Don't know what's for the best. **Updated**

adea

On Sunday, one of my guinea pigs, Jack, jumped out of my daughter's arms and fell on the floor.
As soon as he landed he started to squeal and wouldn't stop.
He started dragging one foot. I picked him up and gently touched his back legs and he made no noise or any movement.
When he was put back in the cage, he was dragging both his rear legs
.
We spoke to a vet and then took him to one, who examined Jack and gave him a injection (think it was an anti-inflammatory). The vet didn't think that Jack had broken anything from what he could feel.
He said to give Jack 48 hours to see if there was an improvement, if not then take him back.
As of today, he is not better and isn't eating much apart from little bits of cucumber and carrot. He won't come out of his hiding hole and will only drink if the water bottle is held to him. He also will eat lots of hay.
We spoke to the vets again yesterday who said there wasn't too much that could be done really, only steroids or have him put to sleep.
We are unfortunately very short of money (this may not come out right) and we don't want to spend money on him if he isn't going to get better or prolong his suffering. We are eligible for PDSA help but don't know if it's worth applying for if he's not going to improve.
So, don't really know what to do. We are going to take him back to the vets tomorrow and at the moment, think it may be time to say goodbye to Jack

James_Lahey

Sorry to hear about Jack, I couldn't offer any advice (even if it were allowed here.) But am hoping he gets better soon - best wishes from us, our 2 guinea pigs, 4 rabbits, 5 hamsters but probably not the snake (who doesn't show much compassion for small cute animals.)

*fingers crossed* may he make a full recovery before the vets tomorrow!

piggywitch

I would say absolutley take him to pdsa, if he has not broken anything maybe just needs time for injury to calm down? and thats prob why he is not moveing much. you must make sure he still eats and drinks very important, good that he is still eating hay. to be honest dont really like the sound of last vet if he wants to pts for a sore leg?! a couple of really good sites to look at are guinealynx and guineapig cages loads of people the who know lots about guinea pigs. hope he feels better soon.:(

wierddumpling

First of all sorry about poor little Jack :sad:

Secondly I'm not a vet/ vet nurse but it sounds like my dog a few years ago. His turned out to be a slipped disc in his spine. The vet did offer to treat with steriods/ kennel rest and pain killers, operate or put him to sleep. We chose to have him operated on and it cost nearly £3,500 (no pet insurance). He did recover but it was a big operation.

Have a think tonight and discuss the best option for Jack with the vet tomorrow.

calicocat

I had this before, only real way you can tell to be honest is an x-ray from what i've always been told.

Hope things improve for the little fella.

adea

Thank you for all your replies.
I joined guinealynx last night and a very lovely lady has offered to take Jack to a specialist vet tomorrow.:)
So we'll see what happens from there.
He has been eating muesli today and enjoyed the grass I put in his cage.
I make sure he drinks by going up and holding the bottle for him to turn to and drink.

piggywitch

aw thats so nice, i think the people over there know just about everything about guinea pigs. hope they can help him. x

wierddumpling

It's so nice to see how much people love their pets no matter how small :smileyhea:heart2:

Hope all goes well at the specialist.

adea

Well i'm waiting on news of the x-ray but at the moment the news isn't good The vet strongly suspects that Jack has broken his back as he has no sensation in his back legs and didn't seem to be in any pain.
This is the worst possible news as we could not care for Jack in that state and it would be to upsetting to my two daughters (myself too) seeing Jack dragging his legs behind him all the time. So we will not be able to have him home for the reason mentioned above and he would always have to be seperated from hid cage mate Cuddles, as he is the dominant pig and would mount Jack.
We have got to break the news to the girls tonight and they will be devastated as they keep asking when Jack will be home and hoping he is better.

Dollardog

So sorry to hear that, hope that the result of the xray isn't so bad and it is something he will get over with rest.

adea

Good News! The x-ray shows nothing broken so there is a chance that Jack may walk again.
We don't know for sure what it is that is wrong or if he will recover fully.
The lady who took Jack to the vets for us has said that she will look after Jack for us until we know for certain how he is.
If he doesn't regain the use of his back legs then unfortunately we will not be able to have him back as we can't care for him but that remains to be seen.
The girls were a little upset but then carried on watching tv. Not sure if my youngest really took it in, time will tell.
Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts.
I will update the thread with any more news about how Jack progresses.