Overview
1 Symptoms of pain
- Loss of appetite and slow or reduced eating
- Eyes
- Ears
- Teeth clicking and grinding
- Skin biting, self-barbering and hair loss
- Fur standing up/puffed up coat
- Hunching
- Bunching up and stopping to sleep on the side
- Grunting
- Twisting/Fitting
- Squeaking when peeing/pooing; arching and straining
- Limping, hopping, swelling of foot or leg
- Partial or full back leg paralysis
- Screaming and whimpering
2 Life-saving practical how-to care and information guides
- Vet access and emergency care tips
- Practical home support care during illness treatment and recovery
- When help comes to late... (Dying symptoms and support)
Knowing the symptoms of pain is very useful so you can spot pain-related behaviourial changes better.
Any guinea pig that is 'off' (i.e. not willing or slow to turn up at feeding time, not really interested in food or not eating at all, very flat/lethargic) needs to see a vet promptly. The detailed advice in our list of symptoms will help you assess just how quickly you need to see a vet.
Switch from the usual body check and weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time on your kitchen scales whenever your piggy is not well. Keep in mind that around 75-80% of the daily food intake is hay, which you cannot control by eye. Step in with feeding support according to our recommendations, which you can find in practical detail in the second chapter in this guide, so you can support your piggy whenever and as much as is needed and help their recovery. Your support care at home is as important as any medical treatment because it takes both to make your piggy healthy again.
Please accept that we cannot recommend self-medicating with painkillers as these are classed as prescription only medication (POM) in the UK where our forum is based.
1 Symptoms of pain
Loss of appetite
Can be caused by pain/inability to chew properly or swallow in the mouth - please always ask your vet when your piggy is suddenly eating noticeable slower, is getting picky about food or drops it uneaten and has constantly wet chin (not from drinking) as dental issues or a fungal thrush infection in the mouth can be easily overlooked.
Pain and discomfort anywhere else the body are amongst a wide range of other possible causes including major illness, respiratory problems (the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat), heat stroke/exhaustion, bad reaction to an antibiotic or anaesthetics. However, very often a pain issue of some sort is at the bottom of loss of weight and a reduced appetite.
List of possible causes for loss of appetite: Guinea Lynx :: Anorexia (not eating)
See a vet on a regular appointment if your piggy has lost more than 50g and is on a downward trend. Start weighing daily at the same time to monitor the progress and support level needed.
Please see a vet promptly (i.e. ideally within 24 hours) and step in with round the clock feeding support and weighing daily on your kitchen scales to manage the care level asap if the weight loss is larger, and especially if happens very quickly. A guinea pig that is not eating is already a very ill guinea pig and needs instant feeding support to keep them alive; they cannot wait a week or two.
No medication can work on a guinea pig whose body is closing down from lack of food. On the other hand, your feeding support cannot replace any necessary vet care to heal them. You need to provide both.
Fibrous hay based feeding support replaces first and foremost the three quarters of hay/grass fibre that are the staple of a healthy guinea pig diet; veg and pellets only make a small part of the daily food intake. Watching your piggy nibble on a salad leaf or chew on some cud in the mouth can be very deceptive and is sadly all too often a fatal owner mistake. You are aiming for 60-90 ml of feed intake over 24 hours in a guinea pig that is very ill; but need to try for 40 ml to just about keep them alive in a severely ill piggy.
Please see our practical emergency support and feeding advice links in chapter 2 for all the practical how-to information (including how you can improvise with what you have at home or easily available in an emergency) and more tips to keep your guinea pig alive until a diagnosis as well as during medical treatment and recovery.
Eyes
Signs of pain: Watering constantly/frequently; any single eye drawn in or pushed out in comparison to the other eye; squinting or closed eye. Ulceration (infection gunk, see eye discharges below).
Please see a vet within 24 hours or as soon as possible in case it is an eye injury which can deteriorate quickly. If there is bleeding in the eye, then this counts as an emergency.
