. Should I wait until the suture is removed before I start soaking his foot or just go ahead and start now? Also, about how much should I dilute the Hibiclens?
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Post by Kayleigh on Nov 3, 2012 7:50:36 GMT
The suture shouldnt cause any troubles pf ne effected by the soaking i would dilute the hibiscrub 50/50 with warm water just now. You only need enough to cover the foot and soak for 5mins at a time. Air getting to the foot is a good thing aslong as its kept clean hence the housing on flat towels may be a good idea
Bumblefoot is one of these bacteria infections that never go away 100%
Sent from my GT-I9300 using proboards
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