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Piggy twitching and falling over

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Cookiepeace

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Hi. I really don't know what else to do, so I turned here.

My piggy, Prince, who is turning 5 next week, for the past maybe 4 hours has been extremely twitchy and has started falling over himself. About three months ago we had gotten him neutered so we could have him play with a female mate who he used to live with when he was a baby. They get along just fine, but after the neutering surgery he just hasn't been the same. He lost a lot of weight and I could feel his bones, I took him to the vet again to see what was going on. Tey said it was the start of scurvy and that we needed to force feed him. They gave me the critical care food and a lot of vitamin c shots and for about a moth he was on the road to recovery. This past week he has been decreasing gradually in weight again (we have a scale that weighs small items so we can be exact) and he has lost all of the weight he gained. When I took him to the vet that first time his legs weren't working very well and they said it was a vitamin c deficiency. His legs were completely back to normal for the last month until today. This morning he looked very sleepy, but he was walking fine. I checked on him tonight and he was falling over himself. I actually thought he had a small seizure for a few seconds because he was falling over and shaking. I set him down on the ground and watched him for a minute and his head was moving strangely from side to side. As if he was scanning the room, or reading a book. A slow continuous side to side motion, his eyes are also twitching, it looks as if he is reading an intense novel and he can't stop. It's very late and I've been trying to get him to eat, he refuses mostly everything although I was able to give him a little bit of parsley. I saved the critical care food from last vet visit and am giving him that, I'm also manually feeding him water with a seringe. He seems exhausted and couldn't get to sleep so I was holding him trying to help him. He finally was able to crash out in his cage and is sleeping currently. I have to wake him up in an hour or two to give him some water, because right now he cannot move at all. Our vet is over an hours drive away and Prince really hates the car. I don't want to traumatized him unnecessarily but we are going to call the vet tomorrow to see if she can tell me anything over the phone. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be happening? Please let me know, I'm extremely worried, I love the little guy. Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas or need more information. Thank you!
 
I'm sorry I don't know what it could be but it's obvious he needs to see a vet. I do hope your vet can help him. So sorry you're going through this. It's very traumatic when our piggies become suddenly ill. :laluot_29:
 
it doesn't sound like you should wait until tomorrow, or just speak to a vet on the phone. I think you need to take him to a vets today.
 
Well, it's 4am right now so we can't do anything right now. I just fed him water and a bunch of veggies and he just hopped out of his cage and onto the couch (he has his own couch :P) and I think jes trying to get some sleep now. We'll call the vet tomorrow and maybe one of the girls from there can come look at him. If anyone has had a guinea pig with this before that would be extremely helpful as well, otherwise thanks to those who replied.
 
Cookiepeace said:
Well, it's 4am right now so we can't do anything right now. I just fed him water and a bunch of veggies and he just hopped out of his cage and onto the couch (he has his own couch :P) and I think jes trying to get some sleep now. We'll call the vet tomorrow and maybe one of the girls from there can come look at him. If anyone has had a guinea pig with this before that would be extremely helpful as well, otherwise thanks to those who replied.
Click to expand...

I don't think this can wait until tomorrow. It sounds like he's having some kind of seizure episode. Keep an eye on his temperature (a seizure will scramble the brain, he may get got or cold) and keep him somewhere dark and quiet where he can't hurt himself.

You really need to call the emergency vet for advice. Call your regular vet & there will be instructions on how to contact the emergency vet.
 
Hope did the same thing, he had a brain tumor sadly and passed away after one huge fit :(
 
We're calling the vet today and hopefully one of the doctors that we know that lives by our house can come and look at him. The poor thing hates the car ride, it's so bumpy for him. Anyway, thank you for your replies. I'll keep you all posted.
 
Well we call the vet and are waiting for a reply. He is seeming slightly better than last night, very sleepy and I keep feeding him by hand and giving him water. I did notice something, where his teeth are on the bottom it looks like there's a small tooth growing in front of his regular two bottom teeth. Is that normal? Because if not then that may be a reason for the loss of appetite... His stomach is also making some noises, bubbles or gas maybe?
 
