Blood in cage

nette on January 18th 2012, 11:42 am

This morning I was putting Hoggy back to bed (he has the run of his play pen each night and only sleeps in his cage during the day) When I noticed a dried rusty looking patch on the floor. I used a white baby wipe to clean some up cause I was worried it might be blood. Sure enough it came up rusty pink looking and now I'm sure its blood.
I got him out of bed and checked him over.
He seems fine in himself, and the only thing I can find is that one of his back feet looked a bit bloody. I couldn't see any cut, just a little dried blood.
I will give him a foot bath when he's more awake this evening, and I will attempt to trim his nails (God help me, I've not had to do this yet!)
I've read all the posts I can find on blood / feet and it seems to be quite common.
Any ideas as to what I should add to the water as I usually just give him luke warm water.

**angriesthedgehog** on January 18th 2012, 1:27 pm

he prob just caught or split his foot on the wheel. I think you can use a little savlon on the wound - but if it is really tiny, it may be better just to give a luke warm foot bath just to get any dirt and dried blood off. Their feet seem to bleed a lot for a tiny cut so its prob very small.

nette on January 18th 2012, 7:31 pm

Thanks for the tip

I just bathed him and cut his nails (only the back feet as we were bribing him with meal worms at the front end!) and I could see a very small sore on the side of his foot.
I will keep an eye on it each day from now on, and I have taken his wheel out of his cage for tonight to give it a chance to heal a bit.
Bless him he was so patient even though his quite a grumpy hog usually.

miffy on January 18th 2012, 10:42 pm

Just keep an eye on it, it might still bleed bit tonight as wound can open, best just to use plain water to clean foot would not put anything in water as it could go in the wound.

unsure

nette on January 19th 2012, 9:36 am

Hi guys

This morning there was more blood in the cage even though I didn't give him his wheel over night. I think when he walks on it it must open it up again. It's not a dramatic amount of blood and it was less than the night before, but he walks through it and spreads it around!
I will put some savlon on it tonight after I bath his feet.
What it would need if he were a person is a little plaster on it, but of course thats not an option.

Thanks for your help so far....

miffy on January 19th 2012, 8:53 pm

you probably done right in taken the wheel out, but they stilll have a lot of energy so who knows what he has been running around. Perhaps give him another bath so the wound stays clean and perhaps check the cage to see if there is anything sharp that he might have cut himself on, it can be something very sm all on the fleece. if ou use shavings, perhaps clean teh cage and put fresh shavings in. hopefully it will be better tomorrow. Keep us updated.

unsure

Jo79 on January 20th 2012, 1:02 pm

Same thing happened to our little guy sheldon last night, one of his front feet had been bleeding and there was little foot prints in his litter tray and in his bed. Seems he has also bumped his nose as it's quite pink, and he keeps licking it al the time. Think he has done it on his wheel as he is a maniac on it and has only had it for 2 weeks. Anyway they seem to do it occasionally and they do take a few days to heal as you say walking on it can cause the wound to reopen, but a foot bath is probably the best thing you can do to keep it clean.

nette on January 21st 2012, 9:13 am

Last night I put his wheel in with him by mistake, and I was amazed to see no blood at all this morning. Whats even more strange is that when I was washing his feet last night I noticed an identical sore on his other back foot in exactly the same place. Very odd indeed. It makes me wonder if the sore spots are on some anatomically prominant place which is becoming sore for some (as yet) unknown reason.
On a lighter note I had a dream in wich he was wearing a pair of minature carpet slippers (brown and fluffy), so perhaps thats the solution!!!!
Thanks every one for your help, I'll let you know if I ever discover Hoggy wearing his slippers in real life. lol!

Still good to know there was no sign of blood in his run.

Blood in cage

Blood in cage

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Hoggy carpet slippers!