[Gpdd] HEALTH: Doris Not Moving Around
pat schuett
bunzella at yahoo.ca
Sun Jun 27 17:30:04 EDT 2010
Hi everyone,
For some reason I cannot determine, little Doris, my elderly piggie (6+ years), has decided she does not want to move around, as of late yesterday afternoon. I thought at first she had heard a noise that frightened her and was being overly cautious, but this went on all night and is still going on this morning.
I have a couple of theories but no real evidence either. I know her eyesight is not good, and it almost seems right now as if she cannot see at all (though what would make that worsen so much so quickly I don't know). When I hold out food to her, she does not seem to track it with her eyes at all but only reacts when it gets right under her nose and she smells it --- then she grabs it and starts munching. I've been putting her evening and morning plate of veggies right under her nose and she has cleaned up every bite, so whatever it is does not seem to be affecting her appetite much. She is sitting in one of her litterboxes at the moment, which I hope will be keeping her comfortable --- it's full of hay, so when she pees most of the wet should sink down to the newspaper under the hay while she stays fairly dry on top. (I will certainly monitor this, of course.) I have seen her munching on hay a bit as well and she will eat some of her pellets if the
bowl is right in front of her.
I have seen her move a little when forced to; her legs and feet seem to be working normally, she is just for some reason VERY reluctant to move and has only walked a few steps voluntarily since last night. She did scoot around a bit (moving quite normally) when I was picking her up for a quick check-over this morning (I couldn't see anything unusual at all). Her feet are always a little red, despite daily changing of bedding and everything else I have been able to figure out to do for her, but nothing unusual, certainly no open sores or anything like that.
My other theory is about medication. She's been on metacam for some months for arthritis, but has only been getting it when she needs it which averages maybe twice a week at most, often only once every five days or so. Many people on GPDD had recommended Rimadyl as a better long-term drug for piggies, and after consulting with Penny's rodentologists, my vet did prescribe the Rimadyl which Doris started getting about three days ago. I am wondering if it is just not working as well as the metacam for her, or whether it might be bothering her in some way. As I said, she is eating most things with gusto, but I can hear a bit of gurgling coming from her tummy when I pick her up. Given that she's eating well, though, it doesn't seem as if she could have gas badly enough to make her stop moving around.
Please, any thoughts out there??? Of course, my own piggie vet is off until Wednesday, but there is another vet there who I could see in the meantime if anything worsens. Given how nervous poor little Doris seems right now, I probably dwill try to avoid further terrifying her with a trip to the secondary vet if she continues to eat and poop fairly normally.
(My oldest cat, who was almost 18, died just ten days ago and I really was hoping for a bit of a respite from worry over the furry family, but no such luck apparently!) THANKS IN ADVANCE ---
Pat S.
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