Guinea Pigs And Antibiotics - Now Not Eating Much

[Elisak]

Last week I noticed that my female guinea pig (7 months), Lola was squeaking whilst she was weeing. Thinking it may be a urine infection, I took her to the vets last Tuesday. He prescribed Baytril for 5 days. He gave her an antibiotic and anti inflammatory injection and then said start with the Bayrtil on Weds evening. I was concerned, on reading things that he hadn't given her a probiotic to take with the antibiotics, so I got some from the vets on the Weds evening. I gave her the first does on Weds evening. So by Thursday evening she was off her food and I decided that it was the antibiotics that were causing this so stopped them. She is now eating again, but not as much and gets bored after a few mins and doesn't seem to be drinking from her bottle or eating nuggets. I have been feeding her critical care and syringing water into her, which she is taking.

Not really sure what to do now. She doesn't seem to be squeaking when weeing and is doing small droppings. I am convinced that the antibiotics were making her worse, at least she eating before that!

She seems quite perky and is coming in and out of the hay/her tunnel, munching hay and her wooden ball, but she does seem a bit thinner and she has lost a little bit weight but not much.

Not sure whether to take her back to the vet (I wasn't that impressed by the vet I got) or should I keep an eye on her for a day or so and see if her tummy settles down?
Any advice would be very helpful.

Thanks

 

[scpiggy]

Antibiotics can be very harsh on a pigs tummy. When one of my girls was on baytril she stopped eating and was completely miserable. You can get probiotics which from my experience are powders that can either be sprinkled on some wet veg or disolved in water and syringed. You could get these from vets, pet shops or online.
In the mean time I'd suggest getting some of her fav veggies to try and encourage her to eat and continue syringe feeding if she still wont eat.
I think there's a different antibiotic that works better for treating urinary infections than baytril but I can't be sure. Hopefully someone can give you some more advice as I've had no experience treating urinary infections.
Hope Lola gets better soon.

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

I want to say it's either Bactrim or Septrim that treat utis. Obviously don't take my word on that! If I were you i would call the vet and ask for a different antibiotic, rather than just stopping completely. If pigs are anything like humans then stopping a drug too early can allow the infection to come back.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Baytril is notorious for causing loss of appetite and/or soft poos or diarrhea. Please weigh your piggy at the same time of day; good that you are hand feeding!

UTI can be very persistent and just a 5 day course won't do the trick; it is bound to come back. Please see the vet for either another 2 weeks of baytril or another antibiotic. Septrin(UK)/bactrim (US) is usually much better with urine infections, but it takes a longer course, usually about 3 weeks. It is kinder on the digestive system, though. you may have to sign a form for it, as baytril is unfortunately still the only licensed AB for guinea pigs.

If you haven't got probiotics at home, you can make poo soup by soaking some fresh poos from a healthy piggy in water and then syringe that - it is a bit gross, but usually a big hit, as that is how piggies restock their guts.

Here is advice from the best medical website for guinea pigs:
http://www.guinealynx.info/uti.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html