• 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

Hind legs not working

Cloughiepig

Cloughiepig

New Born Pup
Joined
Dec 6, 2023
Messages
8
Reaction score
16
Points
70
Location
Scotland
Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster - you are all wonderful. We have had eight guinea pigs over the years and it never gets any easier when they get sick.

Our boy Parsley (pictured - isn't he handsome?) is about three years old and a few weeks ago, he started dragging his right hind leg. We gave him some Metacam and took him to the vets, who suggested we keep on with the pain relief and get an X-ray. The scan has showed some arthritis in his knees, but no obvious bone or joint issues. His left leg has now stopped working as well.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536318406445645827

He is currently on 0.4ml Metacam for dogs, 0.9ml paracetamol and 0.18ml Gabapentin, all twice daily. He is in decent spirits and eating, drinking and pooing ok, but obviously he is having trouble keeping himself clean, so we are helping wipe his eyes from his excess cleaning fluid and cleaning his back half to prevent urine scald. I have read the forum posts about hind legs and the guide for poor mobility, but most posts seem to find that it gets better after a few days.

As the back legs have been like this for nearly two weeks (and his right leg for about ten days longer), the vets are suggesting that we may need to euthanise, before he causes himself any further damage (he quite often lies with his legs folded in weird positions, which suggests it is neurological). Obviously we don't want that, but also want his quality of life to be ok. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Hi and welcome, I'm sorry it is in such sad circumstances. Has your vet taken xrays to check out his spine and hips? Does he have feeling in his back legs at all, or a leg-withdraw reflex if the vet gently pulls or squeezes a back paw?
It sounds rather like a spinal injury from what you say, but even for a qualified vet the outcome of spinal injuries or any paralysis is really hard to predict in any human or animal patient.
Given his fairly young age, I myself would be exploring a second opinion at a specialist hospital, xrays, maybe consulting a physio, to explore all options- but, this may become very expensive, and isn't guaranteed to help any.
The pain relief sounds high, for paralysis- certainly the metacam may help reduce inflammation, to restore function, but if your boy is in so much pain he needs gabapentin twice a day too, and isnt improving after more than 2 weeks, then there are difficult questions to ask yourself and your vet about quality of life if this goes on much longer.
These decisions are usually for older piggies, we have had 2 oldies in this position, and the first I know now we waited too long to accept the inevitable and say goodbye- the next time we went much sooner, as soon as we saw the rear end dragging and the feet getting caught on things. But, these were very old piggies, who we saw deteriorate over a year or so and knew where things were heading- much harder to predict, or accept, with younger piggies.
Sending many hugs, most of us who have been here a while have been in a similar position, and whatever decision you take, at whatever point, will have been made out of love with your piggy's best interests at heart x
 
Hello and welcome to the Forum. I am sorry to hear about Parsley, sending him healing vibes, I hope he picks up soon.
 
Hi and welcome

I am so very sorry about the ongoing deterioration. When it comes to spinal injuries or neurological issues, you and any vet are unfortunately way out there when it comes to guinea pigs. :(

I fully agree with the advice from @PigglePuggle as our most experience member in this area.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. I’m so sorry gorgeous Parsley is poorly. I don’t have any experience of this but wanted to send you a hug. 🤗
 
Hi all, thank you for your kind and considerate replies, especially @PigglePuggle ; as I mentioned, we have nursed poorly piggies before but it feels different this time. Maybe he is just high as a kite on all the meds but he still seems to be himself (and he loves his snacks!), so it would be very difficult if we do need to have him PTS. Although if it comes to it, better to do so while he is still happy and before the rest of his body suffers I suppose.

I forgot to mention that we have also been giving him 0.4ml daily of Johnsons 4 Joints, in the hope that the glucosamine might help; it actually helps Parsley's brother Fudge with his urinary tract issues. The lady who runs the rescue where we have got all of our piggies suggested Boots Osteocare, but I am thinking that it won't be worth it - he is on pain relief for the arthritis and really, it seems to be a neurological problem.
 
Sorry to hear that your piggy is poorly. I know its a long shot but could it be e cuniculi infection. I have read that this can present in guinea pigs as paralysis of the back legs. I am not one of the forums health experts but one of them may be able to advise if this is a possibility.
 
YvonneBlue said:
Sorry to hear that your piggy is poorly. I know its a long shot but could it be e cuniculi infection. I have read that this can present in guinea pigs as paralysis of the back legs. I am not one of the forums health experts but one of them may be able to advise if this is a possibility.
Click to expand...
Thank you @YvonneBlue - I will look it up and might mention it to the vet.
 
Hi everyone, I just realised that I never sent an update. Unfortunately Parsley's legs only got worse, not better, and he just couldn't keep himself clean. My vet couldn't have been nicer, she emailed a specialist vet for a second opinion and they agreed with the diagnosis (neurological) and the prognosis (unlikely to be fixable even if they could pinpoint the exact cause).

We said goodbye to Parsley in the week before Christmas. It was the first time we have had any of our pets PTS but our vet couldn't have been more sympathetic or empathetic and we gave her a thank you card and box of chocolates for her and the staff - she even sent us a handwritten sympathy card.

Since then we have been giving Parsley's brother Fudge some extra love and attention; he seems to be doing ok. We will decide soon if we want to get him a new cage mate.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and advice; it was very much appreciated.
 
Sending hugs, I am so sorry you had to say goodbye to your handsome Parsley. Take heart that he will have known just how much you loved him

Popcorn high little man 🌈
 
Claire W said:
Aw I’m so sorry you had to say goodbye to Parsley 😞 I had to help my Elizabeth cross the rainbow bridge on Christmas Eve which was awful right before Christmas (((hugs))) sleep tight Parsley x
Click to expand...
I am so sorry, that must have been really difficult for you.
 
Thanks again for all the responses. My wife found it very upsetting but I was strangely very calm - I thought it would be much harder but in the end I was relieved that we could help him before he suffered too much.

Fudge is doing ok and we have just adopted baby Toffee (pictured - seven weeks old and super cute) to keep him company; we are slowly introducing them and hope that they will be happy together.

Toffee.webp
 
Aw, gorgeous floofy Toffee ♥️. Can we have pigture of Fudge please 🥺
 
Claire W said:
Thank you. I’m still hurting now 😞 I hope you’re ok x
Click to expand...
Sending kind thoughts. We are doing ok, we still get waves of sadness for Parsley but I am glad that we got to him before he started to suffer too much. If it was down to us, we probably wouldn't have adopted a new piggy just yet, but Fudge's needs have to come first.

In other news, our cat is supremely jealous of the extra attention the piggies have been getting over the last few weeks, so is being especially mardy with us.
 
Cloughiepig said:
Sending kind thoughts. We are doing ok, we still get waves of sadness for Parsley but I am glad that we got to him before he started to suffer too much. If it was down to us, we probably wouldn't have adopted a new piggy just yet, but Fudge's needs have to come first.

In other news, our cat is supremely jealous of the extra attention the piggies have been getting over the last few weeks, so is being especially mardy with us.
Click to expand...
Thank you

It is bound to hurt and you are going to miss Parsley like anything but you have done right by Fudge by getting him Toffee as a friend

Your cat sounds like mine and we have 3 of them! x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top