HELP! Berty has URI! on second antibiotic :(

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Our guinea pig, Berty, stopped eating, was hunching her back, and sneezed a few times a week ago and we took her to the Vet. They did an x-ray and it revealed she had gas and possibly a uri. They put her on SMZ (bactrim) and Reglan. We also started hand feeding her "critical care" with a syringe. At the begining she was still drinking from her bottle and eating hay and grass on her own, but no veggies. On the medicine she became lathargic and didn't get any better. Four days after the first visit, we took her back in because we saw no change. They did another xray and saw that the gas bubble had gone away. They cut her bottom teeth cuz they were a little long. We took her home she stopped drinking from her bottle. We continued to hand feed her food, probiotics, vitamin c and water with the syringe.

A few days later, she started weezing and was hardly moving...we rushed her to the vet and they gave her an iv of fluids and perscribed her DOXYCYCLINE instead of the smz. On the second day with the new medication, she stopped weezing, her eyes looked brighter and she was more mobile. We continued to hand feed, but noticed that she is not chewing the "critical care". It is hard to get the "solid" foods in her with the syringe, but she is swallowing the water/probiotic mix and also pedialyte. We don't want to get the food into her lungs if she is not swallowing and we dont know what to do. The weezing now comes and goes but not as bad. Help! what should we do next?
 
first of all where are you based...?

Hopefull someone can reccomend an experienced vet as I'm quite concerned about your piggie...

as far as I'm aware bactrim is used to treat bacterial infections... more used for UTI's i thought... ive never had to use it with my piggie though so I'm not 100% on that info...

reglan (metaclopromide) is used to help keep the gut moving e.g. helping with the gas bubble in your piggies gut...

when you say they cut her bottom teeth do you just mean the front two or the back ones aswell...?
as just cutting the front teeth will do nothing to help your piggie eat unfortunatly...

doxycycline is a broad spectrum anti-biotic... I'm slightly concerned that baytril or septrin wasnt used first as these two anti biotics are the safest for piggies... baytril being the only licesenced anti biotic for the use of guinea pigs in the uk...

I really think your piggie needs a vet verry soon but i think she needs to see an experienced vet so if you say your rough area hopefully someone will point you in the right direction and she can be seen asap...

keep trying with the critical care... your doing really well... try making it quite sloppy so it goes in her easier... also offer her it off a spoon and see if she will eat a bit that way... have you been given any bio-lapis...?... thats a probiotic to help with the bacteria in the guts...

try giving some pureed veggies or veggies chopped up very small...

I'm so sorry for how poorly your little one is... hope she gets better soon...
x
 
A vet that cuts front teeth is NOT the sign of a piggy savvy vet who knows what they are doing - tooth problems usually originate with the back teeth molars not being ground down and not with the front teeth overgrowing (they are self sharpening anyway, unless they are not aligned properly). The lower front teeth always look too long to the uninformed! It will certainly not help with any feeding problems!

Can you please have a look for a more piggy savvy exotics vet in your area if that is possible? We may be able to help you with finding a recommended vet if you told us your country and area.

Please tell us the weight, age and the dosis of septrin as well as doxycycline your piggy has been/is on. Guinea pigs have a higher metabolism rate than dogs or cats, so if a general vet just scales down according to weight, he will actually prescribe too low a dose.

Keep weighing daily and in any case, keep hand feeding round the clock, as often as you can and as much as you can get into her - that is vital right now if you want to pull your piggy through! Little but often does the trick better, even if that means getting up in the middle of the night! To keep the weight, a piggy needs 120ml of Critical Care in 24 hours. Don't forget to syringe water to prevent dehaydration. Also syringe some vitamin C (1/4 of a supermarket tablet, dissolved in 1ml of water). Loss of appetite is a classic sign of URIs.

Here are more tips about hand feeding: http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html
URI: http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
Information about doxyclycline and other antibiotics: http://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html

Wishing you the best of luck!
 
Berty was 2.1 lbs last week. We can tell she has lost some weight since Friday. We are currently waiting in the vet's office that has experience working with GPs. Over the night Berty's breathing seems to have gotten worse. It is very labored and she is coughing more. We have tried to let her breath in vicks, vapors from a warm shower, and warm water bottle in her cage while she is sleeping. We are hoping the vet can help us get her on the right antibiotic to knock this out of her. Still no poop.
 
Poor girl i hope she is better soon, i suspect my piggie is suffering from a URI after reading this. Seeing the vet tonight. xx
 
We have been giving her critical care, pureed veggies, probiotic sprinkled on everything, water, and pedialyte.

We are in south central pennsylvania.
 
So that is just over a kilo then (in Britain it would be just over 900g!). How much weight loss so far? As a consolation, the loss in weight is not critical yet, so you still have all to play for from that angle!

Is this a new vet or the same?
 
I have pmed a member I know is in possession of links to recommended vets.
 
Thank you for all of your help. We are still in the waiting room and will post the results as soon as we know anything. Our vet (animal healthcare center of hershey) takes exotic pets and the vet has a lot of experience with gps. It isn't a gaurantee that we are lucky enough to get her each time we go.
 
Please could you run the medication including doses past us? I am not a great expert with any of the more exotic stuff, but we have very experienced members on here who could have a look.
 
Sure...

For the first 5-6 days with no improvement SMZ .15mL 2x per day
working on 10 days Reglan .5mL 2x per day

Since Friday afternoon Doxy 0.1mL 2x per day

Probiotics sprinkled on critical care, vitamin c in pedialyte and water
 
The xray showed there is no fluid around her heart. The fluid is around her lungs. She prescribed Baytril and continue feeding with critical care and bene bac? She has developed another gas bubble in her belly.
 
The antibiotic doses for the URI are really low - I have had a piggy of a similar weight on more than double (0.5 to 0.7ml twice daily) of septrin for a persistent URI - dosis from a piggy savvy vet!
 
You can go up to .4ml twice daily for a tough case for a guinea pig of around a kilo. Many vets start lower with URI (about 0.25ml) and it depends on far the URI has progressed.

Have you seen the vet yet?
 
What dosage? Did your vet check the lungs and say whether it has reached the lungs yet (pneumonia)? Has she given you a probiotic as baytril is very harsh on the guts?
 
The vet did not say that she has pneumonia. The bene bac I purchased was gel... I am going to get the powder version directly after work to mix with her food.

Suggestions on the dosing of the Baytril. Vet has directed .2mL 2x per day, but is this enough based on your comments?

Help! I want my little pig to get better.
 
I'm so sorry. I'm no expert for sure, but we had to take our Harriet into the vet every two days at the least to have antibiotic/baytril injections. I believe you did what you were told by your vet. I do think the vet should have been more aggressive in treatment8...

I would not have known to take her in so often unless the vet had told me. I assumed it would be one shot and done.

RIP little piggie...I can tell you were loved and cherished.
 
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