[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Pododermititis (Bumblefoot)

[Julie Juwles Johnson]

Hi Debbie

You've got a tough problem there.       My sister's guinea pig Angus had the exact same problem.      His foot just kept getting fatter & fatter, and one night it bled profusely, to the point we thought he might bleed to death.   The vet told us to stem the flow of blood with pressure, and that did work.       Then my sister decided to take him into the vet.   They said there was a very large lump in the foot, putting pressure inwards, and as it was giving him problems with walking and he was not moving around a lot and getting fatter & fatter (he was 1600grams), therefore it should come off.     The vet ended up taking the whole of the bottom pad off the foot and things seemed to be hunky dory.

Then.......... my sister noticed the thing was growing back and was causing Angus pain, so she took him back to the vet.   They inspected him under anaesthetic, to discover a very large tumour growing in the foot.    They removed that, stitched it up, and we collected him that afternoon.    We were told he would be groggy from the anaesthetic for a couple of days and to treat him as normal.      (Of course, that was wrong advice and bad communication).    Angus ended up dying as a result of the operation.  The vet had omitted to tell us that with a small animal such as piggies, when they go under anaesthetic, they can very quickly become hypothermic and should be kept very warm!!!!!      When we finally rang the vet after-hours to advise Angus just didn't seem to be "right", and the vet said to get him into a heat pad, keep stimulating his system by rubbing and rolling him around, but by 1am he was dead because he obviously was suffering from hypothermia. 

The moral of the story is we don't know what the outcome would have been, had we been given correct information on his after-care.   It is possible that the cancer could have spread within his body, he appeared to be a sick piggy when we took him to the vet, so he probably had reduced chances of survival from an operation because of that.  But, I unfortunately don't have any treatment advice as a result of our experience with Angus.   

However, my sister's other piggy, Hamish, has had mammary tumours removed by another vet who is expert in piggy care (the tumours are  malignant so we don't know how long we will have him), but after the surgery naughty Hamish pulled his stitches out, which left a big gaping wound in his tummy.   My sister was given instructions by this vet to bathe in a solution of salt water, to which my sister added a couple of tinsie drops of tea tree oil (that's an Australian product, but I think it is available worldwide).    Then, we made sure to put petroleum jelly (vaseline) on the wound area to keep it supple.      She bathed him twice a day, and hey presto, the wound healed beautifully!     Perhaps it might be worth trying this fairly easy method with your baby's foot?    I sometimes think we try to look for complex ways to cure problems, when the old fashioned methods can do a good job.   Tea tree oil is an antiseptic, antibiotic type solution, I've used it on myself with great outcomes.

If you have trouble obtaining tea tree oil in France, and if I'm allowed to under quarantine laws of France, I would be happy to send a very small vial of the tea tree oil to you in France.  I would wrap it very carefully so it arrives unbroken.   Just email me directly Debbie, if you need me to do this.

I wish you the best of luck with your dearest Scamp - it doesn't matter if you have 1 or 30 piggies, they are all important members of one's family aren't they?   They are very precious creatures indeed.

Kind regards
Julie, Donald & Wheeky
(forever missing & loving Muppet, Teddy, Dougall, Archie & Brandy, even though they are at the Bridge)

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Debbie Jones 
  To: gpdd at gpdd.org 
  Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 6:09 PM
  Subject: [Gpdd] [HEALTH] Pododermititis (Bumblefoot)


  I am ashamed to confess that my SCAMP, ex-LAPS piggie Scrabble, is still
  suffering from pododermititis, or bumblefoot, as is much easier to spell!
  You may remember I did mention it some weeks back in relation to LAPS, as
  I feel Scrabble's weight contributed to his foot problems. I don't know
  if his weight made him less mobile, or his lack of mobility made him fat,
  and I am well aware that there is a strong possibility that he has heart
  problems as well, which will have made him less mobile. I am also very
  well aware that this is a disease primarily associated with negligence,
  poor housing/bedding/care, so feel terribly responsible, although I have
  always tried to give him optimal care, as all the other Dolly Mixtures.
  The feet first became a worry to me soon after his cagemate, Fidget,
  died, I think back in February/March. I rang Cavies Castle, Penny's
  rodentologists, who suggested Intrafungal, but that has done nothing. I
  took him to the local vet, who prescribed Marbocyl (a drug from the
  Baytril family), but a month on that had had no effect. I started giving
  him 0.5ml liquid Vitamin C as soon as I identified the problem, and still
  do. I also put him on Vetbed or thick acrylic blankets instead of hay,
  which I change morning and evening. He is sharing with Zebra now, and
  they are good friends, I have seen Zebra licking Scrabble's eyes.
  Scrabble also has anal impaction problems, which I deal with as required.
  A new French piggie website, a kind of spin-off from Guinealynx,
  recommended I bathe the feet in chlorohexine then apply Preparation H, so
  I have been faithfully doing that for about a month. But the feet are
  just getting worse and worse. Initially they were just very swollen, but
  gradually they have developed open sores, which are growing in size
  daily. I am currently bathing in warm salt water and applying Preparation
  H afterwards, but to no avail. I am seeing the vet with him tomorrow - a
  different vet this time, my usual one,who was on holiday last time I
  went. She is not piggie-savvy, as you know, but is more willing to try
  things I suggest that I have seen on the Net or wherever. The locum vet
  seemed to want me to believe he knew what he was doing. Scrabble can
  hardly walk now. He does get around, but it is by walking on the sides of
  his feet rather than the actual pads, and in fact it is these sides,
  rather than his pads, that have the open sores. These sores are not
  scabbed over, they are just raw skin. I don't think there is pus. He is,
  amazingly, still eating well, and really enjoying the Indian summer we
  are having here in France, stumbling out of his hutch to a sunny spot and
  sunbathing there most of the day. He takes his treaments very well, but
  must wonder why I am doing all this to him yet not curing his poor feet.
  I know Peter Gurney said he'd never had a piggie die from this condition,
  and the rodentologists said the only way he could die from it would be if
  he bled to death. There doesn't seem to be a lot of bleeding at present,
  although the evening I noticed it was when I removed a bit of hay caught
  up in his foot and somehow ripped it open and it bled profusely. That was
  back in April, and there were no open sores then, and little swelling. It
  has been gradually getting worse since then. Of course, I have read how
  the condition can spread to kidneys, spleen, liver and other organs and
  cause a painful death, which I dread happening. I think I can honestly
  say that the sores are very clean now, with all the soaking and bedding
  changes. But they are not in any way healing. I don't suppose many people
  here have experienced this with their own, very well cared for piggies,
  but you may have come across it in rescued piggies. I would be REALLY
  grateful to hear of any successful treatments slaves have used, and any
  additional management strategies. I have read about injecting antibiotics
  straight into the sores, but as my vet is really not piggie savvy at all,
  I am loathe to suggest it to her. But are there any ointments people have
  successfully used? Would covering the sores improve the situation, and if
  so, what's the best way to cover them? If you can give me generic names
  for any treatments, so much the better, as trade names are different here
  in France. I feel terribly guilty and inadequate, and would be grateful
  for any advice.
  Debbie (slave to 11 Dolly Mixtures)

  "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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