"Peanutbutter" Possible abuse/starvation

[InstantNoodles]

Let me tell you a story.

My husband was excited for me with my new adoption of Hazel & Noodle. He was bragging about how much I knew (ha!) and how much I loved those little babies. One of his co-workers said, "Oh my daughter has a guinea pig but she doesn't want it anymore" and Fareed offered to take her from them. When he explained this to me, I was wary of accepting a 3rd pig as I foresaw all sorts of extra vet bills that we really don't need (for I am trying to remain responsible and not keep more than I have the money to adaquately take care of).

Tonight he brought home "Peanutbutter" a white abby or possible Peruvian mix. I wanted to cry, I did cry. She has no use whatsoever of her hind legs . They are spread out behind her and she drags them. There is no muscle tone and they feel "dead" I am watching her right now and she seems thrilled to have lots of Timothy hay, fresh food and green leaf lettuce. The cage is atrocious and the little shit actually wants it back! She can have it once quaranteen is over. I will show you photos. I honestly cannot tell if she has A: broken leg/s B: broken back or C: malformed due to inbreeding. The mother of course never noticed a thing wrong other than "She limps a little" She is also quite light and once I get a new scale (the old one took a dive last week) I will weigh her. Here are some photos and any advice as to what this looks like/sounds like would be appreciated because she won't be able to see a vet until Monday (she seems 100% happy and is defecating normally from what I can see though I fail to understand how she's eating her cecal pellets unless she's eating them off the floor).

[GuineaPinny]

Peaches didn't have such severe difficulty, but her back legs were once much less mobile. She could barely use them. The causes they thought were either an injury from a fall, extended scurvy, or extended malnutrition. She started being able to walk with a good diet, regular vitamin C, and meloxicam. She was on Bactrim too, but I don't know that that did anything for her movement.

[InstantNoodles]

I also noticed the weirdest thing, her nose hair seems to be thinning at the tip and her front paws have no hair until you reach the "wrist point" at which her hair begins. Every since pig I have ever had has had front paw hair right down to their toenails...

[Joannt]

My Evey has wrist hair that does not go down to her toenails on all four of her little legs. I don't think that is always indicative of a problem, per se. (At least our vet never commented that there was anything amiss...)

Little Peanutbutter is so cute. I don't have any real words of wisdom except to echo what has already been said. Give little PB extra scruffles from us. I am sure she is happy to have landed in your care.

[Lynx]

What a cutie. I'm hoping a good diet helps too. Since this is likely a persistent problem, I don't know that seeing a vet would help (if there is an injury that could be found by xray, there would not be any treatment anyway, so far as I know).

I hate irresponsible people. I think the pig will fare much better with you and hope it is able to live a normal life.

[glade]

I am so glad she is with you now!

I am no expert at all, but being that there is no hair/loss or sores on her back legs/end, it makes me think that this is a newer occurance, and hasn't been going on long. Which makes me think more of an injury.

[WHEEKness]

Pigherder has a pig who was a former classroom pet until he was dropped. He at first seemed to be paralyzed, no use of his back legs. She made him a little cart. After something like a few months, he recovered use of his legs, I think fully!

What about supplementing with extra vit. C for a while? I know you're giving nice greens, but it's safe to assume she has a deficiency. Am I remembering correctly, to give 50 mg per day for a week, if you suspect a deficiency, and 100mg/day for full-blown scurvy?

Good luck to you and PB.

[Topaz]

Aw, Pb is adorable. I'm so glad she's with you now.

I wonder if the girl dropped her or something? I also wonder if the fur on her front feet could be worn off due to dragging herself around?

Poor girl. I hope she regains movement of those back legs.

[InstantNoodles]

I assume that there are good clear instructions on how to properly dose with Vit C for her however, where do I find the supplements to buy? She sort of uses her back leg on one side and she hops around. They didn't have any food for her saying they "just ran out" but they had a huge bag of Timothy Hay so I wonder if she was just living on that or if maybe she wasn't being consistantly fed pellets (or even rabbit pellets).

