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Seizure

Engel

Engel

Adult Guinea Pig
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Shropshire, UK
This afternoon/evening I was doing routine weigh in, nails, brushing, health check ect. I got Blossom out and weighed her she's a stable weight; 1297g. Her normal range is somewhere between 1280g and 1310g. I did a few of her nails but she wasn't overly cooperative so thought I'd leave it there and try the rest another day.

I noticed she was shedding more hair than usual and checked her skin and feet. When she first came to me she had fungal issues and I still had the medicated shampoo. While her skin wasn't really bad nor was she itchy, it did appear to be the same sort of thing as what she had before so I thought I'd get on top of it and give her a quick medicated bath especially as they're staying inside until April/May.

The bath went well and she stayed calm throughout the whole thing. Don't get me wrong she wasn't thrilled with the idea of being in water but she didn't seem stressed. She was well supported, water was warm, she didn't 'freeze' she was looking around and her heart rate/breathing seemed steady (she was supported in my hand so I could feel this).

I was just finished rinsing her off when she started fitting. I didn't rinse her off under the tap or shower head, I had water in a bowl and used my hand to scoop it up and over.

While in my hand, she started 'running' while lay partially on her side. She was also 'bobbing' her head. Bringing her head to her chest then relaxing somewhat before repeating the same motion. I did struggle to get the dry towel as I was worried about her biting me as she was bringing her head down to her chest and towards my hand. As she was facing away from me I couldn't tell what her face was doing. I managed to loosely wrap her in a towel. This lasted about 2 minutes.

I kept her in the towel and on my lap until she came to. She was very unresponsive and breathing very shallow and fast. I honestly thought she wasn't going to come out of it. After a further 4-5 minutes she had come back but was quite dazed and confused. I put her in a large fleece hide where she wouldn't move for a few minutes and when she did it was almost like her back legs were paralyzed; she was dragging them and lay with her head in the corner of the hide.

I thought the worst so placed her (in her hide) in the cage with her cage mates. To either get her up or to say goodbye. I went down to get some veggies, again to tempt her. I must have been 5 minutes and when I returned she was up and moving normally. She was still very confused, flighty and not herself. I gave them their veggies and covered the cage over leaving a gap big enough for me to look through to keep and eye on her.

After about 1½hrs she seems more herself. Still not 100%. She's eating and drinking by herself and her gait is normal.

I'm going to phone the vet in the morning to see if they can fit her in. If she wasn't damp from her bath (and it wasn't so cold outside) I would've got her in this evening.

Is there a possibility that her skin condition could have triggered it? Or unidentified stress during the bath? Is epilepsy in Guinea pigs heard of?
I know of many things that can cause seizures and this isn't the first animal I've had that has had them. But this has been in animals where it has been quite common.

For background information, I adopted her when she was roughly 6 months old and she is now ~18 months old. I haven't noticed and seizure activity before nor has she had any known trauma while she's been here. She eats well and a hay heavy diet with 1 cup veg and 1tbsp pellets every other day. All other piggies are fine. I've even gone as far as checking monoxide detectors. There's nothing she could have been in contact with that's toxic.

Has anyone experienced this before?
 
Sorry to hear Blossom had this episode. I’m afraid I don’t have a clue but hope it’s nothing serious and was just a one off ‘episode’.
 
I’m afraid I’ve no experience of this but it sounds very frightening for you. I hope the vet can give you some answers tomorrow.
 
Siikibam said:
Sorry to hear Blossom had this episode. I’m afraid I don’t have a clue but hope it’s nothing serious and was just a one off ‘episode’.
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Yes I hope so too. She's still not brilliant now. I just hope she doesn't have another between now and morning.
 
VickiA said:
I’m afraid I’ve no experience of this but it sounds very frightening for you. I hope the vet can give you some answers tomorrow.
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I hope so too. I know that extreme itchiness from mange can cause seizures. I assume other itchy skin conditions can cause the same. However, she isn't itchy.

Adrenaline is a strange thing, it can make you freeze or it can allow you to keep going. It didn't actually 'hit me' until after I posted on here.
 
I once had a piggy who had some kind of fit. I heard him scream briefly, like he was in pain and looked round and he was on his side "paddling" and his eyes rolling. I thought he was dying some painful death and rushed him to the vets thinking he would be pts. By the time we got there he was sitting up and calmer but with a head tilt. The vet couldn't say what had caused it but was very optimistic he would recover. I think he gave me metacam but it was some years ago so I may not be remembering that correctly. For a few days he was too uncoordinated to be able to eat anything for himself so had to be syringe fed. I also had to temporarily separate him from his brother. But gradually he improved and after a few weeks was back to normal other than he was left with a permanent head tilt. He was around two when this happened and died when he was four. I don't know if his death was related but he never had any further siezures.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
I once had a piggy who had some kind of fit. I heard him scream briefly, like he was in pain and looked round and he was on his side "paddling" and his eyes rolling. I thought he was dying some painful death and rushed him to the vets thinking he would be pts. By the time we got there he was sitting up and calmer but with a head tilt. The vet couldn't say what had caused it but was very optimistic he would recover. I think he gave me metacam but it was some years ago so I may not be remembering that correctly. For a few days he was too uncoordinated to be able to eat anything for himself so had to be syringe fed. I also had to temporarily separate him from his brother. But gradually he improved and after a few weeks was back to normal other than he was left with a permanent head tilt. He was around two when this happened and died when he was four. I don't know if his death was related but he never had any further siezures.
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How strange. Yes Blossom looked like that. She didn't make a noise though. She seems ok with her cage mates and appears to be eating by herself. I will monitor her weight over the following week though.
 
Engel said:
How strange. Yes Blossom looked like that. She didn't make a noise though. She seems ok with her cage mates and appears to be eating by herself. I will monitor her weight over the following week though.
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I would take that as a positive sign. With my piggy, Jimmy Jazz, him and his brother had always had very good bond and he had been top pig. While he was recovering from his siezure he could no longer fulfill that role. His brother's natural instincts were to try and take on the role of being top pig which meant trying to mount Jimmy Jazz but at the same time clearly not wanting to be in charge and being distressed by the whole situation, so keeping them separate but next to each other, where they could communicate through the bars, for a few weeks was in both their best interests. When the time came for them to go back together they were both delighted and quickly settled back into their old routine.
 
Sorry that you had to experience this.
A fitting piggy is quite scary.
You may want to consider a vet trip to reassure yourself if nothing else.
Hope it was just a one off.
 
Thankfully as of this morning Blossom was back to her usual self, just a bit on the tired side if anything.

We've been to the vet and on exam she's a normal healthy pig (apart from her skin). It's a case of wait and see for the time being as she's only had the one episode. If it happens again she is to go back.
 
Glad to hear she checked out ok at the vets. Hopefully there will be no reoccurrence. These things can be such a mystery and worry.
 
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