• 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

Floppy guinea pig

Status
Not open for further replies.
pippinskyblue

pippinskyblue

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
252
Reaction score
2
Points
150
Location
Warwickshire UK
Hi, I have been away for a 5 days and returned tonight to find one of my piggies just laying on her side, she cant stand up, shes seems to be quite strong and eats anything I offer her, I have given her some water via a syringe as she cant get to her water bottle, I have her inside with her cage mate, over the last few months she has had spates of leaning to one side then she seemed ok again and was running around as normal. Now she is just lying there and of course weeing and pooping where she lies. I was thinking maybe she had had a stroke but wheni pick her up although shes floppy she can move all her legs albeit not enough to be able to stand up. Could this be some form of ear infection? as I'm sure I read some where that ear infections can cause loss of balance. She looks so sorry for herself bless her. She is alert though.she can lift her head and she tries to hold food in her front paws. Obvioulsy I will get her to the vet tomorow but just wondering if anyone else had ever had this. Shes about 5 years old and I took her in along with her cage mate about 18 months ago whne her previous owners wanted to re-home them. They have both been fine up ntil this incident. Thanks
 
I don't think I'd wait until tomorrow for the vets, have they got an emergency number you could call?
 
This sounds like a real emergency. I would get her to a vet right now.
 
She needs a vet now...
When you went away for five days who was caring for the pigs...?
If they haven't been fed or watered it could be dehydration and gut statis...
Or a stroke or any mannor of things...
Your pig needs a vet now... Please take her...
x
 
AndreaJane said:
I don't think I'd wait until tomorrow for the vets, have they got an emergency number you could call?
Click to expand...

I cant find one I have looked, I have sat nursing her, and she seems to like that, I did see a piece of hay poked down her ear which I removed with tweezers. Her breathing seems pretty normal, and she is eating and drinking - although through a syringe for her water. her food is virtually by her nose so she can reach and munch away.
 
As others have said, you need to call the emergency vet for advice at least.

If you don't know the number for your emergency vet, call your normal vets number and there'll be an answer phone message with either a number to call, or options to press 1 or whatever, if you need to speak to someone about an emergency. All vets have some kind of emergency service, whether it's them, or they refer you to another practice.

This cannot wait until tomorrow for veterinary advice.

Good luck
 
As Amanda has already said, your usual vet should have emergency numbers on their answer phone, please call them now. Piggies can go downhill rapidly. x
 
claremw92 said:
She needs a vet now...
When you went away for five days who was caring for the pigs...?
If they haven't been fed or watered it could be dehydration and gut statis...
Or a stroke or any mannor of things...
Your pig needs a vet now... Please take her...
x
Click to expand...

NO I didnt leave them unattended........ I have 5 piggies altogether and the rest of them are fine. My Son and his girlfriend stayed at mine to look after my pets....... so they are definately not dehydrated....... I was thinking stroke myself....
 
AndreaJane said:
As Amanda has already said, your usual vet should have emergency numbers on their answer phone, please call them now. Piggies can go downhill rapidly. x
Click to expand...

I'm on to it right now...... I know I have had piggies for 14 years and not come across this before...... I had one piggy who was fine on saturday, sunday morning she seemed under the whether foned the vet to make an apointment went to get her out and she had died within a few minutes of me phoning the vet.....
 
Amanda1801 said:
As others have said, you need to call the emergency vet for advice at least.

If you don't know the number for your emergency vet, call your normal vets number and there'll be an answer phone message with either a number to call, or options to press 1 or whatever, if you need to speak to someone about an emergency. All vets have some kind of emergency service, whether it's them, or they refer you to another practice.

This cannot wait until tomorrow for veterinary advice.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Ive rung my normal vet and there was another number on the answer phone for emergencies..... Rang that and the vet is out on another call, I have left my number asking them to call me asap......... fingers crossed
 
As you clearly already know they're always finding new ways to surprise us with unexplained and distressing symptoms we've never come across. (((((hugs))))) Hope you can get to the bottom of this and help her. x
 
pippinskyblue said:
I'm on to it right now...... I know I have had piggies for 14 years and not come across this before...... I had one piggy who was fine on saturday, sunday morning she seemed under the whether foned the vet to make an apointment went to get her out and she had died within a few minutes of me phoning the vet.....
Click to expand...

Good luck. The vet may well decide that if she's bright enough, that it can wait until tomorrow, but best to call to be certain :)
 
AndreaJane said:
As you clearly already know they're always finding new ways to surprise us with unexplained and distressing symptoms we've never come across. (((((hugs))))) Hope you can get to the bottom of this and help her. x
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'm waiting a call from the vet, as hes out on another emergency.... meanwhile I will sit nursing her.... she seems happy with that..... If I could drive I would have been down banging on the vets door ! On the plus side she still seems her old self........... shes munching away on carrot strips... so on that point I'm quite positive that its just an ear infection.
 
