• 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

Wobbly guinea pig

basicpiggies

basicpiggies

New Born Pup
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
35
Reaction score
23
Points
175
Hi everyone,

I’m up waiting for the emergency vet to open but I figured I’d post here to see if anyone could help me brainstorm what could be going on.

My elderly guinea pig (she is 7) is very wobbly all of a sudden. I woke up in the middle of the night and just had a feeling I should go check on them. She is completely herself personality wise, squeaking, rumbling, happy to see me. She’s eating like normal and was so excited for fresh water. But she’s very wobbly, bobbing back and forth whenever she comes up to me all excited. She’s also falling over on her side, too. Everything is normal minus her having trouble with movement.

Any ideas…? I’m a little freaked out because I’ve had her since 2016 and I’ve never had a health issue with her. Literally nothing. I know she’s old, but I’m honestly not ready to lose her. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
 
I’m sorry to hear this.
There could be several things it could be so it would not be helpful for us to speculate.

What I would suggest is that you start with our emergency/crisis/bridging care and switch from the routine weekly weight weight checks and instead weigh her daily so you can monitor hay intake. Step in with support feeding if her hay intake and consequently weight is reduced.

Let us know how you get on at the vet. I hope she is ok

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Weight Monitoring and Management
 
I’m so sorry your piggy is poorly. Good luck at the vets. I hope it’s something easily treatable. Sending healing vibes ❤️
 
Thanks guys. She’s doing okay right now. She’s eating with her friend and still tugging food from me with all of her might 😂 so we will see. She’s wobbly but there’s not much of a head tilt really…so I don’t know.
 
basicpiggies said:
Hi everyone,

I’m up waiting for the emergency vet to open but I figured I’d post here to see if anyone could help me brainstorm what could be going on.

My elderly guinea pig (she is 7) is very wobbly all of a sudden. I woke up in the middle of the night and just had a feeling I should go check on them. She is completely herself personality wise, squeaking, rumbling, happy to see me. She’s eating like normal and was so excited for fresh water. But she’s very wobbly, bobbing back and forth whenever she comes up to me all excited. She’s also falling over on her side, too. Everything is normal minus her having trouble with movement.

Any ideas…? I’m a little freaked out because I’ve had her since 2016 and I’ve never had a health issue with her. Literally nothing. I know she’s old, but I’m honestly not ready to lose her. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
Click to expand...

Hi

HUGS

I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed. That is a great age. Sadly, however old your piggies are, you are never quite prepared when the time comes. It is always too soon and you can never choose how the end comes or when it is their time. :(

It could be a small stroke/blood supply breaking down or something neurological going wrong but we can only guess as wildly as you. The bobbing back and forth could be pointing towards her heart being in trouble as well. :(

All you can do is hang in there and be there for her wherever it takes you, including to the Rainbow Bridge. Be strong strong for her.
 
Hi guys! I have a great update. Unfortunately I called every single vet (I called one that was 4 hours away…just to put that into perspective) that had an exotic and none of them were able to see her. My usual vet agreed to see her Tuesday (tomorrow). I’ve kept her comfortable these past few days. Her appetite and behavior has been fine. The hobbles and falling over got better and better until tonight, she’s completely normal again. Jumping on my shoulder like normal, rumble strutting, running around. She’s going in to the vet tomorrow for an X-ray and exam. I suspect arthritis, and that she had a bad flare-up…but I have no experience with that so I’m not sure. I hope to get answers tomorrow! Thanks for the replies!
 
Hi all!

You might remember that I posted two weeks ago about my guinea pig who was hobbling/falling over. She is doing a lot better now. She has arthritis in her back right knee.

Today, I got prescribed Meloxicam for her. I am supposed to give her 0.6 mL, twice daily. She weighs 2.1 pounds. My vet is very knowledgable and is a great exotic vet so I’m not too worried about that dosage but I wanted to ask those who have had/have a pig on Meloxicam before - does that sound like an okay dosage?

Also, she is 7 years old this year. I know that long-term Meloxicam use can cause issues/potentially reduce lifespan eventually. I would like to think that she is already very old and so it hopefully wouldn’t ever get to the point where her kidneys are affected. I would also much rather her live a quality life >>>>> rather than push for quantity. Does it take a while for those adverse effects to show up?

Also…last thing - any advice on how to give her the oral medicine would be much appreciated. I am worried about it since I have to do it alone today (I have no one to hold her) and I’ve always struggled with this in the past.

Thank you! :)
 
basicpiggies said:
Hi all!

You might remember that I posted two weeks ago about my guinea pig who was hobbling/falling over. She is doing a lot better now. She has arthritis in her back right knee.

Today, I got prescribed Meloxicam for her. I am supposed to give her 0.6 mL, twice daily. She weighs 2.1 pounds. My vet is very knowledgable and is a great exotic vet so I’m not too worried about that dosage but I wanted to ask those who have had/have a pig on Meloxicam before - does that sound like an okay dosage?

Also, she is 7 years old this year. I know that long-term Meloxicam use can cause issues/potentially reduce lifespan eventually. I would like to think that she is already very old and so it hopefully wouldn’t ever get to the point where her kidneys are affected. I would also much rather her live a quality life >>>>> rather than push for quantity. Does it take a while for those adverse effects to show up?

