Greetings, my human and non-human friends. Today I come with a complicated and unusual issue.
As some of you know, Maple is paralyzed. Or, he was paralyzed. He's gotten a significant amount of motion back, and I'm almost positive he has feeling in both back legs. So now we have another problem, which is that he's in danger of muscle atrophy and can't figure out how to walk.
His left leg is much better than his right. So what ends up happening is that as soon as he's put in the cage, he tips to the right side so that he's actually sitting on top of his useless right leg, and there's nothing he can do about it. So he just drags himself around with his front legs. The vet has us doing some physical therapy with him, which includes lifting him up and then gently lowering him so his weight is supported on his back legs, as well as moving his legs back and forth. But I don't think it's enough.
So here's what I want to do: I want to make him a wheelchair or sling of sorts to use during floor time. It needs hold him so that his legs stay under him and he can use them to walk without having to overcome the challenge of falling down and standing up. If we go the wheelchair route it will be harder, because I have no idea how we'll rig up wheels and still let his legs be free, but he'll be more independent. If we do a sling, it'll be sort of like a guinea pig tote bag with four holes for legs, and then we'll follow him around and hold him up. I'm not completely sure how that would work, but Mom saw someone do it with a lamb?
So for one thing, I'm looking for suggestions on how we can pull this thing off. But even more importantly, I want to know how to do this without injuring him. I know that cavies have super sensitive spines, which is why they can't have wheels, balls, or harnesses--and I'm practically making a harness. And I'm even more aware of it now that I have a guinea pig with spine problems. So how can I make sure I don't injure his spine? Or better: How could I possibly injure his spine, so that I know not to do that?
As some of you know, Maple is paralyzed. Or, he was paralyzed. He's gotten a significant amount of motion back, and I'm almost positive he has feeling in both back legs. So now we have another problem, which is that he's in danger of muscle atrophy and can't figure out how to walk.
His left leg is much better than his right. So what ends up happening is that as soon as he's put in the cage, he tips to the right side so that he's actually sitting on top of his useless right leg, and there's nothing he can do about it. So he just drags himself around with his front legs. The vet has us doing some physical therapy with him, which includes lifting him up and then gently lowering him so his weight is supported on his back legs, as well as moving his legs back and forth. But I don't think it's enough.
So here's what I want to do: I want to make him a wheelchair or sling of sorts to use during floor time. It needs hold him so that his legs stay under him and he can use them to walk without having to overcome the challenge of falling down and standing up. If we go the wheelchair route it will be harder, because I have no idea how we'll rig up wheels and still let his legs be free, but he'll be more independent. If we do a sling, it'll be sort of like a guinea pig tote bag with four holes for legs, and then we'll follow him around and hold him up. I'm not completely sure how that would work, but Mom saw someone do it with a lamb?
So for one thing, I'm looking for suggestions on how we can pull this thing off. But even more importantly, I want to know how to do this without injuring him. I know that cavies have super sensitive spines, which is why they can't have wheels, balls, or harnesses--and I'm practically making a harness. And I'm even more aware of it now that I have a guinea pig with spine problems. So how can I make sure I don't injure his spine? Or better: How could I possibly injure his spine, so that I know not to do that?