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Baytril For Baby Guinea Pig?

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Hcgstebar

Hcgstebar

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So I've had my guinea pig, Raichu, for about 3 weeks now. I took her to a vet last week just to get checked up and see if she brought anything home from the pet store. She had some mites so the vet gave her some Revolution (I think it's called) and said everything else looked fine but to come back for a follow up in a week.

So today I went back for the follow up appointment and it's just not sitting well with me. This is the first time I've ever seen this vet and honestly the first time I've seen a vet for a guinea pig so maybe this is normal, but it just doesn't feel right. Here's what happened:
So first off, I feel that Raichu was handled very roughly by the vet. While the vet was holding her, she was squeaking and screaming like crazy and the vet (seeing that I looked concerned because I've never heard Raichu or any of my prior late guinea pigs shriek like that when handled) just said that it's normal and it's just because she doesn't like to be handled and pet. So when Raichu is set down on the table, she pees on it. Now, to me, I mean I'm no vet but her urine didn't look abnormal. It was a pale cloudy yellow with a smooth texture. However, upon the vet seeing this, she gets concerned and has one of the assistants do a urine analysis which, unbeknownst to me at the time was $40. The analysis results came back completely normal, negative on everything bad that could have been in there.
The vet then asks me if I've noticed any sneezing. I've seen Raichu sneeze a couple times before, not a ton, but every once in a while she'll sneeze, I saw her once sneeze twice at one time. So I told the vet this and she said wanted to prescribe an antibiotic "just in case" she had a low grade infection. In her words, she "doesn't want to take any chances". So she prescribed .35 cc of Baytril along with a probiotic. The vets assistant went ahead and gave Raichu her first dose this morning, which was administered too fast into her mouth so she spit most of it up on me.
So they charged me over $100 for everything and sent me on my way.
So here's where is get concerned:
This evening when I came home from work, I got Raichu out of her cage to let her run around my guinea pig proofed living room for a couple hours like I always do. But she's acting strange. She usually is eager to leave my lap and go running and popcorning and whistling all around my living room. But today she just burrowed into the nook of my arm and didn't want to leave. I put her on my husbands lap and she did the same thing. I put her on the floor myself after a bit and now she's running around pretty well.
However, this prompted me to do a bit of research about baytril and I am getting the feeling that Raichu shouldn't have been prescribed this antibiotic at all. Especially because she's only 10 weeks old!
I really need some opinions on this! Was this vet legit and should I give her this Baytril or did she have no idea what's up and just wanna get some money out of me? Help me out!
 
Most of the people on here are from the uk, so it may take a bit of time to get an answer. I think baytril is commonly used for piggies over here, but I don't know if that includes very young pigs! Sorry I am not very knowledgable in this area. Love the name of your piggie though, I have one called Pikachu :P
 
Baytril is generally not prescribed to young guinea pigs as it can cause growth/bone defects.

If you're not happy with the vet you're using, I would recommend going with your gut feeling and finding a different vet.
 
Baytril is commonly prescribed to guinea pigs, but I'm not sure if there are age restrictions for it. My pigs have all had it at one time or another, but they were all adult-sized by the time they had a need for it. And the squealing/squeaking during exams can be normal... especially if the vet is doing deep abdominal palpation (pushing hard on the abdomen to feel deeper organ sizes, masses, etc.) If you've ever had this done as part of a physical, it doesn't feel great and a lot of pigs don't like it much either.

Is the vet you are seeing someone who specializes in exotics, or is it a dog/cat vet that also will see guinea pigs, but doesn't really know much about them? It's worth getting an exotics or 'pocket pet' vet early because the care you will get from a standard vet who 'takes guinea pigs' and the care you will get from a vet that is experienced in exotics is different. I switched vets after I lost a guinea pig to an infection after she received treatment that I now know was substandard (or at least a lot worse than what my current vet does, as I recent had the treat the same problem in one of my other pigs- she got a lot more care, and she made a full recovery.) I drive almost an hour to my new vet, but it's worth it to see someone who knows what they are doing. If you're not happy, call around and get a second opinion. I would hold off the meds until you get them confirmed, especially since it's a 'just in case' prescription.
 
