[Gpdd] HEALTH: Worried about Elder Piggie Audrey --- What's Going On?

[pat schuett]

Hi everyone,

I'm very worried about my little old piggie Audrey and hoping some of you who have nursed older piggies will recognize her symptoms and be able to give some guidance.

About a week ago, right after Portia came to live in my piggie room,  I noticed the older girls, Doris and Audrey, weren't finishing off their pellets the way they usually do.  At first I put it down to excitement about their new room-mate.  They certainly didn't seem stressed about her being there, though, and were quite anxious to get as close as they could whenever they were out and about.  I noticed that Doris was favouring one foot, checked and discovered that her foot bottoms were quite sore --- something that happens almost every winter at some time or another.  She's white and has very sensitive skin which seems to get dry in the winter here; usually I soak her feet in Epsom Salts or water with a bit of chlorhexidine and change their fleeces every day for a while to make sure her feet stay completely clean and dry, and she's fine in a week.

So then I thought Doris' sore feet might be at least contributing to the problem, but I continued to watch, and noticed that Audrey didn't seem to be eating many pellets at all.  She's always been the healthy one, while Doris has has many UTIs and molar spurs once as well.  They are both getting up in years now, though I don't know exactly how old they are --- I first met them in late 2004; they were already grown up then and living with a friend of mine but she had rescued them from a shelter and didn't know how old they were either.  So they are probably five at least but how much older, I don't know for sure.

By this time I was wondering if Audrey might have tooth problems and began slipping her extra bits and pieces --- they always get a sprinkle of oatmeal and barley flakes on top of their pellets, but I began giving her an extra ration of these while I was soaking Doris' feet, and making sure Audrey got extra chopped veggies and an extra big piece of apple or banana for treats.  I don't have a very experienced vet and I was just turning over in my mind the wisdom of putting an elder piggie through a molar filing, which I know my vet would not do without anesthetic.

Today, things took a bit of a turn for the worse.  I slept in, gave the piggies their breakfast and then their morning pellets.  I noticed that Audrey was eating the oatmeal and barley flakes on top, but after a few mouthfuls, she would lie down flat on the fleece as if she were just exhausted, then perk up after a few minutes and eat a bit more.  I was quite alarmed and decided to check her over more thoroughly; she does not enjoy being handled (which Doris has fortunately come to enjoy over the years of administering medicines and force-feeding) and I don't pick her up often.  

As soon as I picked her up I could feel how thin she was.  The last time I weighed them, probably in late November, she and Doris were almost the same (about 1.7 pounds) but Audrey is much lighter now.  I couldn't see anything else obviously wrong; her feet weren't sore, her bottom was clean, no discharge from anywhere that I could see.  I decided to try a bit of forcefeeding, so I put her back in the cage and went off to mix up a batch of pellet mush with some grated carrot and cranberry juice.

When I came back with the warmed blended mush and my syringe and bent down to pick her up,  I was horrified to see that she seemed to have lost control of her back legs which were turning over and dragging under her.  When I picked her up, she could use them a bit to push on my hand but could not use them to stand up.  I wasn't sure what else to do so I went ahead with the forcefeeding, which she accepted hungrily, sucking the mush down and gnawing on the syringe tip with quite a show of enthusiasm. Afterwards, I gave her a chunk of red pepper as a reward which she munched right down, too.  

Then I tucked her back in her pigloo and moved a space heater into the piggie room to make sure she was cozy.  It's been very cold here (thirty below most nights for the past week or so), and it's hard to keep the house warm even with the furnace going almost continually.  Then I ran a bath, sat in it for a while and had a good cry.  I honestly was not sure whether or not she would be alive when I went to check on her next, things seemed to be deteriorating so quickly.  Neither of the two vets I have used for the guinea pigs will be available until next Wednesday (one is away on holidays and the other is on short hours, having just returned from maternity leave), so I knew I was pretty much on my own.

After an hour, I peeked in from the doorway and was heartened to see she had gotten herself out of the pigloo and was resting next to it, which is where she normally sleeps during the day.  When I went in to have a closer look, I was amazed to see her trot over to the wire to see if I had anything to eat, all four feet working quite well.  

It's now several hours later, and she still has use of all of her legs, though sometimes she looks a little tentative on the back ones.  I gave her another ration of pellet mush just before setting out to come down to work (no computer at home), feeling the need to consult you folks.  Again, she was happy to slurp down as much as I gave her, and ate up the red pepper rewards as well.  

I've checked my Peter Gurney book and know that he recommends calcium as a treatment for hind-end paralysis, but I'm not sure whether to go ahead with that since she *is* using her legs now.  I can't see how it would hurt unless she had urinary issues, which she doesn't appear to do, plus she is getting extra liquid with the forcefeeding to wash it through so I probably will give her that and I'm intending to continue with the forcefeeding as a way to build her up as much as I can.

I'm so sorry this is SOOOO long --- I wanted to give all The Facts --- I know there are many of you out there who have nursed older piggies (these are my first).  Does this sound like anything you have had to deal with?  I would be SO glad of any advice!!!!  I should also mention that I gave her just a tiny drop of metacam with the first forcefeeding, thinking it might help if the problem was related to arthritis or other soreness.. Many many thanks in advance ----

                                                                                 A Very Worried Pat S.





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