My guinea has red, sore feet - any suggestions?

[SuburbanRhonda]

She has always been a bit poorly, though she is lively and friendly, and eats for England!

Periodically, her fur falls out symmetrically on both sides and over time, grows back again. Despite eating loads, she is very bony. And she has these very sore-looking, red feet. She also drinks loads and pees much more than my other guinea.

The vet thought she might have Cushing's Syndrome and that, really, there is not much that can be done to treat her. I did order some Perfect Paws ointment for her feet and apply it twice a day, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. She's 3 years old and a rescue.

Any suggestions?

Ooh lots of different things going on with your piggy girl.

Cushings Syndrome can make the skin more fragile and easy to damage . If she's peeing loads what are you putting on her cage floor .
Might be the wee that's an irritant or the bedding itself?

The fur loss - could be hormonal.
Have you ruled out parasites?

The weight / bony frame. Cushings should increase body weight - certainly fatty areas.

There's also the Happy Souls ointment from Gorgeous Guineas, but with everything, it takes time and everyone is different (guineas included)

Peeing loads/ eating loads/ painful areas that don't heal up and weight loss are classic signs of Diabetes in humans.
Might be worth asking your vet to test a pee sample to rule it out?

(My DD has a 3 yo rescue boy who has lost weight and gone a bit middle-aged. Eats and poohs like a good 'un but he's had trauma this year)

70, that is all so useful.

I read something about diabetes on a guinea forum and did wonder whether she might have that.

I try to change the bedding every couple of days. I used to use wood shavings (I know!) but now I use Megazorb, though it is expensive and DH has just been made redundant, so I don't know for how much longer I can do that.

I bathe her once in month in anti-mite shampoo.

I think I need to go back to the vet with a pee sample - never any problem getting those! - and persevere with the foot ointment for another couple of weeks. If no improvement, I'll try the Happy Souls ointment.

Thanks for your advice!

I bought Megazorb when I first got my boys, but it is ££ (IIRC Farmways online. They had a special offer of free delivery over a given price but under a given weight. Which the Megazorb wasn't. So I got one bag and paid a lot for delivery but it didn't wow me)

I use newspaper (free ones, donated ones ) on cardboard (from work) and at the moment wood pulp cat litter pellets that are furry friendly with shredded paper. I've seen rabbits on these pellets, they make a nice bed but guineas like to burrow and forage.
If you can pick up a cheap shredder that does the tiny cross cut pieces you can shred loads. If I'd let my guineas eat the paper, I can shred it.

One of my guinea pigs once developed red feet, went off her food etc, so off we went to the vet to be told she had chilblains. Chilblains for goodness sake.
They lived indoors with us, and hunkered down in a basket kept next to an inner wall where the back boiler to the fire was, so nice and warm.On decorating I moved the basket to an outer wall (never thought did I) so that I could paint 'her' wall, but obviously the temperature dropped.
Once me and the vet realised what had happened, it was easy to remedy - me to move her basket back and give lots of TLC, and him to give her an injection and me a rather big bill !!She was worth it though !

I read your post thinking if she was a person i'd be thinking diabetes. Didn't think it could be a GP thing - or chilblains . Poor piggie - I used to get these a lot and it was awful. Weirdly I've hardly had any since having the kids.

I also use newspaper in the cage and change it most days. As 70 said if she is walking on wet bedding that could be an irritant. Sounds like she is a sickly but happy pig. I do hope she gets better soon.

Thank you all you lovely guinea people!

I will completely change the bedding I use, once the megazorb is used up, because I really can't bring myself to throw it away.

So, 70, how do the layers go? Is it cardboard, then a layer of newspaper then shredded paper mixed with wood pulp cat pellets? I've got a shed-load (literally) of newspaper, so that would definitely be doable, and sounds like cheaper as well.

I will go back to the vet armed with a pot of guinea pig pee and ask about chilblains. Now you say it, shimmering, that's exactly what it looks like.

fernie, you're right, she is a faulty model, but happy and gentle - she licks my fingers after I've fed her dandelions . I'll try to post a photo - she's got crazy hair and an adorable face!

Megazorb is very absorbant (and for indoor pigs it helps with aroma too)

I used to put some in the corner but of course my boys weren't obliging enough to pee on it

My boys are in at night at the moment. They have a huge folded up tarpaulin with cardboard on top (they're in the small bedroom which is carpet), then newspaper and a fleece. They've decided they don't want boxes of hay to sleep in, they want to sprawl on the fleece.
But I gave them a 50litre trug with a door cut out, newspaper, a layer of the pellets and the shredded paper on top. (I might put their hay in there tonight to keep it off the fleece it's a pain to brush off)

In the Pighouse (wooden floor) they;ve got a big carboot liner , then the pellets then cardboard then newspaper. Straw at the back, hay in the middle.
The paper/hay/straw gets changed every 2 days. The paper/hay/cardboard every week. The pellets last really well this way, just take out any manky bits.

But due to The Saga Of The Tree Next Door (which is hanging too near the Pighouse) they're in the garage by day. Concrete floor, so an oil cloth, cardboard, bag of straw and hay to make a really deep bed.
But it's temporary till the tree gets done (soon we hope)

Coo, that was an essay

Blimey, 70, you're a real guinea pig professional, innit

Mine are in a hutch in the shed, then in an indoor cage in the winter (or, like, now!). I love having them indoors because of the lovely greetings I get in the morning. But our house is tiny and we couldn't have them indoors all the time. Once DD has moved out, I would consider creating a guinea pig heaven along the lines of yours

Oh, and of course I do put them in the run as we have a lovely grassy lawn. I put them out today for an hour as it was lovely and sunny, but it might be the last time this year. I tried to persuade them to remember what grass is like so they can dream about it over the winter, but I'm not sure it worked

Not a Guinea professional I've just managed to get a couple of really mucky guinea boars (blames DD for this )

I tell my DH ( when he looks ) that giving my boys a whole bag of barley straw and a bag of hay costs £8 and is cheaper than a trip to the vet.

