Caring for arthritic pig with little to no mobility

[taem16]

Hello everyone,

I'm here to seek advice with regards to my 7+ year old female guinea pig (her name is Eddie!). Eddie has been slowly losing mobility in her hind legs over the past few months, and things seem to have taken a turn for the worse yesterday morning, when I found her sprawled on the floor of her enclosure and unable to get up. She was kicking her legs in a futile attempt to right herself and when I tried to help her up, she flopped over onto her side again. We rushed her down to the vet where they took an x-ray, and concluded that it is likely due to her arthritis contributing to the compression of her spinal cord. After the visit, Eddie was able to stand for a while again. She has been eating and drinking throughout, albeit less than usual because her mobility has been affecting her access to food.

The vet provided pain relief (Metacam) and instructions to change her positions once in a while to prevent pressure sores. I've also been supplementing her with critical care (vet suggested 3-4 times a day x 6ml). They're hoping that she will be able to regain some mobility with the pain meds and a little exercise, but I'm remaining a little cautious about getting my hopes up.

I'm a little concerned as Eddie is currently unable to eat without assistance - she's only keen on eating when she's upright, and I've been supporting her so she can munch on her hay/pellets. This is alright for now as I'm off from work, but am concerned about arrangements when I have to go back. I've never cared for a senior arthritic piggy before so any advice on how I can better care for her/suggestions on exercises to help with her mobility will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.
An important thing is ensuring the pain medication is sufficient - is she on dog or cat metacam?

Make sure hay is right next to her at all times so she can nibble freely.
When it comes to support feeding her, it all hinges on her daily weight checks. You need to weigh her every day and syringe feed her as much as is necessary to keep her weight stable. 6ml 3 or 4 times a day may not be anywhere near enough if she is not eating enough hay independently. This amount only equates to 24ml per 24 hours but if she isn’t eating by herself then you need to be giving her 40-60ml (perhaps more) per day. Her weight checks are essential - if she loses weight then you need to feed her more.

This guide explains support feeding and weight checks
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

This guide details how to care for an immobile piggy
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

 

[weepweeps]

I hope the pain meds work and Eddie is soon back on her paws. Sending healing vibes her way and a hug for you .

 

[Wiebke]

Hello everyone,

I'm here to seek advice with regards to my 7+ year old female guinea pig (her name is Eddie!). Eddie has been slowly losing mobility in her hind legs over the past few months, and things seem to have taken a turn for the worse yesterday morning, when I found her sprawled on the floor of her enclosure and unable to get up. She was kicking her legs in a futile attempt to right herself and when I tried to help her up, she flopped over onto her side again. We rushed her down to the vet where they took an x-ray, and concluded that it is likely due to her arthritis contributing to the compression of her spinal cord. After the visit, Eddie was able to stand for a while again. She has been eating and drinking throughout, albeit less than usual because her mobility has been affecting her access to food.

The vet provided pain relief (Metacam) and instructions to change her positions once in a while to prevent pressure sores. I've also been supplementing her with critical care (vet suggested 3-4 times a day x 6ml). They're hoping that she will be able to regain some mobility with the pain meds and a little exercise, but I'm remaining a little cautious about getting my hopes up.

I'm a little concerned as Eddie is currently unable to eat without assistance - she's only keen on eating when she's upright, and I've been supporting her so she can munch on her hay/pellets. This is alright for now as I'm off from work, but am concerned about arrangements when I have to go back. I've never cared for a senior arthritic piggy before so any advice on how I can better care for her/suggestions on exercises to help with her mobility will be greatly appreciated.

Hi and welcome

Our mobility care guide contains all the practical little tips for looking after piggies that are not moving around much; including looking out for secondary complications and how to adapt enrichment. You should find it very helpful:
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

We also have a helpful practical and sensitive information collection for owners looking after older guinea pigs and all the issues that often come with old age and end of life care: Caring for Older Piggies and Facing the End - A practical and supportive information collection

As to the arthritis, you may want to additionally supplement with glucosamine. It may take a while to build up but I can really help to ease the pain and increase mobility.
Oxbow offer a joint supplement but if you cannot access that, human glucosamine tablets will do. You will however have to do the maths as to how much water you need to mix the ground tablets with to be able to syringe the appropriate amount.

