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Minky's got a Head Tilt.

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Stewybus said:
Thanks. When I got Minky out to give her meds & feed her, there seemed to be for par of the time, a slight improvement. She seems to be adapting to her mobility restrictions quite well. She's found a way to get to the poos that she eats by expressing them then turning round 180 degrees to eat them. She was eating at a less than 90 degree angle ie her head was tilted to just below 10 o'clock.

All her food in her cage is now on saucers as she's finding awkward to get her head into a bowl. I'm going to pop into my local charity shops when I get a bit of time & see if I can get some very shallow bowls or similar. On the whole, I feel a lot better about her today that yesterday when she seemed to be going downhill. It looks like she's past the worst. I find that she like to be on the floor so I just put a baby changing pad down on the carpet & it doesn't matter if she wees or poos.

Thanks again to all her well wishers.
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Thanks for the update, keeping my fingers crossed for speedy recovery.
 
Tonight something happened that gave me a lovely feeling. I'd had Minky out on the carpet while she ate her evening veggies & some dried food. When she'd had enough I took her to see the other girls & put her in the run for a couple of minutes to to let them know she's still around. I then took her out & gave her a cuddle. Her front foot was close to my hand & she moved it to the end of my little finger & gripped. It was a lovely feeling, as if she was reassuring me that she's not as bad as we think she is. I then put her on the sofa while I got some fresh grass. As I came through the door with the carrier bag she started wheeking like she normally does & that was really nice to hear too. She's back in her cage having a rest now but I feel a lot happier in the way she is responding.
 
Great to hear this - especially her holding on to your little finger.
 
She sounds like a strong little girl. Huge vibes to her for continuing health. x
 
I moved Minky out of the dog cage this morning into a 1m Guinea Pig Cage Base only. She can't climb at present so no problem with not having a top on but that will be rectified tomorrow when the 4 foster boars go back to the rescue. In the bottom of her new home I've put newspaper topped with soft paper bedding & hay at one end and for 2/3 it has a baby changing pad down. She finds it much easier to get around on a firmer flat base like this. I'll monitor on this today to se how she copes. It will also be easy to just take out the soiled pad & put a new one down. She's had her meds & a feed this morning & is resting in her nest now. She's moved the hay round just to how she wants it.
 
Thanks for the up-date.. Lets hope she is getting stronger.. hugs... x
 
Sorry for the late update today, haven't had a minute to spare since before 7 this morning. There's no real difference from yesterday. She's eating normally & wheeking when she hears the bag of fresh grass. I'm giving her water by syringe as she isn't managing the water bottle. She doesn't drink much while there's fresh grass on the go but this should change next month when the frosts come & we give up on fresh grass till the spring. I've been giving her eye drops once a day but she is blinking when I drop a drop into her eye so this might not be necessary but won't do any harm. She's managing to get around now that her floor area is much flatter & her tilt is averaging at about 90 degrees but sometimes she manages to sit with her head almost upright. She's also been cleaning herself so apart from the head tilt she's pretty normal. Will update again tomorrow.
 
Glad to hear she's still looking perky. Maybe a flatish dish for water would let her drink more independently? I know Mr & Mrs Sport_billy use one for Megan as she can't do bottles...

Eating and wheeking all sounds good :) Hugs to you and Minky, keep it up, you're doing fab. x
 
MerryPip said:
Glad to hear she's still looking perky. Maybe a flatish dish for water would let her drink more independently? I know Mr & Mrs Sport_billy use one for Megan as she can't do bottles...

Eating and wheeking all sounds good :) Hugs to you and Minky, keep it up, you're doing fab. x
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Sorry for delay in replying, I missed your post earlier. None of mine will entertain bowls of any kind & I've tried Minky since she got the head tilt but no joy. At present we've still got fresh grass but that will be finished once the frosts come which hopefully will be a while yet. She's getting her water content from the grass & things like lettuce, cucumber & melon.

sharonS said:
Just wondering how Minky is doing, hope she is well?
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Thanks Sharon, she's still pretty much the same but no worse. On a morning when I take her out of her cage after giving her her meds & put her on the floor with a small porcelain tray with her veggies. At times her head is almost upright but she seems to go back a 90 degree head tilt for a lot of the time. She's at the vets for a check-up tomorrow afternoon so I'm hoping we can maybe try something else to set her on the road to recovery. She's adapted well to the head tilt but sometimes has a little fight when I'm syringe feeding her meds. She's still on 0.5ml of Baytril twice a day & 0.1ml of Loxicom once a day. On days when she doesn't seem to of eaten much I give her 0.1ml of Fibreplex & this gets her eating. If the Baytril is going to be long term I may ask the vet for a prescription so that I can get a 100ml bottle of Baytril 2.5% Oral Solution from Vet UK at £20.28. The way I'm buying it a present in 20ml batches at £15.34. Vet UK also do a 100ml bottle of Baytril 10% solution for £52.04. I'm presuming that if I use the stronger mix I'll only need to give Minky 0.125ml twice a day. I'll see what the vet says. I'll try & give update tomorrow.
 
