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internal damage?

A

aleeza

Junior Guinea Pig
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hi! so this morning i was feeding my girls their veggies on the bottom floor, and Snickers, usually a food monster, was on the top floor. she usually runs down to get her veggies but she wouldnt go down the ramp until i gently prodded her and even then, seemed clumsier then usual, practically sliding down. however, once she was down, she began to eat as usual so i think she still has an appetite. when i came home, her sister Oreo ran to greet me with wheeks and Snickers didnt move! she was back on the top floor, so at least i know she was able to get there.... i lifted up the cover of the cage and usually she'd get startled and go downstairs (its a wooden hutch so they get caught by suprise when i lift the cover) but she still didnt move. i picked her up to examine her more closely and she started squeeking extremely loudly, a sign of panic or pain. she's usually completely fine when i lift her, and she never gets so panicked so i think it might be from pain😣
i went to go talk to some family members abt it and was told that when i wasn't home yesterday there was a few young kids (children of a family friend) who were over and playing with Snickers and she was taken out of the cage and put back by a 9 year old. i usually have a strict rule that the guineas cant be touched when i'm not home, but i guess no one was supervising. Now i'm extremely afraid the the kid either squeezed her too tightly, or was putting her back and Snickers started to squirm and was dropped into her cage from too high. or both
would it be obvious if something was broken? is there anything else that could go wrong from her being squeezed or dropped that wouldnt be a broken bone? if she isnt improving tomorrow, i'll book her an xray but my vet will likely be extremely booked and can anything even be done for a broken bone? i dont even know if this is the reason she's acting so differently! pls advise if u can, i'm very worried abt her😟
 
I’m sorry to hear this
Really, all you can do is get her seen by a vet - you know her best and if she is acting out of character then it’s always best to get that checked out.
I hope she is ok
 
Sounds like something is not right with her. I hope the vet can find out what it wrong.
 
I would agree that she really needs to see a vet as soon as possible for a full exam and to see what is wrong.
 
Other people who have found themselves in this situation have had a range of outcomes. If you're lucky it will be a twist or sprain that can heal, but piggy bones are fragile and breaks are not unusual. An x-ray is the way forward. One recent poster with a dropped piggy had a leg break but by the time she got to the vet it had started to heal - for better or worse (and we don't know how this case ended up). She does need a vet to look her over and give advice and a painkiller such as meloxicam to help her move around.

I've had quite a few piggies and almost all have reacted the same when being returned to their house. Their prey instinct when they see they are near home means they will wriggle to get away and leap to 'safety' - although the leap might be a 5 foot drop which can easily maim or kill. They don't land well at all. People expect an animal won't endanger itself but people are wrong. Mine live at ground level in the house and when I returns them to their enclosure I usually put them down on the floor of the kitchen - it's near enough that they can just trot back but far enough that it doesn't trigger any frenzied wriggling. I'd be more than angry at this point as your rules were broken - you might consider raising this with the people who were supposed to be supervising the kids and point out that if they really were sorry you could do with some help with the vet bill! Good luck little Snickers, you're being very brave x
 
It's definitely worth an urgent vet assessment- she could have a traumatic injury, plus being lethargic in general can be a general sign of a variety of illnesses. Broken bones can be splinted/wrapped even in small animals, so it's definitely worthy of a trip to the vet for assessment. Best wishes, I hope everything turns out okay!
 
Agree with the above. Hopefully Snickers will be ok.

This would be my worst nightmare. I too have strict rules in regards to my pets which happen to be all rodents. It was strict before but even more so now after my sister who's quite a bit older than me nearly dropped my roborovski hamster (tiny thing about 2 inches long) on concrete because she was scared but wanted to hold him. Thankfully I quickly grabbed him and he went back to eating pumpkin seeds in my hands and he was fine. Now no one is allowed in the pig shed and only a select few in my room where the hamsters/rats are kept. People I know will not touch or even attempt to open the cages.

The only time someone other than me has held any of my rodents are my niece's with strict supervision. The one was exposed to my rats at 2 years old the other at 4. They still talks about Niklaus now and they're 7 and 9. Theyve held my smallest hamster and Apollo my guinea pig while sat on the floor and not allowed to pick up. They treated Po (who's about 1kg) as if he was as fragile as my robo hamster Niko (30g). The amount of respect and care they showed was a lot more than most adults I meet. However, I would never let them be unsupervised.

I did have a word with them when I went outside and found them in the shed. They were very quiet and acted as if I was there with them. They didn't open the hutch or anything. But I sat them down and explained to them how important it was that they didn't go in there. They understood and theyve never done it again.

Would it be worth you speaking to the children about the guinea pigs. Keep it positive. Did they like them, did they hold them. Were they wriggly? Then afterwards ask them to not take them out of the hutch/don't touch them ect. They can watch them but explain to them the importance of it and what it means to you. Explain to them that snickers is now not very well (don't blame them ofc) so it's important that no one touches the guinea pigs from now on just in case they're poorly or have an injury that no one knows about. Hopefully this will ensure that nothing happens again, if of course Snickers problems have been caused by the children which, fingers crossed, hopefully it's not.

Wish you the best of luck. Please let us know how poor Snickers gets on. Will be thinking of her.
 
Sending lots of healing vibes, I hope you manage to see the vet xx
 
hey everyone, best news possible! so i was very worried abt Snickers, but she was slightly improving every day so i decided to take the risk and wait until Sunday to call a vet. this morning, i went to give them their veggies, and she was completely back to herself! she had run down the ramp and was practically jumping out of her cage to get to the cucumber before Oreo could take it lol
i'll be keeping a close eye on her just in case but for now she seems to be doing amazing. i'm assuming it was either a sprain, or just something small that was able to heal on its own. thank you so much everyone for the advice and concern☺️
 
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