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My pig has become somewhat paralyzed, and she's not being herself.

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Deleted member 152833

She's 6. Yesterday she lost control of her left hind leg, and wasn't able to move without using alot of her energy. She struggled to walk to her water, but she drank alot and ate alot too.
Today though, both of her hind legs gave, and she's struggling so bad to even move.
I can't go to the vet. I won't be able to purchase anything for her until the next day. Please help me. She's all i have left. I won't be able to handle losing her.
She peed twice in a row, which is very unusual for her. When i call her name, she doesn't really reply, i got really worried because i thought she'd died. She doesn't jump either.

Please help me.
 
I’m sorry to hear this.
I’m afraid all you can do, and all we can advise you to do, is to see a vet. There could be any number of causes and she may need pain relief.

All you can do as home care is to ensure you change her bedding frequently to ensure she isn’t sitting in urine and risking urine scald, put hay right by her so she can eat freely. Switch to daily weight checks and step in with syringe feeding.

Our guides are linked in below.

I hope she is ok

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care
 
You have a lovely old girl, she must have been very well looked after to reach such an age 💕

Sometimes piggies recover mobility, sometimes they don't, it depends on the cause and only a vet can try to find that out. Even if they diagnose the cause there is not always a treatment. For example if piggy has had a stroke there is not too much they can do. It is always better to see a vet than not, for instance they can at least prescribe a little painkiller/anti-inflammatory (like meloxicam) but it is not always possible. So whatever has happened (and depending on your time zone) right now all you can do is help her to be comfortable until she can see one.

She might feel most comfortable being hidden in a little house or cave - wherever she usually sleeps at night to help her feel safe. If she is not able to move easily you can help her by moving her hay, food and water close to there. If she drinks from a bottle you might need to lower it as well as move it closer so she can reach easily. Don't try to encourage walking - if she can walk she will anyway. She may be tired and need to rest.

There is no reason to avoid veggies so some little tasty treats will help her feel cheerful. If eating her hard pellet food is difficult try soaking some pellets in water first so she can slurp them up.

Make sure she is not lying helpless in her own pee/poop... you can switch out bits of fleece for clean pieces, replace wood shavings etc more often, replace soiled hay etc. If she gets poop stuck to her back end just wipe gently with a damp cloth or cotton wool pad soaked in warm water. Don't try to bath her - she won't want to be wet. Gentle handling in case she has pain or is frightened. But keep talking kindly and keep everything familiar and within reach.

Sometimes people use a heat pad or a well-wrapped hot water bottle as a source of gentle heat but it depends on your climate and it is important - especially with a less mobile pig - that she is not trapped next to it. If you put something like this near her she should be able to either move towards it or move away depending on how she feels. I sometimes put the hot water bottle outside my tray-cages so it just heats up one wall. Then the piggies inside can choose whether to lean on that warm wall or to move away.

Good luck little girl, your loving owner is looking after you x
 
Thank you both for the help. Although sadly i might not be allowed to bring her to the vet. I'll try my best to do all of these things, and i'll be going the next day to buy some things for her. thanks again.
 
markipumpkin2300 said:
Thank you both for the help. Although sadly i might not be allowed to bring her to the vet. I'll try my best to do all of these things, and i'll be going the next day to buy some things for her. thanks again.
Click to expand...

What things are you going to buy for her?
Please dont try to home medicate her.

Why might you not be allowed to see a vet?

The only way to see what medication she might need or if there is a chance for her to get better (or sadly to euthanize her if she is suffering) is to see the vet.
 
I hope you can get her to a vet. She’s a great age. She’s obviously been well looked after. It may be something easily (and cheaply) treatable like arthritis. If you leave it or try to home treat you’ll probably end up spending more in the long run. Good luck
 
Please try your best to get her to a vet ASAP, she may be in pain. This could be something easy to treat and she could recover well with a vet's help!
 
What things are you going to buy for her?
Please dont try to home medicate her.

Why might you not be allowed to see a vet?

The only way to see what medication she might need or if there is a chance for her to get better (or sadly to euthanize her if she is suffering) is to see the vet.
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sadly i was left behind and couldnt buy anything but my parents just bought some vitamin c food for her, hopefully that'll help. they didnt get emergency food or anything, and my parents dont wanna spend the energy to go to a vet
 
weepweeps said:
I hope you can get her to a vet. She’s a great age. She’s obviously been well looked after. It may be something easily (and cheaply) treatable like arthritis. If you leave it or try to home treat you’ll probably end up spending more in the long run. Good luck
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i hope so too. i just hope that i'll be allowed to go to one, and i really hope that its something easily treatable
 
markipumpkin2300 said:
sadly i was left behind and couldnt buy anything but my parents just bought some vitamin c food for her, hopefully that'll help. they didnt get emergency food or anything, and my parents dont wanna spend the energy to go to a vet
Click to expand...

Vitamin c will not help make her better. It will not solve any pain she may be in.

