[Bia]

Hi guys,

I have a 5 month old guinea pig, a recent present from my parents. I have had 4 guineas so far, making Trica my fifth...I could say I am aware of most behaviors but I have never seen any of them acting like this. I was holding her last night on my belly, she yawned, stretched, purred, licked my hand, stretched again and then, all of a sudden, she started twitching to the point she was laying on her left side with her belly pointing at me and throwing her hind leg in the air.

I stopped touching her for a second, she went back to a normal position, I started petting her again, she stretched and yawned and then started twitching again....I can not describe it exactly, it's like popcorning but with more twitching, as if she was fooling around.

She doesn't seem to be in pain, she's eating and popcorning....

This morning she was asleep when I got up, I fed her and then she started popcorning and while at it, the twitching again but less obvious than last night when holding her.

Do you think there's something wrong with her or is she just happy and she has a freaky way of showing it? She doesn't seem ill.
Thanks

 

[Jennicat]

That sounds more like she's having seizures due to mites.

 

[Bia]

Thanks.... I am planing on taking her to the vet today to be checked out, but then again there's nothing on her fur, skin or in her ears as I already checked everything.

Maybe I haven't described her behavior properly: it's sort of rolling over movement seen in dogs and it happens when I pet her. I also checked youtube.com and there are quite a few films with guineas doing this and everybody claims it to be an expression of happiness.

 

[Jennicat]

You can't see mites. Typically you'll only see hair loss or itching.

I've never had a guinea pig roll over in happiness. Usually whenever owners reported to me that their pigs were 'rolling over', 'scratching their backs', or 'having a dust bath' they were seizing. Guinea pigs don't naturally like to be on their backs, and most won't voluntarily roll over onto them.