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Guinea pig having leg amputated tomorrow - any advice?

Petal&Rosie

Petal&Rosie

New Born Pup
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I feel absolutely terrible, our beautiful guinea pigs Petal and Rosie are only 3 months old and I slipped today getting Petal out of their cage and dropped her and badly fractured her back leg. I took her straight to the vet, unfortunately with my 2 children with me, expecting them to say it was sprained or similar because she didn't fall very far at all but it's badly broken and will have to be amputated. It's going to be expensive but that's the best option if we don't want to put her to sleep.

Does anyone have any advice about life for a 3 legged piggy or what we might need to do following the surgery? I kept guinea pigs for years before having children but have never experienced anything like this and I feel so guilty. My son's are really upset and my husband thinks we should prepare them for the worst, but I'm hoping someone might have a positive story to help me feel a bit better, or any advice at all.
 
I am so sorry for your situation.
I can’t advise but there are forum guides for coping with a post op piggy.
Sorry I can’t link them for you.

Will be keeping you in my thoughts and my heart
 
Merab's Slave said:
I am so sorry for your situation.
I can’t advise but there are forum guides for coping with a post op piggy.
Sorry I can’t link them for you.

Will be keeping you in my thoughts and my heart
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Thank you, I'll have a search and read through the guides.
 
Petal&Rosie said:
I feel absolutely terrible, our beautiful guinea pigs Petal and Rosie are only 3 months old and I slipped today getting Petal out of their cage and dropped her and badly fractured her back leg. I took her straight to the vet, unfortunately with my 2 children with me, expecting them to say it was sprained or similar because she didn't fall very far at all but it's badly broken and will have to be amputated. It's going to be expensive but that's the best option if we don't want to put her to sleep.

Does anyone have any advice about life for a 3 legged piggy or what we might need to do following the surgery? I kept guinea pigs for years before having children but have never experienced anything like this and I feel so guilty. My son's are really upset and my husband thinks we should prepare them for the worst, but I'm hoping someone might have a positive story to help me feel a bit better, or any advice at all.
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Hi!

There are several 'tripod' piggies in rescue that are not adoptable but nevertheless living a very happy and fulfilled normal piggy life. Guinea pigs are usually very caring and supportive with disabled companions, as long as they can be normally active. Piggies have a strong survival instinct, so they are wired to just get on with it. We have seen the odd leg amputation for forum piggies.
Here is a video of a three legged piggy if that is giving you comfort:

Here are our tips for post op care: Tips For Post-operative Care

Here are tips for looking after guinea pigs with mobility issues; depending on which leg is affected, cleaning and abrasion on the belly or other feet may be long term issues for which you can find tips in the guide: Looking after guinea pigs with limited or no mobility

All the best!
 
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Hi - aww that must have been a terrible shock for you all. Accidents do happen and you got her straight to the vets. Hope all goes well with the operation x
 
I'm so sorry for your experience. Freak accidents do happen and it's scary for everyone but you have to remember you didn't hurt her on purpose. I nearly fell on the dog this morning (overreached for the light switch not factoring in my heavily pregnant centre of gravity) and he didn't want to come near me for a good 10 mins or so
 
Aw, so sorry, don’t feel bad, accidents do happen. Hope your little piggie makes a speedy recovery x
 
Hope all goes well for your little one. Please don't blame yourself, accidents happen, we are only human x
 
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She's home, just in a crate on some vetbed for the night but she looks pretty much like herself and has had a little nibble of hay.

The vet was really positive and we've got a check up booked in 5 days time so 🤞. She has metacam and baytril to start tomorrow too.
 
Petal&Rosie said:
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She's home, just in a crate on some vetbed for the night but she looks pretty much like herself and has had a little nibble of hay.

The vet was really positive and we've got a check up booked in 5 days time so 🤞. She has metacam and baytril to start tomorrow too.
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Wishing her a good recovery. Piggy kisses from my four.
 
Thank you to everyone for your support. Petal is doing amazingly well so far. She's eating her veggies right now and has been taking her medicine like a little superstar. Her wound looks fine and she certainly isn't having any trouble whizzing around. I'm feeling like we definitely made the right decision :luv:
 
She is absolutely gorgeous! 😍 I have no doubt she will make a fab recovery as she has a wonderful human behind her. Get well soon, little princess.
 
One of my older guinea pigs had to have her back legs amputated last year after one of our males got near her, got to excited and pushed her off where she was. I was worried but thankfully she pulled through, and she still manages to get around and can run very fast with only 3 legs!
 
Petal&Rosie said:
Thank you to everyone for your support. Petal is doing amazingly well so far. She's eating her veggies right now and has been taking her medicine like a little superstar. Her wound looks fine and she certainly isn't having any trouble whizzing around. I'm feeling like we definitely made the right decision :luv:
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Glad that it is the back leg that is amputated as they are mostly used as a springs whereas the front legs are the weigh bearing ones which impacts much more on mobility. With Petal a smooth recovery! Please check the weight bearing area of her back end asn well as the underside of the paws regularly.
 
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