Guinea pig eye diagnosis and treatment/medication with antibiotic eye drops/gel, lubricant and analgesic is the same as for cats, dogs and rabbits so any clinic will have that in stock. It is more important to see any vet you can get to quickly than waiting for an exotics appointment.
Eye discharges
- Milky white/smooth hard drying: Spilled normal eye cleaning fluid and nothing to worry about unless it happens a lot (CBS syndrome only in combination with several other symptoms).
- Watery tear fluid/transparent crusts: see a vet if the watering is strong and constant and is combined with other signs of discomfort. One tiny speck of transparent crust is just a sign of a little hay or bedding dust having been washed out and is nothing to worry about.
- Greyish/blueish gunk on the eye surface or washed out of the eye is a symptom of an ulcerating (i.e. infected) eye poke or something scratchy firmly lodged under an eyelid. Injured eyes can deteriorate very quickly and can develop ulceration in a matter of hours. The longer you wait, the deeper the infection can penetrate into the eye and the more difficult it becomes to treat. Hence our urge of seeking vet treatment as quickly as possible.
- Yellow (greenish/orange) thick mucus glueing the eyes/nostrils closed is a symptom of an advanced bacterial upper respiratory tract infection (URI) and needs to be seen by a vet for antibiotic treatment. Untreated URI can kill, cause permanent lung damage or potentially fatal calcified bulla syndrome (i.e. walled-off middle ear capsule, also called CBS) later in life.
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care
- A crusty firm white fast growing balding area on the skin around the eye is a symptom of a highly contagious species jumping fungal skin infection called ringworm, which you and your other pets can also catch. Please see a vet promptly for oral systemic fungal cat medication (itrafungol in the UK or sporonox in the USA) or a properly medicated bath like malaseb or eniconazole.
Do NOT home treat on spec with ineffective creaming as this cannot prevent the spread of the long lived invisibly tiny ringworm spores and constant reinfection. Utmost hygiene in all respects is the only way you can get on top of ringworm once and for all. Please follow the detailed practical advice in our ringworm guide. It really works!
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures
Ears
Most common symptoms of pain or discomfort: Head shaking (irritation in the outer ear), ear pawing ( generally pain in the middle ear), head tilt.
Shaking the head usually means an irritation in the outer ear. Please NEVER pour anything into the ear on spec; you can make things really painful instead of better. See a vet for appropriate treatment.
Any head tilt or earache should be seen promptly by a vet; it is often reversible the sooner it is dealt with (severe build up of wax; ear infection; stroke; e.cuniculi or rabbit ear mites with rabbits in proximity; potential calcified bulla syndrome/CBS etc.)
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care (includes a more detailed discussion of head tilts)
Teeth clicking and grinding
Possible dental overgrowth in back teeth or a developing dental root abscess. Switch to weighing daily to step in with feeding support as needed and see a vet. Clicking indicates uneven chewing/discomfort from likely developing dental spurs while repeated teeth grinding is a symptom of pain in the mouth, jaw or surrounding areas.
Skin biting, self-barbering and hair loss
Pain in or just underneath the skin; please see a vet for potential parasites, ringworm, arthritis or painful lumps. Bites from other piggies outside of fighting teenage boars are actually very rare; most wounds to the skin are self-inflicted. Do not home treat on spec as you can cause more unnecessary suffering by under-treating with inefficient pet shop products or by treating for the wrong thing. Have a deep bite wounds vet checked (risk of persistent abscesses)
Please contact a vet instantly if a guinea pig is biting open their operation scar; it is either a sign of serious pain or a failed healing process (necrotic tissue).
New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights
Barbering ( Eating Hair)
Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss
Tips For Post-operative Care
Fur standing up/puffed up coat
Generally a sign of pain deeper inside the main body. Often the first sign of pain from a developing internal problem. The pain is the greater the more noticeable/constant the symptom. A very puffed piggy with not much of an appetite is a very ill piggy indeed and needs medical help and home care support right now.
