nismosmama
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2005
- Posts
- 695
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2005
- Messages
- 695
One of my pigs name's is Nismo, and he's a little over 4 years old. Nismo has had health issues for a couple of year, and most recently last month had Xrays done and the vet was concerned that Nismo was showing signs of possible arthritis and vitamin C deficiency. He also suffers from his jaw being misaligned, so his incisors grow very fast and they have to be trimmed regularly. With all of this, the vet sent him home with some non-steroidal inflammatory medication, as well as a recommendation to give him liquid vitamin c (concentrated not in his water) with a syringe once a day. His biggest concern is that in the Xrays Nismo's back is very arched and he seems to walk with a sway/hobble.
With that backstory, we had a scary incident this morning. I woke up to find my Nismo on his side struggling to get up. I tried to stand him up and noticed immediately his front left leg wasn't working and he couldn't stand up. I threw on some clothes and took him into the ER Vet immediately. After looking him over, his vet (he was able to see his regular vet) has a few concerns. He said first he wants to put him on steroidal medication now, which although stronger he feels may help more. But he thinks that Nismo's issues may be neurological in nature, and its possible he could have maybe a pinch in his spine or something, especially since his back is so arched. He wants to try these meds first before trying to do something like an MRI. He says at this point he's not sure if it does have to do with his spine if it's fixable, it would be more of a situation where we just want to keep treating him to give him a decent quality of life. So here is where we are now, they are giving him an injection of a vitamin c supplement as well as some steroidal medication and they are also trimming his incisors again before sending him home. They are also going to conduct a series of blood tests to check for any other possible problems with liver, other organs, etc. The vet said that Nismo is standing up at this point, and is wobbly but he can walk, so I'm happy to hear that. And he'll be sent home with some oral meds.
My poor pig, it's one health issue after another with him =(. I guess I just wanted to see if by any chance anyone had ever experienced these kinds of problems with any of your pigs, and maybe wanted to share what the situation was and the outcome? Or any advice you may have. Thank you.
PS: Currently they (Nismo and his cagemate Momo) have Carefresh as bedding in their entire cage. I'm thinking of switching at least a portion of the cage back to fleece to maybe make it easier for Nismo to walk around. But I'm worried that if he does fall again, that it won't be as soft of a fall with just fleece as opposed to the fluffy carefresh. What do you all think?
With that backstory, we had a scary incident this morning. I woke up to find my Nismo on his side struggling to get up. I tried to stand him up and noticed immediately his front left leg wasn't working and he couldn't stand up. I threw on some clothes and took him into the ER Vet immediately. After looking him over, his vet (he was able to see his regular vet) has a few concerns. He said first he wants to put him on steroidal medication now, which although stronger he feels may help more. But he thinks that Nismo's issues may be neurological in nature, and its possible he could have maybe a pinch in his spine or something, especially since his back is so arched. He wants to try these meds first before trying to do something like an MRI. He says at this point he's not sure if it does have to do with his spine if it's fixable, it would be more of a situation where we just want to keep treating him to give him a decent quality of life. So here is where we are now, they are giving him an injection of a vitamin c supplement as well as some steroidal medication and they are also trimming his incisors again before sending him home. They are also going to conduct a series of blood tests to check for any other possible problems with liver, other organs, etc. The vet said that Nismo is standing up at this point, and is wobbly but he can walk, so I'm happy to hear that. And he'll be sent home with some oral meds.
My poor pig, it's one health issue after another with him =(. I guess I just wanted to see if by any chance anyone had ever experienced these kinds of problems with any of your pigs, and maybe wanted to share what the situation was and the outcome? Or any advice you may have. Thank you.
PS: Currently they (Nismo and his cagemate Momo) have Carefresh as bedding in their entire cage. I'm thinking of switching at least a portion of the cage back to fleece to maybe make it easier for Nismo to walk around. But I'm worried that if he does fall again, that it won't be as soft of a fall with just fleece as opposed to the fluffy carefresh. What do you all think?
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