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Leg Injury.. Possibly Dislocated?

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jen8288

jen8288

Junior Guinea Pig
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1407632308926.webp My guinea pig is limping and not using his right, hind leg hardly at all. His foot is sticking out to the side and I am worried his leg may be dislocated. I have 2 children that handle him. He does have a cage mate (they are both male). They dont fight, there are no visible signs of a bite. It does feel displaced.. Cant feel any lumps or swelling. The injured one is the older of the two. Hes about 3yrs. We dont have an exotic vet in the area.. what can I do for him? He doesnt act as if its painful when I adjust his leg or touch it.
 
Poor boy, he will need to see a vet (it can be a non exotics one if needed) for anti-inflammatory pain relief. He will also need an xray to establish what exactly is wrong, especially as you suspect it is dislocated.

Water therapy would help in his recovery but he really needs to see a vet for pain relief.
 
I agree. Even a non-exotics vet will be able to deal with a dislocated/broken limb and prescribe the important pain relief. Hope he's feeling better soon.
 
Thanks. I will take him Monday. Just trying to keep him comfortable with minimal handling until then.. I'm hoping its not too serious. There is no sign of exterior injury. I even seperated him from his cage mate so he can relax. Hes still limping and starting to drag it. Poor guy :( he doesn't act like hes in pain when I manipulate it. I'm hoping its just a sprain or something..
 
UPDATE:... I took him to the vet yesterday. She said it didn't feel dislocated or broken. There was a lot of swelling around his "knee". She thinks it may just be sprained or torn ligament(s). Got him some Rimadyl for pain and swelling and he already seems to be doing much better. He's holding his foot in a more natural position. Still limping quite a bit but I think we are making progress. I seperated him from his cagemate until he heals. in a small box to minimize use of his leg because I know the pain meds could cause more damage than good now that hes feeling better and feels like he can use it more. The vet said we'll try the rimadyl for a week and if we dont see improvement we'll do an x-ray since she didnt suspect any bone injury. I'm hopeful that he will make a full recovery.. :)
 
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Thanks for the update Rimydal is a pain reliever and an anti inflammatory so will be helping on both fronts. Please keep us updated on him and sending him lots of healing vibes x
 
Great that you have Rimadyl, it is stronger than the standard Metacam that is given. You may want to consider water therapy in the bath too.
 
Let him float or swim? Or just deep enough to stand in? I'm just worried that it might be too much stress on his leg.
 
You hold him gently in the water so that he can move his legs but not so he is swimming. There are videos on Youtube but I am at work at the moment and Youtube is blocked. Search water therapy on here though as am sure someone has linked to a video before.
 
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