Eriathwens piggies

I've moved Tilly onto vet bed and bath mats to see if that helps her legs. At this point I don't know if its pain or neurological. She holds her feet like severe arthritis but if you stretch back her legs, it seems to take a few seconds for her brain to figure out where her feet are.. maybe it's both 😔
I'll be taking her to the vet as well to see what can be tried, as she doesn't seem to be all that bothered by it, but it bothers me! She's liking the soft, warm bedding at least 😀

20240430_161307.webp20240430_152748.webp
 
So, Tilly saw the vet today, she has pretty bad arthritis in her stifles and definitely has to think about where her feet are and either takes quite a while to finally move them, or doesn't move them at all. So probably a mixture of pain and neuro.

Shes had a low dose injection of ketamine, it's possible to reset her pain receptors with it so fingers crossed that helps! Apparently it could be that while her pain level is the same, to her it feels like it's getting worse and worse.

If she doesn't show improvement in a week, she will be booked for xrays to see if she's hiding anything.

20240502_162531.webp20240502_162518.webp
 
Eriathwen said:
So, Tilly saw the vet today, she has pretty bad arthritis in her stifles and definitely has to think about where her feet are and either takes quite a while to finally move them, or doesn't move them at all. So probably a mixture of pain and neuro.

Shes had a low dose injection of ketamine, it's possible to reset her pain receptors with it so fingers crossed that helps! Apparently it could be that while her pain level is the same, to her it feels like it's getting worse and worse.

If she doesn't show improvement in a week, she will be booked for xrays to see if she's hiding anything.

View attachment 247683View attachment 247684
Click to expand...
She's such a pretty girl.Hope the ketamine helps x
 
Thanks all! So far at the very least there's been no negative effects, although she did have a deep nap before veggies that slightly worried me 😅 but it may just have been that she was feeling better. She does seem to be moving a little better, although I will probably opt for xrays anyway just to be safe.
 
Luckily shes still well in herself, but still very unsteady. She's much better on the solid floors though without hay to trip her up. I've been getting her out for walks to try to build the muscles up a bit. She decided she was going as far as the fire and deserved a nice warm nap 😅

Her poor little left leg is always held so unnaturally, it's no wonder after all these years she's developed arthritis in it. Her back feet are very cold so I figured stretching them, getting them moving and her circulation going might help as well. I'm wondering if something like acupuncture might be worth exploring, shes a very amenable little thing so I doubt she would be bothered by it.

(Excuse the stickers, just not wanting my nieces face on the internet 😅)
20240503_210532.webp20240503_210511.webp20240503_210450.webp20240503_205032.webp20240503_204934.webp
 
Another lovely day, another chance to stretch her legs and enjoy some grass! She even had a beautiful bee come to say hello! She's choosing to walk a little less while she's out there but I did some stretches with her while she was nice and warm and loaded up with her pain killers 🥰
Shes currently sat in a carrier getting a nebuliser as her snotty nostril seems to be, not worse but stickier, I figured I don't have to worry about her getting a little damp now it's warmer, so hopefully she feels better after that as well.

20240504_152549.webp20240504_152206.webp20240504_152144.webp20240504_152127.webp20240504_152040.webp20240504_152009.webp20240504_151928.webp20240504_151916.webp20240504_150631.webp
 
Eriathwen said:
I'm wondering if something like acupuncture might be worth exploring, shes a very amenable little thing so I doubt she would be bothered by it.
Click to expand...
Acupuncture can help in all sorts of situations. I have it regularly. You really can't feel the needles go in at all (except for on the very rare occasion when they are half a mm out). I have it to keep my hands moving (thanks to RSI over 20 years ago) and hayfever. I've not had a really bad migraine since I had acupuncture years ago and it helped with the hot sweats and other symptoms during menopause. In fact, without the acupuncture I'd have had a terrible time.
 
Betsy said:
Acupuncture can help in all sorts of situations. I have it regularly. You really can't feel the needles go in at all (except for on the very rare occasion when they are half a mm out). I have it to keep my hands moving (thanks to RSI over 20 years ago) and hayfever. I've not had a really bad migraine since I had acupuncture years ago and it helped with the hot sweats and other symptoms during menopause. In fact, without the acupuncture I'd have had a terrible time.
Click to expand...

Thats good to know! Thankyou 🙂 My biggest worry was that she has very little muscle mass so if it doesn't hurt in hands, I'd imagine it wouldn't be painful for her either, I'll ask about it when I update next week and book her xrays
 
Bill & Ted said:
She is definitely struggling on the left leg, poor little Poppet
Click to expand...

She really is, poor sausage. The right leg almost has a bit more awareness.. I did the test the vet did on her where you hold them near a table with legs dangling and move them so the front of the foot touches the table, her front feet do it but her back ones wouldn't. When I did it last night her back one at least tried, so small improvements, but her left one is still very weakened.
 
Eriathwen said:
She really is, poor sausage. The right leg almost has a bit more awareness.. I did the test the vet did on her where you hold them near a table with legs dangling and move them so the front of the foot touches the table, her front feet do it but her back ones wouldn't. When I did it last night her back one at least tried, so small improvements, but her left one is still very weakened.
Click to expand...
Wonder if it’s a back issue? Trapped nerve perhaps?
 
I'm hoping it's temporary, poor girl if it's her back then I can very much empathise!
Her left side is the side she tilts, so its always been a little weaker, but never this bad bless her.
A friend of mine has rescued several sows that have been over bred and ended up with pelvic fractures or breaks so I'm concerned it may be badly healed/untreated fractures from when she was used for breeding 😔 but I suppose I won't know until we do the xrays.
On the plus side there is some improvement so it may be she just needs ketamine injections for the rest of her life which is fine, I can do them at home for her if needed.

She did say we could try her on some prochlorperazine in case it's vertigo if we don't find anything obvious so at least there's options.
 
Poor Tilly is back to army crawling today, I found her sat in urine earlier but has remained dry since being cleaned off.

I'm just waiting for a call back from the vet on when we can get her booked in for xrays, they're currently dealing with quite a bad emergency so it may be a while.

It seems the more I take her out of the cage to walk on the carpet, the better she gets at it, so I guess I'm going to just have to keep doing that for now 😞
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top