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Crusty Eyes Crusty eyes and limping, please help.

SomethingFunny

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Hi everyone,

Last night my guinea pig hamlet had a little bit of dry crust around her right eye. I noticed she had a lot of hay dust on that side of her face so I hoped she had just gotten some dust in her eye and it had watered and then dried. She seemed fine and energetic otherwise so I wiped it off with a warm cloth and decided to watch and wait. This morning the crust was still gone so I assumed she was fine. Tonight when I got home from work there was some crust again (not as much as the first time) and a little on the other eye as well. Then I noticed she was limping a little, favoring her back left leg. I couldn't tell if the knee was swollen but it felt a little warm. I'm calling the vet tomorrow morning to try to get an appointment ASAP. In the meantime do you have any first aid suggestions? I can't imagine how the leg and eye issue could be related but the timing seems too much for coincidence. Does anyone have any thoughts about what I might be dealing with? I still have antibiotics and bene-bac from when one of my pigs had a URI a few years ago, should I start dosing her?

I'm so scared for her.
 

SomethingFunny

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Also worth mentioning, she's eating fine and still moving around when she feels like it. She's lying down more than usual, but for instance when I put our their vegetables for the night she waded right into the pile with every bit of her usual enthusiasm, even though I had put some of the veggies right next to her so she wouldn't have to get up. Apparently even when limping she wants to eat out of the big pile.
 

Squiggles

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How is her breathing? If you hold her to you, do you hear any raspy or sounds that appear she's struggling to breathe properly or congested? Glad you're getting her to the vet ASAP.
 

SomethingFunny

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Her breathing sounds fine, she doesn't seem to be struggling to breathe or having congested noises.
 

Squiggles

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Her nose is all clear? No discharge there? It could be two different issues. Have you checked her leg for any bumps or sores? It might be the start of an infection, but only a qualified vet would know exactly. Keep us updated, and hope she gets well soon.
 

SomethingFunny

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Morning update; her eyes are still crust-less from when I cleared them last night. Nose still without discharge and no obvious sounds of breathing issues. But she didn't come running up to the front of the cage like she usually does when I come to drop off the morning pellets. Once I left them and backed away she came out to eat them, but she clearly wanted me gone before she emerged from her hidey. She definitely still doesn't want to put weight on that leg and it seems to be slowing down her movements more than it was yesterday. She's still not making any pain noises but I think she's hurting :(
 

Squiggles

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She's injured, which is why she goes into hiding, since they are prey animals. Have you got an appointment lined up for her yet?
 

SomethingFunny

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Unfortunately I couldn't get her a vet appointment today, but I have one lined up for early tomorrow. She's still limping and clearly trying to avoid standing as much as possible. On the plus side her eyes are still clear of any crustiness, her breathing sounds normal, she hasn't lost any weight, and her leg and foot still look normal. She's not her usual active self but she doesn't seem terrified of me like she was this morning, which is encouraging. I'm cautiously optimistic that the eye thing was unrelated and that she just injured herself somehow. Until I can get her to the vet I'm going to continue my current strategy of leaving lots of food right next to her hidey so she can snack without having to walk around.
 

SomethingFunny

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Good news! She's going to be ok! the vet says she sprained her ankle, it's swollen and obviously hurting but nothing's broken or out of place. They sent her home with some metacam and said not to let her run around too much and she should heal up just fine. Thank you squiggles for your advice!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Glad to hear everything is ok!

Sly did that several times during his life. He injured his leg when he was just a baby and twisted it up, and though nothing broke he was prone to injuring it again from time to time.

The best thing to do is just to keep their food and water close so they don't have to move too much, and it should heal on it's own in a week or so.
 

Squiggles

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Oh, that's great! Glad it wasn't anything too bad! I second Guinea Pig Papa. Keep everything close by so she doesn't have to walk too much until she's all better. Happy road to recovery!
 

SomethingFunny

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Hi all, I'm sad to say Hamlet's not doing well. Her leg never healed, in fact the swelling started to get worse and she wouldn't move at all, just spent all day lying in her own poop. I took her back to the vet and found out she has a bad infection in her leg. At that point the swelling was up to her knee, she'd also been losing weight and after an exam the vet found that her molars were overgrown. The ones under her tongue particularly had big points.