Be aware that hair standing on end can also happen in a hostile encounter.
Hunching
Constant pain or ache in the main body, especially the spine, kidney and bladder, liver or reproductive tract area not far from the spine. Please have a noticeable and constantly hunched up piggy vet checked ideally within a week or two.
Grunting
Occasional grunting when bending down to pick up poos is not uncommon in older, stiffer piggies. If it is happening fairly regularly, your piggy could have arthritis or an obstruction deep in the body (growth) that is making movement somewhat uncomfortable. Have any older piggy vet checked for arthritis if they are no longer able to pick up their poos from the anus and clean themselves.
Grunting when pooing can also indicate some kind of pain source radiating into the area or an obstruction in the vicinity of the anus that is impacting on pushing the poos out.
Constant loud grunting in connection with bloating is extreme acute pain in the body (especially with a twisted gut or a deadly bloat with an enlarged concrete-like gut); see a vet as soon as possible this is truly an emergency to save your piggy hours of dying slowly from heart failure in total agony if that is an option depending on your vet access.
Twisting/Fitting
This can be a symptom of severe pain but only in combination with other major signs of illness (apathy, loss of appetite, back leg paralysis, severe bloating etc.). It is thankfully not all that common. Please see a vet asap as an emergency.
A guinea pig in the last stages of multiple organ failure (i.e. the natural dying process) can twist and fit when oxygan deprivation from a failing blood circulation is hitting the limbs and organs. This can be very distressing for unsuspecting owners.
Twisting when being handled: Unwillingness to be held, groomed or medicated.
For much more common playful jumping see this link here: 'Popcorning' (jumping) and 'zooming' (running) - joy and exuberance (videos)
For neurological fitting see this guide here: CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care
Dying: A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
Squeaking when peeing and pooing, arching of the body
This is actually not usually a problem in the digestive tract but usually a problem with the urinary or reproductive tract (ovarian cysts in sows or semen rods in boars). It can also be caused by fully developed athritis in the lower spine. Please be aware that guinea pigs don't suffer from constipation but that about 10% of ageing boars can develop impaction.
Guinea Lynx :: UTI
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths
Limping, hopping, swelling on the toes foot or leg
Please have your piggy checked for a sprain or a break (the latter when the piggy is not able to put any weight on the leg and does not have any resistance when you gently push against the sole of the foot; please be aware that the source of the problem can be somewhere in the leg right up to the spine and is not necessarily located in the foot when your piggy is limping).
Well kept guinea pigs on a balanced hay based diet with limited pellets and mainly green leafy or watery veg don't usually suffer from scurvy (hopping); but guinea pigs on a very high regular level vitamin C supplementation can react with scurvy symptoms to a sudden drop because the body gets used to these high levels.
If you supplement with vitamin C, it is generally better to do so with 2-3 weeks' long booster courses when your piggy is ill. Keep in mind that good quality pellets, recovery formula, probiotics are all reinforced with vitamin C, and that it is also present in veg and fresh herbs. Fresh growing grass is high in it but needs to be introduced slowly in order to avoid serious tummy upsets.
Partial or full back leg paralysis
This can have very different causes and should therefore always be vet checked but it can be caused - amongst other issues - by pain or an injury in the lower spine. A sudden drop of calcium in older guinea pigs is only one cause and should only be considered by your vet if there are no other pointers; do not home treat on spec.
You can find a fuller list of causes and practical care tips for short and long term support in this link here: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Screaming and whimpering
Guinea pigs are prey animals; they are wired to suppress any symptoms of pain for as long and as much as possible. This goes especially for loud sounds of pain, which would broadcast most widely to predators in the undergrowth that guinea pigs have evolved on that there is prey to be had. That is why vocal expressions of pain are - if they can no longer be avoided - are usually quiet ones.
