Chin Chewing on Leg - Abcsess (Graphic pic)

[Shahna]

This little stinker will not stop chewing on her leg. She saw the vet on Thursday for a ruptured abscess on her leg. The vet put her on antibiotics and recommended that I make a cardboard collar to put on her. I have tried this and she always seems to wriggle out of it in no time. Sarah (rcr) is sending me a "collar contraption" she came up with, but it will not be here for a few days.

I have been cleaning it with a warm salt mixture, but as soon as I clean it she is just right back at chewing it. (I've also cleaned it with a diluted Betadine solution).

Have you guys ever been able to wrap a wound with anything that the chins couldn't chew off immediately? Even if it's something I have to change every 4-6 hours that would be fine. Any input / advice would be greatly appreciated. It's never going to get better if she keeps this up...:hair:

 

[aznmexaggie]

I've seen some vets use X-ray film to make an E-collar. I would make it the same tightness as a breeding run collar (able to slip pinky finger under to the first knuckle) and she shouldn't be able to get it off.

I am on my phone now and the picture is quite small on my screen but it does look painful. I had to wrap Scooter with vet wrap/bandage when I was treating his abscess to prevent him from further damaging the area. If you can get/make an E-collar that fits her, that should prevent her from chewing. It may also prevent her from eating as well too though as it may inhibit her movement to get her head into her food bowl. I believe you are already handfeeding her though anyway, right? After cleansing the area, have you tried wrapping it? If so, did she chew at or remove the bandage? Just wondering if that may be a feasible option until you can get an e-collar on her.

 

[AZChins]

I don't know if it would help to wrap it up.

I'd probably clean it out with Epsom salts until it starts to heal up and not bleed so much. She needs to scab up.

The problem is that it's itchy and annoying so it's hard to keep her from chewing on the wound. You want that scab to form so that the wound can heal.

I just hope she stops chewing at it. Poor baby, that abcess had to have hurt.

 

[Shahna]

I know, it must hurt like heck. It's absolutely heartbreaking to go in there every time and see her leg more raw than the time before.

I have been hand feeding her for a few days now because she hasn't been eating / drinking due to the antibiotics anyway so the collar won't affect that.

Sumiko, I'll get with my vet tomorrow and get x-ray film and try that.

The only tape I have is a cloth / fiber type tape and I'm pretty sure she'd shred it and ingest a wad of fibers. I was wondering if I used a "paper" style tape if that may help... at least until I can get together a collar that she can't Houdini out of.

She was given a prescription for Metacam and I was hoping that would help with the pain and take her mind of it, but she still chews just as much when she's taking it. (AZ Chin - probably the itching you were talking about).

 

[Claire D]

I will give you my take on this FWIW. Some people think wounds heal better by letting them scab over but this is not always the case.
In this situation letting that wound dry out is probably the worst thing you can do with it right now. A scab will "bottle in" any infection, will hide anything which is happening under it, & will be more painful for the animal.

The wound is right over a fairly large area of long muscle. If it scabs then every time the chin moves her leg that scab is going to split. It will be painful, will delay wound healing, & it will restrict her ability to move properly.

IMHO the best course of action for this wound is to keep it moist - I would aim to cover it (as long as it does not restrict he movement too much) & use a collar to stop her chewing it. I would not use Betadine on it as that can irritate the tissue - saline (salt water) is a better option as long as it is not too concentrated. You only need a small pinch of salt to a cup of warm water.



I would use a lint-free gauze to cover the wound over something bland like a veterinary hydrogel, a manuka honey product, or an animal herbal wound management ointment. Vet wrap is ok as long as it is applied carefully as it can tighten on the leg when the chins is moving. It is worth making sure you can lift the bandage a couple of mm from the leg when it is applied.

Can I ask what antibiotics is your chin on?
Is she eating ok?
Do you know how she got the abscess in the first place?

 

[proudmom25]

I agree with Claire on keeping the wound moist. This wound covers a large and often used area. A scab will just hinder the healing process and restrict movement.

I ended up having a chin with an injury recently and made two cones...one out of plastic and one out of fleece. While the fleece allowed her to continue to eat on her own, she eventually figured out how to get at her leg and I then had to make a fleece bootie. Her injury was on her foot.

Here is a pic of her in her cone. I did end up handfeeding every 4 hrs. It was a long process but she is so much better now.

Good luck with your wound healing.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I agree with Claire, I would also cut away a lot of that fur, especially the stuff with some blood on it. Everytime the fur gets in the wound it inhibits healing. Moist wound therapy is a very good option when you have a wound on an area that needs to move regularly. In chins, they use their hind legs a LOT so keeping it moist and moving easily is the best option.

Can you get metacam for the pain from your vet?

ETA: Paper tape is the only tape I use on chinchillas. It doesn't stick horribly to the fur or skin and doesn't constrict enough to cut off blood flow. Vet wrap can sometimes crinkle on itself and restrict blood flow.

 

[Shahna]

I have been hand feeding her for the past few days since she stopped eating and drinking (much to the part of the antibiotics I'm sure). She lost a lot of weight in a really short time once I noticed the abscess, but I've got her almost back up to her regular weight again.

Now to just deal with the abscess.

Claire D - She is taking 0.07mL Baytril and 0.20mL TMZ, twice daily.
Tabitha - She was prescribed 0.13mL Metacam as needed once daily. I have been giving her this dose with her mid day feeding - as well as acidophilis. I give her anitibotics in the morning and evening.

My main focus right now is to stop her from chewing, so I will work on getting a cone on her that she can't squirm out of.

