Guinea pig paralysis

[CTWC]

Amazing post thank you and well done for being such a caring guinea slave

 

[Wiebke]

I was looking for more information on guinea pig paralysis the other day and this thread kept coming up as a top hit, so I thought I would post an update about Lola for the next person who comes across this thread in case they find themselves in a similar situation.

It's now been a year and a half since Lola's first episode, and she is now 7-and-a-half. She gets paralysis episodes every few months, and the vet still doesn't know why. It is scary every time, but she always makes a full recovery so far. The onset is very fast, always overnight. I always find here in a strange place in the morning - she usually sleeps in a usual cozy spot, but when I find her paralyzed she is flopped out on the floor in the open, as though it happened while she was walking around, not while sleeping. I still haven't figured out any correlations as to what might trigger her episodes - they don't seem preceded by any particular changes, foods, or stress, and I don't see any warning signs the day before. It is very sudden.

As soon as I find her like that, I make a cozy nest for her (I use a small dog bed). She isn't able to avoid peeing on herself so to be as absorbent as possible I put her on top of a chenille bath mat layered on top of fleece pads in the dog bed, and then make a tent of fleece to keep her feeling safe. At this point she is still able to eat if I put a pile of hay right under her nose, and I start giving her water via a 1 mL syringe - as much as she will drink willingly, not forcing more than she wants. I also start giving her critical care via spoon to get as much into her as I can, knowing that soon she will stop eating. She is already on daily metacam, otherwise she would need to start on that. When I first find her flopped, she looks pretty terrible and I always think she is dying, but she seems to perk up after I've started spoon feeding her. Her mood seems better in her more recent episodes than the earlier ones, as though she knows the drill.

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Every few hours I rearrange the bath mat or change it out to keep her as dry as I can, and check how much she poops. I'm lucky that I can work from home when needed, so I keep her beside me 24/7, giving water or critical care whenever she lifts her head up towards me, aiming to get ~2-3 tablespoons of critical care powder into her over the course of the day. After several hours her poops become tacky and stringy and her abdomen start to feel like there is a gas balloon forming. Seems like whatever takes away her ability to walk also affects her gut. At that point I start her on metoclopromide (prescribed by the vet, I always keep some on hand. She was prescribed 1/4 of a 5 mg pill dissolved in water), every 8 hours as directed. It seems like if I start her on it immediately at the first sign of misshapen poop the bloat doesn't fully develop and she never fully stops pooping. In the past I delayed as I wasn't sure it was necessary and was worried about interfering with her guts (she was still pooping and eating a little bit, so I wasn't sure if it was really bloat). Waiting to see what would happen was probably a mistake and just let it get worse than it needed to be, so I don't wait any more. In her worst episode, it got to the point where she went hours without pooping and screamed in pain. During that worst episode it seemed like the poops and gas only came out while I was massaging/handling her, with no poops at all while she lay still. Based on advice I'd read on this forum (and the forum guide for Digestive Disorders) I switched between letting her rest, putting her on a vibrating mat, and massaging her belly throughout the evening. I don't know which if anything actually helped between the metoclopromide and massages, but I could feel some gas coming out when I jiggled her belly back and forth so maybe it helped. In her worst episode my family also gave her simethicone - I don't know if that helped, I thought it might be counterproductive but at the time I was really desperate. During bloat she stops eating willingly so I step up the syringe feeding of critical care (following the forum guide).

After 12 hours she normally needs to have her legs and lower belly gently bathed, repeating that for the next few days until she stops peeing on herself. After 24 hours she can normally start moving her legs again but can't stand properly, and after 36 hours she can stumble a few steps and I try to encourage her by putting her on the floor while supporting some of her weight and getting her to walk a few steps to reach a snack. Her vet said it was important to try encourage her to use her legs lest her muscles irreversibly atrophy. On the third day she can usually walk a few floppy steps unsupported so I take her out of her dog bed and back in her normal cage, putting her hay and water right at the entrance to her sleeping spot so she only has to move a couple steps to reach them. After 4 days she is walking around on her own and after a week she seems good-as-new.

I hope any of that info can be helpful if anyone finds themselves in the same situation. It is frustrating not to know what is really going on, and it always seems so dire, but with a lot of hands-on support the recovery is very dramatic.

Hi

Thank you for the update. You are doing a wonderful job. That is a great age for any guinea pig and a testament to your outstanding care.

I am very sorry. It sounds like a neurological issue of some sort that affects especially the lower body (back legs and bladder control) apart from wiping her out each time. But it is decidedly not one of the more obvious suspects.
Even for humans, this would require quite a series of specialist referrals and a battery of tests.

What pitifully scant knowledge and research there is in this area in terms of guinea pigs you can find in the second half of this guide here. There is usually a distinct expression of panic in a vet's eyes when it comes to neurological issues in guinea pigs.
We have come a huge way from where we were 20 years ago and have made huge advances in small pets diagnostics in the last 10 years but there are still large continents where we barely have a coastline on the map.

Thread 'CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care'

Feb 12, 2022

Introduction
1 General information and practical advice on CBS
- What is the difference between a syndrome and a symptom?
- What is CBS (calcified bulla syndrome)?
- How can CBS be diagnosed?
- What is causing CBS and how can I minimise the risk?
- Vet care and customer rights with newly bought guinea pigs
- Support and care information resources
- Leaflet with list of CBS symptoms and comparison x-ray pictures
2 Other common neurological...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Wiebke's Home Care Guides

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[corvidae]

Thank you Truffolo, CTWC, and Wiebke!

Appreciate the link Wiebke, I'm glad there has been progress with our understanding of guinea pig medicine, hopefully that continues into the future. I'm thankful for all the info that is out there these days and extremely grateful for the forum guides so that even though I don't know what is really happening, I at least knew what to do to help her get through it.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you Truffolo, CTWC, and Wiebke!

Appreciate the link Wiebke, I'm glad there has been progress with our understanding of guinea pig medicine, hopefully that continues into the future. I'm thankful for all the info that is out there these days and extremely grateful for the forum guides so that even though I don't know what is really happening, I at least knew what to do to help her get through it.

I am glad that you are finding my practical care guide helpful. I feel that it is good to have all the little tips in a place where you can look them up whenever you need.
Some people have a better audio memory, whereas I struggle to remember everything from a full demo video and prefer being able to read and re-read at my own speed whenever I need to. Some things will only make full sense when you are in a certain situation.

You are doing a wonderful job.