My girlfriend has a guinea pig, Guido, who's a little over two years old. Recently, he seems to be favoring one of his legs and limping slightly. He didn't sustain any falls or anything, and it seems to have happened a bit suddenly. She plans on taking him to a vet (her first choice of vets, the one who specializes in rodents, says she's allergic to guinea pigs :blink: ). Does anyone have an idea of what it could be?

Few people are truly allergic to guinea pigs but more are allergic to their bedding. Guinea pigs aren't technically rodents.

A piggy who is limping may have gotten injured even without a fall. He may have simply twisted his leg. Or, there could be a growth in or on the leg that is affecting movement. I hate to mention the C word. It could be arthritis. It could even be neurological damage, especially if the piggy is tilting his head to the side too. A vet should be able to help. I hope it was just a temporary minor injury!

Thanks for the info Robyn! I'm really hoping it isn't a tumor or something else serious.

Hope the little guy gets better. I have to admit I know nothing about them....other than not to wrap a piece of lettuce around your finger and stick it in their cage!

Best of luck though!

Derrick

Thanks Derrick.

I was thinking this morning, is it possible her guinea pig has scurvy? She feeds him mostly pellets and I wonder if the vitamin C in them has degraded (they've been there a while).

If the guinea pig only gets old pellets, then he may not be getting enough Vitamin C. If he goes a long time without Vitamin C, he can get scurvy. One of the symptoms is bad joints.

You can buy Vitamin C pills for him but it's also important to get a fresh, good quality guinea pig pellet. Vitamin C is not stable for long. I test for it at work. A solution I make one day (of just ascorbic acid) is basically completely gone in a week without some preservative or alternative stable form.

Your friend should also feed him foods high in Vitamin C like oranges, kale, and so on. See http://www.fishpondinfo.com/cavies/pigcare.htm#food

These are the pills I used to buy for my pigs:

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product...CJ61HL7BE4X48K2