My Guinea pig cant walk

Question
QUESTION: Please help.Our Guinea pig is struggling to walk. She has no skin infections and is kept inside with 2 other Guinea pigs. There are no foot problems but she is dragging her body across the floor.  She is eating and drinking and does not appear to be in distress.  She was fine yesterday and we dont know what is wrong.  She is lying down alot as if she is sleeping.

ANSWER: I wish I could give you an absolute answer but it would be nearly impossible to be sure. There are a couple of possibilities, the first one being an injury to the spinal column. If she's acting otherwise normal that would appear to be the first choice.

If she is in a cage that has a ramp to climb to a higher level she could have fallen off and injured herself. Guinea pigs are not agile like mice, rats or hamsters. They cannot twist their bodies like a cat does if jumping or falling. That's one of the biggest reasons that they should not be forced to run in a wheel or ball.

I've had sows that had temporary nerve issues after delivering particularly large babies, leaving them unable to move the back legs, but they generally able to stand on their hind legs but have a peculiar gate and travel by hopping like a bunny. That often resolves itself.

Other than possibly giving her a dose of steroids to see if this is an inflammatory problem I'm not sure what else your vet will offer, but this certainly is an appropriate thing to do.  I recommend you have her examined by your vet.

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QUESTION: Thnaks for your prompt reply.  My Guinea pig is now walking and acting normally.  I am keeping a close eye on her though.  She cannot of fallen as she has no ramp etc. I have given her some probiotic and vitamen supplement which seems to have done the trick. She isnt jumping with excitement anymore like she used to but is moving normally.
Thanks alot for your help and if you have anymore suggestions i will be happy to do what i can.

Answer
I'm so happy to hear she's improving. Whatever it was it's obviously resolving. She must have somehow caused herself an injury that wasn't severe enough to debilitate her. Soft tissue injuries will do that.

Thank you so very much for letting me know.