Froggerella
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi all
I'll give you a bit of the history first. One of my pigs, Jenga (3 years old), started making some odd noises while breathing on Thursday night. She was still able to breathe without difficulty, and was eating/drinking/running around/nibbling my face (her favourite hobby, unfortunately for me!) as she usually does, it was just these odd noises. At first I thought she may have accidentally inhaled a small piece of hay or kibble, so I decided to keep an ear out for her. Last night (Friday) she was still doing it, so I made the decision to book a vets appointment for this morning.
The vet listened to her lungs and suspected it's a chest infection (it sounded quite noisy in her lungs apparently), so she's on antibiotics for 14 days now - Sulfatrim (16mg/ml trimethoprim + 80 mg/ml sulfamethoxazole) 0.3ml twice daily. The vet also recommended some dispersible vitamin c tablets to give to her via either syringe or water bottle (I know, I know - water bottle doesn't tend to be recommended for this stuff. However, I've chosen to do both to cover my bases, and will ensure I change the water and fully clean the bottles each day to prevent any nastiness). He recommended Redoxon that can be bought in any chemist, so I've got some of that. I've also got Pro-C probiotic which I already had at home anyway from a past pig illness, so I've started to give her that as I know antibiotics can be tough on a pig's stomach.
My question is, does anyone have any suggestions for how to achieve the best possible outcome here? I've syringe fed and cared for sick pigs in the past so I'm relatively experienced in that. I'm a little unsure about when to give Jenga the probiotic - whether to give it to her at the same time as the antibiotic dose twice a day, or whether to do it before or after this?
I have to say, I'm a little nervous about the whole thing. In the past year or so, I lost two of my other pigs (Rubix and Cube - both male rescues, they didn't live with Jenga for obvious reasons!) With both of those, it started as something that didn't seem too worrying, and they finished the treatment but never quite seemed to bounce back, and then they both got ill again (at separate times - unrelated illnesses) and passed away. I may have just been unlucky, or maybe it was just their time, but I'm very wary of the same thing happening to Jenga now. She's otherwise been in perfect health all her life - I've had her since she was maybe 8-10 weeks old. She did have a surprise pregnancy (her cagemate was a RSPCA rescue, and was missexed by the RSPCA. I didn't even think to question them at the time!) but it was completely textbook - two babies who are still with me now aged 2 and a half, and they're also in good health. They're the two pictured in my profile picture, albeit they look at lot bigger and older now! Boy and a girl, the girl lives with Jenga, and the boy lives with another boy in another room.
I have noticed today that Jenga seems to be urinating on herself aswell. She's a long haired breed, but she's never had issues with her fur getting in her wee until today - I don't know if she's just been weeing and then remaining sitting in it to soak it up? I'm aware this might be relevant to her illness though. Otherwise, she seems fine - she's still eating and drinking well, jumping on the veg I give her, no signs of fatigue, eyes are still bright.
I'd also like to know if there's anything I should do about her cagemate, Sketch (her adult daughter). I asked at the vets and they said chest infections between pigs are usually contagious before symptoms arise, rather than after, and that Sketch will likely be fine if she's not showing symptoms at this point. They advised not to separate, but just to keep an eye on Sketch as well. Is this information correct? Sketch is showing no symptoms at all.
Also, final question... what could have caused this?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the small essay!
I'll give you a bit of the history first. One of my pigs, Jenga (3 years old), started making some odd noises while breathing on Thursday night. She was still able to breathe without difficulty, and was eating/drinking/running around/nibbling my face (her favourite hobby, unfortunately for me!) as she usually does, it was just these odd noises. At first I thought she may have accidentally inhaled a small piece of hay or kibble, so I decided to keep an ear out for her. Last night (Friday) she was still doing it, so I made the decision to book a vets appointment for this morning.
The vet listened to her lungs and suspected it's a chest infection (it sounded quite noisy in her lungs apparently), so she's on antibiotics for 14 days now - Sulfatrim (16mg/ml trimethoprim + 80 mg/ml sulfamethoxazole) 0.3ml twice daily. The vet also recommended some dispersible vitamin c tablets to give to her via either syringe or water bottle (I know, I know - water bottle doesn't tend to be recommended for this stuff. However, I've chosen to do both to cover my bases, and will ensure I change the water and fully clean the bottles each day to prevent any nastiness). He recommended Redoxon that can be bought in any chemist, so I've got some of that. I've also got Pro-C probiotic which I already had at home anyway from a past pig illness, so I've started to give her that as I know antibiotics can be tough on a pig's stomach.
My question is, does anyone have any suggestions for how to achieve the best possible outcome here? I've syringe fed and cared for sick pigs in the past so I'm relatively experienced in that. I'm a little unsure about when to give Jenga the probiotic - whether to give it to her at the same time as the antibiotic dose twice a day, or whether to do it before or after this?
I have to say, I'm a little nervous about the whole thing. In the past year or so, I lost two of my other pigs (Rubix and Cube - both male rescues, they didn't live with Jenga for obvious reasons!) With both of those, it started as something that didn't seem too worrying, and they finished the treatment but never quite seemed to bounce back, and then they both got ill again (at separate times - unrelated illnesses) and passed away. I may have just been unlucky, or maybe it was just their time, but I'm very wary of the same thing happening to Jenga now. She's otherwise been in perfect health all her life - I've had her since she was maybe 8-10 weeks old. She did have a surprise pregnancy (her cagemate was a RSPCA rescue, and was missexed by the RSPCA. I didn't even think to question them at the time!) but it was completely textbook - two babies who are still with me now aged 2 and a half, and they're also in good health. They're the two pictured in my profile picture, albeit they look at lot bigger and older now! Boy and a girl, the girl lives with Jenga, and the boy lives with another boy in another room.
I have noticed today that Jenga seems to be urinating on herself aswell. She's a long haired breed, but she's never had issues with her fur getting in her wee until today - I don't know if she's just been weeing and then remaining sitting in it to soak it up? I'm aware this might be relevant to her illness though. Otherwise, she seems fine - she's still eating and drinking well, jumping on the veg I give her, no signs of fatigue, eyes are still bright.
I'd also like to know if there's anything I should do about her cagemate, Sketch (her adult daughter). I asked at the vets and they said chest infections between pigs are usually contagious before symptoms arise, rather than after, and that Sketch will likely be fine if she's not showing symptoms at this point. They advised not to separate, but just to keep an eye on Sketch as well. Is this information correct? Sketch is showing no symptoms at all.
Also, final question... what could have caused this?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the small essay!