Please use her normal pellets and mush them up with warm water to syringe feed to her (you don’t need specific recovery feed)

If you are not old enough to take her to the vet yourself, then your parents have a legal duty to get her vet care. Do try to tell them that she needs help.
 
She's a bit more energetic right now, and seems to be getting a little better, she's been running around in my bed, although her two hind legs are completely paralyzed.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Vitamin c will not help make her better. It will not solve any pain she may be in.

Please use her normal pellets and mush them up with warm water to syringe feed to her (you don’t need specific recovery feed)

If you are not old enough to take her to the vet yourself, then your parents have a legal duty to get her vet care. Do try to tell them that she needs help.
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Alright, i'll try the pellet food thing, but even though they have a legal duty, the energy it takes is still not enough. I've tried to ask, but it won't really work.
 
We understand. It can be very difficult sometimes to explain to people who don't feel the same way about guinea pigs x
 
All you will be able to then is keep her cage very clean so she isn’t sitting in urine. You may need to wipe her down if she is getting damp from urine so she doesn’t risk getting urine scald.

She will need hay around the cage so she can eat freely at all times if she isn’t able to move much.

You will need to weigh her every day so you can monitor that she is eating enough hay. If she is losing any weight then she will need to be syringe fed as much as is necessary to keep her weight stable each day.

These are the further care guides that you will need.

Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Weight Monitoring and Management
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
Piggies&buns said:
All you will be able to then is keep her cage very clean so she isn’t sitting in urine. You may need to wipe her down if she is getting damp from urine so she doesn’t risk getting urine scald.

She will need hay around the cage so she can eat freely at all times if she isn’t able to move much.

You will need to weigh her every day so you can monitor that she is eating enough hay. If she is losing any weight then she will need to be syringe fed as much as is necessary to keep her weight stable each day.

These are the further care guides that you will need.

Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Weight Monitoring and Management
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Click to expand...
Thank you for the help, and thank all of you others too. It turns out that I wont be allowed to go to the vet because it's apparently a waste of money. So, i will have to ask someone else, but i need to wait until sunday.
 
Maybe show your parents this thread?
They need to understand she may be suffering and they are legally (and surely morally!) obliged to seek veterinary attention.
This could be something easy and cheap to treat. The longer she is left, the less likely she can be saved, and the more it will cost.
 
You can perhaps tell them about my mum. When I was a child we had quite a few pets and we had two piggies: one got sick and passed at 3 years. She was very tender and caring towards our sick girl but we didn't go to the vet. I was too young to remember much or to understand about piggies but as I got older I asked about this pig not going to the vet because we'd always taken the cat when it needed to go. She just thought "people didn't". We're old now, I'm in my 50s and she's in her 80s. I never blamed her - she was the one who mainly looked after the piggies so they were kind of hers although she'd bought them 'for' us little kids. But it turns out that later on my mum felt terribly guilty for not taking her to the vet and she's never gotten over that feeling. I'm not sure she ever will. And that's a burden to carry for a long time because you can't go back and change things. Even if the vet says there's nothing to be done they will know they've done their best for a loving old companion. One day we'll all be in that position. Be proud of your compassionate heart x
 
Wheekallweek said:
Maybe show your parents this thread?
They need to understand she may be suffering and they are legally (and surely morally!) obliged to seek veterinary attention.
This could be something easy and cheap to treat. The longer she is left, the less likely she can be saved, and the more it will cost.
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sadly, that'd probably make it worse. i'm very sorry, but there isn't much i can do except keep her stable and wait until sunday, where the chances of asking for a vet will rise. thank you for the help though
 
Free Ranger said:
You can perhaps tell them about my mum. When I was a child we had quite a few pets and we had two piggies: one got sick and passed at 3 years. She was very tender and caring towards our sick girl but we didn't go to the vet. I was too young to remember much or to understand about piggies but as I got older I asked about this pig not going to the vet because we'd always taken the cat when it needed to go. She just thought "people didn't". We're old now, I'm in my 50s and she's in her 80s. I never blamed her - she was the one who mainly looked after the piggies so they were kind of hers although she'd bought them 'for' us little kids. But it turns out that later on my mum felt terribly guilty for not taking her to the vet and she's never gotten over that feeling. I'm not sure she ever will. And that's a burden to carry for a long time because you can't go back and change things. Even if the vet says there's nothing to be done they will know they've done their best for a loving old companion. One day we'll all be in that position. Be proud of your compassionate heart x
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that's a wonderful story. i very much understand the point and that's an excellent point! sadly though, telling that story wouldn't lead to much. my only way i can do this is to again, sadly, wait until sunday. that's the first chance i'll get at even asking to go to the vet and not getting a direct no. but thank you very much
 
Piggies&buns said:
That’s very sad.
All you weighing her daily and syringe feeding her?
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i've started to weigh her, and i'm making a spreadsheet to track her weight. sadly i don't have a syringe, and because i'm not allowed to purchase anything (it's very far away and the only way to go is asking (but I'm not allowed) ) so i can't really syringe feed her. she's eating though, and because she hates the vitamin c drops in her food i'm dropping it on her carrots when i give her them (she doesnt only eat carrots, she eats hay but she's stopped eating her pellets, and before all of this, when she could run and jump, she used to love the pellets.
 
