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Guinea head twitch. Help please!

AbbieMiddleton

AbbieMiddleton

Junior Guinea Pig
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Good morning,

I'm really desperate for some advice here, please. Last night Bumble seemed to develop some kind of head spasm. She's just over 3 years old, lives indoors on fleece bedding and due to the fact I spend all day every day with this little madam I can tell that it's a new and unwelcome development.

Yesterday she was adamant that she wanted to chew everything in the world, particularly wooden furniture, and it was completely out of character. After scooping her up because she absolutely would not stop chewing the table, I noticed that she couldn't stop bobbing her head! You know when piggies sniff the floor for a good poop or pee patch, they bob their heads and often look like they're quickly licking everything? It's like that and almost constant. She's been getting very angry about it as she can't seem to relax without the "bobbing" becoming very prominent and exaggerated. Nodding, essentially. She can control it to some extent as when she hears the fridge open or an unfamiliar noise she's very quick to stiffen and go still in order to listen out for snacks and/or predators.

I can't see anything in her mouth or ears. Clean, perfect, white teeth. She has no other symptoms that I can see and is drinking. However she does seem to be eating cautiously unless given fresh grass.

Any advice is hugely appreciated. She is currently at the emergency vets for a check up but I would like as many opinions on this as possible because I'm terrified.
 
I am sorry that Bumble is having problems right now, but well done for spotting them so quickly and getting her to the vet.

It could be an ear infection or jaw problem.
If her ear or jaw are troubling her then she might shake or bob her head, but that is the sort of thing that a vet should spot fairly quickly.
Hopefully the vet will come up with a solution and Bumble will be feeling better soon. :hug:
 
The vet has suggested that it's the early stages of a respiratory infection and that the head bobbing and chewing is a reflex to calm the sensation Bumble is experiencing from swollen glands. (Making her feel the need to "dislodge" what's making her throat uncomfortable.)

I'm nervous about that diagnosis because I've never seen these symptoms before with a respiratory infection. Runny nose, watery eyes, nose whistling and crackling lungs but not head bobbing?
 
She's been given Metacam and Baytril; one once a day, one twice a day. It's been implied that we may have inadvertently given her a cold that we've been suffering from ourselves. I didn't even know that was possible and I feel so stupid.

Could somebody please suggest any advice on getting Bumble to take her medication as she's being a pain in the bum. I've tried holding her firmly, Guinea towel burrito, distraction technique, Ribena; as the vet suggested but she won't stop thrashing and avoiding the syringe.
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
She's been given Metacam and Baytril; one once a day, one twice a day. It's been implied that we may have inadvertently given her a cold that we've been suffering from ourselves. I didn't even know that was possible and I feel so stupid.

Could somebody please suggest any advice on getting Bumble to take her medication as she's being a pain in the bum. I've tried holding her firmly, Guinea towel burrito, distraction technique, Ribena; as the vet suggested but she won't stop thrashing and avoiding the syringe.
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It's very tricky when they are determined to avoid the syringe, especially horrible tasting Baytril. All l do is basically hold their head still with my left hand, basically enclosing their head with my hand. Bring the syringe from the side in my right hand and slip the syringe into the gap between the front and back teeth. You have to mean business! Give the Baytril first and follow quickly with the tasty metacam. Good luck!
 
Thank you. I appreciate the advice. She utterly hates both and is so squirmy. It's very frustrating. My other girl, Pinky, loves medicine and I don't even have to hold her to use the syringe; most of the time she's looking forward to it with her mouth open! Bumble though.... She's Queen Bee and she bloomin' knows it and will not cooperate. I'll have to be much more firm.
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Thank you. I appreciate the advice. She utterly hates both and is so squirmy. It's very frustrating. My other girl, Pinky, loves medicine and I don't even have to hold her to use the syringe; most of the time she's looking forward to it with her mouth open! Bumble though.... She's Queen Bee and she bloomin' knows it and will not cooperate. I'll have to be much more firm.
Click to expand...
They sense your anxiety and play up!
 
That doesn't surprise me in the slightest. When she got back from the vet she simply marched across to me, giving me stink eye, and crawled into my clothes for an angry nap. (She likes napping on me.) I'm very much her obedient Guinea slave. Oh well, I'll get the hang of it. Hopefully. I feel like I get more of the medication down myself than in her mouth!
 
Getting Baytril into them can be a bit of an art, but it does get easier.
I currently have a rabbit on Baytril (they hate it too) and for the first couple of days I think I wore more than he took, but I have mastered the art of 'firm' now and it is going better.
Good luck with Bumble - it sounds like she feels better and a fiesty piggy is hard to deal with, but so much better than a quiet piggy.
 
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