Also…last thing - any advice on how to give her the oral medicine would be much appreciated. I am worried about it since I have to do it alone today (I have no one to hold her) and I’ve always struggled with this in the past.

Thank you! :)
Click to expand...

Hi

I assume that it is dog strength metacam/meloxicam (1.5 mg/ml)?
Yes that is comparable to what my own arthritic elderlies are on. I give my own metacam twice daily 0.3 ml but the new guidance seems to be for once daily. It will build up in the system over time anyway.

If the arthritis continues to progress, you and your vet may have to look at other, stronger painkillers.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

I assume that it is dog strength metacam/meloxicam (1.5 mg/ml)?
Yes that is comparable to what my own arthritic elderlies are on. I give my own metacam twice daily 0.3 ml but the new guidance seems to be for once daily. It will build up in the system over time anyway.

If the arthritis continues to progress, you and your vet may have to look at other, stronger painkillers.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is 1.5 mg/ml! Thank you for the response. I wanted to make sure before I gave it to her. :)
 
With regard giving it, my Jenny behaves like a crack addict 😂 She is up at the bars begging for it and tries to run away with the syringe 😂 Don't tell her the dose, she will feel short changed (she's a tiny pig though, probably about a pound) She also has it for age onset arthritis.
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone! I just gave her her first dose. I found Saskia’s technique to be really effective (the tutorial she posted on YouTube). It was very quick and she got all of it. :)
 
Hi all, sorry for posting about this again. I’ve been reading other people’s experiences with Metacam/Meloxicam and I haven’t found anyone that has had a dosage as high as my guinea pig has. She’s currently on 0.6 ml TWICE A DAY, not total. It says give 0.6 ml by mouth every 12 hours.

It is the dog (1.5) strength one.

She weighs 2.1 pounds. I found piggies on here that take like 0.2 ml that are close to her weight. I trust my vet’s judgment but I’ve been giving her this for days now and I’m scared that she’s having too much. 1.2 ml per day seems like a lot. And she’s fine; it’s been 4 days since she’s started it. I haven’t noticed any improvement though. Someone please help me rationalize this dosage…it just seems so high.
 
I wanted to expand on saying that I have not not seen any improvement — she definitely isn’t really limping anymore, but is still a lot more chill than she normally is (laying down more, not running around as much). I think that’s still improvement though compared to when she was hobbling. Also, I found another person who had a guinea pig taking 0.6 ml twice a day post-operation, so now I know that it’s not a dangerous dosage. I just guess I don’t understand why she would be started on such a high dose for arthritis in one leg.
 
Metacam is prescribed on a sliding scale according to weight and clinical indication. An example of this is that in a 1 kg piggy with severe bloat I was prescribed a whole 1ml twice a day for several days with a reduction once improvement was seen. Whereas for a 1.2kg piggy with moderate pain I was prescribed 0.4 mls twice daily. With a severe, acute issue, sometimes a larger dose is prescribed for a short period to get on top of pain and inflammation and then is reduced over time to a lower level where the piggy is comfortable. I don’t know the circumstances from your post. But I’m assuming there’s been a quite noticeable issue, and that she will be seen and reviewed again shortly?
 
I’ve just found your previous threads and I’m going to merge them so all the information is together to help us follow what’s going on
 
VickiA said:
Metacam is prescribed on a sliding scale according to weight and clinical indication. An example of this is that in a 1 kg piggy with severe bloat I was prescribed a whole 1ml twice a day for several days with a reduction once improvement was seen. Whereas for a 1.2kg piggy with moderate pain I was prescribed 0.4 mls twice daily. With a severe, acute issue, sometimes a larger dose is prescribed for a short period to get on top of pain and inflammation and then is reduced over time to a lower level where the piggy is comfortable. I don’t know the circumstances from your post. But I’m assuming there’s been a quite noticeable issue, and that she will be seen and reviewed again shortly?
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your reply. I brought her and her cagemate for their normal checkup and told the vet about some things I’ve been noticing regarding her mobility. My vet found that she had some arthritis in her right hind knee, to the point where she was squealing when the vet tried to get her to stretch it. It was only that one leg that was bothering her, and my vet noted her pain as “mild to minimal” on the bill. I think that’s why I was concerned about the 1.2 ml total per day dosage. I was given a 32 ml bottle so it should last me about a month, give or take a few days, and I was told to note if there was any improvement and then I assume when the bottle is up we reevaluate the dosage. Thanks again for replying - I was worried that I was giving her a dangerous amount!
 
My Finn was born in 2017 and will be 7 this year. I am hoping he lives to be 10. Glad to hear older piggies are getting the help they need and living longer.
My avatar is Finn, and my forum name, Seven7, came from his birth year, 2017.
 
Seven7 said:
My Finn was born in 2017 and will be 7 this year. I am hoping he lives to be 10. Glad to hear older piggies are getting the help they need and living longer.
My avatar is Finn, and my forum name, Seven7, came from his birth year, 2017.
Click to expand...
Older piggies are such sweet little creatures. :) I feel blessed to have had my Pumpkin for as long as I have. She was born in 2016.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top