Falls over sometimes?

[Puddles1999]

Hi.
My 4 1/2 to 5 year old girl Penelope walks fine and never really has a hard time walking. However, I have noticed she easily falls on to her sides sometimes. She has this giraffe bed she can go in but she likes to sit on top of it so the top sinks in and she sits there and begs. It’s not really off the ground of the cage much but it goes up a bit since she sits on the caved in roof of it lol. She jumped the little ways off of it today to come get some critical care. She fell to her side when she did hop down. She was on her back and couldn’t get back up. I gently helped her upright and then she was okay. She didn’t walk weird and continued on to where I put her bowl. It does scare me when she does it. * I do try and fix the giraffe bed but she also squish’s it back down.*

She was at the vet yesterday. I had her check for arthritis and the vet said she has a little bit of arthritis in her back. (I don’t remember if she said back or back legs.) She did say it was minor though. Could that cause it? She isn’t constantly falling over or walking in a weird line. I don’t see her do it everyday either but it just seems that she is easily knocked off her balance.

Picture of said giraffe bed*

 

[Pantalaimon]

I’m not an expert but I think that balance issues are usually associated with the inner ear or brain. I think it can be caused by pressure in the skull from other issues as well such as abscesses.
I had a pig who had severe balance issues but that was due to a fairly advanced ear condition.

 

[Puddles1999]

I’m not an expert but I think that balance issues are usually associated with the inner ear or brain. I think it can be caused by pressure in the skull from other issues as well such as abscesses.
I had a pig who had severe balance issues but that was due to a fairly advanced ear condition.

I’ve had her checked for an ear infection and nothing was found. She was also put on antibiotics for one just in case a bit ago when I had mentioned this to the vet. She also just had an X-ray yesterday at the vets.

She doesn’t walk weird or anything and doesn’t lose her balance when walking. She’s just easily knocked off her balance sometimes when she hops but it’s not always.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi.
My 4 1/2 to 5 year old girl Penelope walks fine and never really has a hard time walking. However, I have noticed she easily falls on to her sides sometimes. She has this giraffe bed she can go in but she likes to sit on top of it so the top sinks in and she sits there and begs. It’s not really off the ground of the cage much but it goes up a bit since she sits on the caved in roof of it lol. She jumped the little ways off of it today to come get some critical care. She fell to her side when she did hop down. She was on her back and couldn’t get back up. I gently helped her upright and then she was okay. She didn’t walk weird and continued on to where I put her bowl. It does scare me when she does it. * I do try and fix the giraffe bed but she also squish’s it back down.*

She was at the vet yesterday. I had her check for arthritis and the vet said she has a little bit of arthritis in her back. (I don’t remember if she said back or back legs.) She did say it was minor though. Could that cause it? She isn’t constantly falling over or walking in a weird line. I don’t see her do it everyday either but it just seems that she is easily knocked off her balance.

Picture of said giraffe bed*

Hi

Arthritis in the spine or back legs can occasionally promote falling over; I have seen this a few times with some arthritic sows of mine. It's by far not always neurological (brain or spine) or inner ear/balance organ related; especially with older piggies, the occasional falling over can be down to medium to more severe arthritis. Did your vet check her ears?

Has your vet given you some analgesics for the arthritis? You could see whether some Johnsons extra strength 4joints liuid for dogs will do the trick. The combination of metacam and 4joints has taken care of the falling over problem with my own 5 years old Begw but she was showing clear signs of back leg and lower spine arthritis by then (struggling to jump into the hay tray) plus some weight loss.
It is the cheapest option to try and see whether it is arthritic or not; but the glucosamine will take some weeks to build up in the body and joints so don't expect instant results. If the falling over continues some weeks down the line or gets worse then it is more likely one of the other causes, which are much more difficult to diagnose or treat.

 

[Kay4real]

Hi.
My 4 1/2 to 5 year old girl Penelope walks fine and never really has a hard time walking. However, I have noticed she easily falls on to her sides sometimes. She has this giraffe bed she can go in but she likes to sit on top of it so the top sinks in and she sits there and begs. It’s not really off the ground of the cage much but it goes up a bit since she sits on the caved in roof of it lol. She jumped the little ways off of it today to come get some critical care. She fell to her side when she did hop down. She was on her back and couldn’t get back up. I gently helped her upright and then she was okay. She didn’t walk weird and continued on to where I put her bowl. It does scare me when she does it. * I do try and fix the giraffe bed but she also squish’s it back down.*

She was at the vet yesterday. I had her check for arthritis and the vet said she has a little bit of arthritis in her back. (I don’t remember if she said back or back legs.) She did say it was minor though. Could that cause it? She isn’t constantly falling over or walking in a weird line. I don’t see her do it everyday either but it just seems that she is easily knocked off her balance.

Picture of said giraffe bed*

I had a guinea pig 10 years ago…that started falling over and it ended up being inner ear issue, Ive been caring for guinea pigs for 15 years and to be honest, with my kids now grown, last in grad school, I can’t remember but I think they put him on antibiotics and it resolved quickly! Hope that helps!

 

[Puddles1999]

I had a guinea pig 10 years ago…that started falling over and it ended up being inner ear issue, Ive been caring for guinea pigs for 15 years and to be honest, with my kids now grown, last in grad school, I can’t remember but I think they put him on antibiotics and it resolved quickly! Hope that helps!

Hi! An inner ear issue was my first thought as well. The vet had ruled it out but it’s always hard when signs could be so many different things. Penelope has since been diagnosed with a small heart murmur and a slight enlarged heart. This was before her heart issues came up this year though. She did end up with some fluid in her abdomen which is what ultimately diagnosed her heart issues. She would fall over a lot more with that being an issue.
However she is much better now and thriving but I really think it had to do with that and arthritis! I still notice she can’t jump on to things too well anymore so I do think she has some arthritis in her back legs but it surely doesn’t stop her from popcorning.