Swollen Foot?

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Noticed a small lump on the top of my chinchilla's foot... Correct me if I'm wrong, but bumblefoot would be apparent on the *bottom* of his feet, right? This is just on the top, the bottoms look normal.

Sorry for the poor quality photos. Anyone know what this is?

I also found out that the exotics vet I was originally intending to use is on medical leave. Does anyone know of a good vet on Vancouver Island in the Sidney/Victoria/Langford area?
 

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Have you noticed him limping? I would get him to a vet as soon as you possibly can and get him some x-rays. Because of the area it makes me think that maybe it's a fractured bone. In the mean time I would put him in a carrier or small cage to restrict his movement.
 
Essentia said:
Have you noticed him limping? I would get him to a vet as soon as you possibly can and get him some x-rays. Because of the area it makes me think that maybe it's a fractured bone. In the mean time I would put him in a carrier or small cage to restrict his movement.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding.

He's not limping, he doesn't seem bothered by it. He was running on his wheel quite a bit today, but that was before I noticed the lump.

I do have a smaller cage I could put him, but I'm a bit hesitant to separate him from his cagemates. I'll put him in the smaller cage if everyone thinks it's best, but in the meantime I've just separated the FN and blocked everyone in the top half so they can't access their wheel. The furthest he'd jump in the top half is less than 8 inches...

My cat's going in to the vet tomorrow, so I'll ask the vet then who he recommends for chinchillas. Should I bring all three chinchillas in, or just the one with the foot problem? I'd hate to take just the one in and have the other two attack him when he comes back because he "smells funny" or something - do they do that? :wacko:
 
If he's walking on it and running on it, then I'm guessing it's not a broken bone. Have you ever paid close attention to his foot before? Could it simply be a deformity? I would expect with a broken bone for him to be pretty sensitive about it, at least with regards to running on a wheel. Does he run with 4 on the floor, so to speak?

Will he let you touch it? Does it feel squishy or hard? Does it feel like it might be a callus from a previously broken bone? If it's squishy, it's possible it's an abscess. He may have gotten a cut in his foot and it sealed up and formed a pus pocket underneath. If it's hard and he's not sensitive or jerking it away, it's possible it's a bone spur or a callous formation from a previous injury.

Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Also, if you take him to the vet, I would just take the one chin to the vet. Unless he stays at the vet for an extended period of time (in which case, you couldn't leave the other 2 anyway) I wouldn't worry about the smell.
 
I agree with Tunes. With the limited info earlier is what made me think it could be a broken bone. If he is putting full weight on it and running on the wheel (and actually using that foot in the process of the running) then that's probably not what it is. If you can answer Tunes' questions it will give us a bit more insight.
 
tunes said:
If he's walking on it and running on it, then I'm guessing it's not a broken bone. Have you ever paid close attention to his foot before? Could it simply be a deformity? I would expect with a broken bone for him to be pretty sensitive about it, at least with regards to running on a wheel. Does he run with 4 on the floor, so to speak?

Will he let you touch it? Does it feel squishy or hard? Does it feel like it might be a callus from a previously broken bone? If it's squishy, it's possible it's an abscess. He may have gotten a cut in his foot and it sealed up and formed a pus pocket underneath. If it's hard and he's not sensitive or jerking it away, it's possible it's a bone spur or a callous formation from a previous injury.

Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Also, if you take him to the vet, I would just take the one chin to the vet. Unless he stays at the vet for an extended period of time (in which case, you couldn't leave the other 2 anyway) I wouldn't worry about the smell.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't really looked at his feet before. I suppose it could be a deformity or callus from a previously broken bone, though I haven't seen either in person before. I don't know how he runs on the wheel as he jumps off when I come in the room, but when he's jumping around the cage he uses his feet equally.

It feels hard, definitely not an abscess. He's not happy about me touching it, but he doesn't like me touching him anywhere. He doesn't seem to care about it anymore than his other foot. He didn't make any noise or furslip while I was touching it, which I would think he would have if it was painful?

There is fur on the lump, if that's relevant.
 
I would just keep an eye on it and see if anything changes, i.e., does he stop using it, is he not running on all 4 in the wheel (if you can sneak a peek), is he jumping around as usual, etc. It could just be a deformity of his foot from an injury somewhere along the line, even at birth.
 
Can you move the lump? Or does it seem attached to his bone? That might make it easier to be more confident that it's a callous/deformation or an abscess.
 
Then it more likely it's part of the infrastructure of his foot, like a bone callous or something.
 
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