guinea pig dragging back foot

Question
I noticed today that my daughters guinea pig is dragging one of his back feet. He still moves around in his cage well. Still chatters, and does the purring sounds and he isn't squeaking like he hurts but I am still concerned. Any info would help.

Answer
The first thing I think of when I see or hear of a pig dragging a back foot is an injury either to the leg or to the hip. If you pick him up and examine the good leg, rotating it a bit to see if he has full range of motion without pain, then do the same thing to the other leg. This may give you an idea as to whether or not he's somehow injured that leg. If you meet resistance as you try to move it that's good reason to suspect there's an injury.

The most common cause of injury of this type is the leg having been grabbed as the pig tries to get away, causing a dislocation of either the bones at the knee or more commonly the hip. I'm not suggesting this was anything but an accident, but it may explain the cause.

Sometimes a dislocation can be easily fixed by the vet. It doesn't require anything more than a skilled hand that knows how to rotate it back into place. Another cause could be that he got himself caught it some manner in the cage and pulled it himself trying to get away.

In either event it would be a good idea to have your vet take a look. It may be something simple that he can do, but without trained hands would not be safe for you to try.