Any screaming you'll hear when handling/medicating a piggy at home or at the vets is generally protest or 'don't do this to me' screaming that signals to the group that they are having trouble, but not that they are in pain. Whimpering after medication is more in the way of a expression of feeling sorry for pigself and expressing hurt feelings rather than phyical hurt. Piggies can be real drama queens socially, especially younger ones. The really frightened ones will go quiet with the 'unresponsive prey' instinct but will usually eventually come out of it again.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering and Cuddling Tips
Genuine whimpering or louder sounds when in pain have a different quality and are thankfully not at all common. In my own experience, they mostly happen only in the very last stages of the natural dying process when conscious control is slipping as the body functions are breaking down; the one relief is to know that a piggy is generally mostly out of it by then.
This can come as a somewhat traumatising experience for owners who have never been confronted with the physicality of multiple organ failure. Slipping away peacefully in one's sleep is actually pretty rare.
For more information and support: A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
2 Life-saving how-to advice and information guides
The guide links below contain all the practical little how-to tips and information you need to get your guinea pig through an illness, an acute crisis and recovery.
Please book a vet appointment for any serious pain issue and then start an ongoing support thread in our Health&Illness section. We cannot replace any necessary veterinary diagnosis and medication but we can help you with moral and practical support during treatment for as long as needed.
Vet access and emergency care
How Soon Should My Guinea Pig See A Vet? - A Quick Guide
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment (one-stop guide collection with everything you need to get your piggy to a vet and to keep them going throughout treatment and recovery, including improvisation tips in an emergency)
A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets (UK and in some other countries)
Practical home support care advice during illness treatment and recovery
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Weight - Monitoring and Management (crucial life-saving weight monitoring during illness)
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility (practical care tips for any piggy that is not moving around much)
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency (with some practical improvising first aid tips to tidy you over until you can see a vet and organise any support supplies)
When help comes too late... (Dying symptoms and support)
A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
1 Symptoms of pain
- Loss of appetite and slow or reduced eating
- Eyes
- Ears
- Teeth clicking and grinding
- Skin biting, self-barbering and hair loss
- Fur standing up/puffed up coat
- Hunching
- Bunching up and stopping to sleep on the side
- Grunting
- Twisting/Fitting
- Squeaking when peeing/pooing; arching and straining
- Limping, hopping, swelling of foot or leg
- Partial or full back leg paralysis
- Screaming and whimpering
2 Life-saving practical how-to care and information guides
- Vet access and emergency care tips
- Practical home support care during illness treatment and recovery
- When help comes to late... (Dying symptoms and support)
Knowing the symptoms of pain is very useful so you can spot pain-related behaviourial changes better.
Any guinea pig that is 'off' (i.e. not willing or slow to turn up at feeding time, not really interested in food or not eating at all, very flat/lethargic) needs to see a vet promptly. The detailed advice in our list of symptoms will help you assess just how quickly you need to see a vet.
Switch from the usual body check and weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time on your kitchen scales whenever your piggy is not well. Keep in mind that around 75-80% of the daily food intake is hay, which you cannot control by eye. Step in with feeding support according to our recommendations, which you can find in practical detail in the second chapter in this guide, so you can support your piggy whenever and as much as is needed and help their recovery. Your support care at home is as important as any medical treatment because it takes both to make your piggy healthy again.
Please accept that we cannot recommend self-medicating with painkillers as these are classed as prescription only medication (POM) in the UK where our forum is based.
1 Symptoms of pain
Loss of appetite
Can be caused by pain/inability to chew properly or swallow in the mouth - please always ask your vet when your piggy is suddenly eating noticeable slower, is getting picky about food or drops it uneaten and has constantly wet chin (not from drinking) as dental issues or a fungal thrush infection in the mouth can be easily overlooked.
