My baby Stella couldn’t walk Tuesday when I woke up she seemed kind of disoriented and was walking slowly in circles and had a head tilt, figured maybe it was an ear infection so I was gonna take her to the vet Friday.. well that wasn’t the case at all she started getting bad throu out the night and around 5am she started having seizures and some of them got really bad so I called the vet and brought her in at 11 because that was the earliest I could get in and they told me she has pneumonia and low blood sugar (I forgot the word they used for it) and they gave her an antibiotic shot and suplical and sent us home and told me to syringe feed her and the suplical every 2 hours so since then I have gotten no sleep and have done it every 2 hours, since lastnoght she has been eating food on her own when I hand it to her she looks a lot better I honestly thought she wasn’t gonna make it at all... needless to say I’m almost 99.9% sure it was a stroke.. today she’s tried to walk a lot but her legs don’t wanna move, especially her right side and her head tilts to the right. She’s fighting to be better and eating but she just can’t walk and her head wobbly when she tries to move it almost like she can’t always control it... when the sezieres were happening they were pretty extreme.. she would go flying forward or start flipping..
just wondering if anyone has been through this before? Will she ever get any feeling back in her legs? Will she ever be able to walk again? Am I making the wrong choice by trying to make her healthy when she can’t walk instead of putting her down..? If she can use her legs again how long until she will be able to? Is there any physical therapy I could do with her? Sorry I have so many questions I just wasn’t to impressed with the vet, I was left leaving more confused than when I went in.. I just need answers I’m so worried I love my piggie so much..your reply is appreciated so much..! Thank you!
Hi!
I am extremely sorry for what is happening and difficult decisions you are facing.
I have looked after a long hours working friend's severe stroke survivor a few years back for as long as possible. While she didn't have bad seizures, she was left with a bad head tilt and unable to clean/lubricate the - blind - eye on the affected side (so you may have to consider using plain tear gel (longer lasting, application every 8 hours) or drops (not as effective but will need to be administered ideally every 4 hours) from a pharmacy.
What killed her in the end was that she was no longer able to chew on her affected side and her teeth did overgrow quickly at the same time as she started having more mini-strokes so dental treatment was not an option; my friend and I had to make the heart-breaking decision to let her go. Since Nimue was the most delightful little thing, we took it both hard. She was only one year old and tiny, but clearly born with some genetic problems which is the reason my friend had taken her in in the first place.
There can be sadly some unexpected consquences to a stroke that you may have to take into consideration for the medium to longer term.
The severe seizures and the pneumonia are added complications which you will have to factor into your personal considerations.
What has your vet recommended when you had her seen? Any decent vet will normally be honest with you when you ask them politely about the chances of making a sufficient recovery or not.
There is very little they can do about strokes and bad seizures in guinea pigs unfortunately. There is also a great risk that our little one will have another stroke in the near future.
You may find these guides here helpful in assessing the situation from several sides to help you make an informed decision you can live with in the long term. That is only something you can do. We can only give you the tools to make this decision as best as you can but we cannot make it for you - even though it is the hardest and most heart-breaking consideration you are faced with. It is very tough to weigh up your piggy's will to live against her quality of life and your fear of loss/desire to hang on but it is worth facing the abyss and clearing your head as to how far you want to support your beloved girl and where you want to draw the line for yourself to prevent any unnecessary suffering. Right now you are in the grey zone where you can go either way as long as you put your girl's interest and welfare before your own fears and desires.
Looking after guinea pigs with limited or no mobility
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
This guide here doesn't make necessarily easy reading but you will find that it will help you to explore your heart and weigh up all the different factors in play so you can examine your warring feeling and can hopefully come to an answer forself - although you may have to assess and reassess repeatedly. It is very normal that you instinctively want to hang onto your beloved one and fight for them as much as you can.
A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
I truly feel for and I hope that this helps you.