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Broken Or Dislocated Front Leg?

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nicolecarli

nicolecarli

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all, my name is Nicole. I just got these two little boys not even a week ago. I adopted them, they are just 1 month old. Nugget (my golden one) tried to get into a space he obviously didn't fit, between the wood hut and the back of the c&c cage. He has done this before, I'll pulled the hut out so he dropped maybe an inch to the bedding. This time though his leg is limp. He didn't squeak or anything, and doesn't squeak when I touch his leg. But he doesn't seem to want to move as much as before and when he does move, the leg(front right) drags along behind him or gets bent up under him.

I took him to the vet, but as this happened right around closing, I cannot get x-rays until the morning. I was told three things could be wrong - broken, dislocated, or just skin tissue damage. The foot is swollen. I have separated him into a 1x2 portion of the cage, with hay, veggies, water, and a little tube to hide in.

I really need opinions on what it could be and the typical treatment for the injury so I am prepared tomorrow after the x-ray. I had two piggies before and nothing like this happened so I'm extra worried. Thanks for the help!
 
Hi Nicole and welcome to the forum. It is 1.30 am here so not many people are online. Tomorrow a health advisor will be able to advice you. It sounds like Nugget needs pain relief. Guinea pigs hide and signs of pain or illness and him being unable to put weight on his leg would indicate pain.
 
Hi Nicole, welcome to the forum. Please could you confirm your location so we can tailor our advice accordingly.

The priority is anti-inflammatory pain relief. It's good that you are getting an xray as this will help diagnose what is actually wrong. Once the xray is done the vet should give you pain relief (unless they are happy to give you some before) and will probably suggest what you have done which is keeping his ability too wander about to a minimum. Water therapy in the bath may help too.

Check that he is eating and pooing ok as a pig in pain won't eat.
 
I live in Denver, CO. I got the X-ray this morning, the follow up appt is this afternoon. Nothing looks broken, fractured, or dislocated. The vet said it may be neurological, like dead nerves since he does not flinch if you touch/squeeze the leg.

I'm worried that it is neural related because I do not know what we would do for that. Is it possible it is a sprain and he refuses to use the leg until it feels better? That just seems unlikely since dragging it must cause discomfort and touching it should cause him to squeak or move it away.

Thank you for any help you can give.

Oh, and he seems to be devouring the lettuce, peppers, and carrots, but not touching the hay and water as much. Poop is normal so far.
 
It's good that he does not seem in pain. It could well be a sprain if he has leapt off something and landed funny. I am not sure what they can do for a neurological issue, it may be something that he would get used to. I am more inclined to think it is an injury of some sort. If they could give you pain relief then it would hopefully mean he starts to walk better if it is a pain issue. Also anti-inflammatories can help with some neurological issues I have been told.
 
Did the vet work out the dose according to his weight?
 
The vet should have a formulary they can look it up in.

The formulary I have which is a US version says 1-4mg/Kg/PO q12-24 (Exotic Animal Formulary - James W Carpenter)

The vet may suggest Metacam which is not as strong though.

Sorry for the delay, I expect you have probably seen the vet by now anyway.
 
My vet thinks it's neural and gave some steroids to him. It's called Dexamethasone

I saw a tiny bit of movement but I'm hoping it gets better. This is a pic of him

image.webp
 
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Oh bless him, he is very handsome. Lots of healing vibes, please keep us updated on your little one
 
What a cute guy. This happens a lot apparently with new pigs. Before we Loki to a mystery illness (possible tumor or ear infection) he jumped out and did the same thing. We had to give him antibiotics and within a week he was back to normal. Don't fret just ensure you have two hands on the little scamp from now on :-)
 
I'm lucky to not of been the cause, just his curiosity. But he has been eating and seems to talk to his brother from his resting area so that makes me smile. I'll keep you all up to date! Thank you!
 
I would not recommend rimadyl it's very hard on dog livers. I would hope they gave you metacam. Dogs shouldn't be on it (rimadyl) longer than one week at most and they're much larger than piggies. The steroid will or should make him drink and pee more and help with the inflammation.

His leg really does look swollen and bruised. He must have landed very wrong. I would think if it was neuro he would have had symptoms before this, unless he feel on his head or something fell on him.

He could have compressed nerves from the swelling which could make it numb feeling to him. Have you tried to have him sit with it on a cool PAC at all? Make sure you cover it with a light cloth and I would do no more than 10-15 min if he will let you sit with him in your lap and his little paw on it.

He's adorable! Hope he feels better soon.

