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My Guinea Pig Is Struggling To Walk.

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Amy Westland

Amy Westland

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Hi,
So, I went to get my my guinea pig (Charlie) out of his cage for "playtime" and he was lay in a funny position in his cage on his side, he was unable to stand. At first it appeared to be his back left paw only that had a problem, But truthfully his other back paw seemed weak too, its moving but weak.

His back legs had pee on them, so I gave him a bath and then held him .He's eating like usual, drinking and going to the bathroom.

I kept him propped up. But when I put him back in his cage there he was, lying on his side, with his back legs stretched out behind him. However his front legs and paws are fine.

Any ideas?
 
I have just had 2 months of back leg issues with my boy pig Rodney.

He had a bladder stone.

You will need to see a vet and i would say you will need an xray to be able to see what's going on. Please be wary if your vet isn't keen on xray'ing, I had to see a proper exotic vet to get Rodney properly assessed.

Not saying it's that for sure, it could be a number of things but it sounds similar & it definitely isn't normal so make sure you are not fobbed off!
 
Thanks for your advice, I will try to get him booked in to the vets, were there any other symptoms, with the bladder stone .
 
Amy Westland said:
Thanks for your advice, I will try to get him booked in to the vets, were there any other symptoms, with the bladder stone .
Click to expand...
Some bladder stone symptoms are - Sqeaking in pain while peeing, Blood in urine
Thats all I know of but a vet is a must
 
Or it could be trauma to his back if he has damaged his spine. But the same as pamelakt said, a vet appts would be best and xray. Good luck!
 
Ok thanks but, he doesn't squeak when he goes to pee, there is no blood so I don't think it is bladder stones and he hasn't been dropped so I don't think it is trauma. But I'm not a vet so I will take him. I'm just really worried. Could it be age related ?
 
Well my local vet diagnosed arthritis but xrays showed no arthritis when I took him to the exotic vet. Its not good enough for them to guess.

Rodney cried when he went to the toilet but this was only a very recent development in the last week, I first took him to the vet on 10th July because he didn't want to eat suddenly and had dramatically lost weight. In the days that followed he then wouldn't put weight on his back right foot, which went away with pain meds but after these stopped he was wobbly on both back legs & was just generally unwell. Not himself. He would eat, but was suddenly selective and he really lost a lot of weight.

I wouldn't rule out bladder issues because your piggie is not crying when going to the loo, as this was a very late symptom for Rodney.

Definitely a vet trip is needed. If you are given an anti biotic which in my experience is standard treatment for any illness presented to my local vets! Then I would consider looking into a decent recommended nearby piggie vet for proper assessment. Splaying out legs like that isn't right.

X
 
Rodney didn't have blood in his wee.

If you look in my thread not much below this you will see some other suggestions that were given...
 
Ok thanks for being really help full, I didn't realise all the problems it could be and guess I'm just a bit concerned about taking him to vet, because I don't want him to be put down it they can not help him....
 
That would be your choice to mAke and I would go for a second opinion if that's what they suggest! He's eating, that's a really great thing. My local vet are always reluctant to do anything with a guinea pig, in the past I have been told he 'probably has a brain tumour' and 'probably has arthritis' neither of which are correct and had I opted to put him down for his invisible brain tumour he wouldn't be here today.

Where do you live? And how old is your little man? There are some really highly recommended vets I'm sure someone can advise you where your nearest is. I am really disappointed in the majority of vets & their attitude towards pigs, I will make the 40 mile trip to see an exotic vet every time now.
 
Older piggies can also suffer from "overnight lameness", a sudden drop in calcium that can cause this. This issue is generally treated with with osteocare and most piggies make a complete recovery eventually.

Please have him seen by a vet and also checked for a stroke or a neurological problem (his falling to one side and one leg being affected more).

Paralysis can be caused by a wide range of causes and it is often rather down to detective work by the vet to find out what is the likeliest one.

We have got a piggy savvy vet locator for our UK members on the top bar.
 
Rodney is 4 next month.

I'm sure someone can suggest a good vet in your area, there is a thread at the top of this page that is for recommended vets maybe have a look in that?

Book an appt and don't worry about the being put down thing, that would be your decision to make & I would get a second opinion first and only choose that if I had exhausted all of my options. If you can find a decent pig vet in your area that would be a start. They really do make a difference, the vet I have seen wasn't negative at all and didn't mention anything about that sort of thing, my local vet would have been reluctant to operate and would have gone on at me constantly about how he would 'probably die anyway' under anaesthetic. He didn't die, and was up & eating hay minutes after waking. Certainly if he is eating this is a great sign. Xx
 
Thank you soo much, I am going to ring up the vet now and see if I can go in to get him checked out :D X
 
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/squiggles-spinal-injury.113629/#post-1542107

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/...-her-back-legs-any-more-what-is-wrong.114638/

Grrr my phone is playin up-struggling to post links. But try having a look at these threads. They have some info that may be useful.
Ref vitamin c, calcium &osteocare.

It might be worth suggesting to the vet about leg muscle massage &hydrotherapy for piggy too. If it is just a calcium crash it may help.
If you look in the food section have a look at the calcium&phosphorus ratio in the diet. This may also be something that needs tweaking if calcium is the problem.

A split dose of painkiller such as metacam could be beneficial to recovery too.
Please discuss this with a savvy vet.

Healing vibes to your furball baby. Speedy recovery from the girls &I. Xx
 
Good luck at the vets, I too was thinking some kind of vitamin crash or a stroke or neurological issues as it has come on so quickly.
 
ashleigh vets whalley range are our closest exotics vets. they have three exotics vets - aidan, michelle and shiva. all are great but i highly recommend aidan. he is excellent. :)
 
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