guinea pig: babe ; symptom: falls over, i guess

Question
she is about 1.75 years old. the past 2 or 3 days when i come home from work she has fallen over and obviously struggled to get up, yet she fails. she digs the bedding all around her out  in her effort to stand back up. I've been feeding her water and food by hand. its almost like her legs are paralyzed yet she can walk sometimes. she seems like she is in pain. I have just changed her bedding again to see if she keeps going to the bathroom. let me know if you need more information. she has tap water to drink, the gerty the guinea pig food to eat and carrots or lettuce once or twice a week. thoroughly washed of course.

Answer
Hi Kyle

The best thing to do is to contact a vet, but I do think I know what is happening here.

If her appetite has wained then please take her to a vet immediately but if she seems ok in herself, eating ok etc, then you can try this:

Give your pig 1 500mg calcium and vitamin D tablets (both ingerdients in the one tablet)every 8 hours.

On the second day give 1 tablet every 12 hours.

On the third day and for the next 3 days as well, give one tablet each day.

This advice is on the basis that your pig's problem is a calcium deficiency.

andy