Injury Jumped to the floor - could he get injured ?

he could. but if he's acting normal i'm sure he's fine. he would probably be limping or acting injured. do you know if he landed right side up, or on his back?

He could easily get injured in a fall from that height.

I'd suggest that you not allow a child to carry the pig. At our house, until our youngest was about eight, we made them sit on the floor and put the pigs in their laps. When they were older, we taught them to carry the pig by putting the pig's back against their chest, one hand under the pig and the other across the pig's chest.

caitlinbenosky said:

do you know if he landed right side up, or on his back?

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I didn't see that, but my child is saying GP landed on feet.

My GP likes to jump, he usually jumps into cage thru top cage door. But never from such height...

My star was a jumper when we'd take him out for floor time we'd use his hidey house. So one time he tried to jump into it because he knew he was going back and he missed. He really scared me but he acted normal no limping nothing. But I wouldn't let a really young kid hold your pigs because kids don't really understand. And alot of accidents can happen. But if he is acting normal and no limping and not hurting he's probably fine.

I have a jumper that was hard to handle until she got older. I used to hold her, facing me when I took her out of the cage. She never jumped into me. When I put her back in the cage, I'd cover her eyes with one hand and she wouldn't attempt to jump where she couldn't see. You can put him in a box with a cover and lift him out that way, too. It's too easy for kids to drop a guinea pig so it better for the adults to hand them off to the kids while they sit. I'd watch for signs of limping or dragging feet. Make sure he's eating and drinking. Head tilts can result from falls. About two weeks ago, my jumper jumped out of my hands into my trash can. I didn't expect it because she's been really good. A loud sound startled her and I wasn't expecting her reaction. Luckily, the trash can was full so she only dropped about 12". It completely surprised me and her and made me realize that no matter how long you've had guinea pigs, you need to handle them as though they're going to try and jump.

I'd check the pig's teeth to make sure none have broken. I would also weigh daily for awhile to make sure he's eating right.

Yes my Star was a Abby. My new pigs don't seem to be interested in jumping though.

spy9doc said:

and has recently discovered that he can jump from the kitchen sink onto the counter when he is being bathed. Smart little rascal!

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My Star used to do that to he would literally jump out of the sink and onto the counter.

spy9doc said:

Just curious........for those of you who talk about having "jumpers", are they Abys?

Most Abys have long, lean muscular bodies with strong legs and are quite athletic. My Chester still has to be put in the cage with his back to it.......or he will leap out of my hands. We had a couple of pretty scary incidents when he was younger.

He will jump to my chest when I'm sitting on the sofa with him, and has recently discovered that he can jump from the kitchen sink onto the counter when he is being bathed. Smart little rascal!

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I've had two jumpers. One was a Himalayan American and my current one is a teddy. The American was a very dominant guinea pig and couldn't be housed with any others. My teddy is the most submissive and shy guinea pig I've ever owned so I don't think it has to do with breed. The only thing they had in common was a small head so maybe it has something to do with the size of their brains.

My jumper is a regular shorthair. My Abby is quite cuddly actually lol

Ferb is a climber and a jumper. He's a shorthair.

We had a guinea pig surrendered to us who had a broken back from a fall. A 5 year old girl was playing with it (unsupervised). She had the piggy on her shoulder and it fell off.

Cuy love to jump. We've had calls to rescue them from shelters because when the workers open the cage doors, the cuy just launch out of the cage. They're pretty strong and seemed to handle the fall fine. But I sure wouldn't count on it.

We had a horrible experience recently with one of our pigs jumping from our arms. She was dragging her hind legs behind her and we were beside ourselves with grief and worry. We took her to the vet the next morning and he did an x-ray and found out that she hadn't broken anything and there was no deformation of the spine - both good things.

He also checked the reflexes of both feet with a sharp point and she had a decent reflex in one and a teeny-tiny bit in the other leg. He gave her a shot of cortisone and asked us to come back in three-four days.

In the meantime, she was eating and defecting and would move to get food or water, but always dragging her legs. It was awful to watch. When we took her back in three days, the vet gave another small shot of cortisone and said that he was cautiously optimistic about her chances of recovery.

After another three days, we noticed a bit of leg movement in one of the hind legs. Over the next four weeks, she improved a little bit every day. Now, after a month, she is about 95% back to normal on standing and running, even going up on her hind legs for hay at the top of the rack.

So, I just wanted to post for anyone else going through this kind of an experience that they can recover from a fall, although there is no guarantee and you can't really know how bad it is without a visit to the vet.