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guinea pig sudden head tilt

lydvn

lydvn

New Born Pup
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hello! me and my girlfriend’s guinea pig, cali (3 yrs old), was eating and drinking fine all day. she suddenly got a head tilt to the left, but is still eating and drinking fine. she is even occasionally popcorning, and her head goes back to normal for a few seconds. she recently started fluffing up and she sometimes scratches at her ear. we are thinking inner ear infection, but I'm not sure.

she showed no other signs of being ill. her eye is occasionally wet looking, but she has always been like that.

we are going to try and schedule an appointment tomorrow morning. is she going to be okay? i keep seeing things all over websites saying its fatal and some saying she will be fine. we would like to try to find some peace of mind before we sleep. any advice or kind words? we are both worried to death cause we love her very much
 
A head tilt could be anything from an ear infection to a neurological issue. It is good that you are taking her to the vet tomorrow to get her looked at and treated. Ear infections can be started from a bacterial infection in the ear, they can also be a side effect from things like pneumonia. Once you see a head tilt, it means that the infection has already spread to the middle of the ear and has thrown off your guinea pig’s equilibrium. Ear discharge, head tilt, scratching, walking in circles, or any other balance problems could all point to an ear infection. The vet will diagnose how bad the infection is and treat her to her needs. Ear infections can be prevented by keeping a guinea pigs cage clean and and making sure the sanitation of your house it clean also. If she becomes lethargic then you may need to syringe feed her and prop her up right with a few towels to maintain more normal positioning. If she reaches that point then you will need to see an emergency vet.

Hope that was helpful!
 
All you can do is see a vet for diagnosis and treatment as necessary.

Our normal care advice applies of switching from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weighing her daily so you can monitor hay intake. Ear infections or potential ear infections are painful (fluffing up can be a sign of pain) and pain can stop them from eating enough hay (which you cannot judge by eye) so the daily weight checks are important to enable you to step in with syringe feeding promptly during any illness.

I hope she is ok

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
Good luck at the vets I hope it’s something easily treatable.
 
lydvn said:
they couldn’t find anything, going in for x-rays tomorrow! they are left to find a neurological disorder, inner ear infection, or just simply stress. they said she will be okay!
Click to expand...

Good luck with the further tests.
 
Hi
My 4 year old sow Polly presented with quite a marked and sudden onset head tilt one day but was managing to eat, drink and move around. It was quite upsetting to see. I made an appointment with the vet but on the morning I went to collect her.... she was back to normal! That was only 48 hours later. I still took her to the vet and showed him a photograph with a short clip of her only the day before. He said often head tilts are associated with ear infections but thought it would not have resolved so quickly. He concluded it might be something neurological. I wondered if she had had a mini stroke. Anyway, that was about 3 months ago and she has been fine ever since. :) Hope your guinea gets better soon too xx
 
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