The teeth thing does not sound normal at all. Please take him to the vet, i know he may not enjoy the ride, but i think it is more important that he gets checked out at the surgery. He needs to see a vet.

x.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum to you and your little piggie Prince :)
As everyone has said it is imperative your piggie sees the vets as soon as possible..... this is not normal behaviour for a piggie :(
I do hope they can get to the bottom of the head tilting (maybe an ear infection?) and he gains some weight back.
Please keep us updated, you'll get lots of lovely help and encouragement from everyone :)
Would love for you to pop on some pigtures in our stories/photo's section.

HEALING WHEEEEEEEKS FOR PRINCE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Glynis, Velvet and Onyx x
 
Thanks every one for the support.
We called the vet on the phone and I sent her a picture of the strange tooth, he said that the tooth is definitely not normal and would need to be taken out, but in order to do that he would need to go under anesthesia and he is not in the condition to do that. My dad is going to the vet right now, but I'm staying home with the piggy. I was able to tell the vet all of his symptoms and she was able to make a pretty good guess that it is bacterial meningitis. She said it could also be a ear infection but his symptoms fit bacterial meningitis better. My dad is picking up two antibiotics, some pain killer, more critical care food ad a fluid shot for dehydration purposes. The little guy is very tired and sleeps on my stomach a lot, we're going to do everything we can to make sure jes comfortable and we hope he's able to pull through. I have one question, god forbid it but in case he doesn't recover, how long do you guys think he would have before the infection just took over? We were thinking weeks maybe, but I'm really hoping he can pull through. I just want to be ready in case, and I want to make him as comfortable as possible. Also, there is a female that he plays with durongthesay, and I've separated them because I'm afraid she might catch the sickness, good idea or am I worried about that for no reason? Thanks again.
 
Sorry For the spelling mistakes, autocorrect.
The last parts supposed to say "There's a female he plays with during the day"
 
*Sends healing vibes*
:laluot_15: :laluot_15: :laluot_15:

Get better soon lil Prince
 
Oh my that's a scary diagnosis! I don't how it affects pigs, but I know in humans it's extremely contagious, and fatal if not caught early. I'm sorry I'm not trying to scare you, but I would definitely call the vet about your other pig getting infected, and keep a close eye on her. Good luck.
 
Given the large number of things that seem to be wrong with your pig right now, I find it very strange (and to be honest a bit concerning) that your vet is prepared to make a diagnosis and prescribe medication based only on a telephone call - I don't fully understand why the vet didn't ask to see the pig.
 
Little Pig said:
Given the large number of things that seem to be wrong with your pig right now, I find it very strange (and to be honest a bit concerning) that your vet is prepared to make a diagnosis and prescribe medication based only on a telephone call - I don't fully understand why the vet didn't ask to see the pig.
Click to expand...

I can't see how the vet can make a diagnosis with out seeing the guinea, how do they know what meds to perscribe. I know you say you don't want to stress the poor little guy out, but your dad has gone to pick meds up, I would have been tempted to take him along for the vet to see for himself.
 
I do hope that little Prince is doing ok XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I would personally not have Prince in with another piggie at the moment so that he can rest and get himself better.
Also be aware that having the antibiotics will make his tummy upset...... you need probiotics or to make poop soup (using poops from another healthy piggie)
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. You sound as if you are doing your very best for your little piggie. How is he today? I hope the meds are working. Please keep us up to date. Thanks..x
 
Hey everyone. Sorry I forgot to update this.

Prince has been taking the meds, our vet did want to see him, but she Understood the not wanting to stress him out. Anyway, I have seen progress with him in the last few days. He seems to continuously be showing signs of improvement. He's still very groggy and sleepy.

Something to report, that mysterious third tooth actually was pushing on the tooth behind it so much that it got pushed loose and Prince spot it out. It scared the crap out of me. But I read online that their teeth don't have nerves in them singe shouldn't be in any pain. I think it was meant to happen so that the new tooth can take its place. He seems much more comfortable with that tooth gone.

He still will not drink water from his bottle and I am hand feeding Jim water every 3-4 hours. He eats from his bowl a bit but I'm doing critical care food just to be safe.

A very good thing was that when this all started happening (about 4 days ago) he weighed in at 695 grams. But last night henweighed 756. So that's good I think. I hope he can pull through.

Prince says thank you for the get well wishes!
I'll keep you posted.
 
*He spit the tooth out.
*I don't think he's in any pain
*I'm hand feeding him water

Sorry, iPhone autocorrect ._.
 
Sorry, I have only just caught this thread. I really hope your little piggie makes a full recovery!
 
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