Jerky Movements

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I've had quite a few pigs over the years but through bad luck or bad ownership I've never had a pig over 6 years old.

So all is new with Anselmo. He's around 6.5, and is pretty healthy despite his bladder issues (he's had 2 stone surgeries) and has bad arthritis. He moves around alot, interacts with me and loves his food.

However over the past few weeks I've noticed that his movements are quite jerky. I've had a pig before who had a stroke and so had poor coordination and he moves like that. For example if he can smell food his head snakes all over the place.

But, he doesn't actually have poor coordination. He can walk perfectly in a straight line, he can pick up food fine and can find the syringe first try when I'm giving him his Metacam. It's just like he goes into fast forward or something.

I'm not overly concerned as he's eating fine and his weight is stable and good, but I just wondered if anyone had experienced anything like it before?
 
Is it just his head that shakes? What colour eyes does he have? Head shaking could be him struggling to focus if he's loosing some of his eye sight and is quite common in red/pink eyed animals as well.
 
That makes sense! Yeah it's just his head. He's been slowly losing vision in one eye for a few years now. That's one of the reasons why we think he doesn't like other pigs being around him anymore.

He's got brown eyes, but has had pea eye for at least 2 years.

Thank you! :D
 
Jaycey said:
I've had quite a few pigs over the years but through bad luck or bad ownership I've never had a pig over 6 years old.

So all is new with Anselmo. He's around 6.5, and is pretty healthy despite his bladder issues (he's had 2 stone surgeries) and has bad arthritis. He moves around alot, interacts with me and loves his food.

However over the past few weeks I've noticed that his movements are quite jerky. I've had a pig before who had a stroke and so had poor coordination and he moves like that. For example if he can smell food his head snakes all over the place.

But, he doesn't actually have poor coordination. He can walk perfectly in a straight line, he can pick up food fine and can find the syringe first try when I'm giving him his Metacam. It's just like he goes into fast forward or something.

I'm not overly concerned as he's eating fine and his weight is stable and good, but I just wondered if anyone had experienced anything like it before?
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Fast onset cataracts, ear infection/waxy ears (head shaking) and Arthritis Comes to mind. It may not be a bad idea to have him vet checked at his old Age.
 
Wiebke said:
Fast onset cataracts, ear infection/waxy ears (head shaking) and Arthritis Comes to mind. It may not be a bad idea to have him vet checked at his old Age.
Click to expand...

Thanks @Wiebke ! He saw Kim and Simon at the beginning of November to have a cyst removed from his cheek so they're monitoring his issues. But his jerky head has been since then so I'll definitely mention when he's there for a medicine top up!
 
You're definitely right about his eyesight @Flutterby! He spent quite a bit of time out of the cage with me today so I've had a good look at him.

In normal light his eyes seem fine but when he's in the sun his right eye has a tiny cloud in the centre and the pupil reflects a silver colour. So I would say that his eyesight in that eye is definitely not 100%.

His left one seems okay but I'll get it checked next time we see the vet.

It makes me sad watching him wave his head around but it doesn't seem to bother him and he knows his way around his cage perfectly still. He can still find his food still, the little monster!

Here he is enjoying the fleece blanket my Mum got them for Xmas.

20161226_144734.webp
 
Aww, poor little dude. Its not nice watching them age. At least he's got you to love him though :)
 
Yeah, he's doing brilliantly well, I can tell by how much he loves his food. And I appreciate the time we have with him as my previous vet wrote him off after his second bladder stone surgery two years ago!
 
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