Vets here in the states LOVE running unnecesary test and pushing tests and meds animals do not need... Go with your gut and find a dif vet
 
Baytril is commonly used for pigs over here but I am not sure if there is a minimum age limit. Hopefully someone will know but if there is no answer by the time I am on my lunchbreak I will try to do some research.
 
As said above, Baytril can cause abnormalities in the bones of young guinea pig which are still growing so should be avoided for babies if possible. See http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
My vet won't use it on young animals for this reason as there are alternative antibiotics which can be used if needed. The Guinea Lynx website has some useful suggestions, especially for antibiotics available/used in the USA.
 
The poor piggie probably found the whole experience traumatising hence her snuggling up to you. A couple of my girls in the past have being quiet for a day or two after a vet visit then got back to normal.
 
Thanks for all your information guys. My Vet is a standard dog and cat vet that also sees exotics, so I honestly don't know how much she knows about them. I'm not going to go to her anymore and find an exotics vet instead. For now, I'm keeping an eye on Raichu for possible signs of URI, but she seems fine right now. Hardly any sneezing, no discharge or crustiness around the eyes or nose, no slimy front paws. She seemed a little more timid this morning when I let her out in my living room and mostly just wanted to be pet and held rather than run around. I'm guessing this is because she's still a bit shaken from the vet like BonBon2010 said, hopefully she'll be a bit perkier this afternoon when I get home from work.
Let me ask some advice on this:
As I mentioned before, Raichu had a bit of mites that were treated a couple weeks ago. I want to give her a bath with this special hypoallergenic, moisturizing guinea pig shampoo the vet did give me to wash off any dead skin/loose hair/dead mites and mite eggs. What is the most low stress way to give a guinea pig a bath? I've exposed her to a tiny bit of water already (about half an inch worth) to see how she reacted. She didn't really like it per say, but she didn't totally lose it either. I just want to know what's been the most positive bathing experience for you guys. Also, do you think I should wait a couple days to bathe her, until the stress of the vet wares off?
 
When I've had to bathe my pigs, I actually use a baby bathtub filled with a couple of inches of water. I let them stand in the water and use a cup to wet their back (I try to leave the face alone unless there is some specific reason to clean it, like a fungal spot on the face or something like that. I get them wet, lay a towel across my lap, put them on the towel to shampoo, and then put them back in the tub to rinse them off. They don't enjoy it much, but they aren't unduly upset either. The part they hate the most is getting dried off afterwards, all the towelling off seems to make them mad, and it takes a lot of toweling. I would wait a few days after the vet because you don't want to stress her unnecessarily. Hope this helps!
 
momof4boys said:
I towel dry then blow dry mine.. They like getting blow dried lol
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It's great that they like it! I tried to blow-dry Sundae over the winter (she had to have an antifungal bath and I didn't want her to still be damp and get chilly.) Let's just say she did NOT like the blow-dryer, and I ended up spending a lot of time trying to coax her out from behind the toilet when she jumped off my knee and took off in a panic!
 
My piggies have all done their fair share of shrieking when at the vets, even with the exotic vets so I believe that is normal as Freela says. My girls even shriek when I pick them up sometimes, they are in general very nervous animals and don't tend to like being caught and held for lengthy periods. I pick mine up to health check, do meds, transfer them elsewhere etc but in general I like to let them do their own thing.

I hope you can get an answer to the Baytril question soon. X
 
LeahsPiggies said:
My piggies have all done their fair share of shrieking when at the vets, even with the exotic vets so I believe that is normal as Freela says. My girls even shriek when I pick them up sometimes, they are in general very nervous animals and don't tend to like being caught and held for lengthy periods. I pick mine up to health check, do meds, transfer them elsewhere etc but in general I like to let them do their own thing.

I hope you can get an answer to the Baytril question soon. X
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Mine love being held? They will roll onto their side, stick their feet out and close their eyes when petted.
 
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