Hind Leg Paralysis, Sudden Onset , 18-Month Old Female

[BrownBullhead]

Hello. Sorry for urgency in this, my very first post on your forum. But, we have a health concern with one of our two guinea pigs. And our previous web searches have not alleviated our stress.

We have a female guinea who is (to our knowledge) approximately 18 months of age (we are her second owner - had her for six months now), and has come down with "Hind Leg Paralysis". Not sure that is the accepted term for cavy aficionados?

We woke up Sunday morning to find her crawling on her tummy and dragging her hind legs. She appears unable to move them. Her cage mate "sister" appears to be unaffected.

We have begun feeding 1-2 Oxbow Vitamin-C supplment wafers per day, per pig (up from one per week). And have introduced a ton of new fresh foods to their diet in the days since the discovery. We are now feeding fresh: red peppers, cilantro, dill, curly parsley, and baby spinach.

They resist all attempts to feed fruits. fresh water is provided daily of course and cage is cleaned fully every 48 hours.

We also feed staple of OxBow adult guinea pellets, generic Timothy Hay, and less Romaine Lettuce now with all of these new veggies.

we are concerned that this affliction shows no sign of improvement in five calendar days. Do we have much of a chance for recovery for her to walk again? She has no apparent injuries, has not been dropped or fallen, and up to Saturday evening was just a normal happy cavy.

For those who have gone through this, did your piggie recover to a normal life? We're pretty sad since this all come to light. Please help!

P.S. She is eliminating as expected, is drinking water normally, and does not appear to be in pain. Her appetite also is normal.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Your piggy needs to have a hands in check by a vet for a diagnosis.


The bulk of their diet should be hay and it make up 80% of their daily food intake. They should then have a cup of veggies per day. Pellets are the least important part of their diet and kept strictly limited to one tablespoon of pellets per day.
parsley and spinach are too high in calcium to be fed daily and should only be fed a small amount once per week. Piggies need calcium, but too much calcium intake can cause other health issues. Leafy green veg can make up the largest part of their one cup of veg per day (but not too much calcium rich leafy veg ie the spinach) - lettuce, coriander are fine to be fed daily with some peppers on top for a vitamin c boost, as well as small amounts of other veg being included for variety.

 

[Betsy]

My Christian had hind leg paralysis last year. He yelped one morning when I put him down in the run and then dragged his back legs behind him. His thread is here if you want to read it.

Christian was at emergency vet appointment this morning!

Only a hands on examination by the vet will tell you what is going on with your piggy.

 

[Danielle Smith]

I can only mirror what other posters have said: please get to a vet so you can find out what's going on. Hind leg paralysis can be caused by a multitude of things including pain and scurvy. The extra vitamin C may help the latter, but please be careful with the amount of veg you feed, it may end up being more of a hinderance than a help if you upset their tummies. The Oxbow tabs are the safer way to do it.

We had some experience with hind leg paralysis a couple of years ago, but in our case it was likely due to congenital defects and we had to make the decision to end Flash's suffering.