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Breathing episodes

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Truffolo

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Polo is seeing a vet and is on antibiotics and Metacam. We finished a two week course on Weds, but these strange breathing episodes have come back. When on Doxycycline and Metacam they go away completely after a day or two. He continues eating or resting during the episodes, which usually end with a cough or two. There is no discharge or crusty eyes. The vet cannot hear abnormalities in his heart or breathing. Has anyone had something like this?

7 February 2026
 
Hi

I am very sorry but I have no personal experience of this.

Antibiotics can clearly suppress symptoms but not permanently. The next step on on that way would be a resistance lab test.

Have you tried to see whether a bowl of steaming air next to the cage can ease the symptoms a little and could mean that the humidity in the piggy room could play into it?
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

I am very sorry but I have no personal experience of this.

Antibiotics can clearly suppress symptoms but not permanently. The next step on on that way would be a resistance lab test.

Have you tried to see whether a bowl of steaming air next to the cage can ease the symptoms a little and could mean that the humidity in the piggy room could play into it?
Click to expand...

@Truffolo , I have added to my first post while you read it.
 
Thanks Wiebke. I keep a small humidity meter beside my fish tank and it tends to be on the high most of the time. It is a strange thing.
 
Sorry, I tapped the screen by mistake. Is the resistance test to see if the antibiotic is the right one?
 
I had similar to this last year with Duck's pneumonia. On Baytril it went away but when we stopped the Baytril after 2 weeks it came back.
My vets are only able to do the sensitivity test for the correct Ab via a lung wash which they didn't want to do as sedation was not a good idea, his breathing was already compromised. It would be worth asking your vet about it though as a lot of vets can do a conscious swab test.
We gave Duck Baytril and Doxy together for a month and it did the trick. He was also nebulised with F10 twice a day.
2 weeks is often not long enough on Abs, Brillo needed 2 months to get rid of his infection and Red needed a month.
 
I have similar problems with Pino. We did a nasal swap twice. Both tests showed streptococci and the chosen antibiotic should work.
But Pino is on this antibiotic the third time now. The first 2 times he got it for 3,5 weeks. Now he is on the third course since January 6th.
But the sneezing and sometimes breathing noises always come back, even while he takes the antibiotic.
Next appointment is on Wednesday. :blink:
 
Thank you for the info and good advice. These long lasting infections are a tricky business. We did the F10 nebuliser and Polo's wheezing became more intense. Then I put him in his cage and he hasn't been wheezing since then. But I also found another small patch of mould and have scrubbed it off and aired the room with fresh air and an air purifier. I am giving Polo doxy and Metacam, restarted last night. When two weeks is over we will have to ask the vet what to do if the wheezing comes back. I will ask for a swab if it comes back, although my vets have all been reluctant to do a nasal swab. I think we will pass on the lung wash 🙁
 
Always follow your vets advice on nebulising because sometimes it's not right for the condition. I have noticed that sometimes (probably most times) the breathing after nebulising is worse before it gets better. The gunk in the airways is going to become less solid (best way I can describe it!) more fluid, hence noisier when breathing. Hope this makes sense, I can't find the words I want.
 
Merab said:
Holding you and Polo in my heart ❤️
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Thank you ❤️ Since using the nebuliser this morning, doing the doxy and Metacam dose and scrubbing the latest mould off the wall, there have been no sounds. We'll continue with the doxy in case it's an infection that needs to be clouted. I got some Protexin but he's not keen. I'll try it on mini cucumber. We have literally not had a single wheeze this afternoon but this morning he wheezed from about 3am to 5am constantly. It's bizarre. I have some leave days left. I'm hoping to be around for repair work but it's easier in April.
 
Polo did some wheezing after an intense zoomies session. He gave a small cough and it stopped. I think he ate some of the probiotic paste on his cucumber. He tried to paw it off and then turned the cucumber slice over and dropped it jammy side down and then ate it. I tasted some, it's not awful.
 
piggieminder said:
Always follow your vets advice on nebulising because sometimes it's not right for the condition. I have noticed that sometimes (probably most times) the breathing after nebulising is worse before it gets better. The gunk in the airways is going to become less solid (best way I can describe it!) more fluid, hence noisier when breathing. Hope this makes sense, I can't find the words I want.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Yes, I wondered if the phlegm was loosening up and coming away after the nebuliser.
 
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