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Pig with "neurological problems" - Long post! anyone experienced this?

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Lulah

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Hi, I have four pigs, two males (father and son) and two females (sisters). The girls, Geggsy and Mo, came from a pet shop originally, then I rescued them from a family who no longer wanted them. They are about 3 and I have had them for nearly 2 years. Neither of them has had any health problems. However, last Tuesday Geggs, who is the liveliest and friendliest of all of them, suffered some sort of major neurological problem. I found her in the morning unable to walk, flat on her stomach with her head flat on the floor, but then arching and bending her head in on herself in this really weird way and then flopping down again. I thought she may have had a heart attack or maybe a stroke. I rushed her to a vet - I was away from home, the pigs come with me! - so it wasn't our usual vet, he said her heart was fine, her breathing was fine, it wasn't a stroke, it was neurological and all he could do was treat the symptoms. She had a anti-inflammatory injection and an antibiotic. He put her on the floor to see if she could run away and she just lay there. Then he gently pushed her over onto her side and she couldn't get back up. It was really weird and very upsetting. He gave her a 50/50 chance of survival, said she would either show signs of improvement in 24-48 hrs or she would die.

I took her home, made her really warm and comfortable and tried to get her to eat and drink. could not get her to do either. She was hiding and lying down flat and things looked very bad indeed. To cut a long story short on Weds she was the same and not eating or drinking and I thought I was going to lose her. Was planning on having her pts if she hadn't improved by Thursday. BUT - Thursday morning she started to move around in a wobbly way! Thursday evening I saw her eat! On Friday she could walk almost normally. Now it's sunday and she is almost completely back to normal. I'm taking her to our usual vet tomorrow just to be checked out again.

I have had lots of gpigs over the years and I have never seen one recover from what appeared to be something so serious. It's like a miracle to me and I can't tell you how happy I am! :(|):(|) Can anyone shed any light on what happened to my Geggsy? Anyone else seen anything like that?

Sorry about the long post!
 
Sorry to hear this, I'm pretty sure my friend had this happen with one of her pigs and it was something to do with lack of calcium. I'll get her to come on and post. I may be wrong so don't take what I say as red until Sarah comes along x

p,s you could contact Laura at guinea pig helpline for advice too www.guineapighelpline.com
 
I don't have a clue, but I just wanted to chip in and say that I'm really pleased that Geggs has made her miraculous recovery! Tracey
 
I'm glad she's feeling better... I haven't experienced with guinea pigs, but used to have a mouse who would randomly go through spells like this- a couple of times we even thought that she was dead because she would feel stiff, like rigor mortis had set in. She always recovered. Obviously not a lot of tests can be done on a mouse, but I did speak to the vet about it and the vet suggested it could be some sort of seizure disorder.
 
Yes I had something similar happen a few years ago when we found Rodney (about 3 years old at the time) lying in his cage, unable to walk.

He also went to the vet and wasa given an anti inflammatory jab etc and we were told to give him 2 or 3 days then take him to be PTS if no better.

In the end I tried Osteocare (liquid form) after reading it on Peter Gurney's website and within about 3 or 4 days he was absolutely fine.

Ill never know if it was that that did the trick but if it was, it must have been lack of calcium

Sarah
 
I had a similar experience with my guinea pig last year. the vet felt it was a neurological infection. I tried osteocare alongside the treatment he gave which was antibiotics and anti-inflammatories orally for a few days. She improved dramatically but unfortunately deteriorated again and had to be PTS. I was amazed at the time how many success stories there were for something that had looked so bleak at the onset.

I'd def get her back to vets and see, if it is an infection they may need to treat her further to get rid of it.

To be honest my vet didn't expect any improvement, he prescribed antibiotics in case and the anti-inflammatories to ensure she wasn't in pain. i was syringe feeding her every couple of hours, she couldn't eat, drink or hold her head up. She kept falling to one side. When I took her back he was amazed and glad to prescribe more of the same to get rid. Unfortunately as I say the outcome for us was a sad one, but I believe there are more success stories out there and wish you all the best. :)
 
Thank you all very much for your replies. i have taken Geggs to our usual vet tonight. She couldn't really offer an explanation except possibly a tiny bleed in the brain which has now healed itself.. she has checked her thoroughly and can't find anything wrong now. I am so relieved! She is eating, drinking and behaving almost completely normally now. The only differences are that she is not squeaking as much as she used to and she's not quite as lively but hopefully that will come back with time too! In terms of character she really is the best - she knows her name (well I believe she does!), she will come to me, jump onto my hand when she knows I'm going to put her out on the grass, take food from me, never runs away and hides, she is a brilliant little character. It's a happy day here in our house! :)):))
 
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