I took Minky to the vets this afternoon & she's been taken off her painkiller. She's to remain on the Baytril 0.5ml twice a day & doesn't need to go back for another month. She's still got the head tilt but has adjusted to it & is eating & drinking fine with small ups & downs on weight. She seems that she wants to be alone because she doesn't like it if I put one of the other girls with her. The vet, Dominika was very happy that she's been keeping herself clean, cleaner than normal really as she's been grooming herself quite often. It would be nice to put her in with the others but I think she'd struggle getting her fair share of food. It's now a case of wait & see, hopefully she'll start to improve but as long as she's like she is now she'll get all the attention she needs. Plenty of cuddles & treats.
 
Aww it is sad she wants to be alone but I can understand why. You are caring so well for her.
 
This morning she was looking a lot better with her head almost upright a sometimes. I don't know it this is willpower or if it's signs of her getting better. I put her with Minnie for breakfast. They ate together for a while then when they both went into their house, Minky bullied Minnie for a while before they settled down for 3/4 of an hour. I'm going to put Minky with a different piggie each day at breakfast time to keep their bonding intact. When I got Minnie from Beks she gave me a strawberry house that was Minnie's. I've been using this for Minky since her illness started. I've just taken delivery of another 2 which I got on eBay. She loves it because I think she likes to lie against the wall to keep her more upright. The houses are great, see them at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271193835...eName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 I was lucky, I got 2 for £17.16 but I think they got the postage wrong & the price is now £10.99 each including postage which is still good.
 
Glad to hear she is doing better :) bless she sounds like a strong willed girl :). I love the strawberry house...thanks for link...may have to get a couple on payday :P
 
Better news on Minky. On Saturday I put her on the floor with Minnie & Mitch. She wasn't pushed out from the food in fact she was the bossy one. I decided to try her with all 4 piggies in the big run & she seemed to thrive. I had to put food down on ground level for her because she couldn't jump up to the second level even with the help of a wooden block. She was OK with the rest but I was worried that Mother & Mousey were maybe taking more of her food than I would of liked so I brought her out at tea time & let her have first pick at her veggies before giving her her meds & putting her back in the run. She was running around bossing Minnie & evidently looked to be having a good time.

On Sunday I again took her out for her veggies & meds then it was time for the weekly clean-out. I took the winter houses out & reverted back to the 2 long ramps to the upper levels. As I was going to divide the run next week and put Mother & Mousey with my former foster boar Rex, I thought I'd divide it now with them 2 in one side & Minky, Minnie & Mitch in the other. It's worked really well with Minky adopting the role of boss. She's even going up & down the big ramp which is closed on one side & up against a wall on the other so there's no danger of her falling off. She's still got the tilt but her head is upright a lot more than it was when she was by herself. as she's having no problem with getting her fair share of food, I only took her out for her meds this morning & let her feed with the others. She led them up the ramp to a bowl of veggies & they all ate happily together. She's adapted to the tilt but I now think that she is coping enough to have a normal life with the others. I'll keep monitoring her progress but I think that she will get better quicker this way & will also eat more because of the competition. I'll try & post some pics later in the week.
 
Aww this is great news to hear, hope it won't be long before she is back to normal. How long has she been on the antibiotics for now? The longer it has had time to take affect the better, I am wondering if Ruby wasn't on them for long enough.
 
sharonS said:
Aww this is great news to hear, hope it won't be long before she is back to normal. How long has she been on the antibiotics for now? The longer it has had time to take affect the better, I am wondering if Ruby wasn't on them for long enough.
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She's been on them for 4 weeks now & at least for another month when she's next due for a check-up.
 
Well, she's come on leaps & bounds over the weekend but you can sometimes see she's making a big effort. She will stand with her head tilted then keep moving it back and forward as if it's spring-loaded & she's trying to get her head into position. No problems though when I put fresh grass out in run. She's nearly first one there when I put it down for them.
 
Stewybus said:
Well, she's come on leaps & bounds over the weekend but you can sometimes see she's making a big effort. She will stand with her head tilted then keep moving it back and forward as if it's spring-loaded & she's trying to get her head into position. No problems though when I put fresh grass out in run. She's nearly first one there when I put it down for them.
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Heh heh , well it's good that it's normal , well not exactly normal but you get the idea :)
 
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