Guinea Pigs hind legs paralyzed and falls to side

Question
I have a guinea pig that I rescued about two years ago. He is a male and very sweet. Last night I heard him scratching at the side of his cage. It was 1:30 in the am. All I could do was laugh and tell him go to bed. At 5:30 he was still scratching. Not sure if he did it all night as I did hear him on and off throughout the night. When I got to his cage he was lying on his side kicking at the cage. I picked him up and he fell back on his side. He is unable to use his hind legs at all. He was lying in his water so I dried him off. He does not have any sores. He is not wet under his chin. He chirps and talks with me like he does daily. I have been researching all day. I bought some liquid calcium and gave him 1ml about an hr ago. I also gave hime 50mg of vitamin C. He gets a regular guinea pig diet with pellets. I do on occasion give him some guinea pig treats that yes has seeds in it. He gets vitamin c in his water which he loves and will not drink it unless it has it in it and he gets hay daily. I just don't know what to do and would love to see him get better. Please help...

Answer
It's nearly impossible to say from a description what it going on. Some breeds, particularly Satins, do have a tendency toward hypocalcemia under certain conditions. Satin sows under the stress of delivery will sometimes go through what we incorrectly call 'toxemia'. It's actually a completely incorrect diagnosis because it's got nothing to do with the type of toxemia of pregnancy that happens in human women.

Calcium is given in those cases but the first symptoms begin with weakness, muscle tetany and shaking. Sometimes it's reversible with the calcium and sometimes not. However, that affects all four legs, not just the hind legs. What your fella is doing does not sound like something of that type.

Guinea pigs are susceptible to inner ear infections and that can cause severe loss of balance. But that does not cause paralysis. It will cause the pig to get off balance if he moves too fast and cause him to fall over, but he is able to get back up. If he is so dizzy he cannot stand he is still able to use all four legs and will flail his legs in an attempt to get upright.

You also have to consider that he's had some kind of spinal injury that caused the paralysis of the hind legs. Is there a possibility that he was picked up by someone that didn't hold him correctly and suffered a cervical injury? This sounds to me more like an injury than a sudden onset of a medical issue.

Vitamin C is pure ascorbic acid. It works to keep our muscles and bones in good shape as well as aids in natural immunity. But it needs to be present on a daily basis. Giving one large dose does nothing more than cause a potential ulcer in the stomach. People who take large amounts when they are getting a cold are achieving nothing more than causing stomach irritation.  It helps to prevent illness, it cannot cure it.

I don't mean this to sound as though I am chastising you for doing what you did. Please forgive me if it sounds like that. I'm simply trying to explain how and why vitamins work. Not knowing what breed of pig you have I can't tell you if this is a hypocalcemic problem or not. What I can tell you is that he is gravely ill or seriously injured.  I honestly think your best bet is to take him to a vet to be examined.

If it's an injury a quick xray will expose it. Then of course depending on what it shows you would have to make a decision about what to do next. I wish I had something more definitive to offer you, but with something as severe as a sudden paralysis I would not be doing him or you any good to try to diagnose blindly.  Things like this make my advice so inadequate. So please do take him to your vet asap. Time is of the essence at a time like this.