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Dead leg

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Sue_P said:
The thought of forcing my rodent to drink pain relief medication every day was saddening.
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He always detested having to have baytril, is the pain relief medication just as yucky tasting?
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I think I'm right in saying that Metacam pain relief is quite nice to taste.. a few of mine that have had to have it in the past have lapped it up lol! I think it tastes of honey?

Might be worth trying him with some, just to see if he likes it, if he does, it would make him much more comfortable :)
 
Sue if you actually give two hoots about your guinea pig, TAKE IT TO THE VET!Cost, etc, shouldn't come in to it, all that matters is the welfare of the guinea pig!
 
That's something my 'guinea pig' Liquorice has been doing, but it's due to an accident a couple of months ago. Although she is getting better, and is able to almost run again (sure that will come as she improves further).. Maybe a lack of Vitamin C issue with your piggy?

Oh and Sue P... my 'pet hate' is someone who just can't refer to a animal as by it's 'correct' name.. in this case cavie, or Guinea pig is the name...
 
It’s good to know that Metacam is tasty to rodents. Good. It does make me feel real guilty when its time to force-feed baytril to my rodents.

I don’t think a lack of vitamin C is an issue. I have thought about it myself but my vet told me to give him vitamin C pills about a year ago to see if that makes any difference to his runny eyes and nose but it didn’t in the slightest and I used up the whole bottle. Plus my rodents are over-fed, they get heaps of tasty fruit and veg and a great variety, he certainly isn’t intaking not enough. I suppose there’s always the possibility that his body isn’t processing it effectively. & I have considered if his runny nose and eyes is somehow connected to his deterioration of his mobility. Anyone any thoughts about those issues being connected?

@ BonBon – Bet you’re glad Meanie Mummy made me change my rodents names. I originally called them Rodent 1 and Rodent 2. I sometimes still call them by their original names. (The black one is Rodent 1 and the other is Rodent 2.)
 
Yet another £30 down the swanny. My rodent’s weight’s dropped from 1.49kg to 1.37kg in a couple of months and his mobility is going downhill fast. He’s been toppling over and dragging legs and not getting out of bed on a night and covering himself with pee and poo. The vet didn’t have any Metacam so I got Loxicom / Meloxicam, 3 drops daily. Also got him some Potters Tabritis tablets but I haven't started him on them yet.
 
It is not a waste of money as it is always best to be sure they are okay. Did they give him any tests as to why he is not able to move?
 
Sue_P said:
Yet another £30 down the swanny. My rodent’s weight’s dropped from 1.49kg to 1.37kg in a couple of months and his mobility is going downhill fast. He’s been toppling over and dragging legs and not getting out of bed on a night and covering himself with pee and poo. The vet didn’t have any Metacam so I got Loxicom / Meloxicam, 3 drops daily. Also got him some Potters Tabritis tablets but I haven't started him on them yet.
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Metacam is loxicom, just different brand names, the drug is called meloxicam.

You want to think yourself lucky it was only £30...the vet that was treating Maggie charged £98 for a consultation fee and 30 quid for a bottle of metacam!
 
Sue_P said:
Yet another £30 down the swanny. My rodent’s weight’s dropped from 1.49kg to 1.37kg in a couple of months and his mobility is going downhill fast. He’s been toppling over and dragging legs and not getting out of bed on a night and covering himself with pee and poo. The vet didn’t have any Metacam so I got Loxicom / Meloxicam, 3 drops daily. Also got him some Potters Tabritis tablets but I haven't started him on them yet.
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I don't think that money spent to help make your guinea more comfortable could ever be a waste.

As Amanda said, £30 for a consultation and painkillers is very reasonable. A lot of people on here, myself included, spend more than that each month on medication to give our beloved furries the best possible quality of life.

You certainly did right by taking them to the vets, and I hope that he/she starts to feel a little better soon.
 
I’d be switching vets at that price Amanda, they must think you’re a right sucker.

£30 isn’t too bad but I keep making trips there. It all adds up and £23 to hear what a vet has to say for a few minutes isn’t value for money I don’t think. £10 or £15 would be better but £23 is too much. Especially when a lot of trips aren’t informative, I know pretty much what a vet is gonna say anyway. The vet last night didn’t say anything I didn’t already know, I found more stuff out just by looking online. Wish I could just go in and get medicine without seeing a vet. Got Fucithalmic ointment, Meloxicam and batryil on my notes for collection now when/if I need it so thank God for that. & hopefully that’ll be the last vet visit of 2012.

