# Hitch's rear foot: growth? nail? something?



## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Hi everyone,

Just need advice before heading out to the vet with Hitch. A few days ago we noticed a growth or something that is on one of Hitch's rear paws. Honestly, it almost looks like another nail growing out of the top of this foot. Could it be a broken bone? Could it be an infection? The growth is hard and doesn't move. We have never seen him bleed from there but it does look like a little bit of dried blood underneath. It doesn't seem to be bothering him but we did notice a decrease lately in his food consumption. I've place a few pictures on Picasa and hopefully we can figure this out...

https://picasaweb.google.com/ricktheche ... tchInjury#

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Scott.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

Is it possible its a broken toe, it almost looks like it could be a piece of bone coming out around the spot the joint would be. I'm not an expert at all, just basing it on what it looks like to me. I hope the little guy is all right. Please keep us posted and I hope it ends up being something easily cured


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

My Quillson used to get boney growths on his feet. Usually they were on bottom and sides of his feet and toes and were like an overgrowth of the bone. With him, running on his wheel made them worse and a couple of time infected. He'ed run and the growth would get irritated and of course running in poop and urine was a recipe for disaster. He had to have a toe and some bone amputated one time but we managed to keep it under control after that. 

Hitch's could be a sore of some sort, a boney growth, or who knows. Certainly worth having checked out.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Thank you all for the information. We noticed this little whatever it is a few days ago and we will bring him to the vet shortly. I think it does ressemble a bone growth or nail growth. A broken toe might be a little bit far fetched due to the location of the growth. 

We will probably be bringing him to the local university vet hospital that offers exotic consultations. Another good thing is that they have all the top of the line equipment to check him out. Hopefully Hitch won't be too difficult or he might have to be put under for the procedures. Anything we should watch for if the little fella is put under?

Thank you all very very much for the information. Hitch and the two of us love you all for it...

Scott.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Poor little guy. I hope they can figure it out and get it fixed. Please let us know how it goes!


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

A little update: 
We took Hitch to the university hospital emergency vet tonight to get his foot checked out after we noticed tonight that it had gotten bigger from last night. 
They had to put him under as he was not a happy camper being checked out ( his first time being put under- and he seems to be ok - So far so good any way) 
Turns out it was an abscess. They did minor surgery to remove it, and went in a little deeper just to make sure it wasn't any further. 
His little paw is a bit swollen, and where the took off the abscess is red, and it looks like there is a little hole, but he seems ok. When we put him back in his cage, he went right for his food bowl  
We have to give him antibiotics twice a day for a week and anti-inflammatory also twice daily for 3 days. They gave us antibiotic cream to put on it as well. 
Tonight no wheel at our decision so hopefully he won't hate us too much tomorrow. 

More pictures to follow tomorrow if Hitch co-operates.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Add two more pictures of the abscess the following day before taking him to the vet. It really popped out and we were very worried and could not hold off till Monday.

I called the vet very nervously and said that we were not sure if it was a life and death situation and they were very receptive and understanding. The vet resident took the time to take all of our input and then she called her attending intern vet that took over the call. She asked a lot of questions regarding what was going on and took the time to really make sure he wasn't in an immediate danger. We decided in the end it would be better to have him looked at right away and setup a time to get there. We arrived at the clinic and it was very professional and polite. Setup his file and then had a good consultation done. They took down all his history from birth till now and seemed very knowledgeable regarding hedgehogs. 

They then took him into a seperate room to have a look and then came out and asked for approval to put him under for the procedures. We accepted and then waited for about 1.5 hours for them to complete the procedures. Came back to the waiting room and they explained everything from A to Z. 

Arrived at the clinic around 9:45 PM and got home here around 12:30; considering a half hour drive each way it was very quick and efficient but more importantly our little fella is on the mend. 

Woke up Hitch this morning to give him his 0.03 ml of anti-inflammatory and 0.07 ml of antibiotic. Put a little bit of the antibiotic cream on his wound/scar at the same time. 
I would post the name of the meds but I don't want to bother little guy right now; the paper is in his room. I will post them this evening. 

Thank you all again for your support. It is very appreciated!
Scott.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Also, we went here with Hitch:

http://www.medvet.umontreal.ca/chuv/Ani ... agnie.html

Sorry, the website seems to only be in French but the staff are pretty good in English. They honestly try very well!


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Thanks for the update! Glad it was something that could be easily fixed. Hope he's back to normal in no time!!


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

You must be SO relieved!!

