Guinea pig stifle disease: what is the significance of these radiographic changes?

RE: Guinea pig stifle disease: what is the significance of these radiographic changes?

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 17:50:54 GMT

Can you palpate any changes over the hip? Any chance that is artefact - if he has urinated then the mineralised fragment can trap in coat or on the plate and alter the image.

The stifle changes are certainly abnormal and would be expected to cause discomfort though not necessarily as an acute onset problem so although they merit pain relief long-term they may not be the whole problem. As Mark has said, hypovitaminosis C is a common cause of early joint pathology in guinea pigs but I tend to see them later in life when the deficiency has been resolved but the joint changes remain.

Meloxicam (I use 0.8 mg/kg bid) will help and adding in either gabapentin or tramadol sounds a sensible plan, the gabapentin is available as syrup which makes dosing much easier. If there is long-term lameness then I often use monthly low dose ketamine injections as well to help with this.

Also look at modifying management - a gentle slope to ramps, no sharp falls/jumps in the housing and soft but not overly deep bedding. Also make sure the litter area is accessible and get the owner to monitor for any build up of urinary crystals in passed urine (less common in lame GPs than rabbits but occasionally causes cystitis).

Marie

RE: Guinea pig stifle disease: what is the significance of these radiographic changes?

Mark Rowland — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 16:14:24 GMT

Hi What type of Guinea Pig? Silkys can get loss of skeletal density causing dental disease and lameness. It is not uncommon to see quite striking joint issues in Guineas that do not showings of lameness. This is largely due to Vit C issues. Reradiographing after 4-5 weeks may be appropriate to assess if there is a developing osteodysrophy fibrosa also.

Appropriate analgesia as stated can help. I have had some success with the K Laser in this species so I would start a course of this, correct any Vet C issues and analgesia for a month prior to re radiographing

Goodluck

RE: Guinea pig stifle disease: what is the significance of these radiographic changes?

Sonya Miles — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 06:23:57 GMT

Morning Holly, I agree there does seem to be some degenerative changes, what dose of meloxicam were you using, I would recommend a minimum of 0.6mg/kg PO BID. additional medications you could consider are tramadol at 10mg/kg PO SID or gabapentin at 3-10mg/kg BIT-TID. though I would start at the lower end and work to to assess any sedative effects. you could consider joint supplements and Oxbow do some great ones. a full husbandry review is ideal to make sure the patient has the correct diet/ isn't being under/ over supplemented, which can cause tissue mineralisations. you can access free care sheets at www.justexotics.co.uk. Here is the guinea pig one https://justexotics.co.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=297

All the best, Sonya