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Guinea pig spinal injury

Diannasaur

Diannasaur

New Born Pup
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Last night my pig ‘Simmy’ fell off my chair and is now suffering a spinal injury. He was dragging his feet and moving only with his front paws. No wheeking in pain and no signs of change of appetite which I’d assume that it would be their instinct to hide their pain as a prey animal. We went to the emergency vet straight away and got him a pain reliever shot and waited till morning to see an exotic vet as none was open at that time, as per advised by the vet.

It was next morning and no signs of any slight recovery. We arrived at the exotic vet and had him in emergency. We found out that he has a spinal injury with some sort of disc attached to his spine after the X-ray. The vet suspects that it could be paralysis and suggested that he should stay overnight at the hospital and be given anti inflammatory and treatment to stop further swelling. She also mentioned that this injury worsen over time and the only thing we could do for him is to provide him pain relievers and medicine to hopefully see recovery in the morning. She stated that if he doesn’t seem like he is recovering and is in a lot of pain, that we might have to assess his quality of life.

I’ve read a few forums here on spinal injury and can see that it isn’t just my simmy that has had this problem and made a full recovery. And I guess I’m just posting this thread for reassurance and any possible advice that I can take to make sure he is whole again. I won’t give up on him. So please any advice would be genuinely appreciated.
 
So sorry to read this, to be honest if a spinal injury is showing up on xray that sounds pretty serious. But treating spinal injuries and predicting the degree of recovery you might expect in any animal or even humans is not an exact science, even for experts. One of our forum members @Betsy had a piggy who recovered very well from a spinal injury, I think she is on holiday right now but she certainly saw a good recovery over 2-3 weeks, though her piggy remains on long term pain relief I think.
If you can keep your piggy pain free and make sure he keeps eating and help him keep himself clean, its probably worth waiting a week or two to see if realistically there is any improvement once any initial inflamation from the injury stops pressing on his nerves- hopefully he will surprise both you and the vet. But do please stay realistic, if he is in pain and not improving then sadly it might be time to make a tough decision x
 
I'm not quite on holiday yet Folks! I did and still do have a piggy with a spinal problem. My vet described the symptoms to John Chitty (local piggy expert a few miles away from where I used to live) and he said it was arthritis. One morning Christian squeaked loudly as I put him down in the run and was dragging his back legs. I took him straight to the vet where he was given a strong dose of Metacam (0.7ml twice a day) and I was told to give him strict cage rest away from the others for a few weeks. He eventually recovered the use of his back legs but is till on the same dose of Metacam for life cos when I try to reduce it his weight drops too much as he is obviously in pain so he isn't eating.

Here is his thread if you are interested.

Christian was at emergency vet appointment this morning!
 
Poor pig! From what you are saying, my understanding is that there is a slipped disk that is compressing the spinal cord? Am I reading that correctly?

First off, is he peeing and pooping normally? Depending on where the spinal cord break/compression is, these functions can be impaired. If he is not able to urinate due to the spinal cord injury, he would need help (i.e. a catheter) to empty his bladder. Hopefully this is not an issue, but definitely check to be sure urine is passing and if not see your vet as an emergency.

The spinal nerves themselves can't regenerate, but peripheral nerves can improve with time, although it may take weeks or months to see an improvement. Part of the issue here is the disk itself, depending on how much it is impinging on the cord. I'm guessing, with their tiny backs, that there is not a lot of hardware and expertise with fixing slipped guinea pig disks in the way you could for, say, a human or a dog. Right now anti-inflammatories and trying to keep him calm, quiet, and comfortable is probably the best home care you can give him and see if he improves as the inflammation from the actual injury subsides a bit.

Hope this helps a bit and hope he makes some improvements very soon!
 
PigglePuggle said:
So sorry to read this, to be honest if a spinal injury is showing up on xray that sounds pretty serious. But treating spinal injuries and predicting the degree of recovery you might expect in any animal or even humans is not an exact science, even for experts. One of our forum members @Betsy had a piggy who recovered very well from a spinal injury, I think she is on holiday right now but she certainly saw a good recovery over 2-3 weeks, though her piggy remains on long term pain relief I think.
If you can keep your piggy pain free and make sure he keeps eating and help him keep himself clean, its probably worth waiting a week or two to see if realistically there is any improvement once any initial inflamation from the injury stops pressing on his nerves- hopefully he will surprise both you and the vet. But do please stay realistic, if he is in pain and not improving then sadly it might be time to make a tough decision x
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We just got him back from the hospital today and he still seems very active and positive! He’s still eating however still no recovery on back legs. The vet said we can take him home for the week and monitor him to the maximum.
You are right, it is a very severe case as the vet said. We took another look at the X-ray and there are definitely 3 cartilages missing in between his bone vertebrates. They also said that over time, it will not recover so I don’t think I have very much time with him...

They also said they don’t advise surgery because it is a very very lengthy and costly process and takes a very very long time for the piggie to heal...

So I’m just praying that a miracle happens so I don’t have to choose the other option...

Other then that, he is happily munching on his favourite hay.
 

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Betsy said:
I'm not quite on holiday yet Folks! I did and still do have a piggy with a spinal problem. My vet described the symptoms to John Chitty (local piggy expert a few miles away from where I used to live) and he said it was arthritis. One morning Christian squeaked loudly as I put him down in the run and was dragging his back legs. I took him straight to the vet where he was given a strong dose of Metacam (0.7ml twice a day) and I was told to give him strict cage rest away from the others for a few weeks. He eventually recovered the use of his back legs but is till on the same dose of Metacam for life cos when I try to reduce it his weight drops too much as he is obviously in pain so he isn't eating.

Here is his thread if you are interested.

Christian was at emergency vet appointment this morning!
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I read your thread and it gave me some hope. I hope that this week at home everything goes positive and that I may be able to rely on the medicine. But I also do want what’s best for him...
 
So sorry to read that your piggy is so ill. I hope that he improves but do enjoy the time you have with him and make some memories to treasure.
Remember he doesn't know how poorly he is and as long as he is pain free and able to do piggy things he will be happy. ❤
 
YvonneBlue said:
So sorry to read that your piggy is so ill. I hope that he improves but do enjoy the time you have with him and make some memories to treasure.
Remember he doesn't know how poorly he is and as long as he is pain free and able to do piggy things he will be happy. ❤
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That is very true! Guinea pigs live for today and you have given him lots of happy today's and that's all he wants. He knows how much you love him and also you may have to show him your last act of love. It's a hard decision to make.
 
Aw, so sorry to read about your piggie, fingers crossed he will hopefully improve x
 
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