Hey, everyone. I hope you’re all well.
This is my first post here and it’s about one of my little old men, Floki. 32 months old.
Recently he has been declining health wise and I wanted to ask a couple of questions. I’m worried he may have a pituitary tumour, which is also one of our vets concerns.
Currently he’s on metacam and baytril to try and rule out any other potential issues to see if he improves, but the vet is due for an update tomorrow and I’ve seen no improvement, if anything he seems to be getting worse. Our vet appointment was two days ago, due to give an update on the third which is tomorrow.
Tail thrashing (?). It seems to happen during movement or apparent discomfort, but his hind end as a whole seems to have become weaker over time. The tail thing is odd to me and I’ve never seen it before. He does wag his tail when he’s happy or annoyed, but this thrashing is extremely abnormal and I worry about his poor little tail when it happens because it is a violent movement and it hits the cage/cage items. This tail movement has been happening for about a month, but not nearly to this severity, it used to be something I’d occasionally hear, not even see, and my vet suggested nerve or spinal issues with his age. It wasn’t accompanied by any other symptoms, he was normal and happy otherwise. But sometimes now he seems almost panicked during it. Today at one point he seemed stressed climbing the side of his cage, thrashing his tail around before he hopped into a hammock and finally stopped. Starting tonight, he will do the tail thing while he’s sitting out with me even (one of the attached videos from tonight). He is still eating and drinking, but seems less able to hold food efficiently and is leaning on his arms or any other position that makes it easier to hold it. Along with that he is breathing heavily. It’s quiet, but very heavy especially after minimal activity. Our vet cleared respiratory issues as his sounded clear in our last appointment a few days ago. He doesn’t seem as interested in his favourite treat, I gave him one and he struggled to hold it at first but eventually got a good grip, ate about half and was done, which isn’t normal. Overall quiet, lethargic when usually he was the crazy, full of energy old man who acted like he was still young and playful. Back end seems to drag more than it used to and overall looks weaker, which seems to have impacted his climbing ability.
I’m honestly just kind of lost as to what it is. He has some of the symptoms for a pituitary tumour, but some of the things he’s doing seem odd and I haven’t seen mentioned with that. Either way, I’ve attached some videos below of what he’s doing, I’m bad at explaining so that’ll be better. My vet didn’t seem too positive with this unfortunately and is usually very willing to try anything, so I fear it might be coming to the end of the road for my little man, but I just want some answers I guess.
This is my first post here and it’s about one of my little old men, Floki. 32 months old.
Recently he has been declining health wise and I wanted to ask a couple of questions. I’m worried he may have a pituitary tumour, which is also one of our vets concerns.
Currently he’s on metacam and baytril to try and rule out any other potential issues to see if he improves, but the vet is due for an update tomorrow and I’ve seen no improvement, if anything he seems to be getting worse. Our vet appointment was two days ago, due to give an update on the third which is tomorrow.
Tail thrashing (?). It seems to happen during movement or apparent discomfort, but his hind end as a whole seems to have become weaker over time. The tail thing is odd to me and I’ve never seen it before. He does wag his tail when he’s happy or annoyed, but this thrashing is extremely abnormal and I worry about his poor little tail when it happens because it is a violent movement and it hits the cage/cage items. This tail movement has been happening for about a month, but not nearly to this severity, it used to be something I’d occasionally hear, not even see, and my vet suggested nerve or spinal issues with his age. It wasn’t accompanied by any other symptoms, he was normal and happy otherwise. But sometimes now he seems almost panicked during it. Today at one point he seemed stressed climbing the side of his cage, thrashing his tail around before he hopped into a hammock and finally stopped. Starting tonight, he will do the tail thing while he’s sitting out with me even (one of the attached videos from tonight). He is still eating and drinking, but seems less able to hold food efficiently and is leaning on his arms or any other position that makes it easier to hold it. Along with that he is breathing heavily. It’s quiet, but very heavy especially after minimal activity. Our vet cleared respiratory issues as his sounded clear in our last appointment a few days ago. He doesn’t seem as interested in his favourite treat, I gave him one and he struggled to hold it at first but eventually got a good grip, ate about half and was done, which isn’t normal. Overall quiet, lethargic when usually he was the crazy, full of energy old man who acted like he was still young and playful. Back end seems to drag more than it used to and overall looks weaker, which seems to have impacted his climbing ability.
I’m honestly just kind of lost as to what it is. He has some of the symptoms for a pituitary tumour, but some of the things he’s doing seem odd and I haven’t seen mentioned with that. Either way, I’ve attached some videos below of what he’s doing, I’m bad at explaining so that’ll be better. My vet didn’t seem too positive with this unfortunately and is usually very willing to try anything, so I fear it might be coming to the end of the road for my little man, but I just want some answers I guess.
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