[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Scrabble's bumblefoot

[Debbie Jones]

First and foremost, a thousand thank yous to the many of you who
responded so very kindly to my appeal for advice about SCAMP Scrabble's
pododermititis, or bumblefoot. I have been overwhelmed by your kindness
and helpfulness. Please forgive me if I don't acknowledge all your emails
and postings separately, but I have just got back from petsitting without
access to the Internet, so have a backlog to attend to, and just can't
find the time. To the person who suggested contacting Vedra at the CCT, I
am a paid-up BAR student and do have her contact details, but I know the
rodentologists at Cavies Castle work very closely with her, helping her
run her workshops and so on, so I don't think she would have anything to
add to their advice, and I find them much more accessible. They even came
here to do health checks a few years ago on all the Dolly Mixtures plus
visitors, and I trust them completely. Sadly they say there's not really
a cure, but that it won't kill him unless he bleeds to death.

My local vet prescribed another course of Marbocyl, plus an antibiotic
ointment, Panolog, to be applied twice daily after cleansing with
Vetadine. I thank those of you who suggested bandages, especially the
person (Sarah maybe?) who described in great detail how to apply these. I
spent 45 minutes this morning bandaging both feet, but by the time I had
changed the bedding in his cage one was already off - I would never make
a vet nurse! I find the feet/ankles are so swollen there isn't really
anything to wind the bandage around, if you can imagine that. But I will
persevere, because I can see the bandages are needed to keep the ointment
in contact with the wounds, otherwise as soon as I put him down the
ointment is rubbed off onto the fleece. Keeping him immobilised is not
the answer, as then he just sits in his own wee and that goes all over
his feet. This vet didn't prescribe Metacam, but the previous one did, so
I have put him back on it, as he has been whimpering a little. I am
continuing to give him 0.5ml liquid Vitamin C every day.

I worry terribly about quality of life. Poor Scrabble has lost two much
loved cagemates this year. I'm pretty sure the problem first became acute
when he went into a depression after the departure to the Rainbow Bridge
of Fidget. They had been together almost 5 years. Now he is depressed
again because he has just lost Zebra - he had known Zebra as a neighbour
all Zebra's life. I have Scoot's and Soturi and Minstrel's cages up
against Scrabble's, so he can see/hear/smell them, even touch noses, but
so far he hasn't shown interest in them, although Scoot is desperate to
get into his cage. Scoot was with Scrabble for a while in early summer,
whilst I tried to bond Zebra with Soturi, and Scrabble seemed happier
than he was alone, but I felt Scoot was dominating him - sometimes he
would mount Scrabble or push him. I never saw fighting or violence, but I
just felt Scrabble deserved better at his time of life.

The feet remain very swollen. There are no scabs as such, and the wounds
look clean. They are just raw patches of flesh with no skin on, if you
can imagine that. It's how I'd imagine a foot would look if a blister had
just been removed. They are constantly damp, and often bleed - there are
little patches of blood all over his vet bed, which I change morning and
evening.

Scrabble is still very keen on his food. He wheeks when I go in at salad
times, eats all the salad he is given and a good deal of his dry mix. He
is also eating hay, which I try to keep away from his feet but rarely
succeed because he pulls it all out onto the vet bed. But that is his
life now really - eating, resting and having me treat him and dose him
twice a day. That does, of course, include big cuddles and kisses - he is
such a brave, patient boy. I also have to empty his anal sac once or
twice a day. But of course, floor time is out as he can't really run
around and has no one to run around with. When he was outdoors in the
hutch and run, with Fidget and then with Zebra, he loved to wander around
the run eating grass and sunbathing, but autumn has come so they are now
all indoors. His room is heated (the only one in the house which is at
present!), so he is comfortable - but is that enough? I worry about the
impact of combined loneliness and pain on the quality of his life.

It's still early days with this Panolog ointment - maybe it'll work,
especially if I can master the knack of bandaging. I'm willing to stick
with it a month, and the Marbocyl (this will be the second month of that,
but there was a break since the first). Corine has suggested an ear
treatment from the US which sounds promising, though extortionately
expensive and possibly beyond my means as I am on benefits at present (2
job interviews tomorrow). But am I right to continue to try to find a
cure when I've been advised that there isn't really one? How can I tell
whether I am doing it for him or for me? Has anyone used Metacam really
long term? I have heard it can cause colitis - I can't bear to think I'd
be causing him more pain.

Sorry, this is far too long again. Many thanks again for all your advice
- I am encouraged that some of you have achieved promising results. I
will keep you posted if there is any change.

Debbie

"We patronize them for their incompleteness, 
for their tragic fate of having taken a form so far below ourselves. 
And therein we err, and greatly err. 
For the animal shall not be measured by man. 
In a world older and more complete than ours 
they move finished and complete, gifted 
with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, 
living by voices we shall never hear. 
They are not brethren, they are not underlings; 
they are other nations, caught with ourselves 
in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners 
of the splendour and travail of the earth". 
Henry Beston

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