Oh that is good news, that she's munching crunchy food. It's so upsetting when they won't even eat their favourite food and then start refusing Critical Care too. 8...
I'm keeping everything crossed for you that it's an ear infection that can be cleared up fairly quickly. I would imagine that it would cause quite bad vertigo, which I have suffered from and it is horrible, makes it impossible to move even an inch without everything spinning so I can understand her being floppy if this is the case.
Hope the vet doesn't take too long. x
 
AndreaJane said:
Oh that is good news, that she's munching crunchy food. It's so upsetting when they won't even eat their favourite food and then start refusing Critical Care too. 8...
I'm keeping everything crossed for you that it's an ear infection that can be cleared up fairly quickly. I would imagine that it would cause quite bad vertigo, which I have suffered from and it is horrible, makes it impossible to move even an inch without everything spinning so I can understand her being floppy if this is the case.
Hope the vet doesn't take too long. x
Click to expand...

She is munching n crunching away like theres nothing wrong with her! you wouldnt think there was until you pick her up n shes floppy, I ask my son if she was like it yesterday he said i dont know i fed them their greens, pellets n gave them fresh hay & water but I didnt look at them that closely..... Men eh? oooooooh phone
 
Floppy piggy

Right folks, have spoken to the vet, he asked me a few questions like was she alert? was she dehydrated? are her eyes sunken etc, I said yes shes alert, and shes munching away and I'm syringe feeding her water, he seems to think its an ear infection... he said to keep her warm and keep up the water... if she deteriorates then call him back, he seemed positive because shes eating and her breating isnt laboured.... I have to take her in first thing.... so fingers crossed everyone that shes gonna be ok once on medication .... thanks for your support.. by the way her name is brownie xx ooh i never thought to ask him how much water and how often i should be giving it her.... anyone any ideas?
 
Last edited:
I don't know about the amount of water, I'd offer it to her at a regular intervals and see if she wants any, if she's alert and eating she should be able to decide how much she wants herself, surely? It seems like her main problem at the moment would be getting to the water bottle so you'll just need to be on hand as nursemaid if she gets thirsty. Good luck in the morning, finger's crossed for Brownie. x
 
AndreaJane said:
I don't know about the amount of water, I'd offer it to her at a regular intervals and see if she wants any, if she's alert and eating she should be able to decide how much she wants herself, surely? It seems like her main problem at the moment would be getting to the water bottle so you'll just need to be on hand as nursemaid if she gets thirsty. Good luck in the morning, finger's crossed for Brownie. x
Click to expand...


I am just having a cuppa myself then I'm going to offer her some water, i will then set my alarm for 2 hours time to see if she wants anymore... doubt if i will sleep thou i will be checking on her every 5 mins! I will keep you updated tomorow, I have to get her to the vets around 9 and the myself and my daughters have the dentist at 10.30 in the next town, I have to do some shopping also so it could be tomorrow eveing before i can update you all. thank you all so much for your help and advice. xx :)
 
Glad we were here to help. It can be lonely late at night when you've got a poorly piggie to worry about and you feel like everyone's gone to bed. Sounds like a hectic day tomorrow, I'll keep an eye out in the evening for any updates. x
 
Whee would like to send some healing wheeeeeeeeeks too XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Good luck at the vets.....let's hope the meds clear things up quickly!
 
Update

I left Brownie at the vets this morning as the vet was running a late and I needed to get the bus to the next town to get the kids to the dentist. I did speak to the vet before I left her there to explain what was happeneing to her. I have to go back at 2.15 to see what the situation is........... fingers crossed
 
UPDATE ON BROWNIE : Not good news but not bad news either.....YET!..... basically the vet said shes hasn't had a stroke, it at the best could be a middle/inner ear infection or it could be more sinister, it could be something to do with her brain... she said she has feeling in all her limbs although a little more rigid on one side. which could indicate a brain problem... but then she also said the fact that shes alert and munching away indicates it could be just an ear infection she said her kidneys seemed a litle large also. Basically she said we had 2 options one was to put her to sleep the other was to give her a shot of antibiotics and also a steriod injection, to give her a chance..... of course that was the option I took..... she has to go back tomoro at 9am. If she is showing signs of improvement and is trying to stand and shuffle about then the antibiotics will continue..... however, if there is no change then it seems it could be the more sinister of the two, in which case the vet said she will never recover and the kindest thing would be to put her to sleep as the rest of her life would be laying in one spot not beng able to move. The vet said shes amazed shes wanting to eat and on that reason she said its worth giving her a chance be it only a tiny % that she could get through this. She said shes definately a fighter and a proper little character. Shes home now with her cage mate as the vet said they would be fine together, shes had a bath as she had been laying in her own wee n poo, so shes all clean n fresh, and although shes still laying down shes happily munching away on her ple of food she has by her side. I syringe feed her water every 2 hours and she has some vitamin drops in that. So fingers crossed and a waiting game...........
 
Oh I am so sorry to hear this. I really hope she begins to improve. Is it the vet who told you to syringe feed her water every two hours? I have not heard of that before.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top