 

[Free Ranger]

Linking in a recent thread about arthritis which discusses metacam, glucosamine and even acupuncture!
how to reduce the pain of my guinea pig with Arthritis
This older thread talks about laser treatment in addition to pain meds etc
5 year old sow diagnosed with crippling arthritis, is there any hope?
You have a lovely older lady there - she must have been very well looked after! My boy has arthritis but not so bad as this yet. Even so I think it can be characterised by flare-ups... times when things suddenly appear worse, but then things can improve again. It's the ups and downs of getting older I'm afraid.
Good luck little Eddie x

 

[taem16]

Hi again everyone,

Thanks for the kind words & information links - they've been very helpful! Wanted to share a little update on Eddie after her follow-up appointment. We've not had much improvement on the mobility since my last post. Eddie is able to stand for short periods of time but loses balance once she tries to move around, so I've essentially been her extended hands for the past week or so. My vet has switched Eddie off Metacam (mentioned something about it not being great to use in the long term), and she's now on Buprenorphine (0.02ml two times a day). We're also starting her on pentosan polysulfate injections (Catrophen) to see it it'll help with her arthritis. She was also a little gassy, so the vet put her on Metoclopramide for gut motility.

I've bumped up the syringe-feeding to 15ml x 4 times a day (as per the advice of @Piggies&buns). We've moved from using Emeraid Sustain to Emeraid Intensive Care in hopes that it'll help her gain a little bit of weight too. Just wondering though, can syringe feeding cause piggies to be too full to eat by themselves? Eddie seems to be eating well (loves the Emeraid, loves her veggies and will eat her pellets), but she seems to be quite disinterested in the hay and will only take a few nibbles now and then.

We've also been seeing a number of weird poops the past couple of days - not sure if stopping veggies will do or if this warrants a trip back to the vet.

Picture below - thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Are you weighing her every day, at the same time each day, on your kitchen scales?
Weighing her is so important as it’s the only way to be sure she is definitely getting enough syringe feed. If she isn’t eating hay independently then your syringe feeling is all she is eating. Veg and pellets jointly only make 20% of the daily food intake so is nowhere near enough, and without eating enough hay, your syringe feeding needs to make 80% of what she eats in a day. Hence the importance of the weight checks to make sure the 60ml you are giving is keeping her stable, increasing it if it isn’t.

In terms of the syringe feeding making them feel full - a piggy who can eat enough hay by themselves will start to refuse syringe feeds. It’s not a case that you are keeping her too full to be bothered to eat herself, you are keeping her alive while she isn’t eating for herself. While she is not eating enough hay, your syringe feeding is keeping her alive so you cannot ease off on the amount or stop until she can maintain her weight through eating enough hay herself.

We have several piggies on here who are on long term metacam for a variety of reasons. I have a rabbit myself who has spinal arthritis and will be on metacam for the rest of his life

 

[taem16]

Yes, I've been doing a daily weight check (same time daily) and have seen her weight slowly increasing since I upped the amount of syringe feed. Definitely won't be reducing the amount/stopping the syringe-feeding while she's off hay. Is there a chance that she'll be reliant on syringe-feeding for the rest of her life though?

As for the pain meds, is metacam better than buprenorphine? Will speak to my vet about switching her back if so.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m glad her weight is stabilising. Continue with those checks and use them as your guide for syringe feeding.
If she doesn’t eat hay for herself, then syringe feeding is essential. Hopefully she will start to eat for herself though. Getting her pain managed will be an important part of her starting to feel like eating for herself again and Buprenorphine is a strong opioid painkiller. It will certainly help her.

