# Really worried about foot injury!! Need help!!



## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Someone please give me advice I am so worried and almost in tears. I have a 5 month old female hog named Phoebe. Today I was playing with her and noticed her hind right paw is so swollen. There is a bit of a lesion on the inside of her leg too right by her paw. It's not bleeding or leaking it is just dark red looking. I'm so worried! I play with her every day and noticed this today so it must not have been happening very long. It looks tight, swollen, and painful. She's not acting like it really bothers her besides being a bit more huffy and skidding then usual. I am extremely concerned. Also, her stools seem different. They are soft and have a greenish tinge. 

I called up the vet immediately and she has an appointment in a few hours. 

Someone PLEASE help! I am worried that she is in pain, and I need to know what I can do in the meantime to help her.


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## Hazesti (Jan 19, 2010)

Well you're seeing a vet soon so it'll be okay. If she doesn't look like she's in horrible pain, maybe just keep her from trying to walk on it until you can get her there? If she's stressed, let her go in her hiding place and take out her wheel if you think she'll try to use it.


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## Mommatobe (Apr 5, 2012)

Like Hazesti said let her go sleep if she wants and take wheel away. Best thing to do is keep her as quiet as possible and do not try to manipulate her leg too much ( you can cause more harm then good by inspecting it too much, let the vet do that). Also don't try to give her anything for "the pain", anything we as people take is usually dangerous for animals and is more then often contraindicated in being used with anything a vet would give. So if she does need pain meds and you did give something from home you would have to wait that much longer to give her what the vet gives you ( called a "wash out" period ). So in short, let her rest and leave her be till you get to vet. Good luck, keep us updated with how things go!


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## Tym4myself (Jul 17, 2012)

Sending good thoughts for Phoebe. Hopefully it's something easily remedied.


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## Tym4myself (Jul 17, 2012)

Sending good thoughts for Phoebe. Hopefully it's something easily remedied.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Did you notice anything wrapped around her foot? A few members' hedgies have gotten hair wrapped around their feet before. (insert long hair warnings here)


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## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Thank you all for the support. I appreciated this so much while reading it waiting at the vet's office. It turned out to be one of my long hairs wrapped around her paw and it had swollen so much you could barely see it! I feel like this is my fault! My poor little phoebe I had to hold her while the vet worked on her little paw with no sedation or pain meds  I know it hurt so bad! 

They gave me an oral antibiotic and a medicine to scrub the foot with. I'm supposed to go back in a week unless things take a turn for the worse. I wish she had been given pain mess for right now though.

Her paw is looking a lot less angry red and is pretty much normal coloring now, but the swelling is stil there and looks painful. The vet didn't want to have her sedated and really dig around in her paw because the foot is so tiny that she was scared she'd mess up her nerves and etc. 

I'm trying to make her home as comfortable as possible, but I know she's still in pain right now. 

I'm really blaming myself for this! Poor little phoebe..


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I'm surprised they didn't give her some metacam, which is pain relief and antiinflammatory which would also help with the swelling. 

A lot of us use those sticky pet hair/lint rollers to go over the liners to help reduce the risk and catch stray hairs.


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## Tym4myself (Jul 17, 2012)

Don't beat yourself up!! These things happen. I'm so glad it wasn't something worse. I bet Phoebe will be feeling better tomorrow. 

And lesson learned for me. I have pretty long hair and it's always falling out, so now I know to watch for that. So thanks for posting here about it. *hugs*


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## Mommatobe (Apr 5, 2012)

Yes thank you for posting about the long hair...I too have pretty long hair and well we all know what the means! Going to be extra careful. I am glad you had her looked at so soon and that it wasn't something too bad. With the hair off and some rest she will feel better soon and if swelling is already down then that is a great sign. Vet may not have wanted to use Metacam cause it is "off label" use for our little guys, all depends on vets comfort level with those kind of things. Might be a good idea to ask why he did not use it just so you know why and reasoning behind it. He may want her to not feel 100% and risk her running on it too much for next couple days while it heals too. Sometimes not using pain meds is a good thing to, you want to treat it but not numb the pet to the fact that they are not 100%. Plus with the hair off she is already feeling alot better. Good luck and let us know how she heals up!


