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Breathing difficulties

  • Thread starter Thread starter LisaHB
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LisaHB

I need some advice about my daughter's guinea pig. Daisy is 12 weeks old. I noticed today that she is breathing harder than her sister. When I opened the hutch earlier, she was all fluffed up in the hay. She occasionally coughs too. Do I need to seek urgent medical attention tonight or would it wait until tomorrow? She came from Pets at Home who give a 2 week guarantee! They will not pay a vet's bill without prior consultation but they are shut! Typical!
 
Welcome to the forum Lisa. I am sorry your piggie is so poorly.

I would seek emergency veterinary attention, respiratory infections can develop quickly and it sounds like she is rather unwell. Allergies can cause similar symptoms but, to me her symptoms and with her being so young, I would get her checked out sooner rather than later. The sitting fluffed up is a common symptom of illness. Unfortunately the cost of having to just see the emergency vet will be high (usually around £40 plus just for the consultation!), but I would not wait on this one - in any case the cost will be the same as tomorrow.
Whatever you do, don't hand the pig back to Pets at Home, and I wouldn't trust their vets either, despite the "guarantee".

Another option is to find out if there is a rodentologist local to you - whereabouts are you? Rodentologists are not vets, but they are trained specifically and intensively in guinea pig health care.

Daisy should be given antibiotics - Baytril, most commonly - and ideally a one off dose of diuretic. With her being so young, the dose wants to be very small if this is given, certainly no more than 0.1ml, perhaps just half that dose. Piggies tend to get fluid in their lungs, as opposed to mucus, when they have respiratory infections and it can build up quite fast, so a one-off dose of diuretic should prevent the problem worsening. The Baytril will then have time to kick in and get rid of the infection quickly. Not many vets do give this diuretic straight away, so if the vet refuses to give it be sure to request it if her situation worsens.
 
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What type of hay are you using? Is it dust free as this can affect piggies quite badly and also does sawdust.
 
A quick sniff of Olbas Oil may help to ease the laboured breathing.
 
Thanks for all your advice. Took Daisy to the vet last night - she was given two injections (one was antibiotics!) and the vet said it was a viral respiratory infection which could turn bacterial so gave more antibiotics for the bottle of water (also to treat the other guinea pig to make sure she stays well!)

She is still unhappy this morning but am assuming it will take a little time for her to improve.

I am not using sawdust in the hutch - it is 'safe bedding' (paper and paper wool flakes) and Excel hay varieties which say they are 'dust extracted'!

I will keep an eye on her during the day - fingers crossed I see some improvement!
xx
 
I'm glad she's on medication now. She should begin to improve within the next 24 hours, if she worsens then she may need further treatment.

One thing I would strongly advise - don't put the antibiotics in the water. The only way to ensure she takes the full, effective dose, is to syringe the dose directly into her mouth. Putting it in the water is next to useless, unless she drinks every drop of water she may as well not be medicated at all! It is amazing how vets can recommend such a method of administration when even common sense and logic proves it to be inaccurate. Do you know the name of the antibiotic and what dose she's on?

Wishing the best of luck to Daisy.
 
i also agree with Laura(CCC4) on this,all to many vets tell people to put meds or supplements in the water but you can never be sure on if one piggy is getting more than the other,better to syringe it x
 
Good luck with little Daisy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
All meds no matter what is advised or prescribed should be given directly to that piggie......as everyone has said the others may sip her meds......then not beneficial :{
Healing wheeeeeeks and loves from us all in OZ :)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
and a HUGE welcome i do hope we get to hear more from you all, specially little Daisy x)x)x)
 
Thinking of your little girl! Please do syringe, so she gets the full dose - not all guinea pigs driink, especially young ones!
 
the vet said it was a viral respiratory infection which could turn bacterial.

I have never heard of that one before, has anyone?
 
Antibiotics have no effect on a viral infection. A viral condition can weaken the bodies natural defences and an opportunistic bacterial infection can take advantage of that. Sometimes a broad spectrum antibiotic can be used in an attempt to prevent that from happening.
I was wondering how you can tell the difference between a viral and a bacterial infection.
I just thought it was an impressive sounding diagnosis. Please feel free to read between the lines...............
 
