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Impaction?

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lhroberts

lhroberts

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I am new to this site and need help. My male guinea pig (3 months old) has a swollen bottom. He is eating, drinking and pooping but when I start to pick him up he squeaks like he is uncomfortable. Could he have an impaction?
 
It would be unlikely he is impacted at 3 months. Can you post a picture?
 
I am at work. I can post one in about an hour. With him being so young that was my question. But he is perfect except for the swollen bottom and not wanting to walk. He doesn't appear to have an poop or crust on his area. It is clean.
 
Are you sure it's his bottom swollen and not just big boy bits? They do tend to look a bit over sized on youngsters! rolleyes
He could just be squeaking displeasure at being picked up,there's a lot of piggies who even though they like cuddles hate being picked up, it can take a while for you piglet to trust you. Anyway, I'm sure your pictures will elicit some answers, and as always the advice is: if you're at all concerned about your piggie, take him to a cavy savvy vet. :)
 
I think I just found the answer on here. Paralysis. caused by lack of Vitimin C and Calcium. It says that they will have paralysis in their back legs but have no other problems. Tells me what to treat him with and that within 24-28 hrs. he should be better and that the vets usually will dianosis it wrong and sugguest being put to sleep.
 
A good cavvy savvy vet is always the best thing for a poorly guinea pig.
 
At 3 months, your guinea pig is very young and I am extremely concerned that you are trying to self-diganose and then self-medicate.

From the information you have given, there could be other reasons why he doesn;t want to walk...maybe he has damaged his leg and is in pain?

If you attempt to give him an adult dose of calcium you could very well cause permanent kidney damage. How much does he weigh?

Please, given his age, take him to a cavy savvy vet for a proper diagnosis before administering anything apart from Vit C.
HTH
x
 
Was Alvin not able to walk or move his back legs? It does sound very strange. I would recommend you take him to the vet if he is continuing to display any behaviour which you think is not normal for him.
 
I was mistaken about Alvin being swollen. I had read so many posts about impaction and assumed that was the problem. Thanks to a previous post from daisyd stating that Alvin is much to young to have an impaction I reseached futher. He is growing his "manhood" I suppose as AndreaJane stated so that was the reason his backend appeared swollen to me. The only symptoms he exhibited were pain when he was being picked up and not wanting to move. He was still eating, drinking, pooping like crazy and enjoying being held after being picked up which were not the signs of impaction. Apparently Scurvy (lack of Calcium and Vitimin C) is very common in guinea pigs. Hopefully this post will be a help to someone in the future since there apparently are not many members that have experienced Scurvy. (I searched the forum and did not see many references so I posted links in my previous post). With a better food choice, vitimins and fruits & veggies Alvin is doing super! Thanks to everyone for your help!
 
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