reddit is useless. can someone help my pig with a hurt paw?

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RomeAndSmores1

Post   » Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:30 am


i asked this on reddit and theyre not being helpful at all. i have a pig with a hurt foot. i recently found dried blood on her paw near her toe right next to the nail. i cant take her to the vet because of the virus and my vets nearby dont offer curbside assistance.

is there anything i can do to help her? shes still eating but its causing her pain. shes reluctant to move around but when she does shes eating and drinking. should i just monitor her and bandage her foot? make sure shes still eating and drinking? i really need help here.

edit- i put some food and hay outside of the hidey she likes to stay in and she did come out to eat some. the water bottle is also near her hidey. should i just keep making sure shes eating, and make things easy for her until her foot heals? is there something i should put on it? the fact that the blood is already dried makes me think this happened a few days ago and i didnt notice, which means its already scabbed over and healing.

RomeAndSmores1

Post   » Mon Feb 01, 2021 12:20 pm


she just now came out of her hidey to get water herself. she seems to be able to sustain herself if i give her food near the hidey. she is still eating and drinking, just limping on that foot. i hope she heals soon.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Feb 01, 2021 1:24 pm


Yes, of course you should keep food and water close to her. If you had a hurt foot, how would you like for someone to place it so far away you had to get up and hobble to it?

Keep a close eye on it, watching for signs of infection (redness, swelling, heat, pus). If you don't see those, then just keep her from using it as much as possible. But if you do see those signs, particularly swelling and pus, then she will need to see a vet.

RomeAndSmores1

Post   » Mon Feb 01, 2021 2:34 pm


thanks for the response bpatters! i can always rely on this forum to give me concise answers. so far it just looks like its scabbed over (you can see where it bled) but there is certianly none of that. its just pink like the rest of her skin, with no swelling.

i hit it with a little bit of saline to keep it clean. it looks like shes not walking on it.

the reason that it took me a few days to notice is because she is normally actually pretty lazy and only moves around for food (shes five years old). not sick or anything, just normally pretty lax. so when she continued that behavior it didnt raise any eyebrows until she was way, way more reluctant to get a carrot. i then noticed the limp.

i appreciate this forum.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:04 pm


It is also possible to soak her foot in warm water, say a salt water solution (add a teaspoon of salt to a couple cups of water) for 10 or 15 minutes once or twice a day if there is tenderness or swelling. 100 degrees F would be okay (like water for a human bath).

As bpatters points out, you need to watch for signs of infection.

RomeAndSmores1

Post   » Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:02 am


I am posting as an update.


About twelve hours later she's moving around easier, with less of a limp. She's a strong girl. She ran to the other side of the eight foot long cage to get additional food (theres always some sitting outside her hidey) about five minutes ago and I can still hear her chewing. I didn't notice too much of a limp but I can tell the foot still is bothering her. I will update in a few days if I remember.

RomeAndSmores1

Post   » Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:54 am


I am posting as an update.

It doesn't look like her foot is hurting her any more. Because there was some crusted blood on the area it looks like her body was able to seal it up well enough to avoid infection. I dipped her foot in water to clean it a little (I didn't touch it) and I gave her a little bit (and I mean a tiny amount) of triple antibiotic. Hopefully that works it's magic. I'm probably going to administer that every day or so.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:30 am


Good to hear that it sounds like she is healing. I hope all goes well.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:35 pm


When Lacey pulled a nail off her foot, the vet recommended cleaning with peroxide, then applying just a dot of antibiotic on the end of a q-tip. I made sure it was absorbed completely before I put her back because I didn’t want her ingesting anything while she was grooming. I did this for a few days without any issues.

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