5 y/o boar eyes twitching and body jerking in sleep

[squeakly]

Hi there, apologies for my inactivity. My twin boars Toby & George turned 5 a few days ago. It's early in the morning here, they're in their cage in the house and I was observing them. George was already sleeping until Toby woke him with a nudge. After a little while he went back on his side to go back to sleep and for some reason while he did this I got the sense that something wasn't right even though there was nothing out of the ordinary. After a short time his eyes began to move around, at first it was quite normal and I've heard about REM so I just thought he was dreaming. But then it sort of sped up until his eyes were frantically twitching, and then he began to jerk, particularly his head. I thought he was having a seizure so I made my sounds with my mouth that I use to get their attention and interact with them, but he didn't respond to that. However when I opened the cage door, he snapped out of it straight away and got up. I started petting him and he did that quick shake of the head that they do when they want you to get off them lol, but as he did that it triggered the jerking in the head and the eye twitching again, only for a split second though and he was still sat up during that. Then he's been completely normal after that, apart from when you get that sense that they are anxious and his teeth were chattering but I think that was because I had the cage door open with my head over him, and it's normal for them to sense bad energy at times, so I closed the door and he went back to sleep. His breathing is normal and he seems completely fine now. I am unsure as to wether he was just having a crazy dream or wether it was something serious because of how he responded to the cage door opening, but it seemed really concerning and abnormal, I have never seen him or Toby do this in the near 5 years they have lived with us. However once 2 and a half months ago, George did have this weird jerking spell, except it wasn't in the head or the eyes, it was more like his backend and torso area, like his tummy was jumping without his head if that makes any sense, he was completely conscious throughout that and it maybe lasted 30 seconds, then he was fine after that and I thought nothing of it. Does anyone have any clue as to what this could have been? Thank you

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

Unfortunately, all we can do is speculate but we cannot tell you what exactly is going on without direct access - and even then it is likely only going to be a guess.

Some piggies can move their body during dream phases (my Hywel woke himself up once rumble-strutting and bum wiggling in his sleep - which is what you may have observed) but none of us has the qualifications or knowledge to interpret with any degree of accuracy what you are describing.

Neurological aspects, whether that is illness or sleep in guinea pigs, are sadly notoriously under-researched in an already notoriously under-researched pet species.

 

[squeakly]

Hi

Unfortunately, all we can do is speculate but we cannot tell you what exactly is going on.

Some piggies can move their body during dream phases (my Hywel woke himself up once rumble-strutting and bum wiggling in his sleep) but none of us has the qualifications or knowledge to interpret with any accuracy what you are describing.

Neurology, whether that is illness or sleep in guinea pigs are sadly notoriously under-researched.

Okay, thanks for your reply anyway

 

[exia]

Like Wiebeke said, we can only speculate.

But I've had two boys that always have done this in their sleep. Bob did this from he was a baby until his death. He seemed to have very vivid dreams and even rumbled in his sleep.
Kongo is called mister Death nap and has scared me so many times because sometimes you can stomp, talk, smack your lips and he just dont care (until you put a very good smelling veggie in front of him. Then he walks up right away and runs to get it). My vet says some pigs just do this.

Best thing is to contact your vet if you're worried.

 

[Truffolo]

This is interesting! It's fascinating on here, we always hear something new If it gets worse then a vet exam would be good. But hopefully it won't progress. You have described it really well.