Looking for help since you all have been so helpful in the past! The back story on our little Rue- we got my daughter a guinea pig for her birthday at the end of September. So not quite three months. I thought I had done my research but have learned so much since we got her, it's crazy how they make it sound like a guinea pig is easy breezy. Anyway, I know now she should have a friend, but she's not been well enough for me to introduce a second piggy at all since we got her. We got her at a pet store. I know, that's awful. But we didn't know at the time. She was a little baby, and she constantly made this popping sound when she breathed. I thought it was a URI, so we took her back to the pet store because they said if she was sick within the first 2 weeks they would take her to their vet and treat her. So their vet said that with the exception of her heart rate being a little fast, she sounded good, and the popping noise is just a noise she makes. And it is, she does it all the time. So then a few weeks later, she sounded stuffy. I cleaned her cage extra well and changed out her hay in case it was dusty, but the stuffiness didn't go away, so I took her to a vet. It was SO HARD to find an exotics vet around us, and it turned out there was a wonderful one right down the street. She started her on a 10-day course of a medicine that was pink and Rue LOVED it. (I can't remember the name right now). She sounded clear and good from about four days in, we finished the ten days and I thought she was good. About a week after that, her nose was still clear but I noticed she was visibly breathing hard. When I listened, I could hear rattling in her chest. So BACK to the vet, who prescribed Baytril for 7 days and wanted to recheck her then to see how she tolerated and if it cleared it up. Well. It was a tough week. She lost her appetite initially, I was syringing water and critical care. and then on day four or five, she was completely back to normal. Popcorning and doing zoomies around her cage, and eating EVERYTHING. For the first time in her life, she was emptying her hay feeder. I was giving her a bowl of veggies, a small scoop of pellets and filling her hay and she was eating it ALL and I wondered if that was how guinea pigs were supposed to eat and she had just never felt up to it. I took her back to the vet for a follow up on Friday and I didn't see the vet. The vet assistant took her back and brought her IMMEDIATELY back out and said the vet said she sounded good. Well then Saturday the vet office texted for a follow-up, and wouldn't you know, little Rue sounds stuffy again. So I told them that and asked if I could bring her back for a quick check, maybe she needs a longer course of the Baytril. Then I find out that either the exotics vet quit or was fired at the end of the day Friday, so now they have no exotics vet. They recommended a place almost an hour and a half away, and when I called, they don't have any appointments until Thursday. We are going out of town on Friday for Christmas week and are boarding little Rue. I need her to be on the mend by then. So I called the ORIGINAL vets office and convinced another vet (who does not have experience with exotics) to give me more of the Baytril because I remember reading that maybe they should do a 14-day course? But I wanted to check with you guys. Hopefully, by the time I get back from our Christmas vacation, the office will have found a new exotics doctor, but I need her to stay alive until then! Should I go ahead and do the Baytril and have the place I'm boarding her continue it so she gets another seven days? I have exhausted all efforts in finding an exotics vet around here, so please I need advice OTHER THAN getting her to a vet.
Thanks!
Thanks!