Lynx, should I still vet-check her even if it wouldn't necessarily help with the leg situation?

Oh and she needs a new name, any suggestions?

[snowflakey]

What a cutie. Poor girl. Peanutbutter is a crappy name. She needs to sever all ties with the former substandard establishment beginning with a new name. How about Polyfill? Polly for short (j/k).

I think a vet visit is very worthwhile. I think vit C is also a very good idea. You can get liquid drops at GNC stores, but I feed the Oxbow C tabs, which my pigs eat like candy. 50mg/day I think would be good for suspected scurvey.

[Brandilynn]

She is beautiful.

Also, read up on The Roxy Roller. Pinta created a rolleycart also, and Roxy ended up having movement in her back legs also! (I forget why she had no use in the beginning).

I would vetcheck her, because there might be SOMETHING they can do.

[PooksiedAnimals]

God - scary how anyone can look at that pig and think that's normal. Poor pig! How lucky that she found you.

I agree with Wheekness to add extra vitamin C to her diet, at least short term. Its amazing what scurvy can do to the legs, and how quickly they can recover. Given her affinity for the greens and hay, its probably safe to say she wasn't give a balanced diet in the past.

[Mum]

She's a beautiful little girl - thank goodness she's with you now.

When pigs come in here with visible signs of scurvy (this may or not be the case with your girl) I give them 100mg/kg for one week. Symptoms are usually gone by then. (I use NOW liquid vitamin C, which I buy over the internet).

A vet visit is always worthwhile.

[WHEEKness]

I give vit. C supplements in the form of children's chewable vitamins. Lots of people use them. It's not a controlled dose that way, but you don't need it to be exact. Find the 250 mg size, split a tab into 5 pieces, and there you go.

If she won't take it at first, wet it before you give it to her, so she can taste what it is you're trying to poke into her. You want nice sweet tabs, to make it more palatable. I actually use a 500 mg tab, because my pigs will dance for that particular brand. Dance, as in put on the tiny tap shoes I made for them, stand up on their hind legs, and DANCE. They sing, too. The brand is Trader Joes, but it's not a widespread chain.

It's good they gave hay. It will have kept her teeth ground down. Better to have hay and no pellets than pellets and no hay.

Can't believe they want the cage back. Hope they at least gave you the hay. Maybe they think you're getting an awfully good deal already, a free pig! Like the people that want to "donate" pigs to rescues, gratis.

[WHEEKness]

So one leg works, and the other doesn't. Hmm. I suppose you've felt along the leg for any funny spots? Maybe an old break? Do the toes on that foot look funny? They kind of do in the pics.

[Lynx]

InstantNoodles, if you have a good diagnostic vet, you certainly could learn something. I'm sure Josephine would recommend seeing a vet too.

I don't think of this as an emergency though.

[Upinthehills]

How about Nadia for a name? It means hope in Russian.

[mkkayla]

I'm glad she is with you. I hope her condition improves but even if not she certainly has the will and desire to live. DON'T give that cage back! If you have no need for it-destroy it. If you give it back you are enabling them to abuse another creature. If they pushed, I'd tell them just what a horrible shape she is in and that it could be considered animal abuse. You could also say the vet bills alone will far outweigh the worth of their precious cage.

[Talishan]

I like Nadia too.

She reminds me in some ways of Tiny Tim:

http://www.guineapigfun.com/tinytim/index.html

Interestingly enough, she doesn't seem to have hairloss and while I'm sure she's underweight, she doesn't look emaciated.

I think she has a very good chance of recovering at least part of her mobility, if not all of it, with your care. Bless you and thank you for taking her.

If you can afford an x-ray, I suspect it will tell you quite a lot.

[snowflakey]

Nadia reminds me a little of zooey's Gouldian Finch, Nadia Dedyut. I think she looks like a Polly :-)