How often should I clean the wound with the salt solution? I've only been doing it once daily, but sounds like I should probably be doing it more frequently. Additionally, for bandaging the wound, should I have it on part time and off part time? Say 6 hours on, 6 hours off?

 

[Claire D]

You can increase the saline washes to twice daily if she will tolerate it but it would be better if you can get something to keep it moist (as mentioned above) which would then stop it drying out in between.

If you can find a way to bandage it theyou can clean & dress it once a day but you need to keep a close eye on the leg for any signs of infection.
Redness, swelling, increased pain, pus, heat etc

 

[Stackie]

What about chlorhexidine washes? It did wonders for Diesel's leg infection. Or would it be too irritating in this case?

 

[Shahna]

Little Susie has made a huge improvement since getting the cone on her. Thank you proudmom25 for the pic, that really helped me out a lot.

I've been able to get it really clean and cut all the fur back. I was able to see the damage she did. Looks like she chewed right through the muscle, down to the bone in one spot. It looks as if shes got a long road ahead of her. Does anyone who has seen an injury like this before know what the recovery time may be?

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

Little Susie has made a huge improvement since getting the cone on her. Thank you proudmom25 for the pic, that really helped me out a lot.

I've been able to get it really clean and cut all the fur back. I was able to see the damage she did. Looks like she chewed right through the muscle, down to the bone in one spot. It looks as if shes got a long road ahead of her. Does anyone who has seen an injury like this before know what the recovery time may be?

Little Jimmy the crippled chinchilla (search the forum, you'll find it easily) chewed his legs to the bone at one point. The problem there was that the bone was dragging the ground and the muscle as well, was set up for all sorts of infection. Tab's vet amputated (at the knee, I think?). IMPO, I would take her to the vet and see if he can put at least a couple stitches in the area so that the bone isn't exposed and in the open. I had dry socket (where the jaw bone is exposed a bit) when I got my wisdom teeth out , and it hurt like a bunch of words I don't use in polite company. I can only imagine that pain on my legs...I'd try to chew them off too !
Does muscle grow back quickly? I wonder if you could at least keep it wrapped up and moist so that the muscle will cover the bone...IDK. You should definitely wait until some more experienced people come along, because I tend to be wrong about these things, but right now I'm suggesting stitches from the vet.

 

[proudmom25]

That's great. I am glad the cone is helping.

Not sure on this type of injury but my chin Jade had a foot injury that she chewed. It was nowhere near as deep as your and she has almost completed her road to recovery. It has been appx. 3-4 weeks now. Hopefully Susie will make a quick recovery.

 

[RDZCRanch]

If she's chewed away muscle I would worry about her being able to use that leg properly in the future. if you just have bone exposed it's not hard to keep clean and doesn't make an automatic amputation. Jimmy's leg was chewed...so the bone was chewed halfway up and the bone was completely exposed so that bacteria could get inside and mess with his system entirely.

Wounds like that can take up to two months to heal and sometimes longer. The younger the animal, the faster they heal. Hopefully Claire will pop on and give more information, she's really good with wounds.

 

[Claire D]

If there is bone exposed then you may be better discussing a high amputation with your vet. There are lots of pros & cons to trying to heal deep wounds, especially where there is tendon or bone visible & missing muscle. It can be a long process for the wounds to close & the risks of infection are high - as Tab said, the infection can travel up/in the bone & also spread to the blood stream (septicaemia).

Having said that, it's not impossible to heal that kind of wound - but healing depends on a huge number of factors, including: the size of the wound, the position, the amount of missing tissue, general condition of the chin, pain, infection (or not) ......... the list goes on.

Can I ask whether you know how the leg became damaged in the first place? How did she develop the abscess?

Can you take a couple of photos of her leg?

 

[Shahna]

Attached is a picture after cleaning the wound. I have been applying Manuka honey and bandaging, cleaning it once daily. I give her 0.13mL of Metacam before to help with the pain.

As far as how it happened - I'm not certain. I can think of two possibilities:

-One is she had a cagemate around her age (11 months), perhaps they had a little tiff? I consider this unlikely though because I have not observed any agressive behavior nor have I notice any loose fur in the cage.

-Second possibility, she got her leg caught in a hay rack several weeks ago. I didn't notice any scratched areas and didn't see or feel any obvious fractures. She did not favor the leg over the last few weeks and jumped around the cage like usual. I didn't even notice the abscess until I noticed a small pool of blood on a shelf in her cage and went to investigate where it was coming from. Could an abscess take this long to surface if it was the hay rack? What could have caused the abscess if I didn't see any wounds?

As far as the hay racks, the few that I was using have been removed from the cages. I had the rack touching the ground and under a fleece tube, so that they couldn't be jumped into from another shelf and so they couldn't get "hung up in it": obviously my logic was flawed! I have attached a picture of the old hay rack as well as the new "racks" I have replaced them with.

I'm guessing the white strip down the center is the tendon?

 

[RDZCRanch]

Looking at that leg now...amputation might be a better solution. If you still want to attempt healing it, put her on fleece instead of the shavings to get rid of any possibility of foreign bodies getting in there and inhibiting healing.

 

[AZChins]

That's just so bad. I agree, you may want to start asking about amputation. Those hay racks...I have thrown away dozens and dozens of those things from rescues that have come in. They prove that if there is a way for a chin to get hurt, that chin will find it.

 

[Shahna]

I will start checking into amputation :-( . She is on antibiotics for another 10 days, so I'll probably see if I can go another week and see how she heals up. I've got her weight back to 610g (she was at 619g before this incident), so I don't think there is much to lose by trying as long as it doesn't get infected.

 

[Snickers]

Shahna, sorry about your chin. I wish the best for her.