I am so excited you found such an awesome vet and had such a great experience (under the circumstances)...now you'll never have to worry about weird health stuff in the future: you know people who know hedgies!! 

Thank you so much for posting the results...please keep posting. I've been checking this thread every day, hoping for good news.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

That's good news. I'm happy to hear it was nothing serious.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Relieved is an understatement.... 

We are very happy hedgie parents... 

I will post updates. Hopefully all we go well..

Scott.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

So I have the info about what he was prescribed:

Metacam (anti-inflammatory) 0.04 ml for 3 days twice daily
Clavamox (antibiotic) 0.07 ml for 7 days twice daily
Flamazine (antibiotic cream) twice daily for 7 days after cleaning with Baxedin

I have a new picture from after the removal of the abcess; seems puffed up again this evening but hopefully the antibiotics and whatnot will help:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/w ... directlink

Scott.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

So on Vet Day +2; Hitch is eating as he was before the visit and is running up a storm from what I can tell.

His paw is a little bit more swollen than last night but the bubble that had formed on the cut/scab has shrunk a little bit. The paw seems more natural but like I mentioned somewhat swollen.

He is taking his medication without any issues. Picked up some Baxedin solution today to swab down his cut/scab prior to putting on his antibiotic cream and he does not mind it at all. 

Hopefully this positive vibes keeps on going and going... 

Watching him right now on his IR camera and he is running like MAD on his wheel...

Scott.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

I almost wonder after the fact if we should take away his wheel for every second night so he does not overexert himself? The vet said it should not really bother him but I wonder what everyone else thinks?

Scott.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

My concern with the wheel would be the poop and urine getting around the healing area and getting it infected but as long as you keep it clean that shouldn't be a problem. 

Sometimes not having the wheel is almost worse than leaving it in as they get bored and sometimes mad when there is no wheel and then do silly things like cage climbing. :lol: 

I'm glad he is doing well.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Vet Day +5: Hitch seems to be doing well. This morning we noticed that the scab/abscessed seemed to be coming back and that we were a little worried. We still went thru feeding him the antibiotic and putting his cream. This evening, my GF just touched the scab and it came right off. There was no puss or bleeding but we were quick to disinfected it as we were advised. He didn't seem to really like that.. and pulled his paw in. We will still keep an eye on it. 

Scott.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Hitch's last day of treatment today.. his paw looked really good last night even thou there is a little scab there. He is eating more than he was last week and he seems to be back up to numbers from the beginning of February and therefore we are very relieved.

I put up another picture from last night:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q ... directlink

Hopefully it all resolves in a few days...

Question: should we continue cleaning it with the disinfectant and antibiotic? We have some left from the week. I will be stopping the oral antibiotic for sure tonight.

Scott.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

I'm glad he's doing so much better!  I don't know if you should keep cleaning it or not, so wait for someone more knowledgeable on the subject.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Hitch's foot is all healed and he seemed to be doing great for the past few weeks.

We've noticed that he is having a little bit of a harder time pooping and the poop seems a little bit firmer than usual. We are considering going to the vet to get a probiotic but in the meantime we are going to add some baby food to his diet to try to loosen up those stools. 

I know pumpkin is highly recommended in this case but it is difficult to find at this time of the year. Would another veggies do the trick?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

You can find canned pure pumpkin in the baking aisle of most grocery stores. If you can't find it try some squash babyfood.


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Thanks Nikki.

I assume that pumpkin is not very popular up here. Impossible to find in the aisle of any of the large supermarkets around here. I will check out for baby food tomorrow morning ASAP. I will pick up some fresh veggies at the same time.

We recorded him last night and he stopped running/walking around at about 3 AM. Very early for him since he is usually wheeling till 4 or 5. We also noticed on a few occasions that he seemed to be trying to poop but wasn't able to. He did poop a few pieces as mentioned earlier in the evening and therefore he is not totally blocked up.


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## ShutUpAndSmile (Mar 7, 2011)

rtc said:


> I assume that pumpkin is not very popular up here. Impossible to find in the aisle of any of the large supermarkets around here.


Maybe it's very popular then? 

I'm glad he's feeling better.  <3


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## rtc (Sep 5, 2008)

Went out to my local walmart and found quite a few baby food bottles on sale... 

I picked up a bottle of banana, carrot, squash, sweet potatoe and butternut squash (what's the difference between a regular squash and butternut?)

I also picked up some capsules of flax seed oil to help with his dry skin.


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