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Anything More I Can Do For Her

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foxy2279

foxy2279

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My girl Trixie has a upper respiratory tract infection. She's been to the vets and is on baytril. I'm having to syringe feed her as she is not eating alone. Is there anything else I can do as I feel so helpless right now x
 
I am sorry to hear about your poorly girl, i would weigh her daily/twice daily and record her weights, if she is not eating anything atall by herself, it would be recommended to syringe feed her 120mls of critical care or mashed up pellets aswell as some water containing pro-biotics (to help her gut) every 24 hours, every 2 - 4 hours. While any illness is serious, hopefully with your syringe feeding and the AB's she will be feelng better and back to her normal self soon.

It could be that its the AB's that's putting her off her food, or she could be really feeling poorly and not wanting to eat, you could mix porridge oats with the CC or mash to help a fill her up and with her weight.

I am not sure how experienced you are with syringe feeding and i dont mean this the way its probably going to sound, but if she is not eating for herself syringe feeding could be a matter of life or death, so its important that no matter how resistant she is that you get it into her, its heartbreaking but sometimes you do have to be cruel to be kind.
 
I am very sorry!

You will find our detailed hand feeding guide helpful. It also contains information about probiotics and vitamin C.
Please give a pinch of probiotic about 1-2 hours after the baytril to help prop up the guts. Antibiotics can additionally dampen or even kill the appetite. Additional vitamin C can help to boost the immune system. make sure that you also offer as much water as she'll take. The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...vitamin-c-overview-with-product-links.115404/

Please place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage and - if you have some or can get some from your pharmacy - add two drops of olbas oil to help ease the breathing. If her lungs are congested, we recommend to ask the vet for a diuretic and if there is a lot of mucus, bisolvon powder from the vet will help to clear the airways.

Please weigh your girl daily at the same time to keep tract of her food intake. While she is still off food, your main aim is simply to keep the guts going; every little will help! Feed little but often round the cloxk and be careful to only syringe about 1/3 of a small 1ml syringe at once to avoid her breathing in any food.

Contact your vet or an out-of-hours vet (you can find the number on your vet's answering machine) asap anytime you see a deterioration.
 
Thank you. I'm quite experienced at syringe feeding rabbits so using the same basic principles to syringe feed Trixie as not done it for a guinea pig before.
Her breathing is so noisy it's heartbreaking. She still loves her rubs under her chin while I'm holding her so hoping that's giving her some comfort x
 
Have you got microwaveable snugglesafe pads? keeping her warm is also important during the current frosty weather; I assume that you are having her indoors anyway?
 
She is indoors yes. I have a snugglesafe heat pad so will warm it up for her. She has her sister too and they are currently in a double cozy cuddled up together.
Thank you so much for the advise it's just breaking my heart to see her like this x
 
It is tough to see a piggy so ill and struggling for breath. Thankfully there are acouple of stronger, if unlicensed, antibiotics than baytril like marbocyl, doxycycline or zithromax if necessary. You should however hopefully start to see an improvement within 24-48 hours as the baytril is kicking in.
We also have got a piggy savvy vet locator on the top bar: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/
 
a) Bisolvon can really help a piggie with a URI (that's a snotty infection in the nose/upper airways)
b) Diuretics help in a LRI (that's a lower respiratory tract infection in the lungs with possible pneumonia, inflammation and fluid accumulation)

Sadly URI is a term used to describe any respiratory problem in piggies no matter it's actual location (and the differing treatments required) hence causing a lot of confusion amongst cavy slaves.

You need to establish with your vet if the diagnosis is (a - Upper) or (b - Lower) above...and ask for the appropriate treatment to help her.
HTH
x
 
Just a little update. Her breathing is improving slightly. Also this morning she was actively wanting to eat from the recovery syringe. Kept trying to pull it off me with her front teeth to get more. Baby steps but heading in the right direction
 
Great news indeed! Please finish the full course of antibiotics.
 
I will do. I really need to read up on guinea pig health the same way as I have for my rabbits. Maybe then next time I won't be so stressed out by it all x
 
This is great news :) So pleasing to hear
 
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