Head tilt/Leans to side/Falls over

[PSL]

I’m new here looking for recommendations. PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) is just over a year old. A month and a half ago she developed a head tilt and we’ve taken her to two different vets. The first one prescribed dewormer, antibiotic, and pain medication almost as a blanket approach stating it could be an ear infection they can’t see or a parasite in the brain. No progress and when we tried to get her back in they said it would be weeks. We took her to a new vet who prescribed a steroid. She said it is “likely” neurological, but to try this. A few weeks later and there’s no improvement. She’s gotten worse. She leans to the side and in her cage she just lays in the same spot. We’ve put lower food/water bowls right by her face and have to clean out cage where she lays a few times a day or she just lays where she goes to the bathroom. She eats plenty, but we syringe feed her water to be sure she stays hydrated (she won’t drink from her bottle or bowl). When we take her out of her cage she can only walk with assistance (due to lean/tilt) or she falls over. She’s so young. It’s so heartbreaking. Any other recommendations? Is there nothing at all they can do for neurological issues if in fact that’s what it is? We are going to take her back to the vet yet again, but it feels as if it’s just a guessing game with no real answers.

 

[Wiebke]

I’m new here looking for recommendations. PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) is just over a year old. A month and a half ago she developed a head tilt and we’ve taken her to two different vets. The first one prescribed dewormer, antibiotic, and pain medication almost as a blanket approach stating it could be an ear infection they can’t see or a parasite in the brain. No progress and when we tried to get her back in they said it would be weeks. We took her to a new vet who prescribed a steroid. She said it is “likely” neurological, but to try this. A few weeks later and there’s no improvement. She’s gotten worse. She leans to the side and in her cage she just lays in the same spot. We’ve put lower food/water bowls right by her face and have to clean out cage where she lays a few times a day or she just lays where she goes to the bathroom. She eats plenty, but we syringe feed her water to be sure she stays hydrated (she won’t drink from her bottle or bowl). When we take her out of her cage she can only walk with assistance (due to lean/tilt) or she falls over. She’s so young. It’s so heartbreaking. Any other recommendations? Is there nothing at all they can do for neurological issues if in fact that’s what it is? We are going to take her back to the vet yet again, but it feels as if it’s just a guessing game with no real answers.

Hi!

Please have her x-rayed for a calcified bulla syndrome (CBS) in guinea pigs, which causes intense vertigo; it is the calcification of tissue in a kind of bladder in the ear area; the symptoms can vary but the ones you are reporting are the most common. The symptoms are usually diagnosed as neurological by a vet because this condition has until now not been known.

Please step in with syringe feeding support, especially as the condition as it progressed can also affect the jaw and the ability to chew. Your piggy will struggle to eat and access food when they are constantly flopping to the side and are no longer able to walk for any length without falling over. Keep in mind that hay and water (or syringed hay based recovery formula with additionally offering, but not forcing down, water) make the bulk of what a piggy eats in a day; not veg or pellets. The condition doesn't seem to affect the appetite itself.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Looking after guinea pigs with limited or no mobility

If your piggy is no longer able to control their movements and to feed themselves properly, please consider euthanasia as it is a very disconcerting and nasty thing to have. It is a progressive condition.
I happened onto it after I had to euthanise my own Meleri a month ago for (likely but not provable) the fast onset variant of it; she started with suddenly losing sight completely in her remaining eye before she became increasingly insecure when walking and then increasingly fell over with the occasional hint of a head tilt. The process seemed to speed up towards the end. The vets I saw all diagnosed it as neurological but it seemed to be more specific than that to me.

Saskia from Los Angeles Guinea Pir Rescue can help you better with that as she has been involved in the medical research of it bt peoviding case studies from the hundreds of piggies that are passing through her rescue every year. The research is just about to come out in the coming months, so I am not yet fully up on it myself apart from a short chat with her to compare symptoms. There is unfortunately only so much you can do about it. You may want to join her Wheekers Group for more information on this particular issue as it is has been discussed there.

Please be aware that I cannot diagnose sight unseen and that Saskia Chiesa is the lady who runs Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue; she is not a vet. We do not support self-diagnosing as a rule; this is very much the exception because the information is not out there yet.

 

[PSL]

Thank you for your kind response. The vets in this surrounding area (even the exotic pet vets) really seem lacking. We had to make the very difficult decision to euthanize Pumpkin Spice Latte today. She progressively got worse over the last week and while she was still eating, she couldn’t walk and seemed to be having silent mini seizures. It was heartbreaking, and the euthanizing experience was also traumatic. May she Rest In Peace and I hope the research progresses in this space as she was only just over a year old.

 

[Flutterby]

I'm so sorry for your loss xx

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so sorry you had to make this difficult decision. Some things are just not fixable. You tried your very best. Popcorn high at the bridge Pumkin Spice Latte. You were a loved piggy. Take care

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for your kind response. The vets in this surrounding area (even the exotic pet vets) really seem lacking. We had to make the very difficult decision to euthanize Pumpkin Spice Latte today. She progressively got worse over the last week and while she was still eating, she couldn’t walk and seemed to be having silent mini seizures. It was heartbreaking, and the euthanizing experience was also traumatic. May she Rest In Peace and I hope the research progresses in this space as she was only just over a year old.

BIG HUGS

I had to make the same heart-breaking decision with my Meleri only a few weeks earlier, so I really feel for you!

Watching a piggy going downhill like that and not being able to help has been one of the more traumatising experiences in the many piggies I have lost over the years. I am so sorry that the send off was even worse for you.

Be kind with yourself; there is nothing you have done wrong. Bad luck does happen and fairness never comes into it - you can't control this bit. Your have given Pumpkin Spice Latte the best life you could - and THAT is what counts. Guinea pigs don't have a concept for a set life expectancy; they measure their own lives in happy todays. As long as you have given her as many as you was in your control to give, then you have not failed her as an owner.

Please take the time to read these guides in this link here. I hope that they can help you work through this all. They also contain further links on where to look if you need help.
Death, Dying, Terminal Illness, Grieving and Bereaved Companions: Information and Support for Owners and Their Children