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Baby guinea pig popcorning so much she falls over!

Kawts

Kawts

New Born Pup
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Hi all,

I recently added a 7 week old female guinea to our clean of two other females. Her name is Toffee. She runs around and popcorns A LOT, but today her popcorning frightening me. Two or three times, she popcorned and fell over, continuing to twitch on the floor for a couple of seconds before getting up.
Is this normal behavior for a very young piggy, or should I be worried?
 
Is she eating, acting normal, and drinking? If yes I wouldn’t worry unless it happens again. If not I would take her to see a vet.
 
BoredBellaaa said:
Is she eating, acting normal, and drinking? If yes I wouldn’t worry unless it happens again. If not I would take her to see a vet.
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Yes, she’s acting very normal. Eating, drinking, and playing with her sisters. We’ll keep an eye on her.
 
Kawts said:
Hi all,

I recently added a 7 week old female guinea to our clean of two other females. Her name is Toffee. She runs around and popcorns A LOT, but today her popcorning frightening me. Two or three times, she popcorned and fell over, continuing to twitch on the floor for a couple of seconds before getting up.
Is this normal behavior for a very young piggy, or should I be worried?
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Was the twitching because she couldn’t get up or something else?
It wold be advisable to have her vet checked to check there isn’t something going on.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Was the twitching because she couldn’t get up or something else?
It wold be advisable to have her vet checked to check there isn’t something going on.
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I couldn’t tell. She did get back up on her own pretty quickly, but with enough of a delay for me to worry.
 
Kawts said:
I couldn’t tell. She did get back up on her own pretty quickly, but with enough of a delay for me to worry.
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I think the fact that you were worried at the time then it would get worth a vet check. We can obviously only go by the written word which can be misinterpreted, and it’s not possible for us to see what occurred so we couldn’t say whether it is actually an issue or not, only a vet can. Hopefully it’s just the over excitement of a youngster.
It’s always advisable to get new piggies checked by a vet in any event.
Let us know how you get on
 
Piggies&buns said:
I think the fact that you were worried at the time then it would get worth a vet check. We can obviously only go by the written word which can be misinterpreted, and it’s not possible for us to see what occurred so we couldn’t say whether it is actually an issue or not, only a vet can. Hopefully it’s just the over excitement of a youngster.
It’s always advisable to get new piggies checked by a vet in any event.
Let us know how you get on
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I completely agree, and normally I would take her right away. The only thing is we got her checked by a vet 3 days ago and he gave her a clean bill health. But it’s possible he missed it or something new came on..
 
BoredBellaaa said:
Could you please elaborate? Thank you,
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Members should not post in the Health and Illness section of the forum unless they have a banner that states that they are a Notable Health Contributor in their signature, or if they have outside experience that the forum is unaware of (e.g. you are a veterinarian who specializes in cavies).
Members such as @Piggies&buns have this banner.
By giving medical advice without the proper experience, you could be giving the OP incorrect advice and potentially harm their piggy.
You are open to give them moral support and send love to their piggy, but presenting incorrect medical advice may be detrimental to the health of the piggy.
I hope that this helps! :)
 
Mo & Stubbins & Vani said:
Members should not post in the Health and Illness section of the forum unless they have a banner that states that they are a Notable Health Contributor in their signature, or if they have outside experience that the forum is unaware of (e.g. you are a veterinarian who specializes in cavies).
Members such as @Piggies&buns have this banner.
By giving medical advice without the proper experience, you could be giving the OP incorrect advice and potentially harm their piggy.
You are open to give them moral support and send love to their piggy, but presenting incorrect medical advice may be detrimental to the health of the piggy.
I hope that this helps! :)
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:agr:
 
BoredBellaaa said:
Could you please elaborate? Thank you,
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In order to protect the members seeking help on here, we have a different system to other online places in that we have the rule that sensitive Care sections, especially our health/illness section and our pregnancy section are specially monitored by members whose knowledge, experience and support of our forum ethos to seek vet care whenever there is any doubt we can fully trust. These members do have a special badge in their signature to indicate that they are official section monitors. They usually get an alert of any new threads or posts in the monitored section, which they are looking at as soon as they come on.