 

[Free Ranger]

Has her appetite dropped since she's been on the opioid?
One of my previous girls was given an injection of opioid painkiller (along with a hefty amount of sub-cut fluids) to help her pass a bladder stone - which seemed to work (gone on next x-ray). However she was totally stoned and just stood there rocking and wobbling (and peeing) - also couldn't eat anything - which really freaked me out and I swore never again! However, after several hours it wore off and she was fine again with no lasting effects. She 'came to' and started eating the hay that she'd been standing in! I'm guessing your girl is having much lower doses for long term pain management but it might be worth checking with your vet whether it does actually supress appetite at that dose. If so, it's going to be a balancing act...

Those poops are a bit tortured aren't they. Are they dry? That's the sort of thing we've seen when syringing a daily amount my pig was comfortable with and which maintained her at a lower weight, but which wasn't really enough to bulk her up. Ours were pretty dry so I started to thin the slurry out a bit more to increase hydration - which actually meant she got less fibre in her bellyful *sigh* but what can you do! Whatever the cause it's likely a result of what happened a couple of days ago as they can run a day or two behind the input... so for instance if she didn't eat quite as much last Tuesday you'll be looking at it now.

Did you manage to get any glucosamine in her? It took a couple of weeks before we saw any difference and a good month before he was moving about more like the other pigs but it was worth the wait for old George.

Stay strong Eddie x

 

[Seven7]

Has her appetite dropped since she's been on the opioid?
One of my previous girls was given an injection of opioid painkiller (along with a hefty amount of sub-cut fluids) to help her pass a bladder stone - which seemed to work (gone on next x-ray). However she was totally stoned and just stood there rocking and wobbling (and peeing) - also couldn't eat anything - which really freaked me out and I swore never again! However, after several hours it wore off and she was fine again with no lasting effects. She 'came to' and started eating the hay that she'd been standing in! I'm guessing your girl is having much lower doses for long term pain management but it might be worth checking with your vet whether it does actually supress appetite at that dose. If so, it's going to be a balancing act...

Those poops are a bit tortured aren't they. Are they dry? That's the sort of thing we've seen when syringing a daily amount my pig was comfortable with and which maintained her at a lower weight, but which wasn't really enough to bulk her up. Ours were pretty dry so I started to thin the slurry out a bit more to increase hydration - which actually meant she got less fibre in her bellyful *sigh* but what can you do! Whatever the cause it's likely a result of what happened a couple of days ago as they can run a day or two behind the input... so for instance if she didn't eat quite as much last Tuesday you'll be looking at it now.

Did you manage to get any glucosamine in her? It took a couple of weeks before we saw any difference and a good month before he was moving about more like the other pigs but it was worth the wait for old George.

Stay strong Eddie x

Thanks for this post. My 5 years old Finn also doesn’t go upstairs anymore so I wondered. Is glucosamine in vitamin form? Both my Finn and Bear take Vitamin C daily. Thanks in advance.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks for this post. My 5 years old Finn also doesn’t go upstairs anymore so I wondered. Is glucosamine in vitamin form? Both my Finn and Bear take Vitamin C daily. Thanks in advance.

Glucosamine comes in little capsules. It’s usually mixed with water and syringed to a piggy each day

 

[Free Ranger]

George is on oxbow joint support biscuits which have 90mg glucosamine in each. He gets a whole one every day - I also give a half to my girl Louise who is prone to gritty pee. They make a special urinary support lozenge but they have 45mg gluc. so I thought might as well just give her half of George's type and not complicate things! Both pigs really like lozenge-time and will even defer their grass-pile demolition to crunch the lozenge. My third girl won't touch them!

 

[taem16]

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence - it's been a very stressful week for Eddie and I ): I managed to get a hold of the Glucosamine (Oxbow's Joint Support), but wanted to check in with my vet on any possible drug interactions since she's already on the Catrophen injections. I'm starting to suspect that what we're dealing with is more than arthritis after trawling the internet/forum - her symptoms seem to indicate she may have had a stroke (inability to stand/loss of balance, nystagmus and a slight head tilt). My vet ruled out a ear infection based on x-rays.

I was planning on visiting another vet for a second opinion this week, but Eddie woke up with a bloated tummy yesterday morning and I knew it was bad news. Her poop production was also slowing down, so we rushed to the vet and my worst fears were confirmed - she's in gut stasis. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this given that she's already on the Metoclopramide twice daily. The vet gave her an injection each of Metoclopramide and Ranitidine, and I was told to up the dose of Metoclopramide to 3 times daily. We were also given Cisapride to take home.

