Hi everyone,
Earlier today I went to check on one of my chins, Dexter, who happens to be my oldest (around 7 or 8), when I noticed something strange on his toe. When I opened the cage to get a better look, I discovered that he had a huge scab on one of his front toes that looked to be infected. I'd checked on my chins earlier that day, as well as a few times every day this past week and never noticed anything. The toe doesn't seem to be bothering him much; he's been eating fine and running around as usual. The only thing I've noticed is he hasn't been drinking much recently. I've checked the cage over multiple times and found nothing that he could have caught his toe on to injure it. The only thing I can think of that could have done that was when he jumped out of my hands about a week and a half ago and hid behind a desk. I managed to lure him back out about 15 minutes later with a dust bath and didn't notice any injury when I placed him back in his cage. The scab seems pretty old (it's almost purplish in color) so I don't know if it would be worth taking him to the vet or not. The exotic vet I usually take my chins to is about an hour from where I live and driving all that way for something minor wouldn't be ideal. Any advice on what I should do for him? Here's a picture of the toe. Sorry for the poor quality:
Earlier today I went to check on one of my chins, Dexter, who happens to be my oldest (around 7 or 8), when I noticed something strange on his toe. When I opened the cage to get a better look, I discovered that he had a huge scab on one of his front toes that looked to be infected. I'd checked on my chins earlier that day, as well as a few times every day this past week and never noticed anything. The toe doesn't seem to be bothering him much; he's been eating fine and running around as usual. The only thing I've noticed is he hasn't been drinking much recently. I've checked the cage over multiple times and found nothing that he could have caught his toe on to injure it. The only thing I can think of that could have done that was when he jumped out of my hands about a week and a half ago and hid behind a desk. I managed to lure him back out about 15 minutes later with a dust bath and didn't notice any injury when I placed him back in his cage. The scab seems pretty old (it's almost purplish in color) so I don't know if it would be worth taking him to the vet or not. The exotic vet I usually take my chins to is about an hour from where I live and driving all that way for something minor wouldn't be ideal. Any advice on what I should do for him? Here's a picture of the toe. Sorry for the poor quality:
