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Guinea Pig Has Pneumonia

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Pumpkin&Salt

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello everyone, i'm new to this website and I really need help. I'm not very good at explaining a situation well so sorry if it doesn't make sense. So my Pumpkin was diagnosed with a uri in july and then we took him to the vet again on august 17 and they took an xray and he had a bit of pneumonia so she gave him .17ml of vibramycin syrup and then the following week we took him again and his pneumonia was clearing up, he just had a little bit of noise. Yesterday we took him to a different vet because his vet wasn't there and she listened to his chest and said it sounded very wet and she doesn't think he will make it, btw she didn't take an xray, she just listened to his lungs. I'm very sad because she wants to put him to sleep but we didn't want to because he just recently started getting worse, last wednesday. So she gave him a lasix injection and sent us home with baytril .35ml twice a day and vibramycin syrup 0.2ml twice a day. I really don't want to lose him i have already lost one guinea pig and i am still hurting bc of his death. I really don't know what to do he is eating so is that a good sign? But his whole body is moving because his sides are pumping pretty fast. Can anyone give me some advice please?
 
Pumpkin&Salt said:
Hello everyone, i'm new to this website and I really need help. I'm not very good at explaining a situation well so sorry if it doesn't make sense. So my Pumpkin was diagnosed with a uri in july and then we took him to the vet again on august 17 and they took an xray and he had a bit of pneumonia so she gave him .17ml of vibramycin syrup and then the following week we took him again and his pneumonia was clearing up, he just had a little bit of noise. Yesterday we took him to a different vet because his vet wasn't there and she listened to his chest and said it sounded very wet and she doesn't think he will make it, btw she didn't take an xray, she just listened to his lungs. I'm very sad because she wants to put him to sleep but we didn't want to because he just recently started getting worse, last wednesday. So she gave him a lasix injection and sent us home with baytril .35ml twice a day and vibramycin syrup 0.2ml twice a day. I really don't want to lose him i have already lost one guinea pig and i am still hurting bc of his death. I really don't know what to do he is eating so is that a good sign? But his whole body is moving because his sides are pumping pretty fast. Can anyone give me some advice please?
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Hi, I'm sorry your little one is poorly.

Could you add your location to your profile? This will help us tailor any advice specific to what you have available in your area.

It sounds like your vet has taken the right approach this time- a diuretic and two pronged antibiotics.

My only worry would be that the one dose of diuretic wouldnt be enough to keep the fluid off his lungs. It may be worth contacting them asking for some diuretic to give orally at home over the next few days if his breathing is very laboured like you describe. If they want to see him again before they give you diuretics to take home, i would comply and take him in- although extra stress isnt ideal, he really sounds like he needs diuretics regularly at the moment.

The other possibility would be a heart problem, as i would expect him to be extremely unwell and not eating at all if this was a URI/pneumonia that had been going on this long. A chest xray to check for fluid and any enlargement of the heart can be enough to diagnose a piggy with a heart issue, as well as an ongoing history of related issues. Heart issues are ultimately fatal sadly, especially once it is at the stage of fluid in the chest.. But it can be managed with heart meds such as fortekor, as well as regular diuretics for the rest of the life granted fluid is the issue. I have a 7.5 year old piggy who has made her 1 year anniversary after being diagnosed with heart failure. Other symptoms of a heart issue include (try and think about how he was before this bout of ill health began):
Lethargy (more inactive than usual)
Cold extremeties
Pale/blue/purple tinge to tongue/lips/feet
Difficult to rouse from sleep
Hooting when breathing
Coughing

How is his weight doing? If he has lost weight or continually losing, you need to step in with syringe feeding to give him a fighting chance. Please only syringe a very small amount into the mouth at a time as he is at risk of aspirating with having such labored breathing.

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Is he on probiotics? Antibiotics are harsh on the guts and probiotics help balance this. Examples include fibreplex, pro-c or avipro plus. They should ge administered 1-2 hours after each antibiotic dose.

If you arent happy with your vet, there is a recommended uk vet locator on the forum (if thats where you are). It may be an option for a second opinion.

For now i would step in with syringe feeding if needed, get him some probiotics and most importantly, speak to the vet about giving him diuretics regularly at home to try and ease his breathing.
 
Adelle said:
Hi, I'm sorry your little one is poorly.

Could you add your location to your profile? This will help us tailor any advice specific to what you have available in your area.

It sounds like your vet has taken the right approach this time- a diuretic and two pronged antibiotics.

My only worry would be that the one dose of diuretic wouldnt be enough to keep the fluid off his lungs. It may be worth contacting them asking for some diuretic to give orally at home over the next few days if his breathing is very laboured like you describe. If they want to see him again before they give you diuretics to take home, i would comply and take him in- although extra stress isnt ideal, he really sounds like he needs diuretics regularly at the moment.

The other possibility would be a heart problem, as i would expect him to be extremely unwell and not eating at all if this was a URI/pneumonia that had been going on this long. A chest xray to check for fluid and any enlargement of the heart can be enough to diagnose a piggy with a heart issue, as well as an ongoing history of related issues. Heart issues are ultimately fatal sadly, especially once it is at the stage of fluid in the chest.. But it can be managed with heart meds such as fortekor, as well as regular diuretics for the rest of the life granted fluid is the issue. I have a 7.5 year old piggy who has made her 1 year anniversary after being diagnosed with heart failure. Other symptoms of a heart issue include (try and think about how he was before this bout of ill health began):
Lethargy (more inactive than usual)
Cold extremeties
Pale/blue/purple tinge to tongue/lips/feet
Difficult to rouse from sleep
Hooting when breathing
Coughing

How is his weight doing? If he has lost weight or continually losing, you need to step in with syringe feeding to give him a fighting chance. Please only syringe a very small amount into the mouth at a time as he is at risk of aspirating with having such labored breathing.

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Is he on probiotics? Antibiotics are harsh on the guts and probiotics help balance this. Examples include fibreplex, pro-c or avipro plus. They should ge administered 1-2 hours after each antibiotic dose.

If you arent happy with your vet, there is a recommended uk vet locator on the forum (if thats where you are). It may be an option for a second opinion.

For now i would step in with syringe feeding if needed, get him some probiotics and most importantly, speak to the vet about giving him diuretics regularly at home to try and ease his breathing.
Click to expand...
 
I think i've managed to add my location now. The only reason the vet gave him a diuretic is because i mentioned it and even then she was only willing to give him one. Honestly it felt like she just wanted to put him to sleep. He eats on his own for the most part, it's only happened twice that i have had to force feed him for a few hours and then he begins to eat on his own. He has doesn't run too much during floor time, he runs for a bit and then he lays down so maybe he could have a heart problem. I will bring it up at his next vet visit. He hasn't lost any weight, he has actually gained weight. From reading other threads I found out about probiotics, are the only place to get them online? Also i didn't know this my vet told me but is the fluid that they have in their lungs very thick? Because she said it was like pus only much thicker.
 
Pumpkin&Salt said:
I think i've managed to add my location now. The only reason the vet gave him a diuretic is because i mentioned it and even then she was only willing to give him one. Honestly it felt like she just wanted to put him to sleep. He eats on his own for the most part, it's only happened twice that i have had to force feed him for a few hours and then he begins to eat on his own. He has doesn't run too much during floor time, he runs for a bit and then he lays down so maybe he could have a heart problem. I will bring it up at his next vet visit. He hasn't lost any weight, he has actually gained weight. From reading other threads I found out about probiotics, are the only place to get them online? Also i didn't know this my vet told me but is the fluid that they have in their lungs very thick? Because she said it was like pus only much thicker.
Click to expand...
Laboured breathing as well as an increase in weight points to a fluid flare in the chest- this would be my main concern at the moment.

