Head tilt - possible stroke?

adorolecavie

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:56 am


Hello all - I'm looking for some advice or insight if anyone has been through something similar...

Yesterday morning when I went to feed my girls, my older pig Dory (5yrs) was in her little hutch - I saw her moving around a bit and then when she finally poked her head out I could tell right away something was wrong. Her head was tilted to the side and her eyes were rolled (I could see a lot of white above both eyes), and she was sort of stumbling and falling over. I took her to the vet asap, who gave her antibiotics and mild pain killer and kept her for observation yesterday until they closed.

When I returned yesterday evening to pick her up, the vet said she couldn't say for sure what it was - perhaps an ear infection but she didn't see any other signs of this, or perhaps something neurological. She said she wanted to treat her with a round of antibiotics just in case. At the vet's, she hadn't eaten much on her own and so the vet had given her syringe feedings of Critical Care. The head tilt was gone and Dory seemed a bit better and since there's no one at the clinic overnight I brought her home.

At home I set her up in a hospital cage and gave her some of her favorite veggies - she did nibble on them a bit and eat some hay, but definitely not her usual appetite so I gave her another 5-10 mls of CC every few hours before going to bed and then once in the middle of the night/early morning and again this am. She seems to be better - she even wheeked when I opened the fridge this am, but I can tell her appetite is not normal yet... she usually devours everything I give her but now she'll eat a leaf of radicchio, then go back to her hutch for 30 min, then come out and eat a little more. I did give her some fresh grass which she loves and she did eat all of it right away but I don't want to exaggerate and give her an upset stomach.

She's not drinking much from the water bottle but I have been wetting down all her veggies and the CC I've been giving her has water, but her poos are still tinier than they should be. She did pee twice overnight small amounts.

My question I guess is whether anyone has any idea of what could possibly be going on? My thought, with such a sudden onset of symptoms that then just seemed to go away except for the lack of appetite, is a stroke? Would an ear infection clear up that quickly (8 hours) after just the first dose of antibiotics? Has anyone had a similar experience before? Is there anything that I should be doing besides making sure she gets enough food/liquids and finishing out the course of antibiotics? For now she's separate from her cage mate so that she can eat on her own time, but they are right next to each other and I can hear them chatter back and forth.

Yesterday when I first found her I was sure that this was the end, as the way she was acting was so off and I know that once these guys start showing signs of being sick it's often hard to get them back on the mend. But she seems fairly okay now, and I wondered if maybe she can make a full recovery - I surely hope so, she's my little peanut!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:10 am


It sounds like you are doing all the right things. I agree with what the vet had to say. And yes, it may be more likely this was an intermittent neurological issue. Weigh daily right now so you can ensure she's getting all the food she needs. I would continue the meds (I assume they are guinea-pig safe meds) and hope this does not recur.
dangerous_medications.html
antibiotics.html

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 9:07 am


Her appetite is not going to be normal as long as she's on the antibiotic. You'll have to supplement her feedings until she's off of it, and maybe for a few days thereafter.

It also sounds to me like it could be neurological. I had a similar thing happen to a guinea pig once, and she fully recovered after a few hours.

adorolecavie

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:03 pm


Thank you both for your replies! I feel so much better knowing that she's got a real chance at making a full recovery.

She is on Baytril, 15mg tab every 12 hours crushed into a syringe with Critical Care. She weighs 950 grams. I was at work this afternoon (I'm in Italy, btw) and my partner tried syringe feeding her some CC, but she wasn't having it, only got like 3-4 mls before she totally refused. I will try again tonight with her dose of antibiotics, as I'm better at getting her to sit still for me, but she *is* definitely eating more today than yesterday - she's happily munching away on some radicchio leaves right now.

One of my main concerns now is her water intake. Her feces are still small and dry (though there are many of them, many more than yesterday), and I haven't seen her go to the water bottle once (though I did leave her alone for a few hours here and there). Is it okay to also syringe a few cc's of water every few hours? How much would I need to give her to help rehydrate her - or rather, how much would be too much and how much would be not enough to make a difference? She's gotten some liquids from the veggies she's eaten and a bit from the Critical Care, but I doubt that's enough to rehydrate her. I've got her on a white towel and there are some pee spots - they seem kinda dark in color, though I guess I'm not really sure what normal guinea pee spots look like as they're usually both kept on wood pellets. Any other tricks for getting her rehydrated?

I spoke with my vet this am and she said to continue what I'm doing and bring her back in in a week, sooner if she gets worse. I will weigh her daily but she said that a small drop (50 grams) in weight is normal and to not panic, but bring her in if she continues to drop in weight. I am also planning on keeping the girls separate (though their cages are next to each other) until Dory finishes her antibiotics, so that I can be sure how much she is eating and make sure that Olivia does gobble up all the veggies before Dory has a chance to eat them.