Pain and discomfort anywhere else the body are amongst a wide range of other possible causes including major illness, respiratory problems (the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat), heat stroke/exhaustion, bad reaction to an antibiotic or anaesthetics. However, very often a pain issue of some sort is at the bottom of loss of weight and a reduced appetite.
List of possible causes for loss of appetite: Guinea Lynx :: Anorexia (not eating)
See a vet on a regular appointment if your piggy has lost more than 50g and is on a downward trend. Start weighing daily at the same time to monitor the progress and support level needed.
Please see a vet promptly (i.e. ideally within 24 hours) and step in with round the clock feeding support and weighing daily on your kitchen scales to manage the care level asap if the weight loss is larger, and especially if happens very quickly. A guinea pig that is not eating is already a very ill guinea pig and needs instant feeding support to keep them alive; they cannot wait a week or two.
No medication can work on a guinea pig whose body is closing down from lack of food. On the other hand, your feeding support cannot replace any necessary vet care to heal them. You need to provide both.
Fibrous hay based feeding support replaces first and foremost the three quarters of hay/grass fibre that are the staple of a healthy guinea pig diet; veg and pellets only make a small part of the daily food intake. Watching your piggy nibble on a salad leaf or chew on some cud in the mouth can be very deceptive and is sadly all too often a fatal owner mistake. You are aiming for 60-90 ml of feed intake over 24 hours in a guinea pig that is very ill; but need to try for 40 ml to just about keep them alive in a severely ill piggy.
Please see our practical emergency support and feeding advice links in chapter 2 for all the practical how-to information (including how you can improvise with what you have at home or easily available in an emergency) and more tips to keep your guinea pig alive until a diagnosis as well as during medical treatment and recovery.
Eyes
Signs of pain: Watering constantly/frequently; any single eye drawn in or pushed out in comparison to the other eye; squinting or closed eye. Ulceration (infection gunk, see eye discharges below).
Please see a vet within 24 hours or as soon as possible in case it is an eye injury which can deteriorate quickly. If there is bleeding in the eye, then this counts as an emergency.
Guinea pig eye diagnosis and treatment/medication with antibiotic eye drops/gel, lubricant and analgesic is the same as for cats, dogs and rabbits so any clinic will have that in stock. It is more important to see any vet you can get to quickly than waiting for an exotics appointment.
Eye discharges
- Milky white/smooth hard drying: Spilled normal eye cleaning fluid and nothing to worry about unless it happens a lot (CBS syndrome only in combination with several other symptoms).
- Watery tear fluid/transparent crusts: see a vet if the watering is strong and constant and is combined with other signs of discomfort. One tiny speck of transparent crust is just a sign of a little hay or bedding dust having been washed out and is nothing to worry about.
- Greyish/blueish gunk on the eye surface or washed out of the eye is a symptom of an ulcerating (i.e. infected) eye poke or something scratchy firmly lodged under an eyelid. Injured eyes can deteriorate very quickly and can develop ulceration in a matter of hours. The longer you wait, the deeper the infection can penetrate into the eye and the more difficult it becomes to treat. Hence our urge of seeking vet treatment as quickly as possible.
- Yellow (greenish/orange) thick mucus glueing the eyes/nostrils closed is a symptom of an advanced bacterial upper respiratory tract infection (URI) and needs to be seen by a vet for antibiotic treatment. Untreated URI can kill, cause permanent lung damage or potentially fatal calcified bulla syndrome (i.e. walled-off middle ear capsule, also called CBS) later in life.
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care
- A crusty firm white fast growing balding area on the skin around the eye is a symptom of a highly contagious species jumping fungal skin infection called ringworm, which you and your other pets can also catch. Please see a vet promptly for oral systemic fungal cat medication (itrafungol in the UK or sporonox in the USA) or a properly medicated bath like malaseb or eniconazole.