Thanks for all your good wishes! Not sure whether Daisy will recover from this. No improvement so far! She has hardly come out of her sleeping quarters today - I have given her some apple and cucumber which she has nibbled but not had much else!

I got the feeling that adding the meds to water was so that the other guinea pig got some too - but neither of them have been near the water bottle since! LOL! How much would I give Daisy into her mouth? I have Baytril Oral 1ml and Metacam Oral 0.5mls left!

I might go and change the water now and hopefully they will come and have a drink! How do they know the water has something in it!?*:^-

Lisa xx
 
Try to syringe the amount of baytril she should drink with the water. If necessary dissolve it with some water and syringe that.

Otherwise, it's completely useless and you might as well not give her any meds! It has about the same effect!
 
Did the vet give you a dose to put into the water? For a pig of Daisy's age, 0.2ml twice a day should be accurate, which is half the recommended adult dose. You will have to go back to the vets tomorrow to get more Baytril, but I would see if there is an alternative vets near you, somewhere they are more experienced and "up to date" on piggie health care!

I'd be inclined to not dose Daisy's cagemate at this stage, if she is not showing symptoms, but be prepared should you need to - make sure the vet gives you extra meds if s/he is adamant that the other pig could need treating.

Make sure she is eating some hay and still pooping, she'll be able to fight this better if the rest of her body is working as normal, which means food going in and poops coming out as normal. You may need to syringe-feed her if she's not eating well.
 
The dose of Baytril in water was 1ml per half pint of drinking water! He said to change the water after a couple of days. The Metacam is 0.5mls per half pint! She did get an injection of both of these at the surgery on Saturday night - not sure what dose though!

Will give the vet a ring in the morning if there is no improvement!

xx
 
Very vague dose, really won't have any effect on poor Daisy at all! The adult dose of Baytril is 0.4ml twice daily, generally piggies under 4 months or so only need half that dose. If you are really unsure, just stick with 0.1ml twice a day until you seek a second opinion from another vet. Daisy will at least be getting some antibiotic into her, more than she's getting at the moment.

Best of luck with the vet, I hope s/he's one who will listen to you and work with you!
One characteristic of a good vet is being willing to listen to others, the owners especially.
 
I will give her what Baytril I have left (1ml) but add some water - god knows what that stuff tastes like! The vet seemed happy we had caught this early and thought she would make a full recovery! Perhaps Daisy is just feeling sorry for herself - its a long time since I had a guinea pig for a pet and mine never caught a cold!

Wish guinea pigs could speak - make our lives a lot easier! :))

xx
 
Keeping my fingers crossed for your little lady :)

As already stated PLEASE syringe her medication - poorly pigs often are reluctant to drink anyway so lord only knows why vets suggest puting it in the water bottle :{

Hope she's feeling better soon

Teresa x
 
Given her the Baytril - she seemed quite snug wrapped in the towel! :) Will see what tomorrow morning brings! Thanks for all your support though! xx
 
If a pig is not responding to treatment there follows a standard question:

"Is the diagnosis/treatment correct?"

I did hint, somewhat, earlier when I mentioned about reading between the lines of that post!
 
the metacam dose will depend on if the vet gave you the cat or the dog suspension,and obviously the weight of your piggie.
if you know what he gave you+the weight then I can work out the dose for you:)
 
How is Daisy today? When one of my piggies was on antibiotics, the vet told me that putting it in the water wouldn't have much effect as guinea pigs can sometimes go a day or 2 without having a drink. Please do syringe it in to her xx
 
Sorry I haven't posted for a while but just wanted to let you know that Daisy is still with us!:) She improved slowly but surely and is now in great health! The only thing I have noticed is that she doesn't really make much noise - just the occasional little squeek (unlike her sister!)

Thanks again for all the advice - I know where to come should there be any problems in the future (fingers crossed there aren't any though!)

LisaB x>>>
 
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