paralysis or possible bone problem?

Question
Hi,
We have a 3 yr old male guinea pig that we noticed having the following symptoms about 10 days ago:  He seemed to be moving less and we noticed he was having trouble moving his hind legs, but was still able to walk around (he was just very hesitant).  Now it appears he cannot walk on them at all and seems to be having trouble controlling his front feet.  He is still eating his pellet food and the fruits and veggies he has always eaten, although he only eats about 1/4 of what he used to eat.  He cannot get to his water bottle so we are squeezing the water into his mouth a little at a time.  We have always used vitamin C drops in the water.  He has not had any injury to his spine, as far as we know.  Do you know of anything we can do to help our guinea?  The vet has only examined him - we cannot afford the diagnostic tests.  Thank you in advance for your time.

Answer
To be honest even if you had the money for diagnostic testing it would not change or cure the problem. It sounds like he may have osteodystropy, a condition sometimes present and passed genetically in certain breeds of guinea pigs. It's is primariy found in the Satins, and there are five different breeds of pigs that have a Satin counterpart.

The Satins have a characteristic sheen to the coat, making them almost look like they'v been sprinkled with stardust. They are beautiful to look at and to touch as the shaft of the hair are more hollow inside allowing light to go through it, thus giving this special sheen to their coats.

Unfortunately there is a genetic disorder that is passed in some lines. The bones become brittle, the muscles lose their elasticity and they ultimately succumb to the loss of muscle and ligaments.

Of course I am only guessing this may be the problem with your pig. Not being able to actually see him that's all I have to work with is the symptoms you've described.  There is no treatment or cure for osteodystrophy in guinea pigs. You might Google it and see a better description of what this disease is.

Unfortunately this is not something that Vit C would change. It could probably be compared to Sickle Cell Anemia, a condition that is present in certain ethnic groups around the world. There is treatment for Sickle Cell however. It's not curable, but the periodic crisis' suffered by the patients can be minimized with treatment. Again, even that is a genetically caused and related condition.

Although certainly you have to make the decision as to what you are able to do for him, but in this case I think you should know that no matter what amount of money you are able to spend it would not change the inevitable. So please don't feel guilty because you're not in a position to sell your wordly goods to save him.

At this stage what usually happens is dehydration which quickly leads to renal (kidney) failure, thus causing the inevitable end.

I wish I could give you something more positive to hold onto. I'm sorry I'm not able to give you a magic answer that would make this easier for you to bear.