Blood spots on Lacey’s bedding

[Sef]

I wondered about that, too (Orajel).

[ItsaZoo]

Oh, I never thought of that. I’ll have to pick some up.

Lacey’s doing well today. She’s eating well and moving around sleeping in different places. She’s not limping or hiding. Her toe isn’t swollen and it’s a healthy pink like the others. I cleaned it and put a dot of Polysporin on it this morning and she didn’t seem to mind. So I’m hopeful there are no issues and she’ll heal okay.

[Sef]

Oh good! I'm so glad her pretty little toe is better.

[Lynx]

That is encouraging! Ripped toenails do seem to heal fine in almost all cases but it is disconcerting to have it happen.

[ItsaZoo]

She has a little scab on the tip of her toe, but she isn't touchy about it or anything so now I'll just wait and see if a new nail starts growing.

[ItsaZoo]

Lacey has a sore front foot or leg. She had zoomies last night and seemed fine this morning. But then I noticed she seemed to be hopping when she moved around. It was hard to tell which foot, but it's the front left and not the one with the missing toenail.

She doesn't want to put any weight on it, and when she's sitting in one place she has her toes cupped together. I examined her entire foot and leg from toes to shoulder, and compared with the other foot and leg. I don't see any injury or swelling and she didn't react to any tenderness.

She may have twisted something overnight in her small cage. She has a shelf in there at the lowest position and I have it covered with fleece for traction. She likes to hop up on it, but it's possible she hopped down and landed wrong.

So I'm going to have to keep and eye on her and see if she improves. She's been sitting around a lot today but she's been eating. So she may be taking a trip to the vet if things don't improve.

[Lynx]

I do hope things improve. I am sure your body check was thorough!

[ItsaZoo]

She’s pretty sick of me checking her over. I didn’t know a guinea pig could glower, but talk about getting the stink eye! I almost called the vet this morning because she had her leg held out in front of her hopping. But then she started moving better and tonight she’s looking pretty good.

Yesterday she wasn’t moving around much, but today she’s eating well and she let out a few loud wheeks for food tonight, so that’s a relief. She must have stubbed a toe or strained a muscle or something. I’m going to see if I can modify the shelf in her overnight cage so it’s lower. She loves to jump up on it but maybe it’s a little too high.

[bpatters]

If it's a wire shelf covered only with fleece, I think it's more likely that she caught and twisted a foot rather then injuring it jumping up or down. You really need a flat bottom of some kind on the shelf if you don't have one now.

[ItsaZoo]

The shelf is solid plastic that snaps into the cage across one side. I have it at the lowest level, which is 5-1/2" from the floor. It's covered with a fleece pad that I clip to the shelf, and there's a small piece of carpet grip mesh under it so it doesn't slide around. The floor is also fleece with a towel underneath so it's pretty well padded. I took the shelf out for a few days so she wouldn't jump down on that front leg. But she's been moving well for 2 days, so I'm going to replace the shelf tonight. She keeps looking around for it and likes to sleep up there while keeping an eye on the refrigerator.

[Lynx]

Refrigerator monitoring is a big job. I'm sure she doesn't want to fail at that!

Good to hear she has been moving better. Always possible nails can get caught in any cloth/rug though it certainly seems a more comfy shelf with them.

[ItsaZoo]

i think Lacey is having some mouth or teeth issues. The last few nights she didn’t eat all her pellets, which is unusual. Those are usually gone in the morning. She eats a few here and there but a couple of times I saw her kind of pawing at the left side of her mouth like something was caught. She’s also not really interested in her water bottle, and usually she drinks quite a bit.

She is eating hay and spends a lot of time in the hay pile. I’ve watched and she is picking strands up and eating, not just nosing around. She also has an appetite for lettuce, peppers, corn husks, cukes, and I gave her a little bit of apple and that went right down.

I looked at her front teeth and they are nice and even and a good length. I tried but can’t see anything in her mouth. Her jaw feels the same on both sides, no swellings or lumps.

Output is still good. I weight her Sunday mornings and she was down 1/2 ounce. She’s been losing weight slowly from 2 lbs 3 oz last year at this time to 2 lbs 1.5 oz today.

I don’t know what’s to think so I left a message at the vet. They have exotics on their website and I was impressed a year ago when I took her there, but I don’t know anything about their dental abilities.