A little over two years ago, I adopted two very skittish guinea pigs. The shelter I adopted them from said that they were some of the most scared guinea pigs that had ever seen, and they had seen lots of guinea pigs come in. One of the two, Cleo, slowly began to warm up to me and in about six months she was letting me hold her and pet her. Cleo was an owner surrender, and the other guinea pig, Charity, was dropped off at the shelter in a box before being paired with each other at the shelter.
Charity has come a very long way, and I can now pick her up when she's inside her cage and she loves pets. Overall she's a very sweet and affectionate guinea pig now, but she will sometimes freak out over something that she is usually totally fine with. Someone was once petting her in her cage (a 2 by 8) where she had plenty of escape routes and places to hide, and she bit their finger very hard and drew a lot of blood. She has lots of skin issues on her feet that we've been putting medicine on since we adopted her and whenever you try to touch her feet or clip her nails, she will freak out. She squirms so much that it's unsafe to hold her anywhere other than the ground, and she will bite anything that she can reach, including any clothing or skin. She bites hard enough that it can break the skin, even if it's covered by clothing.
If her nails need to be trimmed, how should I do it? She also needs to have her medicine put on her feet, but lately she won't let anyone near her feet. I've never met another guinea pig who acts like she does sometimes, especially because she's a total angel towards me just a few minutes before biting me. We've been to the vet and they've recommended to keep putting the medicine on her feet, but it's obvious she's in pain whenever I try to touch her feet, and I don't want to hurt her. If anyone knows of anything that might help her stop biting or any recommendations for skin/foot care, please let me know!
Biting
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Can you put up a couple pictures? Does it look at all like pododermatitis?
www.guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html
www.guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html
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Sef
- I dissent.
I was going to ask if it's bumblefoot. A photo or two would be helpful. What medication is being used on it?
As for the biting...we adopted a male a few years ago who was a owner surrender after the guinea pig had been routinely terrorized by the family's dog (they apparently found it amusing to watch the dog chase the little guy around the house). He came to us fearful and would bite. Hard. It took months to slowly earn his trust, and even then he still had moments when his instinct was to bite if he was startled. I was eventually able to trim nails, but I did get chewed up quite a bit at first. He would have sudden panic attacks for seemingly no reason, and would fling himself against the side of his cage and on one occasion, actually flew out of his cage after running in a blind panic (had I not been standing right there and had been able to catch him, he would have severely injured himself as his cage was on a table at the time).
Our vet did put Lewis on a low dose of Valium, and it seemed to help. Lewis was eventually weaned off it, and later did well with a cagemate and was able to live a relatively normal life until he died a couple of years later to something unrelated.
As for the biting...we adopted a male a few years ago who was a owner surrender after the guinea pig had been routinely terrorized by the family's dog (they apparently found it amusing to watch the dog chase the little guy around the house). He came to us fearful and would bite. Hard. It took months to slowly earn his trust, and even then he still had moments when his instinct was to bite if he was startled. I was eventually able to trim nails, but I did get chewed up quite a bit at first. He would have sudden panic attacks for seemingly no reason, and would fling himself against the side of his cage and on one occasion, actually flew out of his cage after running in a blind panic (had I not been standing right there and had been able to catch him, he would have severely injured himself as his cage was on a table at the time).
Our vet did put Lewis on a low dose of Valium, and it seemed to help. Lewis was eventually weaned off it, and later did well with a cagemate and was able to live a relatively normal life until he died a couple of years later to something unrelated.
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ItsaZoo
- Supporter in 2023
These poor animals can be so traumatized sometimes they just panic. We had a rescue dog with an ear issue. When the vet came with a scope our dog just screamed. The vet explained this was a learned response and someone in her past had hurt her by digging around in her sore ears. Our current rescue dog has trust issues. He wakes up growling and growls at us when we pick him up or hold him. He wants to cuddle, but someone would pet him, then tease him to the point that he goes over the edge. We’ve had him 2 years and he’s much improved but still haunted by his past.
Thanks so much for all of your responses. I don't think it's bumblefoot, because it doesn't look like any of the bumblefoot pictures I've seen. I'm using a special ointment for severely dry skin called Perfect Paws that's from Gorgeous Guineas, a shop that sells things like that for guinea pigs. Our vet recommended it. Charity has huge flakes of dry skin on top of her toes that seem to not be fully attached and causing her pain when they are touched. She doesn't seem to be in pain otherwise when moving around or doing her normal guinea pig things unless those things involve interaction with her feet. The bottom of her foot is also dry/flakey, and seems slightly red, although she has always had this color on her feet and I've never owned a mostly white guinea pig before, so I'm not sure if this is normal or not. All of her feet problems seem to be only on one foot, but she doesn't like any of them being touched. For her biting, I suspect that something happened in her earlier life that we don't know about that is causing her to panic, along with pain when the top of her toes are touched.
I'll attach pictures of Charity's feet to see what you guys think. Sorry that they aren't very focused, Charity is very squirmy and it can be hard to get a good picture of her feet in the split second before she moves them.
[edit - Lynx - turning into a forced url]
https://imgur.com/a/wzbEb8Q
I'll attach pictures of Charity's feet to see what you guys think. Sorry that they aren't very focused, Charity is very squirmy and it can be hard to get a good picture of her feet in the split second before she moves them.
[edit - Lynx - turning into a forced url]
https://imgur.com/a/wzbEb8Q
There's nothing wrong with my boar, Mr Bubbles feet at all. They're completely healthy, but if I so much as try to touch them, he bites. I got him when he was only 5 weeks old and he's never had any traumatic experience. Some piggies just don't like having their feet messed with, although proper care requires us to inspect them. My solution is to take him to the vet and pay the $15 to have them do it.
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
I edited the post and forced it into a url instead of a standalone url that often displays.
https://imgur.com/a/wzbEb8Q
https://imgur.com/a/wzbEb8Q
I'll try the coconut oil in the future if her feet look worse again, but I managed to get the ointment on her feet by putting an old washcloth around my arm to make it so she couldn't bite me. After getting the ointment on, her feet started to improve and she's now letting me touch them to gently put her ointment on :) I think my mistake last time was stopping the medicine when she started improving, because that only made it get worse. As for nail trimming, I've decided just to bring her to the vet. I feel like it's worth the money, as she's still too squirmy for me to feel comfortable with trimming her nails, and will still bite if I touch her feet for too long.
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