We have just had our unhappy piggy to the vet, nothing obvious lump or breaks ......

[noyouhavehadawee]

Noticed yesterday when she was tottering she was dragging her hind legs, today she was hesistant to come down the ramp to play in the garden and going up she takes an age before she makes the move and DD just walked up to her today and picked her up where as normally she would scamper off. So a visit to the vet was made, defo no breakages or nasty lumps but defininte dragging of right hind leg. Vet gave her a pain relief injection and some anti inflammatories for next 5 days and to see how she goes and keep her in if we can to monitor her poos and wees (plenty of poos evident from her 3 hour kept in house stay not sure off wees as on fleece). We have had her in all morning and shes eaten happily so we have just put her out the last hr to see her sister and graze. She seemed happy enough but now has gone under the hutch to snuggle in the big hessian sack for a kip - she looks a little sorry for herself. The vet having never met her before said she could feel her ribs around her upper area and said she felt a bit thin - i have never noticed this and thought was just her natural shape as they are active outside all day piggers. Now im paranoid . Going to leave her out while she happy and bring her in tonight for some more fattening up before bed. Anyone else had similar? She said to give her till Monday - do you think she just said tht because by then it will be curtains? DD and I are a little bit piggy paranoid today. . They are both almost 6 and i love them so. I dont really want to keep them seperated as they are really close and no disease is evident it looks more likely muscular or age perhaps? Humour me.....

I wouldn't separate them, if it was disease, the other will most likely have caught it by now. I had this once with one of my piggies, but we did end up having to have him pts. He wasn't old though - he just paralysed his whole bottom half. Sorry, that's not helpful.

It is probably age - 6 is a good age for a piggy!

i know thats what i thought to be honest, ive just been watching her shes baring wait on her hind legs but more like hopping like a bunny - i dont think she could make the ramp hence she has gone under it for a rest. Im going to get her in and weigh her at tea time so i can monitor her weight. Poor little sausage.

Ah, hopping, I have a better story about that!

Happened to one of my piggies once. He seemed to be struggling with his back end. One leg went quite weak compared to the other and he started hopping (or dragging his backside) but still eating. Did a bit of pooing but not as much as normal. Turned out he was massively constipated and was holding on to a poo the size of his head. It's quite common in adult males apparently, but don't see any reason why it couldn't happen to a female? We didn't find out until he went into vets for detailed assessments. Cost us over £100 for a POO. He was fine and lived a good year or so after that.

ooo nice , well she had about 7 pelletty nice poos when in the house so unless they are edging their way around the side of a giant turd we will have to watch and see.......

I googled in GP dragging legs and GP Forum & GP Lynx both came up with a treatment Osteocare - don't know how up to date this is.

If no injury , then the next suspicion I would have would be trapped nerve through arthritic changes in the spine .In which case the anti-inflammatories and painkillers will help her.

Weight loss and difficulty moving limbs are two symptoms of scurvy. I know VIt C is in GP food, but some GPs probably need more than others, so might not get enough from food.

Next thought was a stroke but this maybe this would be more one-sided (tends to affect people one-side of the body). Don't know how common this is in GPs.

Probably the "Wait till Monday" is this is how long it takes for the treatment to show itself as working or not. (Reading some of the recent threads about quite young GPs has made me worry a bit as well)

Her cage mate and her should be fine to stay together. Only if the mate barges into her, she might get told off but this would be preferable to seperation IMHO.

Poor GP

Are you a member of Cambridge Cavy Trust? Vedra deals with very difficult problems with piggies and is a GP expert.

If you join you could take her to Huntingdon for her opinion. She also has a GP hospital type place.

No not in Cambridge am north east, i have left her out this afternoon and just watched her struggle up the ramp but she made it. Bought her in now and she's laying on my lap having demolished half a celery stick and some carrot. I have weighed her and she weighed in at 730g a whole 120g less than her greedy sister. Think i will keep her in for a bit now then put is up the ramp later te give her chance to eat some more in peace.

From what you say I strongly suspect vitamin C deficiency. Symtoms include stiffness of joints (like you said hopping like a bunny) weight loss and lethargy. Other symtoms are also runny nose and bleeding gums and tooth troubles but I guess a poor piggy doesn't have to have everything for this to be the cause.

