• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Dahlia

D

Dahlia

New Born Pup
Joined
Dec 23, 2017
Messages
8
Reaction score
2
Points
30
Hi. I have a 1-1/2 year old guinea pig, her name is Dahlia. She is paralyzed, but we don't know the reason for this. Her hind nails are very thin and slim, and are extremely white, not like regular guinea pig nails. She has been biting off the skin on her hind legs, and they are raw and bloody. Her poop is very mushy, and stinks. The reason that we have not taken her to the vet is because we do not want to spend thousands of dollars on her. There also seem to be no experienced vets around here. Can guinea pigs legs get amputated? If so, do you think that will help? And/or if we create a pair of wheels for her? Please tell us what to do. I don't want to lose her if there is something I can do to save her. her diet consists of some alfalfa hay, timothy hay at all times, timothy pellets, and fresh veggies.
Thanks
 
Hi all, I have a guinea pig named Dahlia. She is 1-1/2 years old, and she has always been quite healthy. She used to live with another guinea pig, but that one died, so she just hangs out by herself now. She is paralyzed, but seems to have adapted. If any of you have something helpful, please let me know, but don't just say go to the vet, if there are other options. There are or seem to be no experienced vets around here, where I live.
 
She needs to see a vet as an emergency. No one here can tell you how to make her better. She is a very sick little piggy, and obviously in a lot of discomfort/pain. In addition, ongoing diarrhoea is an emergency. Please do not put off taking her to the vet.
 
Ok, but is there somewhere where I can find a good vet for her?
 
I don't know where you are, but if you look at the top of the page there is a 'vet locator' tab, which will tell you where to find recommended vets. Even if you can't get to one of them, your local vet will hopefully be able to do something for her.
 
Are you in the UK? If so, you will not be able to see a normal vet in good enough time to help her. I would recommend calling your local vets who should have a phone number for the out of hours/emergency vet on their answerphone. It is unlikely that a normal vets would now be open until Wednesday at the earliest given tomorrow is Sunday and then we have two days bank holiday. I really don't think she can wait until Weds for treatment unfortunately
 
Hi @Dahlia , I have merged your two threads into the health and illness section of the forum as you had already received some advice when you posted the second topic.
 
Dahlia said:
Hi. I have a 1-1/2 year old guinea pig, her name is Dahlia. She is paralyzed, but we don't know the reason for this. Her hind nails are very thin and slim, and are extremely white, not like regular guinea pig nails. She has been biting off the skin on her hind legs, and they are raw and bloody. Her poop is very mushy, and stinks. The reason that we have not taken her to the vet is because we do not want to spend thousands of dollars on her. There also seem to be no experienced vets around here. Can guinea pigs legs get amputated? If so, do you think that will help? And/or if we create a pair of wheels for her? Please tell us what to do. I don't want to lose her if there is something I can do to save her. her diet consists of some alfalfa hay, timothy hay at all times, timothy pellets, and fresh veggies.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi! I am very sorry, but your sow is in major pain if she is biting herself bloody, and needs to see a vet - ANY vet - ASAP, even if it is only to release her gently from her suffering! At the very least she needs a strong painkiller NOW! Ho long has she been like this; it doesn't sound like this has happened in just the last day or two?

She will need expert care with round the clock syringe feeding to sort out her bowel/eating problem, which is probably connected to both her pain and her paralysis. Gentle cleaning of her bum end with hand warm water twice daily which she is no longer able to do and as many changes of the soft bedding each day she is lying in her own waste to prevent sores and infestations. You need to weigh her daily to monitor her food and water intake and adjust your top us syringe feed to that.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

If you do not want to or are able to spend a lot of money, then please forget about an amputation operation or even a scan to see whether she has a spinal injury, as that will not be cheap and requires a lot of commitment from you in terms of money and lifelong care as well as the willingness to deal with any expensive secondary complications that are arising from her immobility, depending on what is the cause of her paralysis, like foot pad infections under her weight bearing front legs (bumblefoot), potential gut issues, fungal infections etc.

You are hopefully aware that any custom-made wheelchair would cost you hundreds of pounds or dollars; and that the piggy in the wheelchair video that has made the rounds actually died shortly after.
 
