Btb Littered Sow Has Broken Her Back Leg

[teadragon]

Meribel was adopted pregnant after her owner housed her with two boars after she had given birth to two babies in her care. I adopted her when she was pregnant with her second litter. As a young guinea pig who has had two pregnancies back to back she has lost bone density despite having her diet supplemented with calcium and vitamin C throughout and after her second labour.

Meribel has had an accident with a covered C&C hay rack (since removed) where she has jumped out of the hay rack when it was not full and has caught her leg. This has caused her to break her leg on her knee.

Because she has lost bone density and due to the size of a guinea pigs leg, an operation that could have been performed on a dog cannot be performed on her to wire the two sections of the knee joint together to allow it to heal or fuse back in its normal position. The location also means that we cannot put a cast around the limb to help it heal back into its normal position.

This means that her knee is now floating a few millimetres along her femur where it will fuse. Meri won't ever have full use of this leg as she did when it was new.

To let this happen we've confined her to a 1x1 C&C cage space where she'll stay for four weeks, she's also receiving pain relief and vitamin supplements to help her to increase her bone density. I'm sure she'll learn how to move around after her bones have fused but I am on the look out for anyone who has dealt with a similar injury before and what I could look to do long term to keep her comfortable.

 

[piggyfan]

I am so sorry this has happened. Poor baby. I really hope she makes a full recovery.

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

Oh my gosh that is terrible. Good that she has pain relief, it must be excruciating. Feel better love. Just another terrible consequence of breeding!

 

[Abi_nurse]

Likewise, poor little lady. I hope she makes a speedy recovery and can have at least some use of the leg with not too much discomfort.

x

 

[*Gem*]

I really hope your girl has a speedy recovery and someone on here can give you some advice from previous experience. Poor little thing

 

[Stewybus]

My only piggy to have babies, aptly named Mother also broke her leg not long after having her only litter. I confined her to a large cat carrying case to restrict her movement. She too couldn't be operated on or splinted but the leg healed within a month & now you wouldn't believe that this had happened over 2 years ago. I hope that Meribel has a similar recovery.

 

[teadragon]

Thank you all so much for your kind wishes, I will pass them on to Meri who seems quite fed up today.

I hate to be all doom and gloom but after looking at Meri's x-ray there is no way that her leg will heal without any long-term affect. My vet thinks she will have a permanent limp and I just want to see what I can do now to keep her as mobile as possible for as long as possible since she's such an active little piggie.

http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/pets/guineapigs/graphics/guineapiganat2.jpg
to give you a visual based on this diagram, imagine that the lunula is not connected to the patella but instead is displaced to connect to the length of the femur a distance from the actual knee joint. This is why when it fuses she won't be able to bend this area.

I had been looking into swim therapy but if she cannot physically bend the knee and she won't regain that bend (as her knee joins essentially looks dislocated) then I'm not sure what the benefit would be except to give her a bit of relief as she ages as her body will have to compensate for the lack of knee flex.

 

[madguinealady]

Hope she heals well.I had a piggy that used to jump in the c&c Hay rack so hubby bent the sides in and now they can't

 

[Wiebke]

I hope that she will heal as well as possible.

Would glucosamine help with arthritis issues that could be a long term problem?