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Can't Figure Out What's Wrong, Any Guesses/experience?

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Mellowdee

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Our 10 month old piggy, Fiona, has red, watery, slightly sunken eyes, and swollen ears (they aren't red, scratched, crusty, etc. They just seem "fat").

She is eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, active, and alert.

We took her to the vet on the first day we noticed these symptoms (Saturday, 3 days ago). Her temperature is normal, no swelling in the abdomen. The vet agreed that her eyes appear red and sunken, and that something is wrong with her ears, but since there are no scratches, or redness, she couldn't tell what was wrong.

Besides the ears and eyes, she seems perfectly healthy. We were told to just keep an eye on her.

It's 3 days later and her symptoms are exactly the same. No improvement, but not getting worse.

I have no idea what to think, so in case of allergy or something similar, we stopped using shavings and are using fleece and towels in her cage. I'm only giving romaine lettuce, Timothy hay, and pellets, and will see if there's any improvement before reintroducing new veggies.

She currently has a new friend that we introduced about 6 weeks ago. She seems perfectly healthy. I haven't separated them yet. Not sure if I need to.

And a bit of background. 2 months ago, Fiona's sister (not from the same litter) that we adopted her with got a high fever, had a seizure and died. We had done xrays and something was wrong with her tummy, but needed more more information for a diagnosis. I'm so paranoid that whatever was wrong with Laila, is now happening to Fiona. Would it be possible even though it's 2 months later?

Sorry this is so long, but I know how quickly things can take a turn for the worse with piggies, so I'm super worried.

Help or advice?
 
I am sorry to hear this. Hopefully someone will be along to answer soon. Have you looked at the vet locator to find your nearest piggy savvy vet.
 
Hi, do you know if your vet is cavy savvy? If you can update your location on your profile to give us an idea of country and area you are based we can be more specific to where you can get the best help.

Tagging @Wiebke as one of the health experts
 
@Pebble @Elwickcavies

Could you please add your country, state or for the UK your county or city to your details, so we can help you better? Click on your username on the top bar then go to personal details and scroll down to location. Thanks!

I have not come across that combination of symptoms (and by the sound of it, either has your vet); you may need to see a small animal specialist if you can get to one. We have got a UK piggy savvy vet locator on the top bar. The sunken eyes point to pain and some swelling going on in the whole head area, which is mostly visible around the eyes and ears.

It is always worse when a piggy develops a health issue not so very long after you have lost one. As long as you do not have a diagnosis, it is impossible to make any guesses as to whether or not there are any connections. I would however exclude a connection with Laila's passing.
 
I have come across one cause that affects eyes and ears like this gviven your description of events - you need your vet to take swabs to culture for antimicrobial resistance - from eyes/ears/throat
Your labs specifically need to rule out/select for Chlamydia and Pseudomonas
HTH
x
 
I agree with Pebble. Sounds like infection. I would go back to a vet as soon as possible.
 
I'm in Southern California, US.

My regular vet doesn't see exotics, so I just called around and found one that does. We have an appointment for tomorrow at 3.

Should I separate my pigs? Or, would it be too late, anyway?
 
Update!

The vet suspects early stages of scurvy. I feel horrible, but glad it's fixable.

She has never seen/heard of the ears being swollen like they are, so prescribed benadryl to see if that helps. She also prescribed an antibiotic for her eyes, just incase there's an infection.

Fiona is 5 pounds (not overweight according to the vet, just a very large piggy), so the amount of vitamin c she gets is not enough. She said to get chewable vitamin c tabs, and give 100mg per day, in addition to vitamin c rich veggies.

Here's hoping this works! Thanks for your advice, everyone!
 
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