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Christian was at emergency vet appointment this morning!

Betsy said:
Christian is walking but in a funny drunken wayas his legs are funny behind him. I'll see if I can get a video of it and post it on here. He wanted to show off but as soon as I got out the camera he didn't want to any more!:doh:
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haha. that's happened with my piggies too!
 
Betsy said:
Christian is walking but in a funny drunken wayas his legs are funny behind him. I'll see if I can get a video of it and post it on here. He wanted to show off but as soon as I got out the camera he didn't want to any more!:doh:
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Aw, glad he’s walking, even if he looks as though he’s hit the bottle! It does sound very promising x
 
Betsy said:
Christian is walking but in a funny drunken way as his legs are funny behind him. I'll see if I can get a video of it and post it on here. He wanted to show off but as soon as I got out the camera he didn't want to any more!:doh:
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Any sort of walking is good news, and Ollie pig with his funny shaped hips and legs wants to reassure Christian that a funny walk can be quite attractive in a handsome silver fella like Christian and himself both are, it accentuates the rumblestrut wiggle if you can't quite control where your back feet are and lady piggies love it :)
Really hope Christian carries on making progress! And I hope the other vet can increase his loxicom to help him get going again x
 
He is walking rather oddly but this isnt complete paralysis and so soon after his accident this actually looks really promising, I would think if the nerves were permanently damaged he wouldnt have regained this much movement already. He has enough movement to get to his food and water and not be sat in his own wee and poo and hopefully it will get even better for him! Good luck with the other vet tomorrow and hopefully extra loxicom will minimise and pain and inflammation and help him move more, though anything with nerves will take time to heal and it might be a month or two before you know how he will be in the long term. But he seems ok in himself which is the main thing, animals dont get the worry about their long term prognosis the way their human slaves do! X
 
It doesn't appear to be a permanat damage at all. He appears to be moving all his body parts. He also doesn't appear to be in too much pain.
 
A few of Christian's poops have a bit of hardened mucus on them. Is this because he has been syringe fed for 2 days and had the max dose of gut stimulants? I'm just pleased he can wee and poop tbh!
 
Just weighed Christian he weighed in at 1023g yesterday morning and after a day of feeding himself with a top up feed morning and night and another top up feed this morning the weighed in at 1001g. Is this weight loss full/empty bladder? or should I be worried? It is the least he has weighed in a long time.
 
I wouldn't panic until he shows a steady move over several days in one direction (up or down).
Whenever I have had an ill piggy on daily weighing I always find they have the odd day that looks wildly different to all of the others no apparent reason (otehr than to worry me of course).

You are doing a great job with him and hopefully this one day is just becasue he has an empty bladder.
 
Betsy said:
Just weighed Christian he weighed in at 1023g yesterday morning and after a day of feeding himself with a top up feed morning and night and another top up feed this morning the weighed in at 1001g. Is this weight loss full/empty bladder? or should I be worried? It is the least he has weighed in a long time.
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I think this slight loss is normal depending upon full/empty bladder, plus he has had a rough few days and that’s bound to have effected his little body temporarily. Main thing is all his bodily functions are working and will now settle down x
 
So glad Christian is starting to use his back legs. My Dad has a collie about 15 years ago who damaged his spine when he slipped. He to totally lost the use of his back legs. But over the course of 6 weeks slowly improved. He was never perfect he walked slightly side ways at the back, but he had a normal life.
Fingers crossed that Christian keeps going from strength to strength, he is such a brave little fighter. You are both in my thoughts.xx
 
Oh bless him. He is obviously determined that he is going to walk and not let it hold him back.