Do NOT home treat on spec with ineffective creaming as this cannot prevent the spread of the long lived invisibly tiny ringworm spores and constant reinfection. Utmost hygiene in all respects is the only way you can get on top of ringworm once and for all. Please follow the detailed practical advice in our ringworm guide. It really works!
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures
Ears
Most common symptoms of pain or discomfort: Head shaking (irritation in the outer ear), ear pawing ( generally pain in the middle ear), head tilt.
Shaking the head usually means an irritation in the outer ear. Please NEVER pour anything into the ear on spec; you can make things really painful instead of better. See a vet for appropriate treatment.
Any head tilt or earache should be seen promptly by a vet; it is often reversible the sooner it is dealt with (severe build up of wax; ear infection; stroke; e.cuniculi or rabbit ear mites with rabbits in proximity; potential calcified bulla syndrome/CBS etc.)
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care (includes a more detailed discussion of head tilts)
Teeth clicking and grinding
Possible dental overgrowth in back teeth or a developing dental root abscess. Switch to weighing daily to step in with feeding support as needed and see a vet. Clicking indicates uneven chewing/discomfort from likely developing dental spurs while repeated teeth grinding is a symptom of pain in the mouth, jaw or surrounding areas.
Skin biting, self-barbering and hair loss
Pain in or just underneath the skin; please see a vet for potential parasites, ringworm, arthritis or painful lumps. Bites from other piggies outside of fighting teenage boars are actually very rare; most wounds to the skin are self-inflicted. Do not home treat on spec as you can cause more unnecessary suffering by under-treating with inefficient pet shop products or by treating for the wrong thing. Have a deep bite wounds vet checked (risk of persistent abscesses)
Please contact a vet instantly if a guinea pig is biting open their operation scar; it is either a sign of serious pain or a failed healing process (necrotic tissue).
New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights
Barbering ( Eating Hair)
Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss
Tips For Post-operative Care
Fur standing up/puffed up coat
Generally a sign of pain deeper inside the main body. Often the first sign of pain from a developing internal problem. The pain is the greater the more noticeable/constant the symptom. A very puffed piggy with not much of an appetite is a very ill piggy indeed and needs medical help and home care support right now.
Be aware that hair standing on end can also happen in a hostile encounter.
Hunching
Constant pain or ache in the main body, especially the spine, kidney and bladder, liver or reproductive tract area not far from the spine. Please have a noticeable and constantly hunched up piggy vet checked ideally within a week or two.
Grunting
Occasional grunting when bending down to pick up poos is not uncommon in older, stiffer piggies. If it is happening fairly regularly, your piggy could have arthritis or an obstruction deep in the body (growth) that is making movement somewhat uncomfortable. Have any older piggy vet checked for arthritis if they are no longer able to pick up their poos from the anus and clean themselves.
Grunting when pooing can also indicate some kind of pain source radiating into the area or an obstruction in the vicinity of the anus that is impacting on pushing the poos out.
Constant loud grunting in connection with bloating is extreme acute pain in the body (especially with a twisted gut or a deadly bloat with an enlarged concrete-like gut); see a vet as soon as possible this is truly an emergency to save your piggy hours of dying slowly from heart failure in total agony if that is an option depending on your vet access.
Twisting/Fitting
This can be a symptom of severe pain but only in combination with other major signs of illness (apathy, loss of appetite, back leg paralysis, severe bloating etc.). It is thankfully not all that common. Please see a vet asap as an emergency.
A guinea pig in the last stages of multiple organ failure (i.e. the natural dying process) can twist and fit when oxygan deprivation from a failing blood circulation is hitting the limbs and organs. This can be very distressing for unsuspecting owners.
Twisting when being handled: Unwillingness to be held, groomed or medicated.
For much more common playful jumping see this link here: 'Popcorning' (jumping) and 'zooming' (running) - joy and exuberance (videos)
For neurological fitting see this guide here: CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care
Dying: A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
Squeaking when peeing and pooing, arching of the body
This is actually not usually a problem in the digestive tract but usually a problem with the urinary or reproductive tract (ovarian cysts in sows or semen rods in boars). It can also be caused by fully developed athritis in the lower spine. Please be aware that guinea pigs don't suffer from constipation but that about 10% of ageing boars can develop impaction.