She's still eating (doing relatively well on the Emeraid and pellets, not so well on the hay still), but seems to have less of an appetite than usual. Poop production has also stopped mostly as of yesterday night, and we have had only a total of 2 dehydrated poos since then. Given the condition she's already in, both my vet and I agree that we're going to have to seriously look at having her pts if she stops eating/doesn't get better. I've already known that this was a possibility since we discovered her unable to stand/move two Tuesdays ago, but this is much closer on the horizon than I had hoped.

Seeking good vibes as I continue with syringe-feeding and tummy massages. @Wiebke's guide on gut stasis has been very helpful. All I can do now is try my best and hope for the best. Thanks everyone once again for the advice and comforting words, it's been a tough couple of weeks for Eddie.

 

[weepweeps]

Sending healing vibes to poor Eddie

 

[LucyP]

Sending healing vibes and really hoping things improve x

 

[Free Ranger]

Oh my. You poor, lovely old girl. Go gently together to find your way forward
We're thinking of you both x

 

[taem16]

A small update - Eddie has been a trooper since my last update, but I think we are nearing the time for her to be helped across the rainbow bridge. She has been constantly bloated and has had almost no normal stools for the past few weeks. The new cavy-savvy vet I visited said that it's likely a condition that will stay with her for the rest of her life due to the neurological event she suffered. She has also been gradually going off her different kinds of food, having stopped eating hay completely since last Wednesday, and pellets in the last couple of days. She was a big fan of the syringe-feeds, but I've been struggling to get enough of it in her - she just doesn't seem so interested in it anymore.

I made a promise to myself and to Eddie that there would be no force-feeding. It just wouldn't be fair given her quality of life now, with her unable to move around and constantly soiling herself. I've already given my vet a heads-up that I may be down to send her off soon, but am worried about whether I'll get the timing right. She still seems pretty alert right now and is still taking a small amount of syringe-feed, so I'm hanging on to her for a while longer. I hope she'll make it clear to me when it's time.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence - it's been a very stressful week for Eddie and I ): I managed to get a hold of the Glucosamine (Oxbow's Joint Support), but wanted to check in with my vet on any possible drug interactions since she's already on the Catrophen injections. I'm starting to suspect that what we're dealing with is more than arthritis after trawling the internet/forum - her symptoms seem to indicate she may have had a stroke (inability to stand/loss of balance, nystagmus and a slight head tilt). My vet ruled out a ear infection based on x-rays.

I was planning on visiting another vet for a second opinion this week, but Eddie woke up with a bloated tummy yesterday morning and I knew it was bad news. Her poop production was also slowing down, so we rushed to the vet and my worst fears were confirmed - she's in gut stasis. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this given that she's already on the Metoclopramide twice daily. The vet gave her an injection each of Metoclopramide and Ranitidine, and I was told to up the dose of Metoclopramide to 3 times daily. We were also given Cisapride to take home.

She's still eating (doing relatively well on the Emeraid and pellets, not so well on the hay still), but seems to have less of an appetite than usual. Poop production has also stopped mostly as of yesterday night, and we have had only a total of 2 dehydrated poos since then. Given the condition she's already in, both my vet and I agree that we're going to have to seriously look at having her pts if she stops eating/doesn't get better. I've already known that this was a possibility since we discovered her unable to stand/move two Tuesdays ago, but this is much closer on the horizon than I had hoped.

Seeking good vibes as I continue with syringe-feeding and tummy massages. @Wiebke's guide on gut stasis has been very helpful. All I can do now is try my best and hope for the best. Thanks everyone once again for the advice and comforting words, it's been a tough couple of weeks for Eddie.

HUGS

Very sorry about the stasis event; they are more common in piggies with underlying issues - especially when they are not of the bouncing back quickly variety.

Glad that my guide is helping you to hopefully get her through this.

 

[Free Ranger]

Holding you both in our thoughts and prayers x