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Head Tilt

Ffduty

Ffduty

New Born Pup
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I have about a 6 month old sow, with a rather prominent head tilt, and has done for about a month now. To cut a long story short, we went to the vets, they said she had crusty ear wax but couldn't see any parasites, got given ivermectin and otodine. The wax has loosened a litt but still has a tilt, so went back and got antibiotics. But as the vets isn't exotic vets, they are limited on diagnostics, so nothing was ruled out. She seems mostly fine in herself, no balance issues and still eats. (Sometimes her tilt looks bad and sometimes she appears to barely have one at all, its weird). Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing or what the tell tale signs of a neuro issue are, or had any advice in general, as I lost a pig recently in a rather traumatic/sudden fashion, so am a bit paranoid (so apologies if this is an overreaction).I can't really afford any neuro scans but also don't want to just leave it and her get worse.
Thanks
 
I would see if you can get your girl seen by an experienced vet. How long will she be on antibiotics and which one was she prescribed? Hopefully that may do the trick for her.
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Ffduty said:
I have about a 6 month old sow, with a rather prominent head tilt, and has done for about a month now. To cut a long story short, we went to the vets, they said she had crusty ear wax but couldn't see any parasites, got given ivermectin and otodine. The wax has loosened a litt but still has a tilt, so went back and got antibiotics. But as the vets isn't exotic vets, they are limited on diagnostics, so nothing was ruled out. She seems mostly fine in herself, no balance issues and still eats. (Sometimes her tilt looks bad and sometimes she appears to barely have one at all, its weird). Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing or what the tell tale signs of a neuro issue are, or had any advice in general, as I lost a pig recently in a rather traumatic/sudden fashion, so am a bit paranoid (so apologies if this is an overreaction).I can't really afford any neuro scans but also don't want to just leave it and her get worse.
Thanks
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Hi

Do you also have rabbits?
 
Ffduty said:
No I don't
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OK - that exludes e.cuniculi, which can transmit from rabbits to guinea pigs and that affects the brain and the nervous system. A common symptom is a head tilt. Not a nice thing to come down with, so always worth making sure that it is not in play.

How well has the ear wax loosened and the ear freed?
 
Siikibam said:
I would see if you can get your girl seen by an experienced vet. How long will she be on antibiotics and which one was she prescribed? Hopefully that may do the trick for her.
Vet Locator
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I don't really have the money for all the diagnostics they will probably have to run tbh, so would ideally be my last resort 😅
She's on Baytril for 10 days (I think)
 
Wiebke said:
OK - that exludes e.cuniculi, which can transmit from rabbits to guinea pigs and that affects the brain and the nervous system. A common symptom is a head tilt. Not a nice thing to come down with, so always worth making sure that it is not in play.

How well has the ear wax loosened and the ear freed?
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I did consider that as a possibility, as I got her from pets at home (not ideal, I know) so unsure of her background. Vet didn't specify, just said its loosened a bit, (but we were only prescribed it for a week so may be why.)
 
Ffduty said:
I did consider that as a possibility, as I got her from pets at home (not ideal, I know) so unsure of her background. Vet didn't specify, just said its loosened a bit, (but we were only prescribed it for a week so may be why.)
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If it is ongoing, I would have your piggy checked again and see whether more wax needs to come out. Some piggies have much more of a tendency for a build up of wax than others.
 
Wiebke said:
If it is ongoing, I would have your piggy checked again and see whether more wax needs to come out. Some piggies have much more of a tendency for a build up of wax than others.
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We went to the vets yesterday and he didn't seem overly concerned about about amount in there, but I still might use the otodine occasionally to see if it will move anything else. (Thanks for the replies btw)
 
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