Toe

[caiti]

So I came home today to find the cat has broken my door and gotten in my room. My roommate who was watching her had put my laundry basket in front of my door to keep it closed. I am skeptical whether this is related to Chloe's foot that seems infected. It is quite swollen and pink. I looked at it closely and it seems as though she might have a cut on the side of her middle toe.

I am going to call the vet tomorrow and hopefully I can use the left over sulfa trim I have. What I was wondering is is there anything I can do in the meantime in between now and the appointment, whenever that will be? Like a wash or putting blu-kote on it. The cut, if that's what the injury is, is scabbed over, seems minor and there is no blood in the cage. She is using the foot and not biting it or anything.

Here are some pictures.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I would get her in to the vet as early as possible tomorrow. I would not do anything to the foot. Blu kote will obscure the wound/foot and make it harder for the vet to work with. Since the wound is closed, it may need reopened and flushed which you should leave to the vet. Take the TMS with you to the vet so they can make sure it isn't expired and that you have enough for a full course of antibiotics. It doesn't look horrendous or like it would requite an emergency vet visit, but it is obviously irritated and possibly infected.

 

[AZChins]

It could be fungus. I can't tell very well from the pictures...could it be scaly and not so much scabby? I don't know for sure - it could be an infected wound. Does it seem to be weeping or is it wet or have any clear pus coming out?

 

[caiti]

Susan--No discharge or wetness. It seemed more like scabs on the side of her toe since it looked like a darker dry material, less like scaly skin. I didn't think about fungus, actually. Really I can't tell if the scab is more a dry patch of the dark part of her toe, since it's on the side where her pad meets the upper flesh colored part of her toe, but I thought I saw some red on the scab so it may be from a wound. Either way it is relatively small.

Tab--Thank you, I wasn't sure if I was making a mistake in waiting for someone to tell me whether they thought I should put anything on it. I know the sulfa trim isn't expired, and I'm practically positive I have enough for a course but I will bring it with me to the appointment.

It's just so swollen. I had just looked at it before I took the pictures so it was a little less swollen when I first saw it. When I touch her toe she doesn't really react at all and I can't feel her bone, it just feels like soft tissue and no hard bone underneath--that's how swollen it must be. Poor Chloe.

I don't know how soon I can get an appointment for her, my vet's office is not usually busy so that should give me an advantage (I pass by it every time I drive anywhere pretty much and there's never more than 2 cars in the parking lot). I am working at the lab from 10am-4 and have classes from 8-10am but since it is a volunteer job, I can call in and I can skip my classes but need to turn in a paper (a hard copy in person, ugh). Does everyone think I should insist on an appointment tomorrow or can it wait until tuesday? I guess I will look at it in the morning and call the vets regardless and go from there.

Thanks for the quick replies. I get so anxious trying to figure out what the right thing to do is!!

 

[caiti]

Ok, she has an appointment at 4pm. Her toe looks the same as yesterday, hopefully it'll be fine until 4 and be simple to fix.

 

[Sandi]

Good luck with Chloe this afternoon. Did you find out how the cat broke your door?

 

[StevieP]

I wonder if epsom salt soakings will help in conjunction with whatever the vet does? I am a believer now after my experience with it (thanks Peggy!)

 

[caiti]

Sandi--I live in a repurposed living room, so it has no door just a big doorway. I did just have a curtain over the doorway, but then I went and built a door out of a couple pieces of plywood and trimmed it with leftover cage wood, then attached it to my wall with hinges, added some hook and eye locks on both sides...so it's not exactly a high quality door...heh. The bottom of it has two pieces of 2x4 wood and some junk bed slats since the swinging doors do not cover a 4-5" area between the top of the ground molding and the floor (if that makes sense). Each piece is attached to the plywood with braces, but apparently the cat rammed into a piece so hard it bent the brace and he was just able to squeeze his body through. I came home and went to open my door and found my full laundry basket in front of it. I thought it was weird but maybe I left it there? Then I saw the cat's head poke through the bottom of the door while I was seeing how Chloe was...

