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Head tilt and sudden onset blindness

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Mollymurphy

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Hi there. I have 3 female guinea pigs. One looked a bit "off" on the 23rd, then on Christmas eve she developed a severe head tilt. I took her straight to the vets and she said that her pupils are non-responsive, which suggests it's not an ear infection. Is this right? She said it's likely to be a brain issue. We're treating for an infection (baytril twice daily and metacam once daily), but she said it may be a tumour.
There's not really been any improvement since. I'm having to syringe feed Recovery Plus into her because she can't/won't eat. She ate some celery last night, but that's all I've seen her eat. She can't really move. She just stays where you put her. I don't know what to do for the best. I was leaning towards having her put to sleep, but when she ate the celery I got optimistic and cancelled the appointment. Now she looks worse again.
Does anybody have any experience they can share? My vet didn't seem overly knowledgeable on guineas.
Thank you very much.

PS, she's about 3 years old, but she's a rescue and I don't know how confident they were with her age when I rehomed her, so she may be older/younger. I've had her for about 2 years.
 
You need to keep up the syringe feeds round the clock really, until she eats on her own again, which she probably won't until she is diagnosed and sorted. I think she would need a scan or xray to see what's going on. Il tag @furryfriends (TEAS), this seems her kind of field
 
Personally I would get her on a precautionary course of panacur, in case of E.cuniculi. it's possible that she improved a bit enough to eat the celery due to the metacam reducing the inflammation this causes in the brain, but as it won't kill the parasite it won't completely cure her if that's what it is. I had a very successful recovery with one piggy although she had neurological damage, partially blind and deaf. She was at the point of considering pts but with close monitoring she slowly began to improve.
 
I am sorry to hear she is unwell.
I agree with the previous posts.
Ensure you are syringe feeding her enough (every 2-3 hours day and night while she won’t eat at all - the guides linked in above explain how much food you need to get into her in a 24 hour period ). Keep a pile of hay next to her so she can get to it easily. Fibre (hay) needs to be the biggest part of her food so eating a piece of celery (while good that she has chosen to eat something herself) will not keep her body operating properly, this is why she needs access to hay and to be syringe fed very regularly.
Definitely speak to another vet about EC as eriathwen has advised before making any decisions about letting her go.
 
Hello again, thank you so much for your replies and apologies for mine being so delayed!
She's still here and has started eating a bit again by herself, so that's good. I have tried to get panacur since you recommend it, but have only just managed to get hold of it. I got the rabbit one. Pets At Home were reluctant to sell it to me, but after speaking to their vet, they eventually let me buy it. He said to dose the same as you would with rabbits, but that says 1 syringe graduation per 2.5kg bodyweight daily for 9 consecutive days. Is this still the case with guineas?
I will weigh her again today, but she was 950g at her last check.
Thank you again. :-)
 
9 days is a preventative course, not a treatment course. You'll want to do a 28 day course to actually see results if that's what she has. My vet advised 0.1ml once a day for 28 days for my most recent EC piggy, it was just a case of getting some 1ml syringes, pulling the plunger out, squirting 1 graduation in each syringe which lasted a few days. That being said, a different vet previously advised half a graduation once a day again for 28 days, both doses worked and did no harm and the pigs were similar weights. I'd wait for someone who knows exactly how much should be given for that weight but you'll definitely want to do a 28 day course rather than just 9 days. I have everything crossed for you both that it helps :)
 
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