[Gpdd] HEALTH- Mimi's feet

[Penny Charlesworth]

Don't worry about Mimi, Jaime. You can deal with this yourself without 
needing to line the vet's pocket.

Anyone who has a herd of piggies will have come across this condition more 
than once. The little bits of skin are just callouses on the piggy's foot 
and all you need to do is trim them off with a pair of nail scissors.

They do the piggy no harm but might catch on the cage wire or a piece of hay 
and if they break off could cause bleeding and leave the wound open to 
infection. Sometimes the callous grows in such a way that it curls up and 
around the foot. Sometimes they are small lumpy bits under the foot and you 
need to wait for them to grow before attempting to remove them.

Simply cut off what is only dead skin as close to the foot as possible. I 
use my nail clippers for this. My Rodentologist has a neat little pair of 
tiny scissors for the same purpose. I always check my piggies for these 
callouses when I am trimming their nails. I sit them up on my lap with the 
offending foot between the fingers of one hand and trim with the other. They 
don't feel a thing.

There is a pigture on GL of one shape of callous. GL calls them spurs. Same 
thing. The pigture is at the bottom of the page.

http://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html

Some piggies are prone to these callouses and they are likely to regrow. 
Most never get them at all.

Hugs for Mimi.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.