Red Star
Junior Guinea Pig
I figured I'd just post this out of curiosity. TO be clear, we have already taken Nibbles to the vet and we seemed to have resolved the issue, so he is not currently sick.
But I'm posting still because our vet seemed to be fairly unfamiliar with the problem, and just took a shot in the dark--one that thankfully seemed to help. But, I wanted to put my feelers out there in case any of you out here on this lovely sight have seen this before and could perhaps enlighten me as to what actually happened beyond "well maybe this is it!" which is what the vet seemed to do.
Anywho, about a month or so ago, I came downstairs to check on Agent Nibbles (he is a 5.5 year old male guinea pig, and had recently lost his bonded cagemate about a week or two prior). He was sitting in an odd corner of his cage, and twitching, repeatedly, like a metronome.
It was very disturbing to me, and he wouldn't stop doing so; he also seemed limp and mostly unresponsive when he was picked up. He DID eat lettuce though, when it was put in front of him. At the time, we called the vet and set up an emergency appointment for an hour and a half later. He continued to twitch the entire time.
The vet said it looked like he was having a seizure but it was extremely strange that it would last so freakin' long! He was twitching even during the vet visit. Altogether I think he'd been twitching at least 3+ hours. They gave him a dose of anti-seizure medication and it seemed to calm him somewhat. But even after the medication, he continued to very lightly twitch. The vet just bluntly said they had no idea what the heck was wrong, and sent us home with some anti-biotics just on the pure off-chance that it was an ear infection, but to come back if it didn't get better.
For the next two days he seemed out of it (the anti-seizure was a sedative), and would begin twitching again anytime we picked him up. After that, he stopped twitching and gradually came around until he seemed to be perfectly fine again!
The weirdest thing is that now that that whole ordeal is over, he seems to be .... less skittish? He would run from us before this whole thing started, and now he's totally chill and okay with being handled.
As far as we can tell he's back to being as healthy as he can be. He doesn't eat hay as much as he used to...but he eats pellets, veggies, and everything else.
Has anyone experienced something like this before? Did your vet offer any explanation? Our theory is that he had a stroke, based on his behavioral changes and everything else, but we really just don't have any idea.
But I'm posting still because our vet seemed to be fairly unfamiliar with the problem, and just took a shot in the dark--one that thankfully seemed to help. But, I wanted to put my feelers out there in case any of you out here on this lovely sight have seen this before and could perhaps enlighten me as to what actually happened beyond "well maybe this is it!" which is what the vet seemed to do.
Anywho, about a month or so ago, I came downstairs to check on Agent Nibbles (he is a 5.5 year old male guinea pig, and had recently lost his bonded cagemate about a week or two prior). He was sitting in an odd corner of his cage, and twitching, repeatedly, like a metronome.
It was very disturbing to me, and he wouldn't stop doing so; he also seemed limp and mostly unresponsive when he was picked up. He DID eat lettuce though, when it was put in front of him. At the time, we called the vet and set up an emergency appointment for an hour and a half later. He continued to twitch the entire time.
The vet said it looked like he was having a seizure but it was extremely strange that it would last so freakin' long! He was twitching even during the vet visit. Altogether I think he'd been twitching at least 3+ hours. They gave him a dose of anti-seizure medication and it seemed to calm him somewhat. But even after the medication, he continued to very lightly twitch. The vet just bluntly said they had no idea what the heck was wrong, and sent us home with some anti-biotics just on the pure off-chance that it was an ear infection, but to come back if it didn't get better.
For the next two days he seemed out of it (the anti-seizure was a sedative), and would begin twitching again anytime we picked him up. After that, he stopped twitching and gradually came around until he seemed to be perfectly fine again!
The weirdest thing is that now that that whole ordeal is over, he seems to be .... less skittish? He would run from us before this whole thing started, and now he's totally chill and okay with being handled.
As far as we can tell he's back to being as healthy as he can be. He doesn't eat hay as much as he used to...but he eats pellets, veggies, and everything else.
Has anyone experienced something like this before? Did your vet offer any explanation? Our theory is that he had a stroke, based on his behavioral changes and everything else, but we really just don't have any idea.