The vet sent us home with antibiotics, metacam, and bene-bac and we brought her back a few days later for a tooth trim. In those first two weeks of antibiotics there was massive improvement in her leg, all the swelling is localized in her foot and ankle now and she started actually leaving her hidey sometimes to nap in a hay pile. She still wasn't running around but she wasn't just lying in her own waste with her fur all puffed out. But we're on week three now of the antibiotics and it seems like her progress has plateaued. Some days her foot looks a little better, then the next day it's back to the way it was.

Worse, she basically stopped eating after the tooth planing. At first she could only eat leafy vegetables and even then it was a slow process and she dropped them a lot. A week after the tooth planing she was getting faster at eating again, and she was eating her cucumber and bell pepper. A week and a half after the trim I finally saw her eat a piece of hay again (she'd been trying before but kept dropping it). I was so excited at her progress. She seems to be able to eat whatever she wants now, still a little slow on the hay, but she's always happy to eat. But even though she's eating I still have to force feed her 50cc of critical care every day to keep her weight stable.

The last week or so it just doesn't seem like there's been much improvement on either issue, the teeth or the foot. The last two days her fur has looked more puffed up than usual and I think she's been huddling in her hidey more. I started googling the recovery time after a tooth planing and I've started to get the impression that once a pig her age starts to get these lingering issues they don't seem to have much life expectancy left. I don't want her to limp along for months more pain.

I'm so tired and so stressed trying to keep up with her feedings and meds. I could really use some hope. Maybe it's normal to have little ups and downs while she heals? She has another vet appointment saturday. If they don't have any good news for me I'm worried it might be time to start discussing her life expectancy and quality of life. She just seems so unhappy.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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How old is she?

Was this her first molar trim?

My little bear had 11 molar trims between December 2016 until July of this year. Started just after his 5th birthday, and he would have been 7 next month.

Molar trims can be tricky, and sometimes pigs will bounce right back and others it will take a couple weeks to get back to normal, especially if the vet trims the incisors or nicks their gums. That doesn't help you with her leg issue, I understand. And I completely understand your stress level.

Wait and see what the vet says this weekend, and take it from there. An infection in a pig can sometimes be incredibly difficult to get rid of.
 

SomethingFunny

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Thank you for the encouragement. We know she's at least five, possibly closer to six.

She seems to be a little worse this afternoon. I thought she was gone when I came home from work, she was sort of loosely curled up in her hidey, didn't move at all when I walked over (she usually at least picks her head up) and I couldn't see her breathing. She perked up as I chopped vegetables but it looked like she had a harder time getting to her feet than usual. She's still going after her vegggies with enthusiasm though, her weight is stable and her foot doesn't look worse than usual, so lets hope I just woke her up from a particularly deep nap.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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That could definitely be the case. I used to scare the crap out of poor Sly doing that sometimes. He would curl up napping and be completely oblivious, and if I touched him he would darn near hit the roof.
 

SomethingFunny

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Hello everyone, after speaking to the vet this morning we made the difficult decision to put hamlet to sleep. The vet said our only other option at this point would have been to remove her leg, which would have been a difficult recovery at her age, plus we still would have had to deal with whatever was making it so difficult for her to keep her weight up. It's been over two months now since she'd been without pain and I just didn't want to put her through any more. I gave her a few blueberries before she passed (her favorite) and then my husband and I drove her up to this little farm my in-laws own. We buried her next to the vegetable patch. I think she would have liked that.

Thank you all for your caring and support during her final illness. Despite how difficult and sad her last days were I still don't regret bringing her home. This has been an amazing five years and I think she had a wonderful life. Sleep well Hamlet.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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I don't know what to say, other than I am so very sorry.

Making that decision is an extremely painful one. It's never easy and losing them hurts terribly. Just know that you have done the kindest thing you could have, as hard as it is. Its just not a decision that I personally have an easy time with, and it haunts me daily.

Rest in peace, Hamlet.

Know your mom and dad did everything they could for you because they loved you. I hope you meet many new friends at the Rainbow Bridge, maybe even my Pooper and Sly. They'll show you where the best stuff to eat is.
 

bpatters

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I'm so sorry for your loss.
 

SSLee

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I'm very sorry that Hamlet has passed on. That was a very difficult 2 months for Hamlet and your family.
 
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