• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Humphrey is having trouble walking!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Little Les
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Little Les

Hello everyone

I am new to this website and have registered in the hope someone can help with advice for my guinea pig called Humphrey.

He is about 1.5 years old, a lovely little cream satin boar and he lives with Marmite a golden agouti in my lounge in an indoor cage. When I was cleaning them out Friday evening I noticed when they were running round the lounge that Humphrey was struggling to run. Both his back legs were sort of hopping together rather than one then the other as usual. I took him to the vets Saturday morning and the vet gave him a painkilling injection and some medicine. He thinks he could have joint stiffness maybe from lack of vitamin C or he might have injured himself.

Today I noticed he seems to also be holding his left front paw off the ground. He hasn't got any better yet.:(

Has anyone experienced anything similar with their piggies? I am worried because he is quite young and usually so frisky and active. I seperated them Friday night so I could check Humphrey was eating and toileting ok - which he is (he still goes mad for cucumber!), however little Marmite was getting upset without Hump, really weeking for him. He would be so upset if he lost his brother. Last year we lost our older guinea pig and the year before his companion when he had trouble with his back teeth.

I hope you can help and good forum:))

Lesley x
 
my late Rene had arthritis which apparently is coomon in GPs. He was supposed to get R&R but the cheeky little begger would have none of it and was still running like a demented animal! It got better in the end - that's not what killed him. My hairdresser (who used to have GPs - 100s!) said that adding a bit of olive oil to their food could ease the joint pains and lubricate them. I ahven't tried that but maybe someone here has.

However, Rene's life-time Bertie is not too good on his back pins either, but being 4 I put it down to old age. He can't trot he just sort of thrusts himself forward. His back leg muscles are quite weak. He's always been a lazy pig, so I wasn't too worried. He likes his food, he does the toilet ok and now that he's got a new younger and fitter friend he's been trying to exercise more. He just looks awkward. Have I missed some signs of something really wrong?
 
It sounds like Humphrey has a problem absorbing calcium. It is quite common in piggies and has happened to my previous sow and a few others on the forum. You need to buy liquid osteocare. Also if he isn't managing to get to his food bowl take the food to him so he doesn't have problems with his tummy from not eating. Make sure he is drinking plenty too. I would also give him vitamin c which will help. The chewable one you can from a local chemist. Half a tablet daily for 1 week. Hopefully this helps. I have posted a link which mentions the dosage. Let us know how Humphrey gets on xx
 
rw3399 said:
It sounds like Humphrey has a problem absorbing calcium. It is quite common in piggies and has happened to my previous sow and a few others on the forum. You need to buy liquid osteocare. Also if he isn't managing to get to his food bowl take the food to him so he doesn't have problems with his tummy from not eating. Make sure he is drinking plenty too. I would also give him vitamin c which will help. The chewable one you can from a local chemist. Half a tablet daily for 1 week. Hopefully this helps. I have posted a link which mentions the dosage. Let us know how Humphrey gets on xx
Click to expand...

Thanks rw3399. Do you know where I can get liquid osteocare from? I have moved the food bowl down and he has just been eating from it so that's good. Bless them, they are chilling in their cage next to me. Humphrey is having a lie down in his pigloo. (it's an igloo but we've changed the name!;))
 
Thanks Clare

I'm glad I've discovered it and I love the pics of everyone's guineas on their profile pic and on the site - they are so gorgeous! I love guineas!
 
By the way I changed my profilt pic to one of Humphrey but it isn't showing. Will it appear tomorrow when authorised?
 
http://www.simplicityhealth.co.uk/osteocare.asp

That's one website I found but I don't know how reliable they are.. You could try your local chemist, they may be able to order it in for you but don't say it's for your piggie because they probably won't sell it to you as technically, it is illegal to treat your animal yourself unless qualified or something like that. There's someone on the forum called Nemo who might be able to help you. Her piggie has the same problem now and has done a couple of times and the osteocare has always worked for her piggie. You could send a pm and ask where it was bought from.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think you might need to contact a moderator to do your profile pic for you if you find it isn't appearing when you do it yourself.:)

You can buy Osteocare from chemists and if they haven't got it they usually can get it for you within a couple of days.:)
 
Hi Nemo
I saw your thread about your guinea pig having the same problem - dragging his legs. Did he recover to how he was originally? I am hoping that Humphrey will get better poor little fellow.

I will try and get some Osteocare in Bournemouth today. How much should I give him each day? I guess try this before going back to the vets?

Thanks
Lesley
 
Yes he recovered fully but he has gone off his legs twice more since but seems to be coping okay. He's five years old though so that may have something to do with it with him being an older piggy.:)

Have a read of this link and it will tell you how much to give.:)

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/paral.htm
 
I have been giving Humphrey Osteocare - he is is such a good boy and takes the liquid straight from the syringe! However after a week he isn't showing any signs of improvement. He seems happy in himself but spends a lot of time laying down and obviously has a bit of trouble moving about. He has got up onto the top of his cage for food though even though there is some lower down for him so it can't be that bad.

I'm not sure what to do, don't really want to go back to the vet. Any advice? Am I expecting results from osteocare too soon?

Thanks LL x
 
Has he had any other problems? I'm just thinking that because he is a satin, they can have a condition called osteodystrophy. Take a look at the link. Maybe a vets visit is needed. I would probably continue with the osteocare for now.

http://www.oginet.com/Cavies/satin.htm
 
Just a thought - our Scruffy and Jeremy have both hurt their legs jumping on and off their houses in their cages (we have since taken Jeremy's house out of his cage), and both times it slowly improved and they are fine again. Also Scruffy wasn't using one of his back legs which we discovered was due to his nails being too long (he has black nails and will not let me near them!).

Hope Humphrey gets better,

x
 
I just wanted to let everyone know that Humphrey is back to his normal self! Thank you all for your advice, I think the osteocare definitely helped.
 
Hello!

My pig, Eddie, had the same problem. He was fine in every other respect (i.e. eating and drinking) but he was really lethargic and wouldn't run around much. When he did, his back legs wouldn't work properly and he kept hopping around like a rabbit.

However, after looking at the Peter Gurney website (http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/paral.htm), I gave Eddie 2ml of Osteocare (a calcium supplement which you can get from Holland and Barratt) on some spinach leaf as per the instructions on the web page and he was showing signs of recovery within 24 hours.

Since then, he has been healthier than ever and his legs returned to full strength after 48 hours. I also changed his cereal mix to some nuggets (to avoid selective feeding), which I think has also helped in the longer term, as well as getting him to move around a little bit so the legs would get some exercise.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top