• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Brain damage

A

Ashy101

New Born Pup
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
20
Hi there! I just started this account but I have a question. 2 weeks ago, I got three skinny pigs. I noticed one had a crooked head but since I’m a first time piggy owner, I didn’t think it was An issue. But then, my little pigs head got super titled and his one eye is always closed or squinty. So I took him to the vet, and the vet thinks it’s brain damage (can’t know for sure since i will need 3000$ in scans... which I can’t afford( he crawls with his knees touching the ground and he runs into things a lot. I asked if the vet thought it was an ear infection or an URI but he said no.... anyways, my question is, how long do guinea pigs with brain damage live for? The vet didn’t give me a solid answer, so does anyone else have experience with this?
 
Did your vet check your piggy ears? A nasty head tilt can happen for a number of reasons and can be distressing to see it.
Neurological issues can happen whether they are more common with skinnies I don’t know. However I would want to ensure that the inbalance is not the cause of ear issues.One sign of neuro issue is of one of the eyes is not responsive to the touch.
Maybe someone has other ideas?
 
I would advise a second opinion from a different vet to be honest, just to be sure. Does your piggies head bob up and down? Thats a pretty good sign of damage to the brain. One of mine has neurological damage, she has a tilt, had nerve damage that affected her left eye and was unable to walk properly for a while. She will be 3 in December and will have lived with her damage for 2 years and shows no signs of slowing down so they can live reasonably normal life spans. Depending on what's caused the issue and whether it is treated of course. I'd be wanting to try metacam, antibiotics and panacur at the very least which is reasonably inexpensive. Bramble never had any scans or anything done to confirm it as it was obvious from her behaviour.
 
I agree on the second opinion @Ashy101 . I know of a pig that had really bad head tilt a couple of months ago. She was also walking round and round in circles and falling over a lot as her balance was shot.

She's on a long course of Zithromax and is much better. She no longer circles and her head tilt is almost gone. She still has issues with her eyes looking different but the Zithromax has worked wonders.

I would definitely push for a trial of antibiotics.
 
I agree on a second opinion.
My piggie had a neurological issue which gave him a head tilt however after about 6 weeks he made a full recovery.
We did give him pain relief and antibiotics just in case during this time also.
I would suggest you see another vet who specialises in Guinea Pigs.
 
I agree above in regard to treating for a potential infection of the inner ear, or even the brain. There may be an acute problem that could be dangerous to the piggie if not treated, so I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it's a chronic, untreatable problem without ruling out acute problems first.
 
Defo consider E. Cuniculi too! It's not as common in pigs as it is in bunnies, but one boar we had did have it, and he had a prescribed course of Panacur and healed up well :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top