Recommended vets in the UK: Guinea Pig Vet Locator
Recommended vets in some other countries: Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List

Please be aware that most exotics vets are closed over Christmas and that seeing a piggy savvy vet is not cheap.
We get enquiries from all over the world, so it would help us if you added your country, please.

Please start syringe feeding your girl asap with mushed up pellets and a needle-free 1 ml syringe from a pharmacy. You need to cut off the tip as shown in the guide. Also offer her as much water as she will take. Take her off all fresh veg until the poos have firmed up again for 48 hours. These measures are only there to keep your piggy alive; they do NOT replace a vet visit.
 
See a vet ASAP! I know it can be expensive but for your piggy to be biting her legs like that suggests she is in pain.
Good luck!
 
Please take her to see a vet she sounds as if she is in a lot of pain. Amputating her legs is not going to be cheap, and I can't see how it would help. Personally I feel that putting a guinea pig in a wheelchair is cruel. I know others will disagree but it stops natural behaviour like eating their own poop and as prey animals I would be concerned that they would be in a constant state of anxiety as they either couldn't escape or were strappped to something scary. I know some paralysed piggies have a happy life but she doesn't sound happy, she is chewing her own legs.

I hope you manage to get her seen and fixed or at lease end her suffering. I'm sorry but with pets comes vets bills.
 
She is eating and everything, her poop is back to normal, but she has been biting her hind legs. We will try to get her to a vet ASAP. She has been like this for like 2 weeks? She has been like this ever since our other guinea pig died. She can reach all her pellets, water and hay fine.
 
She has been paralyzed for two weeks, started her biting thing like two days ago.
 
So had she been biting her legs and been paralysed for 2 weeks or 2 days? Your last two posts are a bit confusing! Either way she needs to see a vet as a matter of urgency. Only a vet trip will help her now.
 
We are taking her to a vet tomorrow, she has been paralyzed for two weeks. She started biting herself two days ago.
 
Dahlia said:
We are taking her to a vet tomorrow, she has been paralyzed for two weeks. She started biting herself two days ago.
Click to expand...
Glad to see you are taking the poor wee thing to a Vet. We are all responsible for our pets health and by taking on any animal you should be committed to giving that animal the vet help and good care that it needs.
Good luck with Vet. X
 
Can you let us know what the vet says. Sending her lots of healing vibes
 
We put her down. We are so sad, but it was better to release her from all her suffering. Thank you for telling us to go to the vet. We are planning on getting another guinea pig, any advice on whether to adopt from a shelter, (all the ones we adopted from the shelter died, like Dahlia) or buy one from someone
 
So sorry to hear that poor wee Dahlia has gone.
We have a Rainbow Bridgevthread that people use to talk about their passed away piggies. When you feel able, post photos of her and her friend. x
Hope the rest of Christmas goes better for you. X
 
So sorry you have had to help Dahlia to the Rainbow Bridge. It is heartbreaking when that happens. Comfort yourself with knowing that you have ended her suffering and she is popcorning and playing zoomies with her new friends at the Bridge. :hug::hug:
 
So sorry to hear about your poor piggy, at least she isn’t sufffering now :(
I personally would make sure you have a plan in place for vets bills before you think about getting another piggy :)

*Edited by Mod*
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Please don't get another Guinea pig, at least not yet! You need to be sure you are financially stable enough to provide vet care for any pet, so that they don't have to suffer like Dahlia did.
You would also need to consider that pigglies should not live alone and that would obviously increase the financial commitment too!
 
When you have a pet you are responsible for all of it's care. It relies on you to feed it, clean it out and take it to the vets to make it well again. If you want to have another piggy may I suggest you have a vet fund and put away a bit every month to cover vets bills as they always come at a bad time? I have a vet fund cos I couldn't afford to take them to the vets otherwise and with 5 piggies sometimes this is quite expensive as they all seem to need vets visits at the same time!
 
I’m so sorry that you had to help her to the Rainbow Bridge. It sounds to have been the kindest thing. It’s amazing how quickly vets bills can mount up , so it’s as well to have either a payments plan in place with your vets or have a rainy day find set aside to pay for vets bills.
 
Yes, we are ready to pay vet's bills. The vet we went to was alot better than the one we usually go to though, so I was happy to let him put her to sleep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top