possible guinea pig illness.

Question
Over the past few days, my guinea pig, Nibbles, (6 yrs old) has been unable to move properly. It seems as though she cannot use her legs. Along with this, she has crusty eyes, she's not drinking water, and she can't lift her body to reach food/to move. Of course I've brought everything to her and made sure she's getting food and I've offered water to her repeatedly, and I replace the shavings under her every few hours. She's eating the food, she has a VERY healthy appetite. I did a little bit of Internet research and came up with vitamin deficiency- the symptoms basically matched. So I bought vitamins, and fruits/vegetables that contain vitamins. No result. Now I've noticed her back legs are out from under her and they seem to be slightly curling. I'm wondering if it's just taking time for the vitamins to kick in, or maybe it's her age, or something completely different. I'm going to take her to the vet if it doesn't go away soon, she doesn't seem to be in any pain, but I'd like to know a little more about this if possible.
Thank you very much for your time, Catherine

Answer
Hi Catherine,

It sounds as though Nibbles may have paralysed back legs. If they're just bruised, they will heal in time. It will be best to take her to the vet (find a specialist small animal/exotics one) to find out for sure. If her back is broken too (though this seems very unlikely, as she'd be in a lot of pain) she will need to be put to sleep.

As she's 6 years old, she could just be showing signs of old age. The crusty eyes/not drinking will be to do with her not being able to move, so you need to keep up the good work of bringing everything to her. Try giving her cucumber to eat, as there's a lot of water in this. If it is vitamin deficiency, carrots and dark cabbage have high levels of vitamin c, and Gerty Guinea Pig dried food has an extra supplement in it.

Make sure she is eating her "special poos". You will probably have noticed as you've had Nibbles for so long, that she often ducks her head between her legs and eats one of her pellets. Guinea pigs produce  "special poos" that have a high vitamin content, and must be re-injested. She may not be able to do this due to her condition; meaning you will need to remove them for her (check for a hard mass between her legs) and offer them to her to eat.

Well done for not giving up on her, and for nursing Nibbles through her old age. She'll really appreciate being able to live out her days being pampered!

Good luck and I hope you and Nibbles have many more happy months together.

Best wishes,
Jenny.