Angela
 
Just make sure it doesn't get too cold feeling on the ice pack if he lets you as he may not feel it and it could become too cold for his whittle paw. :(
 
Update 1: He seems to have a little movement back in his shoulder. Nothing in the rest of the leg/paw, but shoulder movement is progress! I'll let you know more as he improves(fingers crossed).

He seems happy when I give him and his brother cuddle time on their piggie bed. I'll definitely keep this up throughout his recovery.
 
OMG they're so cute! Thanks for the update! Please keep us posted. I hope he gets better soon.

That's great about some movement the steroid must have reduced some inflammation. Do you have to bring him back for a check up? I would hope they told you to.
I have that EXACT same bed lol.
Angela
 
That's good news. I know steroids can help with inflammation so hopefully over time you will notice a difference. Is it a course of steroids with a tapered withdrawal?
 
Hello again, it is a course of steroids, I'm picking up the rest tomorrow. Looks like Nugget is not drinking water at all. But eating all the peppers, lettuce, and carrots. No new movement yet. He got a nice scratch on his leg now. I'm worried he won't get movement back and it can cause more scratches and infections over them.

Does anyone have advice on what the next step will be, or just wait and see?
 
How did he get the scratch? It's not good that he's not drinking water. Do you put vitamin c drops in it? That can make it taste funny so they won't drink it. Does the vet know he's not drinking water? Grab the skin gently on the back of his neck and pull it up a little, it should go right back to normal within a sec if it stays up he is dehydrated. I would add some cucumber to his diet it has a lot of water, but not too much I would say a slice.
 
Just dragging it around I assume is how he got it. And no vitamin C drops. I'll try the cucumbers. And I'll be talking to the vet tomorrow. I'll try the skin thing as soon as I home
 
Okay good he needs to be seen right away. Do you know what they call the scruff of an animals neck? You just gently pull the skin up to make a little tent, in well hydrated animals it snaps back right away in dehydrated animals it may stay up or go back down very slowly depending on their level of dehydration. He is still popping? Have you noticed any pee?

Awww I hope he gets better soon. You could try to syringe feed him some water. But the fact he's eating his watery veggies is good.
 
here is the scratch. There is one on the front paw, and now I found one on his back foot. He has a little more movement now, and I tried that neck skin test, seems totally normal. Still pooping, I haven't watched for pee, but I'll check more often.

Could the scratches be him biting himself since he is alone and wants to play with his brother? I can tell his brother is a little sad not having his friend around to play, but I don't want him to play if he keeps dragging the foot. However, sooner or later, there's nothing else I can do, he will have to play, but the vet says give him two weeks of rest (so one week left).

I've been reading around and since I have no clue how his previous owner treated him, and this all happened a week into me getting him, I'm going to get him vitamin c and calcium just to try and get him back to normal. Maybe this will help. I'll keep up with the steroids too.

eimage.webp image.webp
 
Why is he separate from his brother? sometimes if the poorly animal is not contagious it is best to keep them with their friend, however you will go through the whole dominance phase again if you put them back together after they have been apart for a while.

I would speak to your vet as soon as you can and explain there is no improvement on the steroids, they should start to work pretty quickly.

If he is biting at himself it may be that he has mange mites which they can get when they are run down. However am not so sure it looks like he has been biting it, more that he has scraped it. Do you have any Hibiscrub you could bathe it in?

If he is not drinking you could syringe him some water but take it slowly and syringe from the side of the mouth.
 
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He's such a cute little dude, poor baby, I hope his leg get's better soon.
x sending vibes
 
The ones on the back look like puncture/bite marks. I wonder if it's going necrotic/dying, his leg I mean. When the nerves start to die it's very painful and they will bite themselves.
The color doesn't look good to me at all. :( You could put some hydrogen peroxide on it and if he's not licking it put neosporin on it after that.
I hope you can get him into the vet ASAP.
 
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An update for all of you, he is doing great! I put him back with his brother and they seem happy. I have taken away the ramp for now to keep him somewhat resting. They are both eating great, Still having a tough time with water, so I syringe feed him a few times a day when I can. Eating tons of lettuce and peppers. The only thing that is sad is he has no movement in the paw, but his shoulder is back to normal. He has managed to figure out walking and small popcorns and is doing great. I made an extra padded bedding section to get to the water, but I have not personally seen him drink. He still has that scratch on his inside shoulder, a little worse, but I think its since he walks with the paw inward, it scratches it when he walks like that. I'll keep watching the scratch for any infection, its scabbed up so i won't touch it, and I'll be keeping his tiny nails dull and filed down until I can start cutting them too.

Thanks for all the advice, you guys are wonderful! I'm going to still try the calcium and vitamin C, if you have recommendations for basic brands that would be great, as well as amount. Thanks!
 
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