Deep Sleep - Dreaming or fitting?

[Toffeewoffee]

HI everyone

I am sure i am worrying over nothing, but My male Lilly who will be 3 years old in septmeber has always been a bit of an odd ball and done weired things, he used to get so excited and popcorn and nearly do flips!

However twice in the last 2 weeks when he has been laying down sprawled out asleep he would start making quiet noises and start twitching every few seconds...... his eye would be rolled showing some white and quite honestly he did look dead and i really panicked and jumped up and started gently stroking him and talking to him but he wouldn't respond for about 2 or 3 seconds then he would wake up and look at me as if to say what is all of the fuss about..... and he would then act completely normally.

I would just like to know if anyone else has any piggies that do this and if it is just him dreaming, this is the first time i've ever noticed him do this and non of my other pigs do, it is horrible to watch him laying there looking like that, and also would i do him harm waking him up?

Thank you.

 

[mikulinek]

I can't say I've experienced that exactly but one of our boars sometimes makes funny noises and twitches a little in his sleep. He's just dreaming. A lot of the time you won't see this in guinea pigs because they don't always go into a deep enough sleep to dream, especially in the day.

You know yourself I'm sure that most of the time they'll grab 5 or 10 minutes here or there with their eyes open very often. Occasionally you can catch them in a proper sleep and this is where you'll notice that they really do dream.

The things to be concerned about is, if this is new behaviour or you think it is, then maybe speak to your vet just to be sure. The waking up also sounds a bit odd to me. My boys sometimes wake up a bit dazed after a sleep but they always wake up very quickly.

I think and hope that it's nothing but, as ever, I would always consult my vet to be sure.

 

[MissAqua]

I have had similar experiences. I have one pig Mo who kinda snores/grunts in his sleep, his body also twitchs.
Caramel, my older girl who now sleeps alot she does the eye twitching thing occasionally. It is quite scary to watch as your not sure whether as you say they are asleep or fitting. Her ears tend to flap as well. When I have watched her it does not tend to last too long, she will wake up reposition herself and go back to sleep. I once read somewhere that older pigs sleep a bit more deeper, I am not sure where I heard it from but it fits with my Caramel doing this more often.

If he is not being himself then I would consult a vet to be sure