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Mystery painful ear with excessive wax, any ideas?

Dilly's Piggies

Dilly's Piggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
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My 4 year old sow Harriet has had intermittent 'flare ups' with her right ear, she gets a slight head tilt, excessive ear wax, when I touch her ear she will shake her head and squeal like it's painful or itchy and she struggles to eat properly thus loses weight. She won't let anybody touch it, my vet has to sedate her just to look at it because she freaks out so much.

It all started about 1 year ago when she got a tiny piece of hay stuck in that ear, she went through surgery to remove it but it was unsuccessful, they didn't have tools small enough to get it out, even though xrays and examinations have been done since, showing nothing in there, I wonder if it still is there buried deep down causing all of these issues she has still now. I am also sure she is deaf, I don't know if this has anything to do with it.

These flare ups happen once every month or so and the only thing I can do to fix it most of the time is clean her ear, but then it always comes back and cleaning doesn't always work, plus she's so difficult to work with. In recent months it has now started affecting her dentally, one side of her molars keep overgrowing and it looks like she will need regular dentals. She has had xrays and numerous dental exams, nothing seems to be wrong... She has been on antibiotics and metacam multiple times, it doesn't respond.

My vet is pretty sure there's an issue with her ear causing the dental issues and not the other way around, but this seems to be very rare and they haven't heard of it before, they can't diagnose her with anything because they don't know what is wrong and therefore we don't have any treatment for her other than cleaning it weekly which doesn't always work. The vet said she will likely need a referral to a specialist for invasive ear surgery to go behind the ear drum to see what is going on and I was quoted around £1000 for it and even that may not find anything.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on here with Harriet? My vet said if it keeps affecting her dentally to where she can't eat and needs constant dental surgery I will have to consider putting her to sleep. I've just never heard of this kind of thing before and I can't find anything online about it, any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 
I’m sorry, I’ve not heard of this either. I did used to have one pig with excessive ear wax (which was hard to see as the wax was black as her ears were black, it was like tar) and she really really really hated me cleaning them And used to scream murder and shake her head vigorously. What I did with her is do it more regularly but only a quick clean, so say every week rather than once a month.

she also screamed murder over hair cutting (she was a Peruvian) and nail clipping so she was just all round dramatic. She eventually died of kidney/heart disease at old age but never got to the dental issues or head tilt stage which sound very worrying

There is a thing called ear mites I think, could that be at play here

surely at her age it is possible that the dental and ear issues are completely separate?

you are doing a great job, it must be very stressful for you. I hope someone can help you
 
I just want to offer my support and say you are doing a wonderful job with your girl. These piggies and their mystery ailments are a worry.
 
Elthysia said:
I’m sorry, I’ve not heard of this either. I did used to have one pig with excessive ear wax (which was hard to see as the wax was black as her ears were black, it was like tar) and she really really really hated me cleaning them And used to scream murder and shake her head vigorously. What I did with her is do it more regularly but only a quick clean, so say every week rather than once a month.

she also screamed murder over hair cutting (she was a Peruvian) and nail clipping so she was just all round dramatic. She eventually died of kidney/heart disease at old age but never got to the dental issues or head tilt stage which sound very worrying

There is a thing called ear mites I think, could that be at play here

surely at her age it is possible that the dental and ear issues are completely separate?

you are doing a great job, it must be very stressful for you. I hope someone can help you
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Thank you for this reply, your mention of ear mites is very interesting, I have considered this could be the issue and I have her on ivermectin now, I don't know if she could have that for a year without obvious scabbing or discharge though? My vet has looked in her ear multiple times and never brought up that it could be ear mites but I have gone and treated her anyway just in case, it would actually be great news if it is because then it's easily treatable.

She still has symptoms today despite 3 days of ear cleaning, her ear looks squeaky clean and nothing is obviously wrong, the issue is obviously very deep inside so I can't see it, it's very frustrating and even more so when there aren't any obvious answers. I'm sorry you lost your piggy, Harriet is a long haired Sheltie and also screams murder when I try to trim her hair and nails, I wonder if her ear really does hurt that bad or if she just hates being touched, it would make sense lol
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
Thank you for this reply, your mention of ear mites is very interesting, I have considered this could be the issue and I have her on ivermectin now, I don't know if she could have that for a year without obvious scabbing or discharge though? My vet has looked in her ear multiple times and never brought up that it could be ear mites but I have gone and treated her anyway just in case, it would actually be great news if it is because then it's easily treatable.

She still has symptoms today despite 3 days of ear cleaning, her ear looks squeaky clean and nothing is obviously wrong, the issue is obviously very deep inside so I can't see it, it's very frustrating and even more so when there aren't any obvious answers. I'm sorry you lost your piggy, Harriet is a long haired Sheltie and also screams murder when I try to trim her hair and nails, I wonder if her ear really does hurt that bad or if she just hates being touched, it would make sense lol
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I’m obviously no vet but you seem to be stuck in treatment. I think that if I were in your shoes I would go ahead and try and treat the dental problems without the £1000 ear drum investigation at the moment.

Pain should be fairly obvious as a piggy tends to go very quiet and puff up into a ball.

Perhaps treat the dental issues - they COULD be coincidence and unrelated. Keep cleaning the ears only what you can see is coming out (not going prodding too deep). And then take it from there?

The weight loss could be from the dental issues. It doesn’t sound like she had weight loss before the dental issues when she only had ear issues?

if you look at some of the dental issue threads on the forum you can see that a number of pigs have treatment every few weeks successfully. That alone should not have to mean she has to be PTS but of course that is up to you and how she responds etc

I can only say what I would do. Food for thought. You’re doing great so far
 
Otherwise perhaps if she really is in continuous pain when it flares up, a course of low level metacam when there is a flare up so that she keeps eating properly and therefore avoid the dental issues?
If she needs to be on metacam a few days a month to help her continue to eat if she has pain then that shouldn’t be too problematic?
 
I wonder if this is a middle ear infection, that hasn't been addressed properly. This can cause damage to the facial nerve, causing the guinea pig to favour one side of the mouth and not chew equally. I think you need to get a vet who is experienced with dental issues, but also knowledgeable about the different types of antibiotic that are available to treat a stubborn ear infection. You can check for facial nerve damage by looking for a blink reflex, if you move your finger towards the eye and also look at whether the mouth looks symmetrical, or if there is a drooping to one side.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
I wonder if this is a middle ear infection, that hasn't been addressed properly. This can cause damage to the facial nerve, causing the guinea pig to favour one side of the mouth and not chew equally. I think you need to get a vet who is experienced with dental issues, but also knowledgeable about the different types of antibiotic that are available to treat a stubborn ear infection. You can check for facial nerve damage by looking for a blink reflex, if you move your finger towards the eye and also look at whether the mouth looks symmetrical, or if there is a drooping to one side.
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I definitely agree with this... would an ear infection cause a bad smell coming from the mouth? My vet looked in her mouth and ear and took xrays and couldn't find any signs of infection or abscess but clearly something is causing that smell and the pain making her favour one side to chew... I did do what you said and checked her face for any abnormalities and she looks fine, it's so strange and frustrating and her incisors are slanted yet again for the third time after 2 recent dentals but her molars look fine according to the vet. She does have constant ear discharge on the affected side, it's not like pus, it just looks like dark dead skin build up, but her other ear is clean and normal. My vet did say it is likely a middle ear issue, hence why she said I would need a referral to a specialist for invesitgative surgery which will cost a bomb, but it looks like I have no other option.
 
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