[isitafireorisit]

Once I caught Reggie sleeping on her right side with her two left legs sticking up in the air at a 45 degree angle. As soon as I lifted up the blanket she immediately curled up, embarrassed. What a weirdo. So last night when I saw she had a leg up I thought it was just silly! But after I took the pic I zoomed in and it looks like her toe is swollen. I give her a foot bath most nights but didn't last night, so I put a bit of salt in the water and gave her a foot bath. After a normal amount of struggle she let me grab her foot and I was able to clip the nail. There was some poop under there too but not much. It didn't seem like my manhandling hurt her but who knows. She barely used her wheel last night.

The exotic vet isn't in until Tuesday so I just have to keep an eye on it until then. Anyone seen anything similar? I wonder if it looks bad because I'm bad at trimming her nails and the quicks are a bit long, or if maybe some blood pooled under the nail from when I hit the quick before.

I read that epsom salts are good for a soak but didn't have any, so I used Maldon salt, which is just a flaky salt with no added extras like iodine. Is that ok? Sometimes she drinks the bath water so I don't want her to get too much salt in her diet.

 

[isitafireorisit]

Here's a closeup of the toe.

 

[isitafireorisit]

Update! I didn't end up taking Reg to the vet. I realised the next day that the reason she didn't use her wheel that night was probably because I cut her nail to the quick (sorry wee one!). I've been monitoring her feet pretty closely and they look fine now. I cancelled the vet appointment because I'm not feeling well and think it's best to stay home.

Easiest way to look at her feet I find is to hold her up and let the feet dangle down. That way I can inspect them from all angles and she's not struggling to get away because I'm trying to grab her feet.