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Arthur + vet

ricear

ricear

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi. Please keep our Arthur in your thoughts. My boyfriend is at the emergency vet (it’s 11:30 pm here). I was at work, but apparently he was lethargic and not wanting to participate in playtime or anything. After what we went through with Winston’s extremely sudden passing, we’re worried.
 
The emergency vet said he was stable and his vitals are normal. We’re gonna take him to the normal vet tomorrow morning. He seems to not be using his back legs. When we touch them, he responds, but he doesn’t use them to walk. He was fine this morning. Any thoughts?
 
ricear said:
The emergency vet said he was stable and his vitals are normal. We’re gonna take him to the normal vet tomorrow morning. He seems to not be using his back legs. When we touch them, he responds, but he doesn’t use them to walk. He was fine this morning. Any thoughts?
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EDIT: we noticed it’s his back left paw he won’t move. When we touch it, he jerks it and squeaks. He was just fine an hour before I left for work. He can walk if he wants to, but he doesn’t. Eating and drinking normally.
 
All the best and I hope they can make him comfortable. I’m going to merge your threads. Keep any updates to this thread.
 
I hope the vets can find out what’s wrong with Arthur. Sending healing vibes his way.
 
Fingers crossed that the back leg paralysis is just temporary and will reverse over the coming days or weeks.

How hot is it where you live/in the piggy room? Heat can cause GI stasis (the gut stopping to move), which occasionally can come with temporary full or partial paralysis as my Beryn just had in January. Hers was likely caused by a short but intense pain, which impacted on both the gut and the legs, and left her lethargic. She needed feeding support in first 2-3 days but has made a full recovery.

More helpful information:
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment (includes a chapter on feeding support if needed)
Looking after guinea pigs with limited or no mobility (how to best care for guinea pigs with temporary or chronic mobility issues)
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike

I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is just one of these temporary mystery episodes that are usually near impossible to pin down but that revert themselves in their own time.
 
Sending lots of healing vibes to Arthur, hope they have given him good pain relief x
 
ricear said:
EDIT: we noticed it’s his back left paw he won’t move. When we touch it, he jerks it and squeaks. He was just fine an hour before I left for work. He can walk if he wants to, but he doesn’t. Eating and drinking normally.
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EDIT (again): he has an appointment this afternoon. I’m pretty sure it’s a broken toe but not sure. He *can* put pressure on it if needed but prefers not to. I have no idea why or how this happened.
 
ricear said:
EDIT (again): he has an appointment this afternoon. I’m pretty sure it’s a broken toe but not sure. He *can* put pressure on it if needed but prefers not to. I have no idea why or how this happened.
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VET VERDICT: the X-ray shows a very slight narrowing of the discs in the spine. He said the true disc dysplasia is rare but not impossible. Being sent home with anti inflammatories and the vet is pretty positive the pain medicine will help.
 
Poor little Arthur that sounds painful. Hope the anti inflammatory medicine works soon. Has he been given Metacam? Is it dog or cat? What dose has he been given?
 
Betsy said:
Poor little Arthur that sounds painful. Hope the anti inflammatory medicine works soon. Has he been given Metacam? Is it dog or cat? What dose has he been given?
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Yep, it’s metacam. .4ml once a day, and it’s dog. They’ll follow up on Friday and I call on Monday to update and go from there.
 
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