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Help! Freja is limping!

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skrikopanik

skrikopanik

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My oldest little lady Freja (almost 5) is not using one of her front legs. I noticed it yesterday. She is resting a lot, but when she wants water or hay she hops around on three legs and she eats fine.

Her feet and nails look normal. No redness or dry skin. I can't tell id she is swollen, but maybe a little?

The rescue lady thinks she might have sprained the leg and that I should massage it with arnica (is this the same in English?) to help with blood circulation. The health shop closed before I had a chance to buy it yesterday but I'm getting some tomorrow. Today I've just massaged the leg four times, a minute at a time. She does not appear to be in pain (no squealing or fussing when I massage).

Should I give her some privacy by dividing the cage with grids or is it good that the others make her move sometimes (she's lowest in rank)? Is there anything else I can do?

I booked an appointment with a vet, but I'm a little bit reluctant to go because there are no piggy specialists here and when I researched before I even got pigs I wasn't impressed (like not agreeing to do x-ray without GA etc). Surely if something was broken she would be in pain?
 
When a pig is limping and there does not appear to be a serious cause (after examination by myself and, if I note anything of concern a vet/rodentologist - such examination by these may include xray) I tend to follow these general guidelines...

1) Pain relief. I give a one-off dose, usually 0.2ml childrens Nurofen - if you have an alternative to hand that you know is guinea safe then it may be worth giving at least a one-off dose.
2) If no improvement within 1-2 days, I continue the pain relief (dosing twice daily) and pop the limping piggie in a restricted cage - around 1X2ft or 1x2 C&C - to see if a degree of enforced rest helps.
3) If no improvement at all within 3-4 days of enforced rest, then further investigation by a vet would be recommended.

I hope sweet Freja starts walking properly again soon! It sounds like it's developed suddenly, so hopefully it'll clear up very quickly.
 
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Nia was limping as badly as that in December. It turned out that she had badly sprained her shoulder joint, which was a bit swollen and painful.

Nia got baytril and metacam to get the swelling down; she was limping for over two weeks.
 
Thank you both for quick replies!

I guess she must be in pain somehow if she doesn't use the foot, even if she doesn't let me know when touch the leg...

So, Children's ibuprofen. I'll buy some tomorrow! I'm a little worried about syringing meds as I have never done it and I'm worried about aspiration... could an ibuprofen ointment be used too? And if it's not better in a day or two I might take her to the vet and ask for what Nia got, Wiebke.

So I should leave her with her friends for now?
 
I have left Nia in with the others - for me, it wasn't worth the upset! I served her dinner close to her whenever she hadn't already limnped out to be with the others anyway.
 
Ok, so she is still not using the front leg but I'm not as worried anymore. We don't have any rodentologists in Sweden but I've spoken to two that could pass for rodentologists with all their knowledge. I will try the ibuprofen and just give her time. I will also try to adapt the cage with more ramps. She jumps up on things easy enough but has troubles getting down.

If it doesn't get more swollen I would like to stay off antibiotics as I'm worried it will mess up her tummy...

Thanks for your help!
 
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