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Bacterial chest infection help

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Hocktastic

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I’m sorry if I’ve posted this in the wrong place, I wasn’t sure were it was meant to go.

My guinea pig is very unwell with a Bacterial chest infection. I noticed he was not eating on Friday evening so took him to the vets, who diagnosed the chest infection and provided me with antibiotics - baytril 6 drops twice daily.

My pig has not really eaten or drank since then and seems to be going down hill, so I’ve found this forum and read the section about critical care and I intend to start hand feeding him. Is this correct?

Does anyone have any more advice?

Thank you!
 
@Hocktastic Please read the syringe/hand feeding guide on the forum.

Giving a probiotic about 1.5 hours after an antiobiotic can help with them not wanting to eat.

You don't need to use Critical Care. You can soak nuggets in water and use those.

Baytril is not always the best antibiotic so if he continues to not eat I would take him back to the vet to ask for a different antibiotic.
 
Thank you for your response, I read that section and have done that this morning :)

I was concerned the probiotic would stop the antibiotic working properly - I take it that isn’t the case?

Also My vet told me that this was the only antibiotic suitable for guinea pigs as all others damage the pigs digestive system and he said if the baytril fails there’s no other options, is this wrong? What other antibiotics have you had success with?

Thanks again!
 
Thank you for letting me know! I thought it seemed strange that there would only be 1 antibiotic safe for Guinea pigs, but you assume the vet knows what they’re talking about! If my piggie doesn’t get better, I will ask to see a different vet when I take him back.
 
Hocktastic said:
I’m sorry if I’ve posted this in the wrong place, I wasn’t sure were it was meant to go.

My guinea pig is very unwell with a Bacterial chest infection. I noticed he was not eating on Friday evening so took him to the vets, who diagnosed the chest infection and provided me with antibiotics - baytril 6 drops twice daily.

My pig has not really eaten or drank since then and seems to be going down hill, so I’ve found this forum and read the section about critical care and I intend to start hand feeding him. Is this correct?

Does anyone have any more advice?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Hi!

You can always syringe feed mushed up pellets in an emergency and best start with that ASAP, as long as you cut off the syringe tip as shown in the illustrated syringe feeding guide, which will show you exactly how to go about every aspect. We have specially done it for inexperienced members. Please do not just squirt food and water into the mouth and read the two guide links below first!

The first link is pulling together all emergency and crisis care advice links and will hopefully be a good resource on care in the next days.
It tells you exactly how to care about a very weak piggy and how to gently feed and water them every two hours round the clock.
It also contains lots of tips on what you can do with what you have at home or easily available to step in ASAP.
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

General vets are often not aware just how vital it is to keep small rodent pets fed right from the start. Unlike predators like cats and dogs, their bodies are not prepared for a period of fasting and they are also a lot smaller.

The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. A serious URI (respiratory tract infection) is always an appetite killer. Antibiotics can also affect the appetite to a varying degree, so a piggy is dealing with a double whammy. Your good round the clock care during a crisis can make the difference between life and death.

Hopefully the baytril will kick in soon and help ease the breathing to allow your piggy to have more interest in food again.
If things are not moving in the right direction within a couple a of days, please contact your vet; see an emergency vet if your boy is going noticeably downhill at any time of day or night. You can find the detailed advice on that in the emergency care link above.

All the best!
 
Thank you so much for the help! I’ve read the information, and have managed to syringe him a small amount of water and mushed up food.

The vet didn’t mention anything at all about him needing to be hand fed, it was only when I googled this morning and found the info here I realised, I’m pretty upset my poor boy has been suffering when I could have been helping him!

I will keep on trying to give him food and water every few hours, luckily I’m a student and off at the moment so I can set my alarm and get up every few hours during the night to keep up the regime.

And yes I will do that, he’s only had two sets of his antibiotics so far, so hopefully they will start to kick in soon.

Thanks again for all the advice everyone.
 
Hocktastic said:
Thank you so much for the help! I’ve read the information, and have managed to syringe him a small amount of water and mushed up food.

The vet didn’t mention anything at all about him needing to be hand fed, it was only when I googled this morning and found the info here I realised, I’m pretty upset my poor boy has been suffering when I could have been helping him!

I will keep on trying to give him food and water every few hours, luckily I’m a student and off at the moment so I can set my alarm and get up every few hours during the night to keep up the regime.

And yes I will do that, he’s only had two sets of his antibiotics so far, so hopefully they will start to kick in soon.

Thanks again for all the advice everyone.
Click to expand...

Fingers firmly crossed that you see signs of improvement within the next 24 hours!
 
I have been syringe feeding him regularly on mashed kibble, and digestive biscuits along with water, I am staying up tonight to continue.

I have ordered pro c probiotic and vetark critical care formula which are arriving tomorrow (Monday) - how should I incorporate these into his food?

Thank you!
 
Also, I haven’t bought any critical care food such as oxbow yet because it wouldn’t be delivered for at least 3 days, so I thought mashed pellets would be okay.

If it would be a lot better for him to have the critical care food, I can go to my nearest cavy rescue and get some oxbow critical care from them tomorrow - this is a three hour round trip however. What would you advise?

Thank you!
 
Hocktastic said:
Also, I haven’t bought any critical care food such as oxbow yet because it wouldn’t be delivered for at least 3 days, so I thought mashed pellets would be okay.

If it would be a lot better for him to have the critical care food, I can go to my nearest cavy rescue and get some oxbow critical care from them tomorrow - this is a three hour round trip however. What would you advise?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Are you feeding plain pellets or a mushed up muesli mix? We strongly recommend plain pellets and please no digestive biscuits!
You should be able to get recovery brands delivered within a day from online veterinary supply places like Hyperdrug, Viovet or Animed.
 
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