Back Leg Weakness

[BekasMom]

Hello,

I've had my guinea pig for 6 years and she is estimated to be about 6-7 years old depending on which vet opinion you use. Recently she started having problems with her back legs. She often leaves them out behind her as if she's forgotten they are there and if she tries to put her full weight on just her back legs she'll tip over. I took her to our vet, who seems to have decent knowledge about guinea pigs, and she gave us some pain medication to see if it was muscular. That caused no improvement so we had a follow up today. I showed the vet a video of Beka's back leg weakness and she said that it could be vitamin c deficiency, spine injury (which is admittedly unlikely as we've already done one round of x-rays), or organ related. We are doing the vitamin c liquid for two weeks and if that shows no improvement the vet wants to do blood work. If the blood work is normal than the vet said it's really about pain management since right now Beka is showing no problems with eating or drinking. I was wondering if anyone had any similar issues with their guinea pigs? This is my first one so I am unsure if the vets course of actions is reasonable. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Swissgreys]

I am replying here to help bump this thread, so someone with more experience sees it.
I do know that piggies can have episodes of paralysis and back leg weakness, which often resolves itself over a period of time.
I will tag @Wiebke and @Adelle for you because if they don't know the answer they will know someone who does.
I know both of them are deeply involved with complication with their own piggies right now, so it might take them a while to reply.

And Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Did your vet check for arthritis or calcium deficit?

It depends on the movement and what is causing the weakness. It doesn't sound like your standard calcium drop overnight paralysis.

 

[BekasMom]

I am replying here to help bump this thread, so someone with more experience sees it.
I do know that piggies can have episodes of paralysis and back leg weakness, which often resolves itself over a period of time.
I will tag @Wiebke and @Adelle for you because if they don't know the answer they will know someone who does.
I know both of them are deeply involved with complication with their own piggies right now, so it might take them a while to reply.

And Welcome to the Forum.

Thank you for the bump and tags! I greatly appreciated it.

 

[BekasMom]

Hi! Did your vet check for arthritis or calcium deficit?

It depends on the movement and what is causing the weakness. It doesn't sound like your standard calcium drop overnight paralysis.

Hi, the vet felt for arthritis and we did x-rays which didn't show anything. She did not run a calcium test, but I'm assuming that is something that would be checked in the blood screen we plan to do next if the vitamin c doesn't work? My guinea pigs symptoms did come on pretty quickly, but she can still use her legs when necessary (like if there's a loud noise she can still run into her house) it's more like she chooses not to. When she walks she leaves her back legs behind her not exactly dragging them because she still puts weight on them but she takes as few steps as possible with them to reach whatever it is she's going for.