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Possible Ear Infection. :'(

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EifoS

EifoS

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I have a piggy named Tomo, she's about 10 months old. I noticed she stopped eating just recently and she seemed to be losing weight. When I checked her out she seemed to have her neck twisted to one side, she just lays around not moving, when I tried to carry her she was in pain. Now I am panicking and don't know what to do, I've been syringe feeding her just to keep her eating and drinking. Help. It seems like ear infection, but I'm not sure.

The biggest problem here is, I am located in a slightly remote town in the Philippines with no Exotic Vet Clinics. Well, in fact when one of my other piggy's got sick before and I tried bringing her to one of the local vets, it was their first time dealing with guinea pigs. They scared me to death when they just searched google for the cure. My piggy was pregnant then by the way, and I handled everything my self. I feel eerie with the thought of bringing Tomo to an inexperienced Vet. -_-

So if you can see my dilemma, I don't know what to do with Tomo, she seems really sick. Are there any home remedies for ear infection? Guys please help. I can't bare seeing my Tomo in pain. Y_Y
 
Ear infections require antibiotics that can only be prescribed by a vet :( Please see if your vet will prescribe Septrin antibiotic or Baytril if not, these are safe for piggies. She will also probably need some form of pain relief such as Metacam as well. I am sorry she is so poorly, but she really needs to see a vet as it is not something treatable with home remedies.
 
sorry i can offer no advice but i will tag in @Stewybus he had problems with headtilt which this could be, he may be able to offer you some advice on treatments, drugs & dosages, to talk through with the vet & get them to prescribe them.
Although a spinal injury or sprain from falling awkwardly even when popcorning needs to be ruled out.
Painkillers should be given too, metacam is the usual one in the uk.

Healing vibes for your little Tomo, get your vets to google the guinepigforum & guinealynx (american based) two very helpful websites.

Get well soon. xx
 
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Yes, it's essential to see a vet as soon as possible because head tilt is usually caused by an infection in the inner ear which can be verified by an x-ray or ultrasound scan. Minky had this last October but unfortunately the infection was in a part of the inner ear which would have been dangerous to operate on. She hasn't fully recovered from the head tilt but she is now fit and well in other ways & is back up to her normal weight. She had lost about 1/5 of this when she was poorly. She was treated with Baytril for a month then Zithromax (Azithromycin) for 2 weeks then back to Baytril. With the combination of antibiotics she lost appetite so was given probiotics such as Bio-Lapis or Avipro Plus & also Fibreplex. She then could hardly eat at all & it was found she had a form of oral thrush & her mouth was badly ulcerated which cleared in about 36 hours after being put on a course of Itrafungol. The signs of badly ulcerated mouth is they want to eat but don't seem able to pulll the hay or whatever else into their mouth llike normal. If she was trying to eat grass a green juice would dribble out of her mouth because she was chewing on the same piece of grass till it was completely mushed up into liquid. She was also given other meds to combat the effects of the antibiotics. These meds were Cisapride, Emeprid & Zantac. The vet even tried a course of Panacur which was a little experimental but my vet said that this should probably be tried earlier during the treatment another time. During this time she also had a bad bloat but she pulled through in the end & apart from the head tilting she has been OK for the last 4 to 5 months. It was a very trying and draining time but I'm glad I fought all the way because she's back to being her lovely self & much tamer because of the constant attention. So I knew she was getting sufficient food, she'd have breakfast & tea with me & then go back to her group when I fed them. Your piggy may be made better quicker, I think it was just a combination of things that dragged Minky's illness on including 3 abscess's in the previous 5 months.

The essential thing to do straightaway is make sure she's getting plenty of food so syringe feed Oxbow Critical Care, Science Recovery Plus or mushed up pellets. Any of these should be syringe fed with a 1 ml syringe with the end cut off. There is a guide with pictures on here somewhere but I just can't put my finger on it at present. Perhaps another member can show you the link.
 
Thank you very much guys... my brother and I are doing the best we could... will post for updates, we're still looking for the antibiotics and scan the whole city for a not so suspicious vet.
 
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