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## Hazesti (Jan 19, 2010)

I didn't know that could happen with the hair, I'll be careful too!

Be sure to keep her from walking around on it too much. I'd suggest taking out her wheel, and maybe putting her in a smaller place (or rearranging her cage so she's blocked between her essentials) so she doesn't run around too much?


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## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Thank you all so much for your concern and sympathy. I'm glad that you could understand my posts with all my crazy typos. I was typing this on my phone so fast while dealing with all of this. 

I can't believe that a couple strands of hair could do this much damage. And I still feel like I could've prevented it somehow  the vet was able to remove two strands of hair, but I'm so scared that there might be more embedded deep in the swelling. I know I haven't given it much time, but the swelling is still in sections as if it was still cut off by the hair. I'm scared there's more in there, and that if it is and I just try to let the swelling go down and wait then it could get really bad. My worst fear is amputation, or surgery that causes nerve damage. I don't want her to have a bad quality of life. 

In a way, I'm glad that I can warn hedgie owners with long hair (or even short hair) that stuff like this can happen. I have really long hair that's fine and easily shed. And just two hairs made her foot swollen in horrible separations and she's got this large bruise and scabs too. I feel so bad for her. 

The vet told me that she was scared to sedate her because they would use gas? They were worried because their little bodies are so sensitive. I just know how much that hurt though with the vet digging in her paw with tiny scissors. But she was a good girl, and didn't even ball up or huff and puff. I was pretty proud. The vet said that the last hedgehog she treated didn't even unroll for its owner for 45 minutes!


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## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Also, I was wondering about an anti inflammatory for her. They gave me a flush called Chlorhexidine to soak and "scrub" the foot with. Is anyone familiar with this? I just hope it's an anti inflammatory because I don't know how fast the antibiotic will work to relieve the swelling from the possible infection.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Chlorhexidine is just an anti-bacterial scrub/cleaner that is safe for animals. (If you have left overs, it's good as an overall cage/wheel/everything cleaner as well)

If the swelling persists, you should talk to your vet about some sort of anti-inflammatory. You can PM LizardGirl, as I know(for sure) that she has experience with giving metacam for possible dosing if your vet is not sure. (so at least you'd be prepared to answer if your vet doesn't know).


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## AngelaH (Jul 24, 2012)

Thank you for sharing your story! It was a huge reminder for me to watch for hairs on my little girl's feet and legs! I also have very long fine hair, and Thistle's favorite place during cuddle time is to climb to my shoulder and curl up in it. I'm going to be a lot more careful about the hair.


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## newfie_nurse (Apr 28, 2011)

Chloe just had a foot injury as well  she broke her nail in half somehow.. Accidents happen to our hedgies just like kids , it's part of life ..don't feel bad, chalk it up to you learned something new and now so have many of us!!

I would suggest the anti inflammatory cream as well. It works !!!and is cheap. Plus now I have the tube for further boo boos lol which I hope never happens again. You can just buy it off the shelf at my vet. Trying to get the anitbiotics in to her was my nightmare lol

I didn't even take Chloe's wheel out she didn't seem to have any issue wheeling the first night with the cream etc.

Hope your lil ball of quills gets better soon


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## Mommatobe (Apr 5, 2012)

Hopefully the remainder of the swelling goes down and if not in the next day or so I would call vet back and ask if there is anyway they can speak to a specialist regarding appropriate anesthesia for hedgehogs so they can take a better look at the leg without her moving around. Goodluck


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## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Hey everyone, I wanted to tell you that I made a new post on my major concerns about her right now. I'm just still so worried. Thank you all so much for your caring support. In my other post I asked what exactly I need to ask from the vet and if I need to call tomorrow. Also worried about the separations in her foot as of there's still hair embedded. If any of you good sweet hedgie owners have time, please look at my other post. Thank you all again


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## newfie_nurse (Apr 28, 2011)

sorry for the late reply.. the cream the vet gave me for chloe's toe/foot was *Healx- soother plus*. you can google it, but I have to say it seems to work.. I rub a little tiny bit on after a after a foot bath when her feet are dry.. 
On the information I read it says it is good for large and small animals.. comes in a 1oz tube for like 10-20$ which for a hedgie will last for Forever..  

hope this helps


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