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Senior guinea pig suddenly unable to walk normally.

Adrianne88

Adrianne88

Junior Guinea Pig
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Location
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Hi all, I haven't posted here in quite some time. Not sure I even introduced my two new additions after Jellybean and Snickers passed away.
Fast forwarding to now. I have 2 girls both 4 and a half.
Both have always been super active and playful. Until these last 3 days. Moo has suddenly shown signs of not being able to walk. She's sort of hopping, and ocassionally dragging her left hind leg. I have her scheduled to see the vet in the morning. To give some background. She does have a normal issue we went over options carefully a year ago I was against injections monthly as he said it only offered a very tiny possibilities of helping her. So we decided let's leave her shes happy and doesn't appear to have pain. Since then she has lost a lot of her hair. Which she doesn't seem to mind. She is always so happy and running to the cage but now shes stopped and my heart is breaking. I have made her as comfortable as possible. I have tried putting her on oxbow joint supplements with glucosamine and turmeric to see if it helps but its only been a couple days. She definitely has an appetite but just doesn't want to walk so I am bringing everything to her. I am concerned she may not be getting enough water. I tried giving her some via dropper. She took a little. She's eating hay and pellets, and her regular veggies. Romaine and red bell pepper mostly.
Does anyone know what it could be? My heart just hurts so bad. I dont want her to die. 😭
Shes so sweet I tell her I love you and she licks my lip. 😭😭😭
 
Here is a picture of Moo. You can see her hair loss here pretty well. Also this was yesterday, she wanted to be in the bag of hay to just eat as much as she wanted so thats what I let her do. I was trying to so hard to see if she could walk and she can walk but just not properly.
 

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I’m sorry to hear this and I’m glad you’ve got a vet appointment.

You’ve typed that she has a ‘normal issue’ but that you were against injections.
Was this meant to say a hormonal issue?
If you do mean that then ovarian Cysts can become painful so it could be a cause of her struggling to walk. They can also have hair loss with ovarian cysts

Is the hair falling out or has it been barbered off (you’ll know because barbering will leave a stubble). Barbering it off can be a sign that they are in pain around that area.

Make sure to switch from the weekly weight checks and instead weigh her daily so you can more closely monitor her hay intake. It’s good she has appetite but hay intake can’t be monitored by eye, so increasing the weight checks just allows you to keep a closer eye and step in with syringe feeding if she was to lose weight

Let us know how you get on at the vet. I hope she is ok
 
Yes I meant to say hormonal not normal. I'm sorry.
She's been out a few times still not walking good but shes not completely dragging the paw anymore. But still hopping. She's been very hungry however she wont leave her little cabin area. She has come out briefly but goes right back in. I captured a video but its bit hard to see what I'm talking about. I'll see if I can upload it here.
Her and her sister have wooden cabins that are side by side with windows so they can go in between the two. And today I did notice something she was trying to get to the other cabin like usual and her foot got stuck, she yanked it pretty hard. Ive never seen this happen as long as they've had these hideaways. I'm wondering if she did in fact just injure herself. Idk but her appointment is at 10. Its currently 1am and I cant sleep. I'm a complete nervous wreck over this. 🥺
I have suffered through so much loss recently. Last year my mom died, a month later my dog died that I had for seventeen years. Now my Moo is feeling bad.

Her hair loss is not barbering. Its just thinning out/falling out. She had a large exterior cyst last year they drained for her. Was quite large on her flank but it hasn't grown back. She used to have some abdominal discomfort when I picked her up but it seems to have stopped over the last year. Shes just currently having this issue with walking.
 
I’m so sorry for your losses.

Perhaps she has an injury if you saw a potential cause of it.
Definitely get that hair loss checked out too.
Hopefully it is something easy to sort

We cannot host video directly on the forum (it is too costly and the forum is run entirely on member donations) so you need to upload to YouTube first and then post a link to it here
 
I'm sorry for your losses and that Moo isn't feeling too well. Hopefully the vet can help her 💐
 
I’m so sorry for your losses. Good luck at the vets. I hope Moo is ok ❤️
 
UPDATE:
Miss Moo is okay! Or she will be in a few days. She did in fact injure her paw. It was pretty swollen he could see on the x rays it was just soft tissue so no major damage thankfully. I think I know how she injured herself so I will be rearranging their home.
She also had a small cut on the bottom of her paw so he gave her meloxicam for pain and an antibiotic for a week. I can't think of the name but it's one of the safe ones. Ive had some bad experiences with antibiotics so I've done tons of research and only allow my piggies to take certain ones. We also started a hormone injection that will be monthly. He said he's had good results with guinea pigs that have ovarian cysts that are too old for surgery.
Thank you all for the positive thoughts. I am so thankful. I didn't sleep at all last night thinking the absolute worst.
 
Also to add I am all out of probiotic benebac but I have ordered some that'll be here tomorrow. Her vet doesn't prescribe it. But I've learned that hard way that they absolutely need it with medicine.
 
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