Middle ear infection

[richc]

Hi.
Wasn't sure where to put this thread, perhaps Admin could move it to the appropriate section if needed.

Had a horrible experience last Wednesday when we found our 12 month old Sheltie staggering around the floor of his hutch. He couldn't stand and just flopped over on his side whenever he tried, a pitiful and desperately miserable sight.

Within 10 minutes he was on the vets table. Apparently he had something similar to an inner ear infection which we humans get from time to time. The Vet gave it a name, but I cannot remember what it was, I wasn't taking much in at the time. One of the signs of this was rapidly twitching, almost rotating, eye eyeballs, a very strange sight. The poor Pig didn't know which way was up or down, literally.

Anyway, he was given a steroid shot along with a dose of antibiotics, and we were told to take him back the next morning.

The next morning he seemed pretty much back to normal. We took him back to the vet and she gave us a 6 day supply of antibiotics, along with a sobering warning that once the steroid shot wore off he might regress.

The twice daily dose of antibiotics became a battle of wills, but so determined were we that Tinsel was going to be fully fit again, he had no chance of winning despite the grumbling and wriggling!

I am happy to report that Tinsel is once again back to his bolshy, bad tempered, grumbling, ignorant self. Thank God!
We wouldn't have him any other way.

[popcornpiggy]

Thank you for this post, this middle ear infection is horrible and extremely frightening, I had a dog who had the same thing and was so frightened as didn't know what was happening to him, took him straight to emergency vet too and soon sorted, but if you don't know what it is it is extremely scarey. The rolling eyes is horrid - for both humans and dogs

[richc]

Thanks for the reply popcornpiggy. Agreed, very frightening indeed. A friend of ours is a Sheep farmer and apparently it is common in lambs aswell.

If there is a next time, at least we know what we are dealing with, although its unlikely to be any the less scary.

From this experience I would tend to think that taking action immediately probably helps the situation and aids the chances of full recovery. The Vet did warn us that he might have a permanent head tilt, but fortunately there is no sign of this.

I guess he also has age on his side, plus he is a very big and strong Pig. Had we not picked it up so quickly, and if he were older the outcome could have been somewhat different.

So, for anyone reading this thread, if you see your Pig staggering around, even slightly, and if his/her eyes don't look right, get him/her to the Vet ASAP!

Don't wait to see what happens!

[Orlaith]

Oh, my guy Xander had that twitchy eye thing going on after his surgery to remove one of his eyes. It's really upsetting to look at, but thankfully it's rarely permanent.

Good job on getting your boy to the vet so quickly. It definitely made a difference to his outcome.

It's horrible when things like that happen because you can't explain to them why they feel so bad

[richc]

Thanks for the reply Orlaith. Yes, I am inclined to think that speed is of the essence in this, and any other case really.

Ironically, there has been an upside to this horrible experience. As we had to manhandle Tinsel out of his cage twice a day for 6 days for his antibiotic dose, he is now very accepting of being picked up and handled, whereas before he hated it and was almost impossible to catch.

Previously we had to literally chase him around the hutch and grab when the opportunity arose, usually for him just to wriggle free again!
Now, we just gently slide a hand underneath him and gently lift him out!
He doesn't get stressed and so its good for him and us.

However, that said, I would rather the poor chap hadn't had to experience that condition at all.