• 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

Marmalade - head tilt

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mother Hubbard

Mother Hubbard

Forum Donator 2024/25
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
7,681
Reaction score
7,919
Points
1,605
Location
Bewdley, Worcs, England
You know that saying....never rains but pours?

I am in bed with a bad cold and neuralgia when heard some squealing.

Marmalade was telling Millie to go away, when I looked closer, she had head tilt, going round in circles. Grabbed Marm and dash back to bed and consulted the piggy bible I.e. forum, remembered reading stewys thread on the same issue, took the advice and dashed to vets. Remembering to get out go my pj's. Diagnosis was correct, the worrying part at 14 weeks it's rare to have a piggy with head tilt, no signs of ear mites, her eyes are affected and shows signs of a stroke. Vet was surprised.

Marms was young when I adopted her, she was quarantined correctly, and was advised that she didn't get on with other piggys. When I think back, she has been shaking her head a lot...thought it was over excited young piggy as I had checked her ears a few times and saw nothing. Vet said the same, couldn't see much.

I am at a loss to understand it.
Conclusion, she had a injection of Baytril, she will have another tomorrow and Friday.
I am keeping her quiet as I saw that stress will make her worse.:(
 
Aw honey, I am so sorry to hear about poor Marmalade, thinking of you not hand sending lots of gentle vibes.

I hope you feel better soon too. x
 
I have a piggy with head tilt, she was from a breeder, who didn't want her because of this. I think her head tilt may be different to your one though! Myka has an enlarged muscle on her left-hand side, so don't know if this causes the head tilt or vice versa, but she isn't in pain fortunately.
 
have you bathed her at all lately? a simple cause of the head tilt is that she got water in her ear should get better pretty soon though same as for us
 
Poor Marmalade, hope she is better soon, there are alot of cases of head tilt just lately, with no one being able to get to the bottom of the real cause of it, doesn't seem to be much info on the internet about it either.
Sending her healing vibes and a speedy recovery.:laluot_29:
 
I'm going through the same with Minky. She's two a half years old & came down with a head tilt 13 days ago. She had injections on the Friday & Saturday + an x-ray which just showed up a small white mass near her ear. My vet is certain that it's not mites but some sort of infection. I've taken her away from the other piggies & she's currently by herself in a 1.2m cage with everything at low level. I'm using a baby changing waterproof sheet which covers 3/4 of the cage with an igloo house at one end & soft paper bedding covered with lots of hay at the other end. All her food is just placed around the sides on the floor because she has had trouble eating from bowls. She has a water bottle but I don't think she can use it. She seems to be getting plenty of water via veggies & fresh grass but I'm also giving her a little more by syringe 3 times a day. She's on 0.5 ml of Baytril twice a day + 0.1 ml of Loxicom (down from 0.17 ml) once a day. She is showing slight signs of improvement but is a long way from normal. Her weight has been slightly up but I'm putting this down more to inactivity, not running around like normal. She seems happy enough in herself but doesn't want the other piggies around her as I tried her with 2 different piggies & she just gave out cries that I associate with her saying "keep out of my space". She's back at the vets next Thursday & we'll talk about maybe changing her treatment unless she improves rapidly in the next week. I was really worried sat first but she's coping with it & adjusting to it really well.

I hope that Marmalade improves too & that they'll both be well soon.
 
Thank you all. Thanks Stewybus for the information. I am concerned with her fluid intake too, she is eating veggies albeit slowly and I will eat her some cucumber today. I tried having her in bed with me for a few hours but it didn't help her, she became agitated so just tried syringe fed her water. Vets today for second injection.

She's such a tiny thing.
 
Best things to increase he water intake are cucumber, melon & even fresh grass though we haven't got many weeks of that left as I stop picking it once the ground frosts come.
 
Roger that Stewy,

Got food delivery today and plenty cucumbers.

She's had her second injection today. She's actually not as bad as she was but still has the same issue, I am hoping that by the weekend I will see an improvement but I sense this might take longer than I would like.
How is Minky today?
 
Ok update.
Marms had 3 injections of Baytril 0.3ml consecutively. Last one on Friday.

Head tilt gone, eyes are focussed. I put her back into her cage with Millie and Buttercup, as I didn't want to lose the bond.
However, and this is where I am confused. Marms squeals if any the other come near her or just when she's sat on her own. Not always. But I can still see she is shaking her head as if she has something irritating her ears.

Vet checked her ears, nothing. I am now thinking I might try some Surolan in her ears in case I just can't see any ear mites, which I appreciate could be the reason for the head tilt n the first place.

Any thoughts please?

She is eating and drinking and her poops are fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top