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Wobbly On Back Legs

KaitlinH

KaitlinH

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
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Location
West Midlands
We recently got a new piggie. He seemed perfectly fine until we saw him fall over and now he seems super wobbly on his legs. He's fallen over multiple times but has been running and walking etc. He is still on his food. Any ideas what trios could be?
 
KaitlinH said:
We recently got a new piggie. He seemed perfectly fine until we saw him fall over and now he seems super wobbly on his legs. He's fallen over multiple times but has been running and walking etc. He is still on his food. Any ideas what trios could be?
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I would take him to a vet asap.I don’t know what it could be but that’s not normal to fall over and be wobbly x
 
Definitely get your piggy to the vets as soon as you can! It could be many things, ear infection, neurological problem, but whatever it is it’s not normal!
Only a vet will be able to confirm and provide the correct treatment. Good luck! :)
 
:agr: hopefully it's something easily treatable for your piggy! It might be a spinal thing too maybe? Does piggy get plenty of fresh veg/piggy nuggets for the vit c? Fingers crossed for you :)
 
Merrypigs Sanctuary said:
:agr: hopefully it's something easily treatable for your piggy! It might be a spinal thing too maybe? Does piggy get plenty of fresh veg/piggy nuggets for the vit c? Fingers crossed for you :)
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We are booking a vet check tomorrow. We got him from pets at home in the adoption section because they were keeping him on his own and we had a single boar who needed a friend. We have noticed that they only feed them cabbage there and as far as I'm aware, that's not the best for piggies. Since we have had him, he has been on a diet of the occasional few lettuce leaves, kale, peppers cucumber, a few baby carrots and the odd slice of apple then and again. We feed him science selective guinea pig pellets. I have read up about lack of vitamin c so I will be making sure he gets the right amount. Because he's new and still skittish, if he ever tries to dart, he ends up flat on his back. It's really upsetting to see him this way.
 
Hi @KaitlinH , you haven't mentioned hay. Given you've been on the forum for a while, I'm guessing that's an oversight, but I thought I better say just in case that 80% of his diet should be hay.
 
Good luck at the vets, fingers crossed it's something that is treatable for you and for your piggy. Depending on how recently you got him you may be able to claim the vets costs back from pets at home
 
Good luck at the vets. If you let them know its an emergency you may get a same day visit. Let us know how you get on!
 
Good luck at the vets @KaitlinH . Disorientation can be from many things, spinal injury, neurological issues, ear infection, even a bad case of mites can cause fits that would cause a pig to fall over.

Let us know how you get on.
 
Reenie said:
Hi @KaitlinH , you haven't mentioned hay. Given you've been on the forum for a while, I'm guessing that's an oversight, but I thought I better say just in case that 80% of his diet should be hay.
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he has constant access to hay, he’s often having a munch

Jaycey said:
Good luck at the vets @KaitlinH . Disorientation can be from many things, spinal injury, neurological issues, ear infection, even a bad case of mites can cause fits that would cause a pig to fall over.

Let us know how you get on.
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There are no mites we don’t think. We have checked his fur over multiple times for everything and we have found no signs of bites or mites or anything like that. Thank you x

Betsy said:
Good luck at the vets. If you let them know its an emergency you may get a same day visit. Let us know how you get on!
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We got one for first thing in the morning because our cavvy savvy vets shuts at seven and even earlier today as it’s boxing day x

Lady Kelly said:
Good luck at the vets, fingers crossed it's something that is treatable for you and for your piggy. Depending on how recently you got him you may be able to claim the vets costs back from pets at home
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We got him a week ago and we called the store up. They said they will refund any vets bills thankfully, and thank you for the wishes xx
 
overnigjt, we noticed he had developed a head tilt so we mentioned that at the vets too. He gave us some medicine used for human babies but i can’t remember what it’s called and I’m not home at the moment to check. He said that it was caused by a sort of drunkenness that’s affecting his balance? Since checking him at home I’ve noticed a small scab on the corner of his mouth. I will try to attach a photo xx
 
KaitlinH said:
overnigjt, we noticed he had developed a head tilt so we mentioned that at the vets too. He gave us some medicine used for human babies but i can’t remember what it’s called and I’m not home at the moment to check. He said that it was caused by a sort of drunkenness that’s affecting his balance? Since checking him at home I’ve noticed a small scab on the corner of his mouth. I will try to attach a photo xx
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I have not heard of this before. Is this a cavy savy vet you have been to before?
 
I see you are west midlands based. I can recommend a few good vets in the area
 
sport_billy said:
I have not heard of this before. Is this a cavy savy vet you have been to before?
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sport_billy said:
I see you are west midlands based. I can recommend a few good vets in the area
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Yes! They are cavvy savvy and we use them all the time - they have always been great. I thought I was a strange diagnosis too though and we definitely want another opinion especially with the held tilt coming on this morning. What vets can u recommend? xx
 
I am not saying it is a wrong diagnosis they are trained professionals I have just never heard of it before.


Can you let us know what he has been given? Head tilt could be inner ear infection or something neurological. The drunkenness comment just strikes as odd
One of my friends uses Connaught Vets in Wolverhampton also but no vet in aprticualr there
 
We go to Rosie, the vet in Wolverhampton. Don't know how local you are to Wolves.
 
A second opinion won't hurt if nothing else...
 
I would wonder about an ear infection... it can affect balance and cause a head tilt. I hope you are able to find an answer. It never hurts to get a second opinion if you are unsure about the first!
 
Freela said:
I would wonder about an ear infection... it can affect balance and cause a head tilt. I hope you are able to find an answer. It never hurts to get a second opinion if you are unsure about the first!
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The vet checked his ears and found no infection. We thought it was that but he found nothing.

sport_billy said:
I am not saying it is a wrong diagnosis they are trained professionals I have just never heard of it before.


Can you let us know what he has been given? Head tilt could be inner ear infection or something neurological. The drunkenness comment just strikes as odd
One of my friends uses Connaught Vets in Wolverhampton also but no vet in aprticualr there
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We will book him an appointment at one of those vets in a little while. The medicine they gave us is Septrin? That’s what it says on the bottle. I thought the drunkenness comment was strange too as he gave no reason for it.
 
I can second Sally Potter at Vets4Pets Shelfield; Vets4Pets Stafford is also very good, we take all our piggies (and other pets!) there! :)
 
Septrin is an antibiotic so the vet must be thinking infection.
 
@KaitlinH Many infections aren't visible so if could be an inner ear infection. Does his eyes look okay? No flicking to the side or moving around awkwardly?
 
Any signs of improvement after a day of the AB?
 
Jaycey said:
@KaitlinH Many infections aren't visible so if could be an inner ear infection. Does his eyes look okay? No flicking to the side or moving around awkwardly?
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His eyes are perfectly fine. He does tend to do a weird flick to the side and he does walk funny sometimes as his balance isn’t too great. He’s sneezing a lot too? x

sport_billy said:
Any signs of improvement after a day of the AB?
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Not really, no. He’s still falling over and is still wobbly. His head tilt is still there too. He has been a lot more adventurous today though x
 
This is him, his name is Rupert. This photo wasn’t taken before he head tilt developed x

image.webp
 
KaitlinH said:
The vet checked his ears and found no infection. We thought it was that but he found nothing.



We will book him an appointment at one of those vets in a little while. The medicine they gave us is Septrin? That’s what it says on the bottle. I thought the drunkenness comment was strange too as he gave no reason for it.
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Septrin is a pretty common antibiotic... I know that Hadley has had it a couple of times. At least if there is some kind of infection being missed the antibiotic is still on board.
 
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