Pellets are least important part of the diet so don’t worry if she doesn’t eat them. It is hay which she needs most of and it is that which will keep her weight stable. What have her weight checks showed so far?
if she does lose weight and you don’t have a syringe, then you will need to try to feed mushed pellets from a teaspoon.

You need to be careful if you are supplementing vitamin c (Particularly if there is no need to do so - ie she is eating hay and veg as she will be getting enough vit c). Only give it as part of a short course for no more than two weeks.
Long term supplementation can cause problems and a piggy who is long term supplemented needs to be weaned off vit c supplements slowly so as to not cause scurvy. Sudden drops from an abnormally high vitamin c intake via supplementation to just a normal vit c intake from a healthy diet is problematic.
Do remember that carrots shouldn’t be in the diet very much as they are too high in sugar, but you’ll just need to do what you can at the moment
 
I think her stool also had some kind of discharge, it has a really weird consistency (not normal) and i think something else came with (not sure) on the outside it looks completely normal, but when i cleaned them it felt very sticky and loose.
 
If her poop is soft then you need to stop giving her veg, increase her fibre intake through syringe feeding and give extra hay.

I’ve linked a guide in which gives details of digestive upsets.
(It will mention giving a probiotic or poop soup to help settle the gut and replace gut microbiome you obviously won’t be able to do that given you can’t buy anything and don’t have syringes for poop soup.
Poop soup is putting a poorly piggy’s cagemate into a box and feeding them a snack to get them to produce poop. As soon as the poop is produced, soak them in water within five minutes of the poop coming out. Leave poops to soak for 10 minutes and then syringe the water to the poorly piggy. I doubt she would drink the water (poops removed) voluntarily but you can always try in the absence of a syringe).

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
 
Piggies&buns said:
Pellets are least important part of the diet so don’t worry if she doesn’t eat them. It is hay which she needs most of and it is that which will keep her weight stable. What have her weight checks showed so far?
if she does lose weight and you don’t have a syringe, then you will need to try to feed mushed pellets from a teaspoon.

You need to be careful if you are supplementing vitamin c (Particularly if there is no need to do so - ie she is eating hay and veg as she will be getting enough vit c). Only give it as part of a short course for no more than two weeks.
Long term supplementation can cause problems and a piggy who is long term supplemented needs to be weaned off vit c supplements slowly so as to not cause scurvy. Sudden drops from an abnormally high vitamin c intake via supplementation to just a normal vit c intake from a healthy diet is problematic.
Do remember that carrots shouldn’t be in the diet very much as they are too high in sugar, but you’ll just need to do what you can at the moment
Click to expand...
Alright, i'll not worry as much about the pellets, she does eat hay though so that's good. i haven't really been able to weight check her, but i'm going to start today. i have the whole spreadsheet ready so i'll do daily weight checks.

thank you so very much about the vitamin c help too, i'll do exactly that and cut down on it, and start cutting it out soon
 
markipumpkin2300 said:
Alright, i'll not worry as much about the pellets, she does eat hay though so that's good. i haven't really been able to weight check her, but i'm going to start today. i have the whole spreadsheet ready so i'll do daily weight checks.

thank you so very much about the vitamin c help too, i'll do exactly that and cut down on it, and start cutting it out soon
Click to expand...

It’s good she is eating hay but without daily weight checks, you can’t know that she is eating enough. Definitely start those weight checks. If she hadn’t been weighed each week as routine up until now then you have no baseline to compare todays weight check to, so by way of the fact she seems to be having gut trouble, I would mush up some pellets with warm water now and put them in a bowl for her to eat from and/or see if she will eat from a teaspoon. This will only act as a top up to her independent hay intake given you can’t syringe feed her.
 
Piggies&buns said:
If her poop is soft then you need to stop giving her veg, increase her fibre intake through syringe feeding and give extra hay.

I’ve linked a guide in which gives details of digestive upsets.
(It will mention giving a probiotic or poop soup to help settle the gut and replace gut microbiome you obviously won’t be able to do that given you can’t buy anything and don’t have syringes for poop soup.
Poop soup is putting a poorly piggy’s cagemate into a box and feeding them a snack to get them to produce poop. As soon as the poop is produced, soak them in water within five minutes of the poop coming out. Leave poops to soak for 10 minutes and then syringe the water to the poorly piggy. I doubt she would drink the water (poops removed) voluntarily but you can always try in the absence of a syringe).

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
Click to expand...
alright, i'll cut down on her veggies, and attempt to give her more hay and spoonfeed her (no syringe)
thank you for the guide! she doesn't have a cagemate though and has never really so i can't really do that
 
When my boy was recovering from an operation he had soggy mush pellets (normal pellets which had been soaked in water) in a bowl overnight. The next morning you could tell he had been eating them. They take very little chewing so they can just be slurped up!
 
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