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Ear Infection And Neurological Symptoms

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hallie2985

hallie2985

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Hi all,

It's been a very long time since I posted on the forum, but I'm in desperate need of some reassurance

Our story begins at the beginning of August last year, when I espied a very poorly looking baby guinea pig at our local Dobbies. To cut a long story short, I ended up buying her in order to get her urgent vet treatment, and she was diagnosed with severe bilateral inner ear infections. She had a few months of antibiotics and appeared to make a full recovery.

On Wednesday, she had a muscle spasm that involved her head basically being curved rigidly to the left, tucking practically under her back leg. We saw our amazing GP savvy vet today, and the verdict is that this is a recurrent infection. She has baytril, metronidazole and metacam, which we started this evening.

The issue I have now is that the severe muscle spasm appears to be a seizure, and she's had at least five this evening. They aren't lasting very long - maybe 20 seconds, but it's very distressing for her and for me. When she's not 'seizing' she's her usual self.

I was debating taking her to the emergency vet, but as she was seen by a savvy vet earlier, I'm not too keen on her seeing someone with less experience. At the moment, I'm trying to reassure her and ease the spasm by ensuring that all her feet are supported and gently stroking the affected muscle, which does seem to be helping. If there is no improvement tomorrow morning, I will get an emergency appointment with our vet, but I don't know what else I can do now...

Snowdrop (that's her name) is nearly 1, but only weighed 525g today (she's usually around 600g). She is very clearly inbred, but otherwise she is much like any other pig, just on a much smaller scale. Her size is a concern, as obviously she does not have much by way of reserves. Any tips on how to build her up are also much appreciated!

Thank you!
Hayley
 
No, we only managed to get an appointment this evening, so she's had one dose of AB so far. Obviously, I don't expect her to he better, but this 'seizing' for want of s better word, has gone from a one off on Wednesday to happening every 15 to 20 minutes, for about 20 seconds a time.

The vet noticed that she had constant face twitching earlier, which was a new symptom, but thought it was caused by the infection, so the AB should resolve it.

I've put Snowdrop to bed, having ascertained that she is able to cope without my help - I wonder if my handling her is exacerbating the problem rather than helping her. She is very strongly bonded to Lily and Orrick, her cage buddies, and Lily is very maternal, so she may actually be better off with them.

After nearly 10 years of guinea pigs, I thought I was over the crazy panicking when something went awry, but I've never had a neurological needs piggies before, so this has thrown me!
 
I do think in my limted experience that it does sound neurological, i would be inclined to get her to a vet tomorrow preferably a piggy savy one.

I am really sorry you are going through this, not knowing is the awful part when they are poorly. The forum is normally quiet overnight as we are UK based mainly so please keep checking the thread.

Could you keep us updated on Snowdrop? x
 
i have a piggie that had chronic ear infection,he was given three weeks of septrin,and it has relieved his symptoms,he has a mild head tilt.the exotic vet i see had mentioned e cunili,Lewis has had 0.5 mls of panacur 10 per cent cat suspension strenght for 28 days.apparently it is on the increase this parasite,rabbits are well known to get this.also exotic vet suggested surgery if head tilt did not resolve,and physiotherapy.I would be tempted to supplement with syringe feeding if your piggie has lost weight,i fed Lewis 30mls of critical care once aday to keep his weight stable.you can use mashed up pellets.I hope your piggie improves,maybe septrin is a good antibiotic if your piggie does not improve on his present regieme.:)
 
I'd definitely get her on a course of xeno spot on treatment in case of mites. This can cause seizures and mites can also infest in the ears. The twitching is Seizure activity. Definately mention it to the vet as two pronged approach x
 
Poor little thing! I really can't recommend anything that the others have recommended, other than to try to catch the seizures on video so that your vet can see firsthand, just in case things have settled by tomorrow, as seeing exactly what is happening definitely can help the vet diagnostically. Definitely sending positive vibes to her- keep us posted!
 
Definitely try to get a video of it, if the seizures have stopped by the time you go to the vet.

I agree with Adelle on the mite treatment, it can make them seize quite badly.

One of my boars has very intermittent neurological episodes. Thankfully they are very rare, I've only been present twice. His are 15 minutes + in length though. I jusy hold him and try to help him relax.

I took him to the vet afterwards, along with a video.

They mentioned worming treatment and mite treatment but because of the nature of his we didn't think that was his issue.

Apparently there are drugs they can give to stop the seizures, but they do make a pig feel very strange, almost comatose so it's a difficult choice to try them. We didn't with my boar as his episodes are so rare and he fully recovers after them.
 
Thanks for all the replies - it's nice just to have some feedback from fellow piggie people.

Snowdrop is currently sitting on my shoulder, and although the facial tics continue, she's been out for 20 minutes with none of the contorting seizures, which is a relief!

Agata, our amazing vet, did mention mites, but said that she couldn't see any evidence of them - and she also used an otoscope. She told me that guinea pigs were the reason she became a vet, so I have huge faith in her - she clearly loves them, and is very knowledgeable, keeping up with all the literature.

Snowdrop eats all the time, and I wonder if the weight loss is due to the very subtle seizure tics that I hadn't noticed until Agata pointed them out to me yesterday - I feel terrible for not being aware of them, but it's always a learning curve. I'm going to get some Critical Care in, but currently we are supplementing with high calorie oats and banana as well as corn on the cob. She and Filbert, who has recently been diagnosed as hyperthyroid and is now on medication, are going to have special top up meals away from the other pigs!

This picture is from this morning - as you can see, she is incredibly nosy!

IMG_8524_zps9qh9dggr.jpg
 
Awwww... she's lovely, I hope you get some answers soon! Feel better soon, Snowdrop!
 
Sending healing vibes, I hope you can get to the bottom of it.
 
Daily Update: Snowdrop had only one seizure yesterday, almost immediately after having her dose of Baytril (probably a coincidence!) - in the evening. She is still eating, drinking etc and seems happy enough, though the smaller scale twitching continues unabated. She is a bit of a druggie when it comes to Metacam, sniffing it out as soon as I open the bottle! Overall, I'm less worried than I was, but monitoring continues and I will keep you updated.

image.webp
 
We're currently at the vet, who is of the opinion that the seizures are a result of the ear infection and are triggered by stress. As she has one every time I give her Baytril, he has changed that to an alternative. The plan is to phone with an update in a week, unless she deteriorates.

Her poops have become very small and dry over the past couple of days, so she is now receiving extra veggies to try and improve gut motility - this is something else I'm keeping an eye on.
 
Another option to try is add a tiny bit of something she likes to the Baytril syringe to see if she'll be less stressed.

My vet likes me to use a tiny tiny bit of 100%fresh orange juice but I know others have used Ribena.

I have my fingers crossed that the med's kick in and she feels better soon.
 
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