Specialist Does my guinea pig keep having Strokes?

[Matrix2019]

Hi everyone my name I saw Stephanie and my little man Matrix is solid black with black eyes. He is my 1st guinea. Matrix is about 9 months old and isn’t growning very fast. In April I took him to the vet here and was told he needed to be put down because he had a severe case of upper respiratory infection and being of pheumonia. I agreed with upper respiratory infection but not so much phenomena. Vet seemed like the only thin he wanted to do for him was put him down. My heart broke as I was rushed with the option to go home and treat him with prescribed antibiotics and whatever else I could do to comfort him. I took him home stayed up searching for ways to help him. Some of you may not agree and please do not try it as I’ve read bad reviews of this. That same day we went to vet later that nite he’s breathing, coughing, and wheezing had got so bad. I panicked as I new he was struggling to take his last breathes I ran for my daughters breathing machine and grabbed a tube and made an oxygen tube for his nose which we began blowing air in to help him breathe and my husband started a breathing treatment on him. Balling my eyes out I had no idea if this would make it worse or better. I have not read any good review on breathing machines used on guineas but I did anyways. It seemed to help. Just gave a small tiny dose which helped a ton! I flew to Walmart and bought pedi lite, Benabac, vetrx, and apple pumpkin organic baby food. Rushed home and mixed the powder benebac with the baby food and syringe feed him 4xs a day, every 2 hours water, and breathing treatments 2xs a day. After 2 long upsetting days he was showing almost full improvement. After 5 days he was back to normal and showed no signs of any illness. This morning I go to up to go get him and he was limp, huge eyes, and trying to run out of my hands while carrying him. I got him on the bed and he kept looking straight up at me and was like he was Collings something in the air then would take off to hide. His fur is puffed up and he acts like he doesn’t no how to drink or what anything in his cage is? Are these signs of a stroke? Please help. Went to vet and he said nothing is wrong. This is the only exotic vet here. No ear infection either. Thank you and sorry for the long post.

 

[GPTV]

Sorry I can't really help as his condition doesn't sound exactly like anything I've experienced before with mine.

But members on here have used nebulisers before with some success, so the extra oxygen has probably helped him

If he's puffed up he is probably experiencing some pain or discomfort, if you can get the vet to prescribe some painkillers it will probably help him (Guineas are reluctant to eat when in pain or having difficulty breathing) loxicom/metacam is usually prescribed for its painkilling&anti inflammatory qualities.

He needs to get food into him, to help prevent gut stasis, even if u can pour some boiling water on his regular food pellets & leave to cool (or to slightly warm) then mush them up.
If he's now having breathing problems it's probably better/safer to get him to try eating it off of a spoon or your finger, than attempting to syringe feed.

If he's going limp, I'm afraid he does sound quite poorly.

What do you mean by 'huge eyes'?

One of my girls Grace I think had a stroke, she did have a couple of seizures (as though she was running to rainbow Bridge) & then would flop on to her side & sleep for a while.
She was around 6yrs old though.
I took her to the vets the day of the seizures, she had a massive one in the car & was very floppy when I got there. It was agreed the kindest thing I could do was to help her on her final journey

If your vet thinks there is nothing wrong with him, then hopefully he's not too bad. But if you could get a second opinion from another vet I definitely would! I know in the States vets are hard to find & usually expensive, but I personally would be cautious of the current vet if PTS is the first option for a URI that you had originally.

Sorry I'm not much help, but fingers crossed for a full & speedy recovery. Hopefully one of the health experts will be able to help.
Big hug for you at this difficult time
Xx

Edit... Quick afterthought... If you're Texas based is the weather hot or humid at the moment? Try not to let him over heat as this could cause him to be limp and lethargic too. Try adding a bottle filled with cold water, with a towel/face cloth wrapped round it to help cool him down.
Or just a damp towel over the top of the cage should help too. Xx

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, sending you both hugs at this difficult time, hoping he recovers soon x

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone my name I saw Stephanie and my little man Matrix is solid black with black eyes. He is my 1st guinea. Matrix is about 9 months old and isn’t growning very fast. In April I took him to the vet here and was told he needed to be put down because he had a severe case of upper respiratory infection and being of pheumonia. I agreed with upper respiratory infection but not so much phenomena. Vet seemed like the only thin he wanted to do for him was put him down. My heart broke as I was rushed with the option to go home and treat him with prescribed antibiotics and whatever else I could do to comfort him. I took him home stayed up searching for ways to help him. Some of you may not agree and please do not try it as I’ve read bad reviews of this. That same day we went to vet later that nite he’s breathing, coughing, and wheezing had got so bad. I panicked as I new he was struggling to take his last breathes I ran for my daughters breathing machine and grabbed a tube and made an oxygen tube for his nose which we began blowing air in to help him breathe and my husband started a breathing treatment on him. Balling my eyes out I had no idea if this would make it worse or better. I have not read any good review on breathing machines used on guineas but I did anyways. It seemed to help. Just gave a small tiny dose which helped a ton! I flew to Walmart and bought pedi lite, Benabac, vetrx, and apple pumpkin organic baby food. Rushed home and mixed the powder benebac with the baby food and syringe feed him 4xs a day, every 2 hours water, and breathing treatments 2xs a day. After 2 long upsetting days he was showing almost full improvement. After 5 days he was back to normal and showed no signs of any illness. This morning I go to up to go get him and he was limp, huge eyes, and trying to run out of my hands while carrying him. I got him on the bed and he kept looking straight up at me and was like he was Collings something in the air then would take off to hide. His fur is puffed up and he acts like he doesn’t no how to drink or what anything in his cage is? Are these signs of a stroke? Please help. Went to vet and he said nothing is wrong. This is the only exotic vet here. No ear infection either. Thank you and sorry for the long post.

Hi and welcome

I am very sorry. It sounds like a serious neurological problem. Sadly there is generally no treatment.

I am linking in some medically more experienced members.
@Jaycey @furryfriends (TEAS) @Abi_nurse

 

[Abi_nurse]

Hello.
Sorry your pig has been poorly. I can't really make out exactly what is wrong with him from what you have discribed. Do you have any videos of his behaviour at all?
Abi