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Breathing issues

S

SqueakWheek

New Born Pup
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Hi,

I have a piggie called Sparkles and she's aprox. 5 years and 8 months old. Just before christmas, I noticed she was making some strange vocalisations and wheezing noises, but she seemed otherwise healthy. There wasn't any discharge from her eyes, mouth or nose, and she was eating well, maintaining her weight, behaving normally, and she wasn't making the sounds all the time. I opted to monitor the situation.

Yesterday morning, I thought the sounds were happening more frequently, the weird vocalisations were louder and her breathing was occasionally looking laboured, so I took her in and the vet had a good listen to her chest and then neck area with a stethoscope, and said her lungs and heart sounded fine but there was something going on further up. She suspected an infection and gave me baytril.

She also noticed some scaly skin on one of her legs and that some of her fur is falling out. She suspected mites and I agree with her: we've had a mouse problem this winter and I only recently managed to figure out a way of keeping them from getting into her enclosure (they were scaling the textured paint on our living room wall so they could jump across to her cage from the bookshelf!). But she didn't give her any ivermectin—Sparkles was already getting quite stressed at he vets, and the vet was concerned that stress might worsen her breathing.

I'm giving her the baytril as the vet instructed: twice daily. I already had a probiotic on standby, so I'm giving her some of that 2 hours after each dose of baytril and thus far she's fine: poos look good, appetite is the same, weight is still the same as it was when this started. But she's about two hours away from having her fourth dose of baytril, and I've yet to see any positive change. Google tells me it can take 2-3 days to see a change, so maybe I'm being a little hasty by writing this. I'm just concerned it's not a URI, but rather an allergy or something similar because the only symptom is her weird breathing and she's still otherwise healthy.

Also, I keep some ivermectin on standby. Is there any harm in giving her this while she's on baytril? She looks pretty itchy. Is there any chance the mite problem is contributing to her breathing?
 
Hi, please give the antibiotics time to work before ruling out an infection and thinking about allergies- wait until the end of the week and finish the course. You should definitely go back and get a definitive diagnosis of mites from the vet and fresh prescription treatment for this particular piggy and her current weight rather than attempting to home treat. I doubt mice would bring in mites that would affect a piggy but they may well bring in other infections so it is good that you have solved the mouse problem!
 
Thanks for the reply. You're right, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll give the antibiotics a chance and see what happens next. I'll see if I can take her in on Monday and get that mite treatment sorted. I'm also keeping an eye on her digestive system this morning. I might be imagining it, but her back end seems a little larger than normal. She's eating, so I'm waiting to see what her poos look like!
 
Sparkles seemed okay up until this morning. She's making those odd sounds a lot less, but she hasn't done any droppings this morning. She's eating and behaving normally, but there would usually be a small pile of poos in her cage by now. If I don't see any in the next 45 mins, I'm calling the vet.
 
Lack of poops can suggest reduced food intake. Given hay is the largest part of their diet, you can’t judge good hay intake by eye, you can only judge it by weighing your piggy and checking that there aren’t any weight drops.
Definitely go back to the vet if you are concerned
 
Good for calling the vet about the lack of poos as baytril can really mess with the guts.
Before looking for an allergy, it’s important to finish the course of antibiotics first and even trying a different sort.

I highly doubt the mice have caused the mites but your piggy may be getting stressed by the mice and stress can bring on mites
 
Before I started the antibiotics, she weighted 904g(she's always been on the small side), and she's up to 926g this morning. I've weighed her every morning since I started the antibiotics, and once a week before that. She usually weighs between 900-915g, and she hasn't dropped below that since before christmas. This is the biggest gain I've seen in a while, so I'm 90% sure her appetite and eating habits are good.

I forgot to mention: the mice outwitted me. They somehow got in again. I've re-arranged part of the living room to stop them and I have traps down. Argh!
 
It’s great that her weight has been good so far. Definitely keep an eye on her weight going forward though. As I say, if the poop output drops, then that is something to keep a close eye on as there will always be a reason for reduced poop output
 
Between 1 and 4pm she started doing poos again. They were misshapen and undersized and she ate every last one of them, but it was nice to see something come out of her. The vet had a feel and listen to her tummy and said everything seems okay. Between that and the fact she's eating up a storm, the vet isn't too concerned. She confirmed that her breathing sounds better and said to keep the baytril going for a full 7 day course, and to keep giving her the probiotic as I have been.

I asked about the mites, and the vet examined her back end and found this weird bit of matted fur near the end of her spine that I hadn't noticed. It wasn't visible and I didn't notice it when I checked her over. She wonders if that might be the reason for her scratching and shaved it off--Sparkles aggressively ate a cucumber slice while she did this. She was even less pleased about this than the rest of the exam... I can't think why :xd:

I've never seen matting on a shorthair before. I guess she might be having trouble cleaning that part of her body. The vet wants me to keep that area clean using a warm, damp cloth. She's also taken a liking to Sparkles and her strange ways lol
 
She's only done a couple of soft poos since we brought her home. They're better shaped and she's eating and still behaving normally, so I guess I'll wait and see what happens tonight.
 
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