• 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

Leg Paralysis And Hind Quarter Hair Loss

Status
Not open for further replies.

Sarah Beckett

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
43
Reaction score
8
Points
0
My brother has a pig which has back,leg paralysis for approx 4 weeks . The pig was examined by a vet a few days after the onset , nil found and advised euthanasia . Today I dropped off some osteocare for starting tomorrow but I had some time on my hands and was able to check the piggy over . I noticed that she seems to squeal when her back legs are manipulated , especially the left one .Both legs are paralysed .She appears to lie on the left side more , there is hair loss and dryish looking skin over the entire right thigh area . There is slight discharge from both eyes with slight crusting .I syringed some water into the side of her mouth and she drank it but soon after started hicupping before resuming scoffing her pile of veg . She has not been seen drinking from the bottle since this all started so she has been getting loads of juicier veg to make up for it . Pooing and peeing ok and appetite great . She manages to get about by dragging herself on her front legs but tends to stay in one place most of the time .I have thought it could be scurvy but she has daily fresh veg . At the very least should she be on metacam ? It is possible she fell from the upper part of the cage to the lower but no injury seen by the vet .Could the swelling be due to lack of activity / water retention from the paralysis ? Or could it be an injury missed by the vet? Or does this set of symptoms point to an illness ?I am wondering if anyone here has had similar symptoms in their piggies ?
 
Sorry to hear this. I am not much help but my piggies had slight crusting discharge from eyes and i was told they have conjunctivitis. Treatable with drops from the vet. Hope she is better soon and that your questions can be answered xx
 
@Wiebke @Abi_nurse
@helen105281


Was the vet pig savvy she went to see? The vet locator here on the forum is an excellent tool. It could be anything I would imagine from a fall or stroke/fit of some kind. I am no expert but I hope whatever it is it is curable or at least made better somehow. It is amazing how much a piggie can be in pain and still try to act as normally as they would with no ailments hence the reason why some only show the signs of serious illness when sadly its too late to help them. Healing vibes to her
 
Sorry, I missed this one, think I had briefly looked on my phone and then it wasn't highlighted when I got online properly so didn't spot it.

I would recommend seeing another vet if she hasn't already, and asking for an xray (conscious) which would hopefully show if there has been any kind of injury. The hair loss could be a skin issue but I am more inclined to think it is because she is dragging herself about or it could be from a nutritional deficiency. Also, has she been checked for cysts? I think that can cause hairloss on the flanks.

I think she needs pain relief too by the sounds of it.

The crusty eyes etc could be unrelated, she may be run down so is susceptible to coming down with an upper respiratory infection or similar.

How is she now?
 
If the paralysis was sudden onset and there is no sign of injury then Osteocare is definitely worth a try. If it is going to work you should see results in a few days of starting the treatment. Swelling could be due to lack of movement as you say. The lack of hair and dry skin could be any number of things, but I would see how the pig does with the Osteocare and then deal with anything else, once you've (hopefully) got that sorted. My guinea had back leg paralysis and made an almost complete recovery, but I give her daily glucosamine and chondroitin, which helps to keep mobility in her joints. Let us know how it goes.
 
Thanks for your replies everyone . I have taken this piggie while bro on his hols and gave ostoecare for 6 days ( started exactly one week ago ) and also gave vit c 25 mg twice daily . Today for some reason I gave her about 75 ml this morning . This evening she has been sitting on her haunches :yahoo:,has put equal weight on both rear legs to clean her face with her paws . This happened suddenly . Had her down at Mums for a few days . Maybe she just needed a holiday ,lol ! :D She is still dragging her legs when walking but there is no one sided droop anymore .Looking forward to see further progress tomorrow !
 
That's great that you are starting to see an improvement.
 
Today there is no further improvement on yesterday .I think I'll wait a bit longer before doing anything else .Is it worth giving another course of osteocare ?Maybe this is as good as she will get ?She does't appear to be in pain now even on having her legs manipulated . Possibly it was pins and needles before .And she eats like a pig !
 
Glad to hear she is feeling and moving better! Can you imagine if you took the vets advice and put her down for no reason..I'm sure it's happened to many people and they never realised.
 
I just remembered that very occasionally one of my piggies is walking/running and towards the end and his hind leg lifts up high and it looks quite odd. When this has happened it happens a few times before it stops. As it's so rare, I haven't really bothered about it but not sure if this could be paralysis linked too or a deficiency in vitamins? I have had him castrated with 2 follow ups and also he was also in the hospital for 4 days seriously ill so they obviously haven't noticed anything.
 
Helen,she was on osteocare for 6 days.last dose was also 6 days ago.So I think I will restart today again along with the vitc and see what happens.I agree oink,it seems the easiest option for some vets to put to sleep,especially if they are not Guinea pig savvy .Glad she is still with us though .definately worth taking to a guinea savvy vet.They are more likely to explore different option ,other than euthanasia, and prescribe effective meds even tho not licensed for guinea pigs ,as per my other thread for Daisy who is still struggling with her eye ,has survived stasis and is due to start azithromycin today .
 
@PiggyOinkOink - If it something that comes and goes I wouldn't have thought it was anything to worry about. If he looks to be in pain and/or it gets worse or more frequent, I'd take him to the vet for a check up.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top