Hi all, I'm new to the forum. Let me sum up everything in short. 2 weeks ago I bought my first Guinea Pig at an Pet Shop. The guy who worked there said the pig is between 8-10 weeks old, and definitely no older than 10 weeks. Axel was an male and was also the last pig he had left. All went good and after a week I decided to get another piggy for some company for Axel during the day when I'm not there, and after some research I found it is best to have more than one. So of to an different Pet Shop I went because the original one was to far and quite a bit more expensive. There where only males, so I bought a male that was about 12 weeks old. We put the Guinea's together in a bath, and the behavior was all normal according to research about introducing 2 new piggy's. An 2 week quarantine period was not done for the following reason's: A new big cage was build for Axel the day before I got Dalton(the new piggy). And we did not want Axel to use to the new cage, and claim it as his own territory and fight Dalton when we introduce him after the 2 weeks. They are both still young piggy's as well, so we figured they will be fine, and they where! Axel claimed dominance over Dalton, and they get along quite happily in their new cage! Today is the third day they are together and is that Dalton appears to not using his back legs. It has been like that since day one. At first, it appeared that he would just drag his legs behind him, but after a while it seems that he hops trying to move forward. And he does move around the cage and eats and drinks, it is not like he just lies all day. I've tried to do some research and what I have found is that most people suggest Vitamin C deficiency. The food in the Pet Shop appeared to be the same I have at home, and on the bag of food that I've got it specifically says high in Vitamin C. Straw along with fruits such as Carrots, Cucumber and Strawberry's is also now a part of his diet since he has been with us. Can anyone please suggest what the problem might be or give any advise? If it was an Vitamin C deficiency, would the fruits help? Should we leave him for a few days and see how it goes?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!