vicious cycle of healing and bleeding again

[Gumby and Elmo]

don't know if u guys remember when I said I found blood in my girls cage, then found out it was probably from muffins feet.
well, a week has gone by, and I saw a fes drops of blood again in the girls cages yesterday.
I did see muffin pigoing at her feet the night before .
well I took both my girls to the vet, to check over and see if it was really from the feet.
the vet couldn't see anything else wrong with neither of them and agreed that it was probably from her feet, but the feet didn't look raw enough to be giving so many spots of blood.
I was given the option to put her on pain meds to see if that could get her to stop from picking at the wound due to discomfort.
I was hesistant since muffin s only a.llittle over a yr old.
and the vet suggested me to cover all the wooden ledges with vet bed, or fleece since Hong kongs climate is not dry enough to crack her feet, he suspected it was from pressure, from standing on hard surfaces for prolonged time.
he also said the blood could be from her uterus or bladder but since I haven't noticed any blood pee, it is unlikely, but would need a full exam and blood tests to show.
I was given hipitane and an antibacterial cream to clean and apply when necessary.

my question is, if muffin does keep getting at her scabs or healing feet and making it bleed again, then what should I do, they will never heal and I.can.just see it get worst.
would pain meds be the only option?


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[Riven]

If she is picking at her feet they're probably bothering her. Keep them moisturized with something like a bag balm or petroleum jelly, rub a little bit in each day and see if it helps. usually if you see spots of blood they look like there is more blood than there really is.

The meds they gave are for you to treat it, but to keep it from returning you need to prevent it. How does the rest of her skin look? Ears? What is her diet? She may need an oil type supplement to help her produce more oils in her skin.

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

thank you Riven, I have bagbalm, so i'LLC try applying that onto her feeties for 10days and go from there.
shes on mazurI, and get first cut timmy, mountain grass and meadow hay.
the rest of her skin looks normal to me and to the vet, and her aren't peticularly dry.
she's very active and eats a heap.
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[Claire D]

Can you post photos of her feet please?

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

k, just took these pics.

I think its from her right feet near the middle.

closer look at her right feet

and a super close up, does it look like a cut to u? haven't noticed until now, it didnt look that serious from afar.

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[Riven]

I'm not a foot expert, but they do look dry to me, notice between the pads. The pads themselves get the most wear, so they will rarely "look" dry because the skin is always being worn off.

 

[Claire D]

To me it looks like the chin walks on the outside edge of her feet - notice how spread out the pad is on the left foot especially?
I'd say your chin has an unusual gait (way of walking) which is putting extra pressure on the back and outside edges of her feet. This causes the tissue to spread out and then it gets hard skin on it.
Instead of spreading her weight evenly across all the pads of her feet, your chin is putting extra pressure on just a couple of pads.

This is not uncommon to be honest - it's something which is not always noticed unless the chin develops a problem - like you are describing.


If the chin then grooms the hard skin it can cause bleeding and small wounds. If the wounds do not heal fully then infection can form under the callus (hard skin) and this is known as bumblefoot (pododermatitis).


I've tried to show on the photos what part of the pad the chin is walking on (yellow) and where the weight should normally be distributed (turquoise). The photos show where the pad is extended out sideways from the foot. The first photo you posted of both feet also shows the excess callus and spreading of the foot pad but it's too small on my laptop to be able to enhance - I can do it if you've got a better/bigger photo if it would help?


One helpful way to try to tackle this kind of problem is to provide different surfaces for the chin to walk on - which means she distributes her weight better. You can use properly prepared branches, some soft areas (fleece), shelving, and different size ledges. All of these will help.
If there are wounds then these need treating - I know a lot of people in the US use BagBalm - you could try that to soften the skin a little (but there's a balance and you don't want the skin too soft) and you need to keep a careful eye on the feet - not too many dustbaths or the skin dries up and can crack.



What type of cage is the chin in and what do you have on as flooring? Do you have central heating?

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

thank you Claire for the indepth explanation, I am going to start her on bag balm for a week or so and hopefully she will stop getting at her scabs and let them heal.
they are in a 5ft. cage multi levels. wooden ledges, fleece tube, and fleece liner as flooring on bottom and middle.

I have ordered some new furniture in from twilight chinchillas, hopefullycan give them more different levels to jump on.

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[Gumby and Elmo]

I too a pic of muffins foot tonight, the left side is from a week before, and right is after 7 days of bag balm, the cut or wound seemed to have healed a lot, hope she doesn't bite it open again.


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[Claire D]

That's an excellent result. :thumbsup:

 

[Riven]

Love the update!

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

Yes, I am very happy it healed up, fingers crossed that my little girl doesn't bite at it again, gonna keep putting bag balm on her for a few more days until its fully healed.
Thanks for all the advice!