Possible Case Of Wry Neck

[GP_Mama]

I adopted a guinea pig from pets mart about two months ago. When I purchased him they told me about his slight 'head tilt', told me it was nothing and that he was perfectly healthy. It wasn't until I got home that I realized he also had 3 bald patches from old ringworm and ringworm on his ears (my educated guess based on lots on internet research). At the time i was so focused on getting his weight up, he was quite bony, and taking care of his patches that I neglected to do much research on his tilted head. He's since put on weight and he's bounding around the cage with his buddy, popcorning and eating everything I put in there (fresh fruit and veggies along to supplement his pellets and hay) he is however very quiet. So my question is considering his only symptom is having his head slightly cocked to the side, but he has healthy poops (they were originally small and tear-dropped) is active and aside from not being very vocal. Do I need to be concerned?

 

[CaymanCavy]

I've had a sow with that same symptom. She would behave fine...eat and drink normally but wasn't very vocal. Her head is also tilted...I rehoused her with a friend of mine because she loved her good nature.she still lives a healthy life and loves her cilantro and cage mate.

 

[helen105281]

I just had to Google wry neck as not heard of it, do you mean a head tilt? If so then he needs checking out to rule out anything like an ear infection which can cause a head tilt. Also if he was ever near rabbits they can pass on a disease called E-Cuniculi which would need to be treated with Fenbendazole (wormer, brands in the UK include Panacur and Lappizole, I am not sure about the US).

Has the Ringworm cleared up?

Welcome to the forum.

 

[GP_Mama]

I've had a sow with that same symptom. She would behave fine...eat and drink normally but wasn't very vocal. Her head is also tilted...I rehoused her with a friend of mine because she loved her good nature.she still lives a healthy life and loves her cilantro and cage mate.

Thank you, it's refreshing to hear something positive about someone who's had the same experience my little guy is also an escape artist also hahaha, he's gotten out of his enclosure 3 times since i've gotten him.

 

[GP_Mama]

I just had to Google wry neck as not heard of it, do you mean a head tilt? If so then he needs checking out to rule out anything like an ear infection which can cause a head tilt. Also if he was ever near rabbits they can pass on a disease called E-Cuniculi which would need to be treated with Fenbendazole (wormer, brands in the UK include Panacur and Lappizole, I am not sure about the US).

Has the Ringworm cleared up?

Welcome to the forum.

When I googled tilted head it came up as wry neck that's where I got the term. I'm not sure if he's been exposed to rabbits as I adopted him, it appears he wasn't treated very well at his previous home with him being under weight, as I understand ringworm can happen and isn't necessarily do to lack of care unless it gets out of control. I'm not sure that he has head tilt so much as that his head is just tilted, he isn't unbalanced doesn't have trouble walking around and he blinks fine with both eyes, he popcorns and chases his cage mate and is an experienced escape artist haha. I will look for a small animal vet in my area and continue monitoring him closely.

Yes the ringworm is all cleared up, I made sure before I put him with his cage mate.

We Thank you!