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Feet Hind Leg Paralysis, Sudden Onset , 18-Month Old Female

BrownBullhead

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Hello. Sorry for urgency in this, my very first post on your forum. But, we have a health concern with one of our two guinea pigs. And our previous web searches have not alleviated our stress.


We have a female guinea who is (to our knowledge) approximately 18 months of age (we are her second owner - had her for six months now), and has come down with "Hind Leg Paralysis". Not sure that is the accepted term for cavy aficionados?


We woke up Sunday morning to find her crawling on her tummy and dragging her hind legs. She appears unable to move them. :( Her cage mate "sister" appears to be unaffected.


We have begun feeding 1-2 Oxbow Vitamin-C supplment wafers per day, per pig (up from one per week). And have introduced a ton of new fresh foods to their diet in the days since the discovery. We are now feeding fresh: red peppers, cilantro, dill, curly parsley, and baby spinach.


They resist all attempts to feed fruits. fresh water is provided daily of course and cage is cleaned fully every 48 hours.


We also feed staple of OxBow adult guinea pellets, generic Timothy Hay, and less Romaine Lettuce now with all of these new veggies.


we are concerned that this affliction shows no sign of improvement in five calendar days. :( Do we have much of a chance for recovery for her to walk again? She has no apparent injuries, has not been dropped or fallen, and up to Saturday evening was just a normal happy cavy.


For those who have gone through this, did your piggie recover to a normal life? We're pretty sad since this all come to light. Please help!


P.S. She is eliminating as expected, is drinking water normally, and does not appear to be in pain. Her appetite also is normal.
 

bpatters

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Rather than the Oxbow wafers, I'd syringe her some Oasis Vita Drops Vitamin C. Or dissolve a plain vitamin C tablet in water and syringe it. If you use the tablet, you'll have to make it fresh every time. But either of those two are more concentrated than the Oxbow wafers.

You want to aim at giving her about 100 mg of vitamin C per day for about 7-10 days. The Oxbow tablets only contain 25 mg. each, so that's not enough.

You don't want to continue the high dose of vitamin C for longer than about 10 days. You can induce pseudo-scurvy when you reduce Vitamin C after a long period of feeding it.

As to whether she'll walk again, there's really no way to know. Is there some way she could have fallen while in the cage? Do you have a ramp, or a loft with no fence around the edge?
 

florvee

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Hi! Sorry to hear your piggy going through this right now. My piggy is going through the same thing and I’m currently doing everything you were doing! Introduced fresh veggies like kale, spinach, cucumbers, carrots. I’ve been giving her the Oxbow Vitamin C supplements as well. Did you get any updates on your guinea pig?
 

bpatters

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Don't overdo the kale and spinach -- you'll just trade one problem for another. Both are too high in calcium and vitamin A to be given regularly.

The Oxbow supplements, unless you give four per day, don't have enough vitamin C to treat possible scurvy.
 

PocketPets

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Do you supplement? Very new to having piggies as pets. It was suggested to me to get Vitamin C crystals from Trader Joe's/Sprouts to mix in their water but I thought that if I be feeding quality pellets (Oxbow garden select for young guineas) and veggies daily with a variety of hay (Timothy, orchard, meadow, botanical, oat) that the piggies would be okay? What are your thoughts?
 

PocketPets

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So sorry. You're definitely giving your piggy TLC and I hope for her to get better.
 

Smileandnod

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@PocketPets it's best NOT to add any supplement (such as vitamin C) or anything else to their water.

It can make it so a guinea pig who is not fond of the taste avoids their water (which creates dehydration & other health problems) and the vitamin C potency also decreases so they end up with just flavored water with no benefit.

Daily green pepper with their fresh veggies is a great way to add vitamin C to their diet
 

bpatters

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The other reason not to put vitamin C in the water is that vitamin C degrades very quickly in the presence of water and light, and pretty soon all you've got is funny-tasting water.

If you're feeding a high quality pellet and some veggies rich in vitamin C, such as bell pepper, and if your pig isn't having any problems, there's no need to supplement with vitamin C. We suggested vitamin C supplements to the original poster because she has a pig with weakness in the hind legs, which can possibly be caused by a C deficiency. No weakness, no supplements, except maybe for very senior pigs with some hair loss.
 
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