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When to let go after likely stroke

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Pigmeister

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Hi, unfortunately our piggie Cookie seems likely ot have had a stroke. Having thought she might have a breathing issue last week which disappeared after a big cough, on Mondya she really didn't seem herself and was hiding and doing some head bobbing, then walking in a circle and was wobbly. The vet said it could be inner ear infection or stroke and likely nothign we could do but trying ear infection treatment to see how that goes. That was yesterday.

IT's very difficult to syringe feed her as she's a very independent piggie and just doesn't like it but we're persevering.

Thing is this morning there's less fight in her and she's twitching every few seconds now. Moving less. It was easier to feed her. I don't think that's necessarily her wanting to eat as her not having the nergy to fight me with the syringe. (just using the word fight here I'm feeding her as much as I can until it's very obvious she won't take any more, which unfortunately doesn't get too many syringes).

The twitch is making me wonder if we need to act sooner rather than later to stop her suffering.

Apart from not eating with a stroke would there be obvious signs it's time to say good bye?
 
I’m so sorry to hear this. Sending hugs

This guide will help you with information

Wiebke

Thread 'A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs'

1 Your mental health, sensitivities and work commitments
- Mental health and support resources
- Sensitivity aspects
- When work and other commitments clash
2 Life or death emergency – Can my piggy be saved?
- Contacting a vet clinic at all times and link to life and death emergencies list
- What to do if I cannot access vet care instantly?
- The need to save up for emergency vet access
3 Is my...
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Thank you for that. I've read these a couple of years ago when having to make a similar decision and will have a read again.
I think it's hard with this piggie because while I see people on here with recovering stroke piggies, I think she's the kind fo personality that would hate having us do so much for her and all the handling. We only had her since January, from a rescue, and she never liked being handled or pet much at all. you could get a boop and she;s happily take food from us but she was not up for cuddles. A stubborn girl who knows what she likes and doens't like :)
 
Yes the vet thought we give that and hope it's an inner ear infection and she gets better. She's had 3 doses now. I think she's getting a little worse to be honest.
Baytril and a pain killer we've been prescribed.

The twitching this morning bothered me as that looks like something that would just be hard to live with.
 
Is she in a decent dose of painkiller? If it is just an ear infection then they are very painful, and will stop them wanting to eat due to the pain of chewing
 
Pigmeister said:
Yes I trust the vets to give the right dosage. It's 0.95 ml of 0.5mg Loxicom
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That’s a good dose of cat version. Often we see rather low doses of cat being prescribed since it’s licensing.

Obviously antibiotics are going to take a few days to start really getting to it but also some ear infections are just rather hard for antibiotics to get to.
All you can really do is the daily weight checks and monitor, staying in touch with your vet if you think she is significantly deteriorating.
 
Piggies&buns said:
That’s a good dose of cat version. Often we see rather low doses of cat being prescribed since it’s licensing.

Obviously antibiotics are going to take a few days to start really getting to it but also some ear infections are just rather hard for antibiotics to get to.
All you can really do is the daily weight checks and monitor, staying in touch with your vet if you think she is significantly deteriorating.
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Thank you. She seems ot have stopped the twitching and my wife thinks she is looking better than when she got home from the vet. She's sitting up more and keeping her head up herself. So will give her time and keep our fingers crossed.

Thanks for the input.
 
Pigmeister said:
Thank you
realised she's sitting up mroe today, less lying around with her back legs flopped out behind her. Hopefully a good sign.

Is it a good idea to give her blended veggies along with recovery food?
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I’m glad she seems perkier.

It is better to give her a syringe feed and even offer her some hay and sliced veggies by hand after a syringe feed to help pique her appetite.
What you don’t want is to detract from the syringe feeds by filling it up with too much blended veg and thus reducing the amount of fibre she is taking in.
 
Defintiely still going with the syringe feeding. Just been feeding her now and she was sitting better, didn't look noticably hunched now. And she has eaten some grass which is great so going to get as much as I can for her. Her head still wasn't moving right as she was trying to get to the grass but it was looking better.

Still being cautious but hopefully moving int he right direction.
 
Yes and I've seen some pigges around online with head tilt so when I thought she had had a stroke I was hopefully she might get over it. Maybe this is more of an infection in the end. She seemed to deteriorate over the course of a week whereas I'd assume a stroke woudl be mroe of an immediate change.

Whatever else happens it's a relief to see her suffering less. We'll be getting mroe antibiotic and painkiller from the vet and a big pile of grass for her.

My next conern will be reintroudcing her to our other 2 as we've separated her while she recovers as the 3 of them were always quite niggly at the best of times, but if that happens that's a problem I'll be happy to have.
 
Pigmeister said:
Yes and I've seen some pigges around online with head tilt so when I thought she had had a stroke I was hopefully she might get over it. Maybe this is more of an infection in the end. She seemed to deteriorate over the course of a week whereas I'd assume a stroke woudl be mroe of an immediate change.

Whatever else happens it's a relief to see her suffering less. We'll be getting mroe antibiotic and painkiller from the vet and a big pile of grass for her.

My next conern will be reintroudcing her to our other 2 as we've separated her while she recovers as the 3 of them were always quite niggly at the best of times, but if that happens that's a problem I'll be happy to have.
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Unfortunately that is why we don’t recommend any medical separation - it can break bonds.
Is she still beside them? Being beside them can help keep the bond alive but you still need to go through the neutral territory reintroduction properly when you do try to put her back with them.
 
fluffysal said:
Keep munching little lady, my boys send healing rumbles ❤️
A few forum members have piggies with permanent head tilt left over from health issues. @naguya being the most memorable (to me) as Momo would not have survived without dedicated care. He's now living a full and happy life.
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It is nice to know Momo marked your life in some way, Momo will be very happy to know about this ♥️ nowadays despite the tilt head, which impacts him in some ways (such as hygiene) he is a very happy piggy, plenty of popcorns and zoomies! He became an extremely affectionate piggy too.

I hope OP's piggy also gets as better as Momo did 🙏
 
We initially had her next to the others, but we have a puppy without a space that allows us to keep him completely separated (there is a barrier so he can't get ot them). We only took her out yesterday so maybe we should get her back with them as soon as.
 
Pigmeister said:
We initially had her next to the others, but we have a puppy without a space that allows us to keep him completely separated (there is a barrier so he can't get ot them). We only took her out yesterday so maybe we should get her back with them as soon as.
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I personally would try to get them back together - as I say we don’t recommend any medical separation (unless there’s a real risk of harm) - it causes stress to be separated and can harm their bond
 
Merab said:
Just want to offer support
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Thank you.

From reading around it doesn't sound good if it was an ear infection - maybe a little fit is sign of it infecting the brain too? It wasn't too long after the baytril so perhaps a sign of fighting the infection.

Maybe the feeding was stressful for her, but we obviously can't not feed her while she's not eating herself.
 
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