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Spinal injury and Metacam

hgar81

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Hi, I've just joined the forum in the hope of gaining from others' experience if possible please. My son unfortunately had an accident with his guinea pig Fudge 2 weeks ago, where she wriggled out of his arms and fell. She immediately started dragging her back legs but within 5 minutes was mostly recovered. A couple of days later though she was dragging them again so we took her to the vet. He prescribed Metacam and advised us to wait and see. Two weeks on and she is walking again - still not as strong as normal but much better than she was. The Metacam is now almost finished - should I be looking to get some more, or see how she gets on without it? I am worried as we will be leaving them in the care of neighbours for a couple of days over Christmas. I am thinking I should stop the Metacam now and see how she is so I can make sure we've got some more before Christmas if she seems in pain without it. How long does it take for the effects to wear off? If she doesn't have any today, will I know by tomorrow that she is or isn't ok or might it take longer? Hope that makes sense! Also, I have been weighing her every day since it happened and she was steadily around 935g but the last 2 days was around 925g - should I be concerned at this point? Also, she absolutely loves pea flakes but I know they aren't really great for them - is it worth giving her a handful to keep her weight up or would this do more harm than good? Apologies for the ramble - it's been a very stressful couple of weeks! Any advice very gratefully received :)
 
I’m sorry to hear this.
The effects wear off very quickly. They metabolise their pain meds in around 12 hours (which is why they need painkillers twice a day) so you will know soon if she is still in pain.

10g drop in weight is not concerning. We only talk of weight loss if they lose 50g. Anything up to 50g is just a normal fluctuation.
Should a piggy lose that amount of weight, it is because their hay intake has dropped. If that happens you step in with syringe feeding a recovery feed to replace the fibre and hay intake. Feeding additional pea flakes isn’t the way to do it.

The guide below explains more

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
Welcome to the forum!

If I was in your position I would probably get her back to the vets for a check up before changing her medication or anything, considering the potential seriousness of her injury, but it’s up to you. Although if she is still not 100% with her walking, I would be cautious of the fact that the painkiller may be the main thing keeping her going at this time.

I hope all is well with your sweet girl ❤️
 
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