Guinue pig cant use front legs

Question
Hi, I have atwo and a half year old sow who suddenly cannot use her front legs one is stuck out and slightly on its side (as though thumb touching ground instead) and the other is normal positioned but seems weak she pushes with her back legs to move and seems in no pain at all she has an excellent appetite and very bright eyes,i noticed around the same time as her front legs went her eyes became crusty her nose mucky and skin/fur very dry,i instantly took her to the vets on noticing her leg troubles etc and the vet said she could feel no breaks and gave her a vitamin jab this seemed to perk her up so fast and give her strenght in her front legs since then she has been given an anti-inlamotory jab which made her extremely tired and lame for teo days she just did nothing except eat but i had to give it to her, i have been giving her vitamin food suppliment everyday with her veggies and salad and she has vitamin drink suppliment twice a week also cod liver oil capsule in the mornings (all vet approved) this has been over three weeks and the improvments are great except for her front legs,i actually noticed one of my other sows bullying her and i seperated them this other sow actually jumped on the backs of others so i think she may have caused an injury in the ligaments and muscles? i have wondered about vitamin defencys? she has so much TLC and seems very happy, shes due back at the vets in the morning and seeing a vet trained especially with guineas next week,i wont give up on her jusy as i would not with any of my other guineas i would never let them suffer though,she eats well drinks now and then but i actually get her out in the evenings for TLC and hold the bottle to her and she drinks then,its so upsetting to see her this way also if she trys to turn round she topples over and cant always get back up properly,she seems so full of life and chats to me and my b/f all the time, im asking for her to be x-rayed but im waiting there for her and shes staying awake, Please please help me and my little daisy maisy :-(      thankyou  Kate and weet weets..

Answer
Hello Kate,

It does sound like a vitamin defiency. I know scurvy (and some other defiencies) can cause everything you mentioned, even the leg issues and the fact that vitamins are helping really makes it sound like this is the case. I'm not sure if the muscle weakness in her legs cause by a defiency could be permanant or if it just needs more time. I know when one of my boys had a very bad case of it it took quite sometime to get his footing back. It was a while ago though and I'm not sure exactly how long it took. I would keep the supplements coming until the vet has them stop and giving her extra veggies high in vitamin c and maybe even some oranges might be a good idea. I would suggest having the x-ray done just to make sure there isn't an injury. I wouldn't worry much about her "suffering". If this is caused by a defiency (which I do suspect is the case) and not an injury, it's not painful. If it is a permanant disablity, she can live a happy life with special care. If you are willing to work hard to help her, I see no reason she shouldn't be allowed to live. She very obviously wants to and seems very happy and content in spite of everything. You sound like you are much more stressed than she is. I went through the same thing with my boy while he was recovering, so I can understand. Hopefully though things will get better and she'll be back to her old self soon. Do have her checked for injury, just to be safe though. You are doing a very good job, just be strong and don't give up. Also, lowering her bottle a bit while she's weak may encourage her to drink more. It may be difficult for her to reach it at the normal height right now. If she's anything like my boy was, she'll learn to call out to you when she needs help getting up or doing something she wants to do. You can both get through this together. Good luck. I hope she'll be well soon. I'll keep you both in my prayers.

-kkat
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