SpinningNickel
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi all, long time no speak! I am back to exploit everyone's expertise for a not-too-poorly piggie.
Machu is 2 years old and normally weighs just under 1kg. About two weeks ago I came home from work to find him suddenly lame, hopping around on 3 legs and refusing to put any weight at all on the 4th. I took him to the vet the next day. Our vet is not especially cavy-savvy, but felt some soft tissue swelling in his shoulder, no apparent fractures, theorised that he had just pulled it and prescribed 5 days of oral metacam. I moved him and his cage-mate out of their double-hutch into a temporary C&C structure so they would be on one level for about 2 weeks while he healed up.
We saw an immediate improvement in his limping, so that now it is barely noticeable. He moved back into the hutch at the weekend, and has eaten and acted absolutely fine throughout. (I did notice an apparent drop in poo output for the first 1-2 days of Metacam, so it is possible he ate less for those first couple of days, but the past 2 weeks have seemed normal.)
When weighed at the vet, he was just shy of 1kg. Yesterday, I weighed him for the first time since (delayed, I know -- Christmas got the better of me) and he was 915g. I resolved to weigh him at least every 2 days until his weight came back up. Today he was 909g.
He absolutely seems his usual cheeky self -- climbing up the cage bars with his front paws and wheeking whenever he hears the fridge, devouring hay, biscuits and veg as normal, tearing around the hutch with his cage mate, and doing his business as usual. I've held him for a bit and he seems normal then as well -- cuddly for a limited period of time, then scrabbling back toward the cage and his buddy. I know about 30g or so can be the difference between a full and empty bladder, but I'm a little concerned about the rest. My current theory is that he maybe lost this in the first few days after the injury, when metacam could have upset his tummy or he could have been in more pain than he let on, but in this case, shouldn't it be rising again by now? At what point should I get really worried? And if this is normal, what can I do to put the weight back on him quickly and safely?
Thanks all, I hope everyone has been wonderful while I've been away.
Machu is 2 years old and normally weighs just under 1kg. About two weeks ago I came home from work to find him suddenly lame, hopping around on 3 legs and refusing to put any weight at all on the 4th. I took him to the vet the next day. Our vet is not especially cavy-savvy, but felt some soft tissue swelling in his shoulder, no apparent fractures, theorised that he had just pulled it and prescribed 5 days of oral metacam. I moved him and his cage-mate out of their double-hutch into a temporary C&C structure so they would be on one level for about 2 weeks while he healed up.
We saw an immediate improvement in his limping, so that now it is barely noticeable. He moved back into the hutch at the weekend, and has eaten and acted absolutely fine throughout. (I did notice an apparent drop in poo output for the first 1-2 days of Metacam, so it is possible he ate less for those first couple of days, but the past 2 weeks have seemed normal.)
When weighed at the vet, he was just shy of 1kg. Yesterday, I weighed him for the first time since (delayed, I know -- Christmas got the better of me) and he was 915g. I resolved to weigh him at least every 2 days until his weight came back up. Today he was 909g.
He absolutely seems his usual cheeky self -- climbing up the cage bars with his front paws and wheeking whenever he hears the fridge, devouring hay, biscuits and veg as normal, tearing around the hutch with his cage mate, and doing his business as usual. I've held him for a bit and he seems normal then as well -- cuddly for a limited period of time, then scrabbling back toward the cage and his buddy. I know about 30g or so can be the difference between a full and empty bladder, but I'm a little concerned about the rest. My current theory is that he maybe lost this in the first few days after the injury, when metacam could have upset his tummy or he could have been in more pain than he let on, but in this case, shouldn't it be rising again by now? At what point should I get really worried? And if this is normal, what can I do to put the weight back on him quickly and safely?
Thanks all, I hope everyone has been wonderful while I've been away.
