Pandorica
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello,
I just had pretty much one of the scariest things of my life happen (second to when my own son had a seizure).
I have a young boar (birthday is May 27th 2011). He was the result of a shady petshop keeping a brother and sister together in a cage. He has been living with his father since he was about 3 weeks old.
He ended up having a seizure - he rolled onto his back and kept kicking his legs and at the same time his head was sort of stuck turning to the side (he could not move it back on his own).
The first time it happened I was scared and thought he was dead - my husband picked him up (immediately, I didn't sit there waiting...we were in the same room without a few feet from them). He was still breathing but it took him a moment to be able to move his head back to a normal position.
The second time happened about 20-30 minutes later (in the meantime I was researching all I could on guinea pig seizures) so I got to him immediately and it was the same result.
After reading up on this I now know there is a possibility of them happening due to being inbred. Is now the age we could expect this to happen?
Other possibilities I read up on but am not sure if they apply to us:
(1) Mites: We've looked all over his body and saw no dry skin patches or irrittated spots. He does itch on occassion but not very often. We still plan to go to a vet tomorrow to have him looked at in case we overlooked something. Downside is...we have no exotic pet vets around here so I want to be prepared with questions of my own as well.
(2) Too much calcium: I do not know if this really can cause it, but I saw someone mention it on a forum. I was under the impression piggies would pee out any extra (and yes, ours have so this worries me!). We recently added alfalfa hay to their diet with the timothy for a variety but the same site which mentioned calcium also said to avoid alfalfa hay...so now I do not know! We have removed it from the cage currently just in case.
(3) Whenever he popcorns he also shakes his head during it/right after. Is this normal? Could something be bothering him...like mites in his ears? Sort of like how dogs get?
They get fresh hay and water every day. We keep them up with veggies (not too many sweets etc etc - I've got a popular PDF chart of what to give piggies and how often printed out)
We give them spring water, not tap.
A friend said she thinks he is too young for tumors - is this true?
One off the wall forum said not to have them near computers due to electromagentic waves yet I never saw this anywhere else before - can someone confirm this?
Is there any other possibilities I could have overlooked? Anything would be appreciated so I can be as informed as possible tomorrow while talking to the Vet.
Thank you!
PS: The first 30 seconds or so of the following video shows similar to what mine has experienced. The only difference is the head position.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxVVZGEnmnQ[/ame]
I just had pretty much one of the scariest things of my life happen (second to when my own son had a seizure).
I have a young boar (birthday is May 27th 2011). He was the result of a shady petshop keeping a brother and sister together in a cage. He has been living with his father since he was about 3 weeks old.
He ended up having a seizure - he rolled onto his back and kept kicking his legs and at the same time his head was sort of stuck turning to the side (he could not move it back on his own).
The first time it happened I was scared and thought he was dead - my husband picked him up (immediately, I didn't sit there waiting...we were in the same room without a few feet from them). He was still breathing but it took him a moment to be able to move his head back to a normal position.
The second time happened about 20-30 minutes later (in the meantime I was researching all I could on guinea pig seizures) so I got to him immediately and it was the same result.
After reading up on this I now know there is a possibility of them happening due to being inbred. Is now the age we could expect this to happen?
Other possibilities I read up on but am not sure if they apply to us:
(1) Mites: We've looked all over his body and saw no dry skin patches or irrittated spots. He does itch on occassion but not very often. We still plan to go to a vet tomorrow to have him looked at in case we overlooked something. Downside is...we have no exotic pet vets around here so I want to be prepared with questions of my own as well.
(2) Too much calcium: I do not know if this really can cause it, but I saw someone mention it on a forum. I was under the impression piggies would pee out any extra (and yes, ours have so this worries me!). We recently added alfalfa hay to their diet with the timothy for a variety but the same site which mentioned calcium also said to avoid alfalfa hay...so now I do not know! We have removed it from the cage currently just in case.
(3) Whenever he popcorns he also shakes his head during it/right after. Is this normal? Could something be bothering him...like mites in his ears? Sort of like how dogs get?
They get fresh hay and water every day. We keep them up with veggies (not too many sweets etc etc - I've got a popular PDF chart of what to give piggies and how often printed out)
We give them spring water, not tap.
A friend said she thinks he is too young for tumors - is this true?
One off the wall forum said not to have them near computers due to electromagentic waves yet I never saw this anywhere else before - can someone confirm this?
Is there any other possibilities I could have overlooked? Anything would be appreciated so I can be as informed as possible tomorrow while talking to the Vet.
Thank you!
PS: The first 30 seconds or so of the following video shows similar to what mine has experienced. The only difference is the head position.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxVVZGEnmnQ[/ame]