No the vet didn’t talk about doing any tests. In fact she didn’t even mention doing an x-ray. & she found a lump on his belly but didn’t suggest doing owt about that either, hopefully it’s just a fatty lump.
 
Sue_P said:
I’d be switching vets at that price Amanda.
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I actually chose to go to them from my local vet where I don't actually pay a consultation fee or for any treatment, just cost price plus VAT on drugs and external lab tests. Money isn't everything.
 
The last vet I saw on Friday said the fact that he didn’t respond to the Meloxicom means it couldn’t have been arthritis, he said it was a problem with his nervous system and to put him down.
 
I’m looking for info about the nervous system and can’t find owt when I do a search on here. Anyone got any links to info about it? The vet just said it was a problem with his nervous system and I didn’t ask many questions at the time but would like to know a bit more about it now.
 
I am sorry to hear he's gone Sue, truly i am. The search Bar is at the top of the page, at the right hand side of the light Green bar.
 
I know but nothing comes up when I type 'nervous system'. Is it rare for rodents to have problems with their nervous systems?
 
Nothing there unless I'm looking for the wrong thing. Wonder if there's another word for nervous system stuff?
 
There's actually a lot of threads about paralysis on GuineaLynx, I've been having a read, it makes me wonder if putting my rodent down was totally necessary. Some other peoples' rodents have made a recovery.
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Sue_P said:
There's actually a lot of threads about paralysis on GuineaLynx, I've been having a read, it makes me wonder if putting my rodent down was totally necessary. Some other peoples' rodents have made a recovery.
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All you can do is learn by this. It does appear that your vet wasn't willing to listen or try anything and you were pressured. Please do not beat yourself up over it and please do not use this vet again.

P.S I have been posting in your other thread, just so people don't think I am being harsh.
 
He can stand, walk, popcorn, run. He is just like a normal piggy!

His neurological problem (from what I am told) was from an inner ear infection (which probably wasn't seen straight away) and it left him with a permanent head tilt and his eyes do not sit quite right. He had this infection as a very young guinea pig. He's now 1 1/2 years old. The head tilt has improved over time though! He is not in any pain and is probably the happiest out of all my guinea pigs!

I have to arrange his cage in a certain layout just so he can see out of his pigloo properly when he is inside.
 
If it is any consolation my little boy Bingo had an inner ear infection which caused neurological damage. We had to let him be put to sleep because he was barely able to stand, kept falling over and just had no will to live. When you touched his legs they wouldn't move at all and when he did walk it was more staggering. It was heartbreaking and I almost wish that I had made the decision a few days earlier because he was clearly suffering but I didn't want to believe it. It might be worth looking up strokes in guinea pigs as that is what Bingo had and it does sound simiar to poor little Rumball.

It is a final act of kindness to let our furbabies go to sleep but that doesn't make it any easier.

I hope you are alright. You can pm me if you need a chat.

Amy
x
 
Rumball defo didn’t have a stroke cos I’ve always thought there was something untoward about his legs, see this from last December
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?80852-Back-legs-that-splay-out-when-walking . He never seemed to use them “quite rightâ€. It must have been a very degenerative thing. To be honest thinking back it’s seemed like ages ago that I’d seen him running about enthusiastically, he stopped using the tunnels months and months ago, would just go in occasionally whilst the other is always running speedily through them. He’d walk about and forage but everything was at a slower pace than it used to be, I suppose it was over a long time that I never noticed a vast change in his behaviour and just put it down to him getting old and being less sprightly or his personality calming down in his old age. & then at grass time when I’d ring the bell he used to come out with the other and circle like sharks together ‘til it reached the floor, over the months he’d be less eager for doing that, he’d come out but often after it had already reached the floor and sometimes I’d really have to coax him out, I just thought he was a bit lazy or spoiled too much that he didn’t appreciate the grass as much. No idea why he went so downhill last Thursday though, I’m thinking either the medication set a change off in his body or it was the manipulation to his back legs that the vet did on Wednesday night that may have irritated something in his spine or nerves. I guess I’ll never know.
 
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