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Can't Walk/hopping Everywhere

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Guineapigloverr

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My guinea pig is 3 years old. I love him so much and I'm very worried. Over the years he has had URIs runny nose etc. Thankfully he hasn't had that for a while now. But his breathing has been quite bad for a year now. The vets can't find anything wrong with his lungs. I go to a exotic vets he is very good! So my angel goes into a nebuliser for 20 minutes a day which seems to help. About a week ago he stopped eating, and wouldn't move at all, I rushed him to the vets where they gave him a injection and gave me anti biotics and food to feed him with. They said he lost A lot of weight. I really thought he was on his last legs. But After 2 days he was completely fine and back to his cheeky self eating and popcorning around. This morning I went in his room and noticed straight away he wasn't moving and something wasn't right. Then when he did move he was hopping and couldn't walk, he was literally hopping like a rabbit and wasn't interested in eating. I rushed him to the vets straight away where they gave him acupuncture and said that his back end seemed really skinny but his top end was normal. And said he lost more weight from the previous week I bought him in. I noticed his back end/legs were feeling rather skinny to. They gave me more feed to feed him with but they said if he's still the same in a couple of days bring him back in because he may have a problem with his spine.
But my question is has anyone experienced this before? What could it be? I feel so sorry for him, he's barely moving and when he does he's hopping around.

Sorry for the long post. I really love him and cant imagine losing him.
 
Guineapigloverr said:
My guinea pig is 3 years old. I love him so much and I'm very worried. Over the years he has had URIs runny nose etc. Thankfully he hasn't had that for a while now. But his breathing has been quite bad for a year now. The vets can't find anything wrong with his lungs. I go to a exotic vets he is very good! So my angel goes into a nebuliser for 20 minutes a day which seems to help. About a week ago he stopped eating, and wouldn't move at all, I rushed him to the vets where they gave him a injection and gave me anti biotics and food to feed him with. They said he lost A lot of weight. I really thought he was on his last legs. But After 2 days he was completely fine and back to his cheeky self eating and popcorning around. This morning I went in his room and noticed straight away he wasn't moving and something wasn't right. Then when he did move he was hopping and couldn't walk, he was literally hopping like a rabbit and wasn't interested in eating. I rushed him to the vets straight away where they gave him acupuncture and said that his back end seemed really skinny but his top end was normal. And said he lost more weight from the previous week I bought him in. I noticed his back end/legs were feeling rather skinny to. They gave me more feed to feed him with but they said if he's still the same in a couple of days bring him back in because he may have a problem with his spine.
But my question is has anyone experienced this before? What could it be? I feel so sorry for him, he's barely moving and when he does he's hopping around.

Sorry for the long post. I really love him and cant imagine losing him.
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I am very sorry. I doesn't sound like your normal calcium drop back leg paralysis and will require further investigation by a good vet. have your vets ever checked his heart?

Please continue syringe feeding and watering, as much as your piggy will take. You can find lots of useful tips in our guide. I would also talk about vitamin C. Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Please make sure that you change the area where he is sitting 2-3 times a day to prevent urine scald and sores as long as he cannot move. Make sure that he has got hay and water very close by.


@helen105281 @Adelle @furryfriends (TEAS)
 
Wiebke said:
I am very sorry. I doesn't sound like your normal calcium drop back leg paralysis and will require further investigation by a good vet. have your vets ever checked his heart?

Please continue syringe feeding and watering, as much as your piggy will take. You can find lots of useful tips in our guide. I would also talk about vitamin C. Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Please make sure that you change the area where he is sitting 2-3 times a day to prevent urine scald and sores as long as he cannot move. Make sure that he has got hay and water very close by.


@helen105281 @Adelle @furryfriends (TEAS)
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Yes his heart has been checked and that's fine. I am feeding him and he has hay and water near by. I'm also changing where he is sat to avoid that! I will be taking him back to the vet again. I really hope he is going to be okay! I'm just so worried about him :(
 
I'd ask the vet for some Metacam at the very least for him. It's an anti inflammatory and covers a wide range of possible causes for his bunny hopping.

How much weight has he lost all in? X
 
Hi & Welcome, I'm so sorry about your piggy & hope the answer can be found soon. Massive hugs coming your way.
 
My initial thought was arthritis as that shows itself through muscle loss in their back end, and hopping is common. But, I would have thought a good guinea pig vet would have looked into that already.

I would definitely recommend asking for pain relief, such as Metacam. He does sound like he's in pain so that should help out a little until the cause is discovered.
 
Has he been checked for a bladder stone? if I recall my Johnny used to bunny hop when he had a stone. Maybe a conscious xray would help as they can check both the bladder and his spine? Definitely start with pain relief though.
 
The same happened with my Tilly, she was hopping with legs splayed out, just like a frog.

She had Xrays and it was discovered she had Osteoporosis, her bones were very thin most likely due to her previously bad diet.
 
One of my girls years ago started bunny hopping when she had a particularly bad uti/cystitis.
The painkillers should help as the hopping is often associated with pain.
As mentioned already -check for stones/sludge &his bones/back etc.
Healing vibes for your little one &speedy recovery. Xx
 
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