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Dizzy pig?

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taram

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I wonder has anyone come across this before: basically pig with low body temp, possibly dizziness, leg weakness.

She's about 4 years old, I've had her for nearly 2 of those years, kept indoors on megazorb.

She had lost about 40-50g during the week so I was keeping an eye on her, and had gone off her food a bit. I popped her onto the floor for floortime on Sunday morning and she fell over onto her front, like her legs had buckled. I set her right, but then she fell over sideways, but got up after a second. She wandered around the cage like she was dizzy? I took her to the vet straight away, and she was there until this evening. She's now on Baytril and is acting more like her usual self and has put some of the weight back on with syringe feeding. The only symptom the vet could see was her body temp was slightly low.

Vet has no idea what it was, but hopes the Baytril will flush anything that could be brewing. Anyone had this problem before?
 
I've not come across this before but my instinct says ear infection if there's a loss of balance. Is your vet experienced with guinea pigs?
 
I agree with katiepops that it may be an ear infection. When Gilbert had an ear infection, he kept falling over, but I don't remember his body temperature being low. He did lose weight though. Does she have a head tilt? That usually indicates an ear infection.
 
I would guess an ear infection. Does your piggy let you touch her ears and can you see a discharge from either of them? Does your piggy hold her head on one side? Is your piggy eating and drinking? If not (and you did mention some weight loss so this is probably the case) then you will need to regularly syringe water to keep her from getting dehydrated. You will also need to syringe her something called critical care which your vet should be able to give you. If you need something quickly and her feed is nuggets rather than museli then you can soften it into a paste with warm water and syringe that into her to keep her strength up.

Ear infections are very painful so I would recommend getting pain relief from a vet. Metacam is the only one I know. As your vet doesn't seem all that cavy savvy maybe someone could recommend a good one near you.

Amy
x
 
taram said:
I wonder has anyone come across this before: basically pig with low body temp, possibly dizziness, leg weakness.

She's about 4 years old, I've had her for nearly 2 of those years, kept indoors on megazorb.

She had lost about 40-50g during the week so I was keeping an eye on her, and had gone off her food a bit. I popped her onto the floor for floortime on Sunday morning and she fell over onto her front, like her legs had buckled. I set her right, but then she fell over sideways, but got up after a second. She wandered around the cage like she was dizzy? I took her to the vet straight away, and she was there until this evening. She's now on Baytril and is acting more like her usual self and has put some of the weight back on with syringe feeding. The only symptom the vet could see was her body temp was slightly low.

Vet has no idea what it was, but hopes the Baytril will flush anything that could be brewing. Anyone had this problem before?
Click to expand...

You did the right thing with her taking her to the vets. Not too sure on what it would be though. Are you sure your vet is experienced with guinea pigs? If he didn't know what it was then maybe you should try another vets? :))
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm giving her critical care twice daily (she's still 35g under her normal weight), she's picking at her nuggets and hay and she's quite happy to take salad leaves as well, but needs to be prompted, unlike her usual ear-shattering wheek whenever I even go into the kitchen. She's drinking okay, but my partner is working from home to keep an eye on her today and give her an extra dose of veg and critical care at lunch.

Vet thought ear infection too at first but her ears aren't warm or hurt her to touch them, and her head isn't tilted, just her body. Neither the vet nor my partner or I have seen her tip over again, or any outward symptoms besides being not having her usual appetite, and being a bit subdued. She's not sitting miserable in a corner, just not as excited by things like veg or someone sitting by her cage.

This vet was reccomended to me and I've been very happy with their treatment for my other pigs, but those were quite common pig issues like mange, bladder stones etc. I'll ring for pain meds, she had been given some on Sunday/Monday but I didn't get any to bring home for her, just Baytril.

I travel an hour to this vets, I live in Horncastle in Lincolnshire, I'm very happy to travel however far to get care for her if anyone has a suggestion, I have a car.
 
Hi there, I am certainly no expert but this sounds identical to what our Sid had going on. The vet suspected an ear infection so he had an injection of antibiotics (Baytril - from reading other threads not as popular as other AB) and a 2 week course twice daily of 0.2ml. He did go off his food a bit but after a few days he was improving and after a week he was back to his old self. Hope this helps and all the best for your piggy.
 
I wouldn't rule out an ear infection just yet. Did the vet look deep inside the ear? It wasn't until my vet did that that she was able to see a problem. My piggy also was very floppy, falling to one side and weak. He took a couple of weeks to improve and the metacam made him think he was perfectly alright even when he was falling everywhere trying to popcorn.

Another suggestion, and don't panic hearing this because it sounds worse than it is, was our vets original idea that he may have had a stroke or something neurological wrong. It is also possible that your piggy might have ear mites which have caused an infection.

Sometimes these things are very hard to diagnose. I would try to make toys and interesting things for her to play with to perk her up. Other than that I cannot suggest a vet near you. If you ever need to chat we are all here.

Amy
x
 
Hi everyone,

She's back to her normal weight and normal behaviour now. Keeping a close eye on her, fingers crossed it's all cleared up, she's back for a check up next weekend. Thanks for all the advice.
 
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