Guinea Lynx :: UTI
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths
Limping, hopping, swelling on the toes foot or leg
Please have your piggy checked for a sprain or a break (the latter when the piggy is not able to put any weight on the leg and does not have any resistance when you gently push against the sole of the foot; please be aware that the source of the problem can be somewhere in the leg right up to the spine and is not necessarily located in the foot when your piggy is limping).
Well kept guinea pigs on a balanced hay based diet with limited pellets and mainly green leafy or watery veg don't usually suffer from scurvy (hopping); but guinea pigs on a very high regular level vitamin C supplementation can react with scurvy symptoms to a sudden drop because the body gets used to these high levels.
If you supplement with vitamin C, it is generally better to do so with 2-3 weeks' long booster courses when your piggy is ill. Keep in mind that good quality pellets, recovery formula, probiotics are all reinforced with vitamin C, and that it is also present in veg and fresh herbs. Fresh growing grass is high in it but needs to be introduced slowly in order to avoid serious tummy upsets.
Partial or full back leg paralysis
This can have very different causes and should therefore always be vet checked but it can be caused - amongst other issues - by pain or an injury in the lower spine. A sudden drop of calcium in older guinea pigs is only one cause and should only be considered by your vet if there are no other pointers; do not home treat on spec.
You can find a fuller list of causes and practical care tips for short and long term support in this link here: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Screaming and whimpering
Guinea pigs are prey animals; they are wired to suppress any symptoms of pain for as long and as much as possible. This goes especially for loud sounds of pain, which would broadcast most widely to predators in the undergrowth that guinea pigs have evolved on that there is prey to be had. That is why vocal expressions of pain are - if they can no longer be avoided - are usually quiet ones.
Any screaming you'll hear when handling/medicating a piggy at home or at the vets is generally protest or 'don't do this to me' screaming that signals to the group that they are having trouble, but not that they are in pain. Whimpering after medication is more in the way of a expression of feeling sorry for pigself and expressing hurt feelings rather than phyical hurt. Piggies can be real drama queens socially, especially younger ones. The really frightened ones will go quiet with the 'unresponsive prey' instinct but will usually eventually come out of it again.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering and Cuddling Tips
Genuine whimpering or louder sounds when in pain have a different quality and are thankfully not at all common. In my own experience, they mostly happen only in the very last stages of the natural dying process when conscious control is slipping as the body functions are breaking down; the one relief is to know that a piggy is generally mostly out of it by then.
This can come as a somewhat traumatising experience for owners who have never been confronted with the physicality of multiple organ failure. Slipping away peacefully in one's sleep is actually pretty rare.
For more information and support: A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
2 Life-saving how-to advice and information guides
The guide links below contain all the practical little how-to tips and information you need to get your guinea pig through an illness, an acute crisis and recovery.
Please book a vet appointment for any serious pain issue and then start an ongoing support thread in our Health&Illness section. We cannot replace any necessary veterinary diagnosis and medication but we can help you with moral and practical support during treatment for as long as needed.
Vet access and emergency care
How Soon Should My Guinea Pig See A Vet? - A Quick Guide
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment (one-stop guide collection with everything you need to get your piggy to a vet and to keep them going throughout treatment and recovery, including improvisation tips in an emergency)
A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets (UK and in some other countries)
Practical home support care advice during illness treatment and recovery
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Weight - Monitoring and Management (crucial life-saving weight monitoring during illness)
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility (practical care tips for any piggy that is not moving around much)
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency (with some practical improvising first aid tips to tidy you over until you can see a vet and organise any support supplies)
When help comes too late... (Dying symptoms and support)
A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs