Clicking/grunting noise and lower respiratory issues

[LucyP]

Hi all

Yesterday I noticed that my 8(?) month old rescue pig Winnie was breathing quickly (or at least her tummy was moving quickly) and she’d been eating a bit less than normal for about 24 hours, although still eating some things. So I took her to an exotic pet specialist who examined her, gave her some oxygen and also checked her teeth and mouth. The vet diagnosed probable lower respiratory infection and gave marbocyl to syringe feed her for 2 weeks. We gave Winnie her first dose yesterday afternoon. She ate well last night in terms of veggies and hay but seems not so keen on the pellets. This morning she’s making what sounds like a slight clicking (almost grunting or bubbling?) noise on and off. It may be happening mostly after she’s eaten food but I’m not totally sure. She’s moving around and seems reasonably ok in herself but I know they can hide these things so don’t want to be complacent. Not sure whether to take her back to the vet (which she finds very stressful) or just continue with treatment and close observation. Also wondering if a nebuliser or steam bowl would help. Very happy to go back to the vet if that’s helpful but I’m not sure what else they’d suggest since we’re already on the anti biotics and probably need to give them time to kick in? Yesterday the vet said we’d caught it very early and she was pretty confident the medication would clear this up.

We’re also keeping an eye on her weight. She’s eating ok today but we’re watching that as she’d lost some weight (she was 777g 3 weeks ago and yesterday was 735). We have some oxbow emergency syringe feed from the vet to top her up and will use that if she doesn’t eat pellets today. She’s drinking a bit (she never drinks much anyway).

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this clicking / grunting type noise and whether it’s to be expected as part of the infection or a sign of something else.

I’ll try to upload the noise next in case anyone is willing to listen. It may need headphones. she just did a little cough or sneeze that seems to clear it up a bit?

Thanks very much
Lucy

 

[LucyP]

Hi all

Yesterday I noticed that my 8(?) month old rescue pig Winnie was breathing quickly (or at least her tummy was moving quickly) and she’d been eating a bit less than normal for about 24 hours, although still eating some things. So I took her to an exotic pet specialist who examined her, gave her some oxygen and also checked her teeth and mouth. The vet diagnosed probable lower respiratory infection and gave marbocyl to syringe feed her for 2 weeks. We gave Winnie her first dose yesterday afternoon. She ate well last night in terms of veggies and hay but seems not so keen on the pellets. This morning she’s making what sounds like a slight clicking (almost grunting or bubbling?) noise on and off. It may be happening mostly after she’s eaten food but I’m not totally sure. She’s moving around and seems reasonably ok in herself but I know they can hide these things so don’t want to be complacent. Not sure whether to take her back to the vet (which she finds very stressful) or just continue with treatment and close observation. Also wondering if a nebuliser or steam bowl would help. Very happy to go back to the vet if that’s helpful but I’m not sure what else they’d suggest since we’re already on the anti biotics and probably need to give them time to kick in? Yesterday the vet said we’d caught it very early and she was pretty confident the medication would clear this up.

We’re also keeping an eye on her weight. She’s eating ok today but we’re watching that as she’d lost some weight (she was 777g 3 weeks ago and yesterday was 735). We have some oxbow emergency syringe feed from the vet to top her up and will use that if she doesn’t eat pellets today. She’s drinking a bit (she never drinks much anyway).

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this clicking / grunting type noise and whether it’s to be expected as part of the infection or a sign of something else.

I’ll try to upload the noise next in case anyone is willing to listen. It may need headphones. she just did a little cough or sneeze that seems to clear it up a bit?

Thanks very much
Lucy

Just to add she has always been a small piggie and the vet says she looks like she may have the satin gene.

 

[PigglePuggle]

I think if you saw the vet yesterday and have a diagnosis and have been given antibiotics then as long as she is mostly well in herself and still eating, and you have some recovery food to supplement her eating, then just give it time for the antibiotics to work. It may take 4 or 5 days to see an improvement. Of course of she goes downhill and stops eating and behaving normally then take her back to the vet, but it sounds like she is ok for now and just needs some time for the medication to work. A steam bowl is a good idea, when we had a piggy with a URI (she was quacking and grunting, luckily her URI was mostly her throat and she was fine after a course of antibiotics from the vet) we placed her in her carrier in the bathroom when we were taking a shower, the steam seemed to ease her breathing noises! Personally I wouldnt nebulise except on the vets advice but a bit of steam might help a bit x

 

[VickiA]

I think if you saw the vet yesterday and have a diagnosis and have been given antibiotics then as long as she is mostly well in herself and still eating, and you have some recovery food to supplement her eating, then just give it time for the antibiotics to work. It may take 4 or 5 days to see an improvement. Of course of she goes downhill and stops eating and behaving normally then take her back to the vet, but it sounds like she is ok for now and just needs some time for the medication to work. A steam bowl is a good idea, when we had a piggy with a URI (she was quacking and grunting, luckily her URI was mostly her throat and she was fine after a course of antibiotics from the vet) we placed her in her carrier in the bathroom when we were taking a shower, the steam seemed to ease her breathing noises! Personally I wouldnt nebulise except on the vets advice but a bit of steam might help a bit x

Unless there is a noticeable deterioration you need to let the Marbocyl have time to work. ClickingIt’s part of the respiratory infection.
Please weigh daily to ensure she is eating enough and if necessary supplement with some syringe feed to top her up.
A bit of steam can just help ease the airways as suggested.

 

[LucyP]

Hi all

Yesterday I noticed that my 8(?) month old rescue pig Winnie was breathing quickly (or at least her tummy was moving quickly) and she’d been eating a bit less than normal for about 24 hours, although still eating some things. So I took her to an exotic pet specialist who examined her, gave her some oxygen and also checked her teeth and mouth. The vet diagnosed probable lower respiratory infection and gave marbocyl to syringe feed her for 2 weeks. We gave Winnie her first dose yesterday afternoon. She ate well last night in terms of veggies and hay but seems not so keen on the pellets. This morning she’s making what sounds like a slight clicking (almost grunting or bubbling?) noise on and off. It may be happening mostly after she’s eaten food but I’m not totally sure. She’s moving around and seems reasonably ok in herself but I know they can hide these things so don’t want to be complacent. Not sure whether to take her back to the vet (which she finds very stressful) or just continue with treatment and close observation. Also wondering if a nebuliser or steam bowl would help. Very happy to go back to the vet if that’s helpful but I’m not sure what else they’d suggest since we’re already on the anti biotics and probably need to give them time to kick in? Yesterday the vet said we’d caught it very early and she was pretty confident the medication would clear this up.

We’re also keeping an eye on her weight. She’s eating ok today but we’re watching that as she’d lost some weight (she was 777g 3 weeks ago and yesterday was 735). We have some oxbow emergency syringe feed from the vet to top her up and will use that if she doesn’t eat pellets today. She’s drinking a bit (she never drinks much anyway).

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this clicking / grunting type noise and whether it’s to be expected as part of the infection or a sign of something else.

I’ll try to upload the noise next in case anyone is willing to listen. It may need headphones. she just did a little cough or sneeze that seems to clear it up a bit?

Thanks very much
Lucy

I think if you saw the vet yesterday and have a diagnosis and have been given antibiotics then as long as she is mostly well in herself and still eating, and you have some recovery food to supplement her eating, then just give it time for the antibiotics to work. It may take 4 or 5 days to see an improvement. Of course of she goes downhill and stops eating and behaving normally then take her back to the vet, but it sounds like she is ok for now and just needs some time for the medication to work. A steam bowl is a good idea, when we had a piggy with a URI (she was quacking and grunting, luckily her URI was mostly her throat and she was fine after a course of antibiotics from the vet) we placed her in her carrier in the bathroom when we were taking a shower, the steam seemed to ease her breathing noises! Personally I wouldnt nebulise except on the vets advice but a bit of steam might help a bit x

Thanks so much! Still trying to upload the sound but it does sound a bit quacky and grunting. I wasn’t sure about the nebuliser and will give that a miss for now. Steam sounds good though.

She’s mooching about and eating. If anything changes I will go straight back- lucky to have a vet about half an hour away and to be able to see someone who has owned pigs herself and seems to know what’s what. It’s the Beaumont animal hospital in Camden as recommend on this site.

Thanks so much x

 

[LucyP]

Unless there is a noticeable deterioration you need to let the Marbocyl have time to work. ClickingIt’s part of the respiratory infection.
Please weigh daily to ensure she is eating enough and if necessary supplement with some syringe feed to top her up.
A bit of steam can just help ease the airways as suggested.

Thanks again- helpful to know that clicking is part of this. We’ll weigh her every night when she has her meds.

Here is the link for when the noise was at its worst: (eased off a bit now and comes and goes)

 

[Claire W]

I can’t add to the advise that’s already been given but the clicking noise in your video is what I would expect to hear in a pig with a respiratory infection. I hope that Winnie feels better soon x

 

[LucyP]

I can’t add to the advise that’s already been given but the clicking noise in your video is what I would expect to hear in a pig with a respiratory infection. I hope that Winnie feels better soon x

Thanks, I appreciate that a lot. she’s only been clicking since today so I hope we’ve caught this early enough. x

 

[Claire W]

Thanks, I appreciate that a lot. she’s only been clicking since today so I hope we’ve caught this early enough. x

It sounds like you have x

 

[VickiA]

It’s good to be vigilant - sounds like you’ve got things well under control.

 

[LucyP]

Hello all

Thanks again for your earlier advice. After a few days on marbocyl, Winnie was doing much better, eating well and breathing well but just before she was due her follow up (this was on day 14 of the meds) she started eating and running around less again and some clicking noises had returned. So we saw the vet this Thursday just gone. The vet said since we’d seen improvement, the marbocyl might have helped clear bacteria to some extent but obviously wasn’t fully doing the job, and that we may be dealing with more than one bacteria (and they can’t easily swab it to test the culture as it’s in a lower respiratory infection, and the vet wouldn’t want to sedate or do anything too invasive unless absolutely urgent). Her view is to try to tackle the infection with more meds and closely monitor her. So she’s prescribed doxycycline and also metacam to add to the marbocyl. Winnie has been on those since Thursday and is eating well again (we find constant hand feeding of her favourites is really helping, she is grabbing spinach leaves and other veg with plenty of enthusiasm and eating lots of hay and some nuggets) and she seems okay in herself..... but she’s now making new noises. I’ve attached the links below. We are weighing her, watching her behaviour and also providing steam bowls. Is there anything else that might help?

We are due to call the vet in a week and then follow up face to face in 2-3 weeks. If it wasn’t for the new strange noises I think we’d be quite reassured by her progress as she seems to be eating, moving and breathing well. But these noises are worrying. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Many thanks (again!)

Lucy
LINKS TO YOU TUBE

 

[Merab]

I can’t advise you on the noises but do offer sympathy.
My Phoebe has just got over a respiratory infection - we finish the antibiotics tomorrow.
She was making all sorts of grunting and hooting and huffing noises while the infection was there.

Hope Winnie recovers well - you have my sympathy

 

[LucyP]

I can’t advise you on the noises but do offer sympathy.
My Phoebe has just got over a respiratory infection - we finish the antibiotics tomorrow.
She was making all sorts of grunting and hooting and huffing noises while the infection was there.

Hope Winnie recovers well - you have my sympathy

Thank you. Glad Phoebe is doing better!