Little Ones
Adult Guinea Pig
This is kind of a strange post, but last night we noticed unusual behaviour from two of our piggies. One was really spooked and frightened suddenly from 4pm onwards, I was in the room when it first happened and basically he just sprinted into a hidey for no reason at all (there was no movement or sound) and then he was spooked. He was still the same at 11pm just before I went to bed. I got up at 1am to check on him when I noticed the other piggy, Digby, looking unusual.
Digby usually has ‘moments’ where he’ll just stand there for several minutes, during this time he can’t really be disturbed. If you hold veggies to him, he’ll bite down on it but just drop it immediately. Once he’s in a moment, if you move him or get him to move, he’ll resume the moment a minute or so after he’s stationary again until the moment is over. Digby lived a solitary life for five years before coming to us, the moments he has are speculated to be a coping mechanism. He has been checked over by Simon a few weeks back and found him to be in perfect health aside from some bloating (which was why we went to see him).
Anyway, at 1am Digby is sat with his head completely tilted to one side. I tried to move it back but he just wouldn’t move. I pick him up from his cage and place him on the bed where he was completely fine. I’m not sure if he was in a moment during that time, but he’s never tilted his head before. It was completely tilted. Once he was on the bed, his head was back to normal, he seemed perfectly fine.
Right before I had turned to look at him, I heard one of the piggies (likely him) making a food dislodging sound. Perhaps if he was in a moment but had to dislodge some food which may involve tilting his head, he would just freeze there once he’d finished his moment? Sorry I know this is getting confusing...
I was concerned and confused by this as he hasn’t done it since and seems perfectly fine, eating and drinking etc. Then, I go to clean the cages at 11:30am and find a moth worm in the cage.
My concern is that the moth worm and the head tilt are related. I think I’m overthinking it to be honest, but feel I should post this for peace of mind. Moth worms aren’t small things, and they’re white. Digby is all black around his head, surely if the moth worm had been anywhere near his ear then I would have seen it last night? I don’t want to take him to the vet to check things out unnecessarily, especially now that we’re on the hunt to find any moth nests, and deep cleaning the cages etc. I’m just worried if it was possible for one to have burrowed into his ear? I know it’s probably unlikely, or that he’d still be tilting his head if that was the case at the very least. He honestly seems perfectly fine, his ears look good and I can’t see any evidence of anything. It was just all very weird, the moth worm we found was underneath his vet bed on a puppy pad but I don’t doubt that there are more.
Anyway, not to ramble. Any advice would be appreciated. If the head tilt had persisted then he would’ve been at the vet first thing this morning but it was only that one time and stopped when we moved him. It’s just all a bizarre situation, for reference the piggies live indoors.
Digby usually has ‘moments’ where he’ll just stand there for several minutes, during this time he can’t really be disturbed. If you hold veggies to him, he’ll bite down on it but just drop it immediately. Once he’s in a moment, if you move him or get him to move, he’ll resume the moment a minute or so after he’s stationary again until the moment is over. Digby lived a solitary life for five years before coming to us, the moments he has are speculated to be a coping mechanism. He has been checked over by Simon a few weeks back and found him to be in perfect health aside from some bloating (which was why we went to see him).
Anyway, at 1am Digby is sat with his head completely tilted to one side. I tried to move it back but he just wouldn’t move. I pick him up from his cage and place him on the bed where he was completely fine. I’m not sure if he was in a moment during that time, but he’s never tilted his head before. It was completely tilted. Once he was on the bed, his head was back to normal, he seemed perfectly fine.
Right before I had turned to look at him, I heard one of the piggies (likely him) making a food dislodging sound. Perhaps if he was in a moment but had to dislodge some food which may involve tilting his head, he would just freeze there once he’d finished his moment? Sorry I know this is getting confusing...
I was concerned and confused by this as he hasn’t done it since and seems perfectly fine, eating and drinking etc. Then, I go to clean the cages at 11:30am and find a moth worm in the cage.
My concern is that the moth worm and the head tilt are related. I think I’m overthinking it to be honest, but feel I should post this for peace of mind. Moth worms aren’t small things, and they’re white. Digby is all black around his head, surely if the moth worm had been anywhere near his ear then I would have seen it last night? I don’t want to take him to the vet to check things out unnecessarily, especially now that we’re on the hunt to find any moth nests, and deep cleaning the cages etc. I’m just worried if it was possible for one to have burrowed into his ear? I know it’s probably unlikely, or that he’d still be tilting his head if that was the case at the very least. He honestly seems perfectly fine, his ears look good and I can’t see any evidence of anything. It was just all very weird, the moth worm we found was underneath his vet bed on a puppy pad but I don’t doubt that there are more.
Anyway, not to ramble. Any advice would be appreciated. If the head tilt had persisted then he would’ve been at the vet first thing this morning but it was only that one time and stopped when we moved him. It’s just all a bizarre situation, for reference the piggies live indoors.