Make sure dry food pellets are fresh and not stored anywhere humid as they loose their vit c quickly. Feed green leafy veg, broc, red and green peppers (mine hate peppers) and you could try adding vit c to water bottle.

Sending you positive vibes.

Well shes is still with us (majorly relief when i went out this morning and she started squeeling) she is out grazing now having happily took her medicine on a cabbage leaf and has doen a fair bit of happy chattering with her sister but still bunny hopping and hesitant at the ramp though dd has took to helping her up now. I thought no to the vit c thing but given other was is a greedy guts it is entirely possible the daily offering misses her out. I have some kiddy vit c supplements to offer her and am spending more time hand feeding her the vitamin c rich goodies. Thansk for your positive thoughts .

Will mention osteocare and look into that more myself thanks

We used to put effervescent vit c tabs in our piggies water bottle. Might be worth a try if the other one is nicking all the treats!! :)

This website is very useful: www.oginet.com/pgurney/index.html

It sounds like you are doing the right things. I had a young pig that I got in a sort of emergency from unfortunately a not very reputable pet shop and at the time took him to a not very good vet (I was still learning,) and anyhow, I worked out that it could be scurvy so shovelled in the vitamin c rich foods and 4 or 5 days later he was a new pig. He turned out to be one of the most loving, charming and massive guinea pigs ever!

Opinions are divided though on vitamin c in the water. Some pigs don't like the taste and it will put them off drinking, which isn't good. There is some evidence that if you use a plastic bottle, the acid can cause chemicals in the plastic to leech into the water, which isn't good (not an issue with a glass bottle though.) If they have a balanced diet (see here www.guinealynx.info/diet.html ) like humans, they shouldn't actually need to have supplements.

Of course if your piggie is 6, that's a pretty good age and it could be an age related issue. Time will tell, but as others have said, if her companion isn't causing her distress or likely to injure her, it's best for both of them to stay together.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

ive just weighed her, she was 730g on Monday, today she is 800g . Piccy on profile....

Peter Guerney in his book Piggy Potions suggests it could be caused by a lack of calcium. Not sure but does parsley have calcium?

Also found this - could it be scurvy - lack of vitamin C. Parsley is good for vitamin C www.cavymadness.com/carehealth.html

My little guinea was walking a bit "Bunny Hop" yesterday- my DD always puts them on the top of their haybox and gets them to scuttle down the carpeted ramp to their supper.
He normally trots along like a little hedgehog, they will bunnyhop into their haybox if it's full.
DH said "He can't be vitamin C deficient, they trough vegetables like there's no tomorrow. Definately not constipated ".

Today he was back to normal (if that's the word ). I'm wondering if they've just been lazy and spent the past couple of days holed up in their haybox (not been out since Sunday-too wet out).
Judging by the amount of pee on their newspaper ,I think they've just wandered out for food, then sat back in the box and peed/slept.

Another grey hair for me .

How is GP today, noyou ?

Update: well she seems better ish, we havent been back to vet as she is improving i think, she can get up and down ramp now, she still does a little bunny hop but i have seen her running like a hedgehog as well and at speed so i think she is getting there. I have been at work yesterday and today so i havent been able to totally molly coddle her and when i bought her in last night she seemed to be a bit peed off huffy with me

Sometimes girls get ovarian cysts/ovarian swellings - is her tummy sore to touch? Ours put on a lot of weight, kept eating, etc - at that age she is doing very well, but once they stop eating they do go downhill very quickly - they are designed to eat almost non stop, if her appetite is back, that is a big relief. Just make sure she is comfortable - the other clue is drinking, see how much she takes in, they tend to drink contstantly if they are in pain. At her age she just needs to be kept comfortable, offered food and drink and keep an eye on her. Good luck:O

Just wanted to update that Charlie has now made a full recovery

Good to hear.

So did you find out what it was?
She's a pretty good age for a guinea-pig, but hopefully got a good few summers ahead of her.

no idea i can only think it was an injury thats righted itself. I have banned the dc's friends from handling them now which makes me feel a bit mean but her wellbeing is more important . Squeak squeak