Hard time walking after surgery

[majasofia]

Hi! I'm looking for some advice about my 2½ year old boar.

He had surgery to remove a 3mm bladder stone on Tuesday and has been doing poorly since. He was just lying flat in the cage and didn't eat anything but syringe fed critical care. As he didn't improve after 36 hours, he was hospitalised on Thursday and given stronger pain medication. The vet also did an x-ray to make sure nothing had gone wrong with the surgery, but everything thankfully looks fine.

Yesterday he started eating vegetables on his own and seemed to have a lot more appetite for the critical care. I've continued to syringe feed him every three hours and today he started eating hay and move around a lot more in the cage. However, he pulls his hindlegs behind him when walking and has a very hard time moving around because of that. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

It seems to be mostly the left leg that is bothering him. He has something like a bruise on it from where he has had an IV placed. I wonder if that could hurt him so much that he pulls the leg behind him? Or if it's simply the surgery scar that pains him?

Any insight would be really helpful!

 

[Wheekallweek]

I'd give your vet a call and explain what's happening. Best of luck, hope its nothing serious

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! I'm looking for some advice about my 2½ year old boar.

He had surgery to remove a 3mm bladder stone on Tuesday and has been doing poorly since. He was just lying flat in the cage and didn't eat anything but syringe fed critical care. As he didn't improve after 36 hours, he was hospitalised on Thursday and given stronger pain medication. The vet also did an x-ray to make sure nothing had gone wrong with the surgery, but everything thankfully looks fine.

Yesterday he started eating vegetables on his own and seemed to have a lot more appetite for the critical care. I've continued to syringe feed him every three hours and today he started eating hay and move around a lot more in the cage. However, he pulls his hindlegs behind him when walking and has a very hard time moving around because of that. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

It seems to be mostly the left leg that is bothering him. He has something like a bruise on it from where he has had an IV placed. I wonder if that could hurt him so much that he pulls the leg behind him? Or if it's simply the surgery scar that pains him?

Any insight would be really helpful!

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what is the exact cause for his mobility issues but it may be due to swelling/bruising/build up of fluid in the tissue from IV and in this case, it should eventually go down by itself.

Here are our practical care tips for guinea pigs with mobility issues of some sort or other, which you may find helpful: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

Please continue with weighing daily on your kitchen scales first thing in the morning for best day-to-day comparison and see whether your boy is happy to eat his stop up feed from a bowl once he starts eating on his own; the weighing will help you massively in managing the process since the poo output is running 1-2 days behind (which is the time it takes for 1-2 runs through the gut). That will make life a lot easier for you.

Keep in mind that recovery is a fluid process so you have to adapt the level of support care accordingly from day to day. The formula is primarily replacing the reduced hay intake, which should make over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day. Your initial aim is to stabilise the weight and then as it is climbing up again to gradually manage the shift to eating fully and then phase out the feeding support. Please accept that it can take several weeks or even months after a difficult operation recovery and a large weight loss for the weight to come back fully. But it will happen when the time is right.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

All the best for a good and full recovery!

 

[Merab]

Just offering support

 

[Bill & Ted]

Fingers crossed for your littl brave boar, I hope it’s just bruising/swelling and hope he is back walking very soon x

 

[majasofia]

Thank you for your support
My vet will see him again on Monday. Unfortunetly there are no exotic vets open on weekends here so we're trying to hold out until then. He's such a little fighter and has been steadily improving during the day. I'm so worried about my little baby, but it's good to hear it might just be a bruise or swelling.

 

[Wheekallweek]

Great to hear he's been improving a bit today!