Also, I've noticed that the one thing she seems to be happy to eat non-stop is fresh grass. During the spring I usually give them a big bunch of grass every day. I gave her a bit (5-6 long blades perhaps) yesterday and she inhaled them, and another 15-20 blades this am which she also devoured. Is it okay, you think, to give her the same amount I usually would (twice or three times that amount), or do I risk upsetting her stomach?

Sorry for all the questions but these are my first pigs, I've had Dory for 5 years so I'm not a newbie but everything is a first with her so I'm not sure what is normal and what is cause for alarm.

WICharlie

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:14 pm


I would be careful about overdoing the fresh grass unless she's been eating it all along. You could try to give her some watermelon if you have it available as that can go along way to getting liquids in her if she will eat it. It does have sugar in it but short term the benefits (getting liquids into her) far outweigh the risks (too much sugar intake). You can syringe water directly to her while feeding her Critical Care too. Another way is to syringe children's pedialyte.

I hope she recovers.

adorolecavie

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:59 pm


Thanks - I have fed grass to her daily for at least a month or so (since the weather turned nice) but I too am afraid of overdoing it so I will continue to give her just a small handful each day until I know she's better.

Unfortunately there's no watermelon here since Italy is very seasonal with its fruits and veggies, but perhaps cucumber might do the trick? I didn't think of it until you mentioned watermelon, but tomorrow I will get a cucumber at the market and see if she'll go for that.

Tonight I mixed her CC extra watery since I've seen her eat some pellets (maybe a teaspoon) and some hay on her own, and she's eaten most of the veggies I've given her. She only put up with about 6 mls before she totally refused and I don't want to stress her any more than necessary so I'll try again in an hour and then let her be for the night.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts - figures and toes crossed that she continues to make positive progress... <3

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:16 pm


I used to feed my guinea pigs big handfuls of grass every day. Continued good wishes!

adorolecavie

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:16 pm


I just wanted to update and say that things are pretty much at a stand still - she is eating but definitely not as much as she should be and she still hasn't gone near the water bottle. She is quite grumpy and fed up with the syringe feedings - I'm debating whether it's worth the stress to insist feeding her this way since she is eating on her own. I will continue to mix her antibiotics in CC in the am and pm, but I think tomorrow I am going to try and let her eat on her own and see if I notice her eating more on her own. If she doesn't eat for more than 4 hours, I will go back to force feeding her.

What's strange is that some things, like fresh grass and baby red leaf lettuce, she is more than happy to eat, but her normal staples like fennel, carrot, peppers, etc. she's turning her nose up at completely. Yesterday she was eating radicchio leaves and today she won't touch them. Even cucumber, she doesn't seem to want to have much to do with, a few nibbles but usually she love it. If the only thing I can get her to eat happily is fresh grass and red leaf lettuce, is it better to give her as much as she wants?

We finally had a somewhat normal poo today, except that it was not really well formed - long and "wet", but not perfectly pellet shaped like normal. I'm assuming this could have something to do with the antibiotics?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:49 pm


Give her all the fresh grass and red leaf lettuce she'll eat, within reason. If she hasn't been eating a lot of fresh grass, only give her a small amount of that, and increase by a small amount daily -- too much can cause a major digestive upset.

The other caveat is that you don't want her to eat so many veggies that she doesn't eat pellets and hay, but you can give quite a bit of lettuce without danger of that -- up to a cup or a cup and a half.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:33 pm


If you aren't weighing daily, you should. It's the best way to tell if she is eating enough.

weigh.html

adorolecavie

Post   » Thu Apr 13, 2017 2:40 am


Thank you guys.

Last night when giving her her meds, I felt a round lump/bump at the nape of her neck (where her head meets her spine) high between her shoulders. It's maybe the diameter of a dime... I'm wondering if this may be the culprit. I already have a followup appointment scheduled with my vet (exotic specialist) for Saturday am so unless she gets worse between now and then I am going to just take her in then. As of now she's pretty stable, not her normal self for sure also not getting any worse. My other option would be to take her to a different vet today but he doesn't specialize in exotics and I'd rather see my vet who I trust.

Yep, I'm weighing her - she's down about 40 grams since Sunday, but my vet told me to expect a drop in weight because of her suppressed appetite. I have a feeling that if she wasn't eating at all she'd have lost much more than that?

I'm only syringe feeding in the am and pm now with her meds, mostly because if I do it more often she gets so fed up with it that by the time I have to syringe her the antibiotics at night she refuses to cooperate. So I'm getting about 10 mls of CC in the am and 10 in the pm, and the rest is up to her. She is eating lettuce, and hay, and yesterday she ate about a third of a strawberry.

We go back to the vet's on Saturday, so I'll see what she says then and we'll have a look at this lump - if it's a cyst, she's already on antibiotics, and if it's something more serious, there's not a whole lot that we can do anyway - definitely not a spot you could operate on I would think.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:32 am


I hope her appetite continues to pick up. Let us know what your regular vet says about the lump.

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