I guess the cat was in my room for a while on saturday and then a few hours early on sunday. My roommate said she was making noise for an hour on saturday--yet didn't check on her. She does bark fairly often when I'm gone and now I feel guilty for leaving. I thought it would be a weird place for a wound seeing as the cat would have had to stick a claw or tooth in the 1x1/2" spacing and I would assume he'd get Chloe's front, not feet, if she would even get that close to him, but I'm sure it's possible it looks like it could be a puncture wound.

So basically I spent $50 and stressed Chloe out to be told nothing new. She has a small wound on the side of her middle toe, has no apparent problems otherwise and I can use the sulfa trim I have. I feel bad for stressing her out, but just because I predicted a very common scenario doesn't mean I know what I'm doing. I guess you have to find out to know if you're right or wrong. The vet said he might not have prescribed antibiotics, but knowing that the cat might have injured her (cats have a bunch of bacteria in their mouths and feet) made him feel it was a good idea. He told me to look out for soft/abnormal poo, etc--you all know the deal.

Steve--I didn't ask about soaks or washes and don't really know about the specifics of them. Maybe I'll look it up and see at least just for future reference. Her toe is swollen so maybe it would help a lot, it seems a bit better today though.

Well, I should probably look into buying heavier duty braces in the next couple days...I will have to do laundry someday...

 

[caiti]

Update: Chloe has been on her antibiotics for almost a week and her toe is still swollen and pink. It is better, though, and I started doing salt soaks which seem to help. I am not sure whether to do warm or cold ones, though. I've mainly been doing warm, one or two have kind of cooled off while her foot was in it. I figured the warm are better for cleaning the area, and the cold are probably better for inflammation. When her toe is wet it is a lot easier to see it and I think she might have a small healing scab on the other side of her toe too. Well, she doesn't really have scabs anymore, I think they've fallen off but I can see where they were and her skin is healing over.

I am not certain how long it takes for a toe wound to heal for a chin. The weird thing is it seems her toe is the reddest at the top of it, where there is no wound. Maybe it was a superficial scratch that didn't draw blood and just made a welt or something, but I honestly don't see anything on the top of her toe.

So I guess my questions are: warm or cold salt soaks? And for those of you with experience, how long has it taken your chin to heal with a minor foot wound? I just don't really have a perspective on what is a normal amount of healing time for chins. Thanks. Oh, and here are pics I took this morning.

 

[caiti]

UPDATE: I just brought Chloe back from the vet. Her toe is better but since the general swelling has gone down, I've noticed a hard lump at the base of her toe which is still a bit pink. Thinking maybe her wound abscessed or it's broken I made an appointment.

The vet basically said that he thought it was a callus maybe from her toe being fractured and thickening the bone where it's healing and regrowing. He said not to do anything unless it gets worse, the bump seems stable not very fluid-like. He also told me to take her out to use the toe by playing shortly every day and up the time by a bit each outing.

I told him the toe felt warm to me and he said it wasn't. And if I thought it was, it was most likely nothing. I asked him if I could do anything like soak it (mind you, I have soaked it in sea salt then epsom a few times) and he said not to because it would "damage her fur". I left that one alone at that time.

So I was wondering if you guys agreed or disagreed with the vet. Chloe has a hard bump at the base of her toe that was scratched, it's a little pink and slightly warm, no fluid under the skin is seen, she's using it fine and is not biting or paying any extra or less attention to it. I noticed it saturday but I have been trying not to poke at it so it could have been there for a little bit. She's been on 12 days of sulfa/trim which I ended on sunday. If anyone has experience with abscesses or broken toes healing weird, I would appreciate if anyone can tell me about it if it sounds like Chloe's situation. Thanks.

 

[caiti]

bumpity bump bump!!

Anyone?

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

It sounds as though the toe is OK. It wouldn't hurt to soak it in epsom salts if you feel there may be inflamation in the area or just to be on the safe side.