Sookie's foot looks infected

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SpineyPigFaceLover

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
85
Location
Southern Indiana
I have Sookie a bath a few days ago and noticed her big toe on her back foot looks red and inflamed. I made sure she had no strings or hair attached and rinsed her foot thoroughly and put some peroxide on it. Today it looks worse. Definitely darker and she hasn't been running on her wheel. I put regular formula neosporin on it until I can get her to a vet on Monday. She's been running around her cage nonstop now freaking out. I don't know what else to do until Monday. Help!
 
Poor baby. All you can do right now is what you are doing. Keep it clean and neosporin. I am not sure if there is anything else. Hopefully someone else will chime in. How is she now?
 
I know you said you looked but did you use like magnifiying glass to inspect for a hair? Sometimes they can be so small they're really hard to see. Do you have a picture of it?

I wouldn't worry about peroxide, it's very hard on tissue and will kill tissue that still alive.

I am wondering if maybe an epsom salt soak would help, I'm not sure if that's safe for hedgies, if it would through them into an imbalance or not. Maybe someone will have information on that and will post?
 
I'd do my best to get her to a vet sooner than tomorrow if at all possible.

If not possible, I'd use regular strength neosporin or polysporin like you have.

Make sure her cage is clean and dry.

Hopefully, she's on fleece bedding and not wood shavings, or Carefresh, or any other particulate bedding? If not, change her over to fleece now. Same with her litter -- if she's using anything like Carefresh or Yesterday's News or whatever, just change that over to a paper towel. The idea is to help keep her foot nice and clean.

I'd pull her wheel out so she's not injuring it more either by running or by running through the poop & pee that sticks to the wheel.

I definitely agree with Riven's suggestion about double-checking for a tiny hair or string or even a sliver. Same with the peroxide, it's hard on tissue. The regular strength neo- or polysporin will do just as well without injuring the healthy tissue too. Not sure about epsom salt soak... I might just let her wander around in plain water though.

Finally, I'd start touchy-feelying everything in her cage... look for anything that may have caused the problem in the first place. For example, if there's a rough edge to her wheel or igloo or maybe a sliver of something inbedded in her fleece or a chip on her food or water dishes. There may not be anything you can find, but it's good to check through everything to minimize the possibility that it will happen again.
 
She's been a little restless but didn't go to the bathroom last night likely because she's trained herself to mostly go on the wheel which I took out. I looked and didn't see anything on her foot but when I clean it and put ointment on it I will check again. Unfortunately I live in an area where the closest exotic vet is 45 mins away and none are open on weekends. I just learned o a farm vet that is closer to where I live and will call tomorrow to see I they treat hedgehogs. Otherwise I will be making the trek to Indianapolis immediately. She definitely seems to be in pain which is why I'm so concerned.
 
Satin was like that too... regarding peeing. In this situation, I'd give her her wheel and let her run so she can poo & pee, then scoop her right off and get her cleaned up. I was also lucky with her in that she'd run from one of my hands to another (like a treadmill of hands) and that would get her in the pooping and peeing mood. I'd just hold her over her litter box and let the waste fall down while she stayed in my hands. If you try that method, just make sure to have hedgiewipes nearby. Usually, everything fell between my fingers. But some days, she got me with it.

Glad she's on fleece :)

I'm a little worried about infection... particularly if it travels up her foot/leg. And, if she's in pain, I'm a little worried maybe it's more than an abrasion... like maybe she broke a toe.

I'm a big fan of getting hedgies to the vet... I took my little Texie to an emergency vet that was about 45 minutes away around midnight once when his eye looked a little funny. Had to change out of my jammies, print out directions, and get going. Little man managed to give himself a corneal abrasion!

When you do get to the vet... whether it's today or tomorrow (and, you can guess I'd vote today since she seems to be in pain), I think you'll probably come home with two meds - one for the infection and one to address pain. Ask the doc about addressing both aspects if s/he just mentions one of them.

And, of course, you'll probably want to add a probiotic (like acidophilus) to her kibbles -- sprinkle on top (from the pharmacy). Or the gel version like bene-bac (from pet stores... kitten section). That'll help keep the mean greenies (diarrhea) away when the meds hit her little belly.

Sending positive vibes.
 
Keep us updated. Hope it's nothing too serious. I worry too about something being broken because you didn't mention any cuts or anything and it sounds like you looked it over good.

Keep us updated!
 
Yeah im not seein any cuts and still haven't found any threads wrapped around her foot so a broken toe Is actually a good guess. Luckily the infection doesn't look like its spreading further but I'm still a very worried hedgie mom. I've been meaning to replace her wheel for awhile now since I think they may be slightly too large f
 
Unfortunately they had to amputate her big toe but the vet says she'll be back to normal after its healed in about two weeks. She gave me antibiotic to give her orally for two weeks, but no pain meds. I asked about them and the vet didn't seem too concerned as long as I kept the wheel out of the cage until she's healed. Sookie did very well but is not very happy with me and exhausted. The vet thinks it was indeed a thread wrapped around her foot, caused by her fleece bedding. She highly advised me to switch to aspen bedding. I personally disagree with this. I think it might of been a hair or some other thread not the fleece since my bedding has no snags or anything on it. What does everyone make of this?

I'm not a huge fan of this vet. She answered a few of my questions and then hurried away to pick up her kids so I didn't even get all of my questions answered. Like how do I keep this clean without getting it wet? Will she try to bite or scratch at it? Ugh what a mess.
 
Oh my! I agree with the "not a huge fan" assessment. I can't imagine having a body part amputated and receiving no pain meds. I would try and call to get meds... something like metacam. The vet may be able to call it into a more local pharmacy.

