Strokes
Strokes are less common in guinea pigs than heart attacks
and it is very easy to distinguish the two. The symptoms are
total collapse with the head and sometimes the body contorted
from waist up at forty five degrees. There is nystagmus of
the eyes, that is, they slowly slip towards one corner of
the eye then rapidly jerk back to the central postion, repeatedly.
At the slightest touch the animal will freak out and the heart
beat is very rapid.
These symptoms are, of course the very opposite to those of
a heart attack victim and consequently the treatment is different.
Put the animal in a box with lots of hay and leave it in
the dark for about two to three hours and leave it to stabilise
in peace and quite. If it has a repeat stroke, the chances
are that it will die. However, in more cases than not, providing
the animal gets the chance to stabilise in it's own time,
the prognosis is fairly good.
As it is so important to leave the animal in peace, you must
monitor it very quietly, so put it in a place where it can
be observed without out having to move the box it is in. Once
the animal will allow you to touch it and handle it without
traumatising it, in my experience this usually takes two to
three hours, you must think about rehydrating it, subcutaneously
at the dose rate of twenty to thirty ml per session.
If the owner cannot do this it has to be taken to a veterinary
surgeon, or preferably one should be called out, for the less
the animal is disturbed, the better.
In the cases I have dealt with, after two rehydrations which
were about six hours apart, I managed to get the animals to
take fluid orally. Never attempt to rehydrate orally until
you are certain that the animal can swallow with ease.
The nystagmus sometimes clears by the time the animal is
ready for the first rehydration, but more often than not it
continues at a gradually reduced rate and for a day or so
is replaced by the hunted look that heart attack victims suffer
from.
It can take for up to two weeks for the head and body to
level up but most animals who suffer strokes are left with
a slight tilt to the head, which is more noticeable when they
are picked up. Sometimes it is necessary to give the same
kind of water therapy as for the heart attack cases, see Swimming
therapy
The good news is that stoke victims usually make a complete
recovery. There is less incidence of second strokes as there
is of repeats of heart attacks.