This helps us to make sure that members asking for advice in this section can be sure to get knowledgeable advice and help after we have made some very bad (and fatal) experiences with people trying to set up shop as 'experts' on here without having the necessary background, depth of knowledge and experience. This also helps threads from becoming 'free for all' hip shooting diagnosis places with a competition in who can come with the most impressive exotic diagnosis and losing focus of the original poster's practical and emotional needs. The current system has worked for us as a forum for a number of years now. Please also accept that as a public place this forum is subject to UK law - and this includes that we are not allowed to provide online diagnoses where adequate vet care is available and to work through any available vet as much as possible.

Any other members are welcome to post their support or if they have personal experience with a particular issue that they can contribute in a constructive way. The other big part of our forum ethos is to provide moral support from our community on here, and in this everybody is encouraged to take part; it an important side of what makes us so special.
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Since we are a UK based forum (although one with members from all over the world) we cannot answer posts in the middle of the UK night immediately. Please advise any member that we will answer their thread as soon as we can and if in any doubt to please make a vet appointment in the interim.

Here is the link to our system, which you can find in the field with the green background that contains our extensive information: Health & Illness Notable Posters
 
Kawts said:
I completely agree, and normally I would take her right away. The only thing is we got her checked by a vet 3 days ago and he gave her a clean bill health. But it’s possible he missed it or something new came on..
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We will
Piggylove82 said:
Is it DEFINITELY a popcorn? When I had a pig with mites a few years ago, he would jump from the sheer pain and itchiness. Yes, I did get him diagnosed and treated at the vets
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It looked like one but we’re not quite sure. The earliest vet visit we could schedule is 3 days from now, so we’ll be taking her in then.
 
When Stubbins was two months old, she used to popcorn and then have these sort of twitching and rolling motions in her hammock.
I was always so concerned, but one day, I found out why she did it.
She was overjoyed!
I realized that she would exhibit the behavior whenever I crinkled a bag.
Now that she is a moody teenager (:cool:) she does not do it anymore.
I am not sure if this is what is happening to your piggy, though. I think that it is a good idea to have her checked by a vet.
Sending healing vibes your way. x
 
Always good to get a vet to check .
I really hope it's just a excited young piggie.
Keep a watch on her tho. :nod:
 
A vet check is always a good idea with any concern.
If nothing else it will put your mind at rest.
Holding you in my thoughts
 
Mo & Stubbins & Vani said:
When Stubbins was two months old, she used to popcorn and then have these sort of twitching and rolling motions in her hammock.
I was always so concerned, but one day, I found out why she did it.
She was overjoyed!
I realized that she would exhibit the behavior whenever I crinkled a bag.
Now that she is a moody teenager (:cool:) she does not do it anymore.
I am not sure if this is what is happening to your piggy, though. I think that it is a good idea to have her checked by a vet.
Sending healing vibes your way. x
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Hopefully that’s all it is! Still waiting on the vet. They moved our appointment 10 days due to its “non-emergent” nature and coronavirus protocols. They are unfortunately the only exotic vet in our area.
 
Baby piggies can be very exuberant popcorning and I have seen them basically popcorn while laying down, as well as other crazy antics. The fact that you just saw a vet who assessed for health problems three days ago is reassuring. I would keep an eye on her for the days until your appointment and, if the opportunity comes up, try to get the behavior on video. It can be really helpful for diagnosis.
 
Update on Toffee:
We finally got her into an exotic vet who was very thorough and wonderful! We had a video of her doing this & the vet is concerned it may be a developmental disability. She says she may grow out of it, but it’s not likely. We’re going to closely monitor her and send more videos, and her vet is going to do more research into it.

Even if it is a disability, we’re hopeful it’s not one that has many other complications besides body spasms and lack of spatial awareness. Toffee is a very happy and loved little guinea and we’re sure she’s going to live a long, happy, and healthy life with her sisters 💕
 
Well, at least knowing the issue allows you to deal with it without imagining the worst.
Toffee stands the best possible chance of a great life with your love and care
 
Well done for getting her checked by the exotics vet. At least you now know what you are facing. All the best for the future with her. Can we see some photos?
 
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