Or if there are any other vets in the area (or even an hour-away vet) who could help out there?? You might even try a cat clinic... I once had my hedgie vet call in meds to a cat clinic since they didn't have any on hand, but the local cat clinic did.

She may, indeed, try and bite/scratch/soothe the area without any pain meds to distract her.

I also agree about keeping her on fleece. There aren't any strings... maybe a hair got embedded in the fleece or something funny like that. But that shouldn't happen with fleece on its own. I can't imagine how one would keep the aspen dust/slivers out of a wound either. Ugh. If you have some light (or white) colored fleece, I'd start using that so you can track what's going on in terms of blood loss.

Keeping it clean and dry... yep, will be a challenge. I'd spend as much time with her as you can so you can help her out to her food and water and tend to any pooping and peeing needs.

Make sure to weigh her at least once a day so you can see what's going on with her weight. You may need to supplement food and/or syringe water... and she may become dehydrated if it's too hard/painful to get to her food & water.
 
Is there anything to put on the wound itself? She put some kind of glue on it and literally just gave me antibiotics and left. And this place was an hour and a half away it was the closest clinic that will see hedgehogs
 
The problem with bandages and hedgehogs is that they'll tug and tug on them - then, either they come off or (worse yet) they tighten around the limb, cut off blood supply, and there's need for amputation even further up the limb.

Sounds like maybe she put on some of the "new skin" liquid bandage... tastes horrible and stings like the devil until it dries. You might try putting on a new coat of that before the current coat rubs completely off so that it's thicker (ie, more time before it wears down... more of a chance you can avoid applying it directly to the wound and make horrible stingies for Sookie).

Gosh, what a hard situation to be in...

Okay... if I didn't have my normal vet, I'd aim for an emergency vet. Even if they don't normally see hedgies, they might on a more emergent basis. Though... if I was totally alone, I'd hold hedgie close, monitor everything under the sun (ie, her activities, weight, pooping, peeing, vocalizations, etc...) and hope that she doesn't start bleeding or gnawing on the surgical site. If she did, that's where the hold close and be ready to apply pressure to the wound comes into play.

I'd also watch what Sookie is doing with the wound. If it's irritating her and she's rubbing, chewing, or sucking on it, then you definitely have a problem on your hands. You'll pretty much have to call vets near and far and find pain meds. I'd probably do that anyhow...

The other thing that (provided there is no sign of infection) I'd use as a bit of a protective coating is vaseline. It'll seal out the urine/moisture. I've used it to treat under-belly skin irritation on Satin (she was a bit fluffy in size and liked to sleep on bare plastic under her liner -- trapped urine would lead to skin irritations) and on my own surgical sites as advised by an MD. It works well to seal out the bad stuff... but also works in the other direction (ie, it'll seal in bacteria that's already there).

I'd hope that the oral antibiotic would be enough to prevent infection... but I might add neosporin in addition. Just don't put on any of that pain relieving neosporin in an attempt to treat any pain/irritation yourself. Stick to the regular.

I pulled up a couple of my hedgies' rx's... If you can find an e-vet who's not 100% confident of dosage, but is willing to prescribe, I have a value for pain meds Satin (who was ~650g) received when she sprained her leg:
Metacam 1.5mg/ml concentration; administer .08ml orally 1x/day
You can see if that's in the ball-park of what they're thinking.

Another thing I'd try is some advice I received from Nancy/Hedgemom:
"Add a pinch of ground rosehips to her diet. They have healing properties and add Vitamin C to the diet. Ground up they are hedgehog-safe.
Chopped fresh cabbage (chopped up so it's all bruised and crushed) can be applied as a poultice and will help relieve inflammation and speed healing."

Again, this is with a sprain, rather than an amputation, but I can imagine that the rest of her foot/leg is feeling pretty banged up right now. I'd stay away from applying the cabbage poultice from an actively bleeding area... but the Rosehips in her food sounds good. And, later, with a bit of healing, I'd try the cabbage. Make sure to rinse her little foot/leg off afterwards!
 
You are so incredibly helpful! Thank you. I will try calling this vet I just saw tomorrow morning to see if she'll actually want to answer my questions and If not I have a friend who takes her cats to a farm/exotic vet 30 mins from me, and she's going to ask if she's familiar with hedgies. Sookie is acting quite tough. So far it seems like she just wants to sleep and she seems ok making her way to the food/water bowl and seems to be eating normally. Tooke the wheel out, thoroughly checked all of her new bedding and placed her foo close to where she sleeps. The vet put this purplish blue glue on the wound an I don't know if it turns clear or not but there's no trace of blue anymore. I was thinking neosporin but wasn't sure if that was ok on a wound like this.
 
purple-blue -- it may have been Blu Kote.

I haven't really heard it used much on hedgies. Though there must be a few dozen references to its use with chins!

Glad she's eating and drinking. I hope either your original vet or your friend's vet can help out!
 
So far she's been doing well and her foot looks healed but when we went to give her antibiotics this evening and took her out she vomited and was very still and wobbly. In concerned and not sure what to do now that it's so late at night. She's acting very strange.
 
Keep up with your basics: bump the temp up a little (especially if she feels cool), make sure she's eating and drinking (syringe feed food/water as needed), check her weight, then contact a vet.

The antibiotics may be messing with her belly - acidophilis in between antibiotic doses may help settle that. Or she may have a larger problem going on for which you'll need vet help.

How's she doing this evening?
 
This is basically what the vet just said I just called her. She says I should give her pedialyte or dill pickle juice for a few days to bump up her hydration and electrolytes. Also acidophilus should help. I'm just concerned because at this point she just lays in a corner and hasn't pooped in two days and definitely hasn't eaten anything. I'm not sure how to syringe feed her her cat food. I could use all the advice to see if I can home remedy this before taking her to the vet because I can't afford it between paydays
 
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