Id request a conscious xray to check for fluid and treat accordingly.. Emphasis on the conscious, as a piggy with potential heart problems shouldnt be anaesthetised unless its a life or death situation.

If you feel your vet was just wanting to give up on your little one, you could ring round other vets to find one thats piggy savvy.. The guinea lynx website may have recommended vets in your area.

All the best
 
He has an appoinment with another vet this Friday, hoping he knows what to do to help my Pumpkin. I have a couple of questions, What does laboured breathing mean exactly? What types of oral diuretics is there?
 
Pumpkin&Salt said:
He has an appoinment with another vet this Friday, hoping he knows what to do to help my Pumpkin. I have a couple of questions, What does laboured breathing mean exactly? What types of oral diuretics is there?
Click to expand...

Laboured breathing looks like a guinea pig is making alot of effort for a breath, like if a person has just ran a distance.. The effort looks like its coming from the abdomen, its heavy and makes the head rock/ nod with each breath. It can be caused if there is an infection but since your vet has heard fluid in there and since his breathing is still laboured, oral diuretics at home usually administered every 8-12 hours (4 hourly in a crisis) would be the most sensible course of action. A conscious xray will confirm any fluid, and regular diuretics really will make him much more comfortable as he wont have to put so much effort into breathing.

Frusemide is usually the diuretic of choice, Frusol is a liquid form. Its like a syrup (and my old girl loves the taste!).

Hoping you get more answers come friday, but if he doesnt perk up soon and his breathing continues being laboured it might be worthwhile calling the new vets and asking for a sooner appointment x
 
One of my guinea pigs, Deedee, is on Frusol 2x a day (0.6ml in total). She has an enlarge heart and fluid around it and the diuretic did her so good. She would be having it for the rest of her life but it does wonders on her. Her breathing is way much better compared to the first time we found out about her condition (add to that having an ovarian cyst and ongoing UTI which eventually turned into bladder stones, long story short she just had an operation to remove the stones).
 
When we first brought Pumpkin home which was June 5 of this year, first thing we did was take him to the vet to make sure he was healthy before introducing him to Salt and the vet took an xray of his chest to make sure he didn't have pneumonia because he was a little warm due to being in a blanket and everything was perfectly normal. As i said before he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection towards the end of July which turned into what looks like pneumonia. The vets have said his heart sounds normal and wouldn't they see his heart in the xray if there was a problem? Also i've noticed that when i pick him up and massage him his breathing calms down and then when i put him down sometimes he will remain calm or he'll start breathing hard again.
 
Pumpkin&Salt said:
Hello everyone, i'm new to this website and I really need help. I'm not very good at explaining a situation well so sorry if it doesn't make sense. So my Pumpkin was diagnosed with a uri in july and then we took him to the vet again on august 17 and they took an xray and he had a bit of pneumonia so she gave him .17ml of vibramycin syrup and then the following week we took him again and his pneumonia was clearing up, he just had a little bit of noise. Yesterday we took him to a different vet because his vet wasn't there and she listened to his chest and said it sounded very wet and she doesn't think he will make it, btw she didn't take an xray, she just listened to his tlungs. I'm very sad because she wants to put him to sleep but we didn't want to because he just recently started getting worse, last wednesday. So she gave him a lasix injection and sent us home with baytril .35ml twice a day and vibramycin syrup 0.2ml twice a day. I really don't want to lose him i have already lost one guinea pig and i am still hurting bc of his death. I really don't know what to do he is eating so is that a good sign? But his whole body is moving because his sides are pumping pretty fast. Can anyone give me some advice please?
Click to expand...
l

I'd give him a chance, can you get him to the vet that did the X-ray,The desk in the lobby should be able to tell you when she's in, & book an urgent consultutation
 
He has an appointment with a different vet this Friday because the last vet did not know what to do for him anymore and just wanted to put him to sleep.
 
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