He does seem to have made an improvement which is good. Hope you get on well at the vets later. Fingers crossed xx
 
Betsy said:
Just weighed Christian he weighed in at 1023g yesterday morning and after a day of feeding himself with a top up feed morning and night and another top up feed this morning the weighed in at 1001g. Is this weight loss full/empty bladder? or should I be worried? It is the least he has weighed in a long time.
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I dont think you need to panic about his weight yet, remember he will also be losing muscle mass just by not moving around much, muscle is much heavier than fat and piggy behinds are fairly muscular! He might settle at a lower weight that's easier for him to move around with, its still early days and if food is going in and poops coming out that's the main thing! Its an awful waiting game and you must be so worried but it might be a couple of weeks before you see a definite trend in weight and in recovery. As long as you and the vet are both monitoring him regularly that's the best you can do. Good luck with the vets today, sending hugs for you and extra healing vibes and wheeks for Christian! X
 
Well what a different vet visit this one was! I do like Auxi. Now things have settled down a bit with Christian she could give him a proper (and very thorough!) examination. She said that the problem is with his spine not with his pelvis as he was making ouchy noises when she was pressing around his spine rather than his pelvis. She thinks that he may have a bit of arthritis in it which is blocking the signals getting down to his legs properly. She also prescribed him a healthy dose of dog Metacam :yahoo: at 0.7ml twice a day for a week to see if that makes a difference. She said he may have to be on Metacam long term and we would monitor him to see if we can gradually reduce it until we are managing his pain. Christian has another appointment on Friday that I can cancel if I feel he doesn't need to see her again so soon. She wants to see him next again next Thursday at 9.30.
 
Hi jackie and the determine Christian.
from 4 days ago to now been from one emotion to another.
When I saw the video it really hit me how strong the guy is.
Not wanting to take away the real meaning of this thread and i can only say what I know about piggies but I had year and half with Cocoa who only ever walked or dragged her back legs as Christian does in the vid and course got worse as cancer got her
.But I was and still am proud how these small animals get on. (few humans i know could benfit from learning of piggies)
You have Jackie a great little fighter and piggie slave love keep it up guys. :luv:
 
Good news about the vet visit.
Hopefully the Metacam at a decent dosage will make a real difference very quickly.
Hang on in there - you and Christian
 
Glad to hear the vet visit went well. At least you have a likely diagnosis now and it something that can be managed.
Big hugs to you and Christian.:hug:
 
Well that sounds positive. I had a piggy who had quite marked arthritis in the bottom of her spine. We found it when she was constantly wet from leaking urine. She did really well on the metacam though
 
I gave Christian a bum bath this morning as he was a bit damp from sitting in his urine and I don't want him to get uring scald on top of everything else. I have tried to put a pee pad under him and it worked when he wasn't mobile at all but he is now so I can't do that now cos if I put it under him he moves to where it isn't under him anymore! It looks like I'll have a little piggy visitor in the caravan with me this weekend. Only hope we can find somewhere to put the cage cos space is somewhat limited.
 
Betsy said:
I gave Christian a bum bath this morning as he was a bit damp from sitting in his urine and I don't want him to get uring scald on top of everything else. I have tried to put a pee pad under him and it worked when he wasn't mobile at all but he is now so I can't do that now cos if I put it under him he moves to where it isn't under him anymore! It looks like I'll have a little piggy visitor in the caravan with me this weekend. Only hope we can find somewhere to put the cage cos space is somewhat limited.
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Piggie on tour. x
 
so glad to hear christian is doing well! i work at a vets which is paired with an orthopaedic practice, so we have lots of spinal patients coming through - dogs cats and the occasional rabbit, though, not piggies! He has made improvements amazingly well! most important thing is to keep him dry, sores develop quickly in spinals as they cant escape wee, and make sure he is thoroughly dried after baths. i would recommend physio, but seeing as he is starting to move about ok on his own, i would avoid it for now as it is often dependant on the specifics of the spine issue whether or not this would help. you're doing great :)
 
I'm so glad you had a more positive vet visit! Fingers crossed the decent metacam dose sees him improve even further. With the damp bottom issue, I bought some F10 barrier cream on Amazon for Leonard when we were still trying to crack his painkiller doses and he was less mobile, it was wonderful stuff, really helped to keep him tidy and not sore. It saved having to manhandle him for baths when he was already a little tender.
Continuing to keep fingers, toes and paws crossed for the little man :)
 
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