Over the 2 years we've had the boars I've been through every possible bedding permutation I can think of. This is what suits them.

And it is sweet when they go burrowing through the hay in their run, pretending to be wild.

The GPs I had as a child were much less maintenance than these boys. Or maybe it's because these ones belong to my daughter.(so they are hyper pampered )

Yes, maybe because mine are girls, they're just happy to sit around chatting and filling their faces with food!

Good idea, to view the investment in good bedding as a cheaper alternative to the vet. Must try that on DH, who seems to have a similar level of interest in the guineas as yours

The ones I had when I was a child (from 9 - 22 ) were girls apart from my first piggie who was a mis-sexed pig (turned out to be a boar. We had an unexpected litter).

He didn't see 2yo, he was bullied by his mate

I agree sows are easier (mainly. I had a couple of right bossy britches sows)- and TBH if my DD hadn't insisted on boars, I'd have got sows.
(She is fantastic with them, we do the Pig Work between us, but I clean the hogs' houses)

Your DD shares the Pig Work, does she?

I see I've got some work to do in my household

My boys are indoors in their cage with alternate layers of old towels and newspaper. Most days I just replace the top layer of paper but when the towel is soggy I stick that in the wash and they use the layer of paper underneath. This continues until I reach the cage floor then they get a thorough clean out and I re-layer it . I've used a variety of things but found this to be the easiest.

They are using an indoor run during the day at the moment and although this does have a floor I've removed it and replaced it with towels as they're easier to clean. The boys seem to love snuggling in the towels as well.

One possibility might be using a vet bed. It's a synthetic sheep fleece type thing that wicks liquid through leaving the surface feeling dry to the touch (hence why vets use it post op for animals.)

My pigs have this in their "bedroom" area with a thick layer of newspaper underneath (or a puppy pad) and soft hay over newspaper in the rest of the "room." They are a bit messy, but what I do when I clean is just lift it out by one corner, still over the cage, and use a brush to get off as much of the hay, poo, etc. as possible. I put it inside a pillow case tied with a hair bobble to wash it and then take it out of the pillow case for tumble trying (and the filter catches most of the remaining bits on it.)

They aren't cheap, but you can get them cheaper online than in a pet shop. They do last for a long time though. I have I think 4 or 5 of them which I rotate and have had these for at least 18 months. They don't look beautiful and fresh, but they are still functional and soft and warm for the pigs.

Just wondered if something like that might help with the sore foot problem, or likewise for any frail pigs where there's a risk of urine scalds.

KRITIQ I bought some vet bed online but gave up on it because I only had one and I found shaking / brushing off the bits was tricky. Most of it seemed to stay stuck in the fleecy bit, IYSWIM.

However, the idea of having several to rotate, and washing them inside a sealed pillow case seems a good one. I just couldn't imagine DH being happy with his work shirts sharing the washing machine with guinea poo!

fernie, I have loads of old, clean towels so I will also try your suggestion.

Thanks everyone

How's you little piggy today Suburban , feeling any better? I hope so. I really miss having them around, but with where I live now it's just not feasible!

But at least i can enjoy hearing about everyone else's on here

Oh for goodness sake - it should read how's YOUR little piggy

Actually, shimmering, I've just had my dinner, so I am feeling like a little piggy myself ...

Little suburbanpig1 is doing very well today. She really appreciated a new clean bedroom (as did suburbanpig2) and she practically squeaked herself inside out in anticipation of her dinner.

Why aren't you able to have any at the moment?

Ahh yes, the squeaks, great aren't they!

Where I used to live, I could make everything piggy proof so they could run around in the house without fear of coming to harm. But now I live in a place that looks like it used to belong to the Adams Family! lots of hidey holes, giant piggy-eating spiders, and the fact that the nature of my work makes the floor unsafe for them to run around on.

Suburban - I always thoroughly shake out my pig towels into the bin and then any last bits i shake on the lawn. The lawn does look a bit messy with bits of hay and poop but I tell everyone it's organic fertiliser

Shimmering - if my boys are naughty can I threaten them with your spiders?

Fernie - I could send you several, special spider delivery,Free, immediately, should you wish......we breed 'em big in yorkshire

Well, to update.

I took all the advice on board about bedding and I'm changing it every two days instead of 4-5.

Suburbanpig1's feet are so much better and they're no longer swollen. However, her fur is falling out in earnest now on both sides, just as it has done for the past three years or so.

She is happy and squeaky otherwise .

So, my question now is, should I put a little coat on her for over the winter, or will it stop her being able to groom herself properly? She and Suburbanpig2 are still in their hutch in the shed, and out in the run for half an hour whenever the sun is out.

You could try cutting the foot off a warm sock and putting the ankle bit round her like a tube top? That would keep her warm but you'd have to check it all the time in case it got damp. Can you buy little coats for gps? wanders off to google

My big pig has pink feet and they got very hot and red on shavings. He's much improved on fleece but still gets ridiculous callouses sometimes that i have to trim.

Google tells me that of course you can buy gp coats... And dresses and crowns and wigs :)