Guinea pig not using back legs

Question
Hi,

Our three year old male guinea pig has stopped using his back legs.  It happened quite suddenly and not due to injury.  Reading posts, I am thinking it is scurvy or a calcium deficiency.  But I am confused on how to treat him.  How much and what?  Please help!

Answer
Usually scurvy does not come on suddenly. It's a gradual thing and the first symptom is quite often appetite and weight loss. The back legs get weak first but don't usually just stop working. If you're absolutely sure there was no injury my next concern would be a spinal tumor or some kind of stroke where the motor functions in the brain are affected.

Calcium deficiencies are seen in the satin breeds more often than their normal coated counterparts. Again you see a generalized weakness but not necessarily a sudden loss of the use of the back legs.

I think this is something that should be looked at by a vet. There's no treatment I can think of that would reverse this at this point. I've seen this happen in sows who have just delivered a litter, but it's usually self limiting, having been caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve during a difficult delivery.

I honestly think it would be in your best interest to take him to your vet for a proper diagnosis.