References
Osteoarthritis in pet guinea pigs: an update on diagnosis, treatment and management
Abstract
This article reviews the current literature on osteoarthritis in pet and laboratory guinea pigs. The associated clinical signs, diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis in pet guinea pigs will be discussed, with options for analgesia detailed. This condition is thought to be common in pet guinea pigs, even from an early age in some genetic lines, although osteoarthritis often goes undiagnosed in this species until advanced disease is present, posing a major welfare concern. Increasing awareness of this condition in veterinary practitioners should aid early diagnosis in pets and help improve their quality of life. Prevention may be possible using oral protective nutritional supplements to slow down the progression of this disease at an early stage. Lifestyle changes are also discussed for the management of this condition in pet guinea pigs.
Guinea pigs are popular pets in the UK, with estimated numbers of approximately 400 000, comprising 2% of the total pet population (Harrup and Rooney, 2020; Wills, 2020).
Osteoarthritis is commonly reported in many domestic animal species, but little information has been published regarding its prevalence in small mammal species (Redrobe, 2001; Keeble, 2006). Rabbits and guinea pigs have been used to develop osteoarthritis models in laboratory animal research (Arzi et al, 2012; Legrand et al, 2017). Reports suggest that the prevalence of this condition is high in small mammals, particularly in guinea pigs (Keeble et al, 2017).
Although there have been significant advances in recent years in the field of pet rabbit medicine, pet guinea pig conditions are unfortunately less well documented and our understanding of their treatment and prevention is more limited (Meredith, 2015). In a study of pet rabbits in Finland, the prevalence of osteoarthritis affecting the distal limbs was found to be 2.4% with a significantly greater occurrence in older rabbits (>3 years old) (Mäkitaipale et al, 2015). This study also reported that 3.6% of rabbits were found to have facet joint osteoarthritis of the vertebral column.
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