Degloved paw

[ema99]

Hi all,

I’m new here so hope this is okay! After my old Degus passed a few years ago I’ve been wanting more since, and got 2 young girls a month ago, Mocha and Latte. They’re settling in well, Mocha is much more nervous than Latte but am starting to handle both. Came home yesterday and immediately noticed Mocha had a red paw, and on further inspection her skin and fur had been ripped from her paw, which obviously was sore! Took her straight to my vet, who has put her on metacam and flamazine cream to stop infection and encourage healing that I need to apply twice daily. Firstly, when taking Degus to the vets, what do people recommend taking them in? I took them in the cardboard carrier I got them in, however with them being young and nervous Mocha did jump out a couple times which added stress for all of us! Secondly, any recommendations on how to make the application and cleaning of her paw as stress free for her? She’s quite shaken up from her vet visit (she unfortunately did bite the vet when she was grabbed) and I want to make this as comfortable for her as possible. Lastly, has anyone got experience with a degloved paw? I’ve only ever heard of tail degloving so any knowledge on this would be great, I think she did it on a sharp piece of wood they had chewed which has now been removed.

Thank you in advance! 😊

[savvy]

Welcome to the forum.

Ouch! A degloved paw sounds very painful.

Firstly, you need to remove their sand bath as this will help prevent an infection. To clean the wound try cooled boiled salt water and a cotton bud. A cotton bud can be used to apply the cream too.

As for suitable carriers for vet visits, you need something chew proof, she may have tried to jump out this time, but she'll soon realise she can chew through it very quickly. You can buy hard plastic pet carriers at most pet shops, or you can use a large plastic storage box as long as you put air holes in the lid.

[teemu]

Hello there, and welcome to the forum.

If you don't mind, I will ask some clarifying questions first, so that we'll have a good idea of what the exact situation is.

Is the paw totally degloved (i.e. skinless and the flesh, or even bone, is showing all over)? Or is it just that she has a nasty wound on her paw and skin has ripped from one place? Can she still use it, or is it totally useless and she avoids using at at all?

(If you are able to take a picture of it, that would help a lot in identifying the severity of the situation).

If it is a complete degloving (like the name suggests, the skin being pulled off the limb like a "glove"), I'm sorry to say that there is no way for that to actually heal, since the damage is simply too massive. These injuries are not unheard of in rodents, and the only procedure I know of that is used in these cases is amputation. This may sound really scary, but degus generally cope well with an amputation, so the injury is not the end of the world even if this is the case. But if she has suffered a total degloving injury, it should be handled quite quickly, because otherwise it can suffer very bad complications from infection.

However, if it's not a total degloving, and is just a big wound or lost skin, it is possible for that to heal. It is important to keep her environment very clean for the healing period, since her wounded paw will be touching various surfaces. For example, degus mark basically all the surfaces in their cage, so cleaning them well (and then wiping them every day) is a must. Other than that, keeping up her medication and comforting her will be important.

About the other questions, I recommend getting a carrier intended for small pets. These are often sold in pet stores, and are basically carry cages with handles, usually made from plastic. It is a good idea to have one on hand at all times, in case there is ever urgent need to get the degus out of the cage for whatever reason. The size should preferably be large enough that they can comfortably move around in it. These carriers are sturdy enough that the degus can't break out, which is absolutely a must, since if they escape in an unfamiliar place, it will be basically impossible to catch them. When you put them in the carrier, take some of the bedding from their cage and put it in there with them (familiar smells may help them stay calm), and something like a towel, or a small blanket, or something else they can hide in when they are in transit.

It's likely not possible to make this healing period entirely stress-free for her, but comforting her, acting normally (pets do recognize when their owner is nervous or acting strangely) around her, giving some extra treats and such will go a long way. It may be a bit harder, but my experience is that if you do the treatment at the same time every day, she will not become paranoid about every interaction potentially being a new stressful treatment. Carefully measure her medications exactly to the given amounts, since degus are small animals and even a relatively small amount over the dosage can cause an overdose for them.

These things are always very unpleasant, but even if she is quite rattled now, a few days of normalcy will help her settle down again.

[ema99]

Thank you both. I’m not sure how to add a photo - happy to do so if you could let me know how! The vet said she had degloved the paw, muscle still intact but all fur and skin ripped from that paw. She is intermittently using it - but quite obviously trying to avoid weight bearing where she can and I’ve noticed her chewing it. The leg above has also become much more swollen since getting back from the vet.

I’ve taken out the sand bath, thank you for that advice. Amputation does sound scary but I’d of course rather that than a nasty infection or it never healing and causing her pain. The vet recommended 2 weeks of the antibiotics and flamazine unless it obviously becomes infected - but she’s only dealt with one Degu previously so she might not know the best course of action.

Thank you for the carrier recommendations also, I have bought one that’s fairly large, all metal(!) and I will acclimatise them to it. I’ve managed to get her cream on fairly well tonight with a cotton bud thankfully, I don’t want her running around stressed where I can avoid it!

Based on your advice I’ll rebook the vet with concern of it not healing and possibly amputation. What can I expect with the amputation for recovery? Would she need a separate area from her sister whilst she healed etc?

Thank you!!
share.icloud.com/photos/003FURR2qOQcZuemSFf8vyVeg

[teemu]

Ouch, that is quite bad. Is the skin also removed on the palm side? It may be that if it's only the back of the paw (it looks like there is still skin on the fingers, for example), it could recover. Does she still have all of her fingers on that paw, or did she lose them? (It's a bit hard to make out whether she's just curled her fingers or if they are missing). If it's just the back of the hand, I think there is a chance that it could recover.

As for a possible amputation and further procedures, would it be possible for you to be in contact with a vet who has more expertise with exotic pets like degus? If you tell us whereabout you are located, we might be able to locate a vet who has dealt with degus more. Operations that require sedation and surgery should preferably be performed by vets who are well-versed with degus, since there may be factors that differ from more common rodents (I'm not sure if this is the case, but an exotics vet is a safer bet for an exotic pet).

If it comes to an amputation, the recovery prognosis is usually quite good. Often, degus do not need to be separated, but it does depend on whether or not they want to gnaw the injury site. The recovery itself is often, from the cases I have encountered, quite simple, and degus adjust quite well to missing a paw. But depending on how bad the injury is, this may or may not be needed. One reason I suspect it may not be as bad as "degloving" at first sounds like (I assumed a much nastier injury, since they can be *really* horrible) is that almost any vet, even one not used to degus, would generally be well aware that if it's a bad degloving injury, an amputation should be considered. You could ask the vet for clarification on this, at least.

You mentioned that the area above the injury is quite swollen. Is there discharge, or does it feel very hot? It is common for injuries to be swollen right after the accident, but if it persists or starts becoming worse, there may be an infection happening.

Have you been able to give her the medications without issue?