Injured bleeding toenail

[Silverline]

Hello TBS. It's been a while, hope everyone is well.

Little Trooper-Marie is needing some help again.
Last Thursday while I was napping, Troopie did something to her left toenail. I think she ripped it or bent it out of place and it was bleeding pretty heavily at first. I noticed right away when I woke up because I saw her laying in her nest all weird and then I saw blood on her fur and she didn't want to come out of her nest. I quickly got her into one of her smaller cages, so that I could bathe her and get her wound clean. I used 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 2 parts water to clean it out and prevent infections (Had to use a spray bottle). I had her in the small cage over night beside me so that she couldn't jump around, get dirty, or re-open the wound. The bleeding stopped a couple hours after I cleaned her paw. I also deep cleaned and sterilized her bigger cage and her room to lessen the chances of infection.

Over the last two days she has been sleeping more than usual, but she does walk around and climb up things still. She was kind of in a playful mood yesterday but I prevented her from playing. I haven't seen anymore blood since but I think she is still in pain because of the amount she has been sleeping. Her toenail looks like it's bent on an angle a little bit but It could also just be how she's positioning it, it's hard for me to tell because she is so squirmy. I don't think her toe is broken because she doesn't whimper or cry like she usually does when she is really hurting, and she still climbs, walks, and runs to me when I have food. Shes also not limping and her appetite and bodily functions are still good.

Just wondering what I should do or where to go from here. Will her toe/toenail heal itself naturally? Would I need to get her toenail surgically removed? Would the toenail just fall off and grow back? I have read that putting any topical bacterial ointment on it is bad as she will likely ingest it and make her sick. Should she be going on anti-biotics?

I can try to take pictures if I can get her still enough for a while if needed.

Thank you for any help and advice.


Dann & Trooper-Marie

[lennysmom]

I had nearly the exact same thing happen to Angel awhile back. I thought he was going to loose two of his toenails because of the angle they were turned. He was in pain too, so I dosed him a little bit of infant ibprohphen a few days for the pain and after a week or so, he was back to normal and his toenails were fine. Hope your little Trooper Marie gets to feeling better soon.

[CritterMom]

Check her cage for pinch points - I bet you find some. Any place where two wires are spread apart and then narrow down to a V are bad too - they panic when they realize they can't get away and yank.

Their nails grow pretty fast, or at least that is what my arms and legs say, and I am betting this will right itself with no need for interference. Keep an eye on it and if she will let you hold her foot - or even just rest it on you, you can tell if it is getting hot. That would be a bad sign and at that point vet/antibiotics may be needed.

You can give her infant ibuprophen - we can dose it for you. It is sweet and they usually like it. The benefit: It will make her foot feel better and not hurt so much. The negative: It will make her foot feel better and not hurt so much. Pain will limit her movements which is a good thing when there is an injury. But it hurts. So if you can limit her movement with a smaller cage, etc., then infant ibuprophen will make her foot feel better. If you don't think you can limit her from running around, then you might not want to.

[Silverline]

Oh that's great news to hear. I'm glad it's nothing serious then. I'll continue to examine her paw for anything out of the ordinary and for heat, I didn't know they heat up on a point of infection that's great to know. I'm always so paranoid and on edge with her when something happens, they can be worse than children haha. I love her to pieces though

CritterMom, That's a tough call. I don't think she's in that much pain, just enough pain to make her sleep and limit her movement which might be best for her at this point. But maybe just in case something happens or it looks like she's suffering maybe I should have the ibuprophen dosed out anyways. I can then even add it to my medical binder for her for future reference as well.

I also went through all the pinch points yesterday too and secured everything. I made sure that nothing was sticking out on anything. I redid the door gaurds, the window bars, and her cages. I think I foound some things she could have done it on, but they are all fixed now

Thank you guys for the help and advice, we really appreciate it

[CritterMom]

Do you know approximately what she weighs?