Help! - Pneumonia care advice wanted

[mocha my rainbow pig]

My big pig (female) was diagnosed with pneumonia today and given steroids and antibiotics injections. I’m just getting home and now she has a crackling noise when she breathes that she didn’t have before. I am so worried about her and want to know how I can help make her comfortable while I wait for the medicine to work. Can anyone PLEASE HELP ME

 

[Deleted member 114675]

A health an illness guru will answer your question in more detail.... In the meantime, you could try to place a bowl of steaming water near her cage to see if this helps.

 

[DMS260820]

I'm not a guru. But you should have been given antibitics to give your guinea pig at home. Unless you are taking him in for injections everyday. Which is what i done for my old guinea pig with pneumonia. Its works faster by injection. It why mine pig survived

 

[DMS260820]

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

 

[Wiebke]

My big pig (female) was diagnosed with pneumonia today and given steroids and antibiotics injections. I’m just getting home and now she has a crackling noise when she breathes that she didn’t have before. I am so worried about her and want to know how I can help make her comfortable while I wait for the medicine to work. Can anyone PLEASE HELP ME

Hi and welcome

Please take a deep breath, first and foremost! Bring any outdoors piggy inside for observation and care.

You can place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage to help ease the water and keep your girl comfy and warm, but not hot.
You can find lots of practical care tips via this link here: Emergency and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Weigh her daily and step in with syringe feeding if she is not eating/drinking and losing weight. The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. An antibiotic can additionally impact on the appetite. Keep in mind that over 80% of what your guinea pig should eat in a day is hay, which you cannot control by eye. You care in this respect can make a difference. Please never squirt any food or water into the mouth and give your piggy only as much as she can hold in her mouth and swallow - and that varies, depending on her size and how weak/strong she is.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

Guinea pig airways are very small and narrow; they can also not breathe through their mouths, so every little obstruction in there is always very audible. Crackling and rasping are typical sounds for guinea pigs with a deep seating respiratory infection.

Hang on in there! The antibiotic should kick in within a day or two. Contact a vet promptly if your sow is suddenly getting worse with heaving sides when she is breathing and very apathetic, but please refuse any steroid injections; they are not suitable for rodents.

Please take the time to read the links I have given you. You will find them very helpful as they contain a wealth of practical 'how to' tips for caring for your piggy during a serious illness that I cannot all repeat just in a short post.

 

[DMS260820]

Hi and welcome

Please take a deep breath, first and foremost! Bring any outdoors piggy inside for observation and care.

You can place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage to help ease the water and keep your girl comfy and warm, but not hot.
You can find lots of practical care tips via this link here: Emergency and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Weigh her daily and step in with syringe feeding if she is not eating/drinking and losing weight. The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. An antibiotic can additionally impact on the appetite. Keep in mind that over 80% of what your guinea pig should eat in a day is hay, which you cannot control by eye. You care in this respect can make a difference. Please never squirt any food or water into the mouth and give your piggy only as much as she can hold in her mouth and swallow - and that varies, depending on her size and how weak/strong she is.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

Guinea pig airways are very small and narrow; they can also not breathe through their mouths, so every little obstruction in there is always very audible. Crackling and rasping are typical sounds for guinea pigs with a deep seating respiratory infection.

Hang on in there! The antibiotic should kick in within a day or two. Contact a vet promptly if your sow is suddenly getting worse with heaving sides when she is breathing and very apathetic, but please refuse any steroid injections; they are not suitable for rodents.

Please take the time to read the links I have given you. You will find them very helpful as they contain a wealth of practical 'how to' tips for caring for your piggy during a serious illness that I cannot all repeat just in a short post.

Will one lot of antibitoics injected, clear it? I was reading as this. But i dont know

 

[Wiebke]

My big pig (female) was diagnosed with pneumonia today and given steroids and antibiotics injections. I’m just getting home and now she has a crackling noise when she breathes that she didn’t have before. I am so worried about her and want to know how I can help make her comfortable while I wait for the medicine to work. Can anyone PLEASE HELP ME

Will one lot of antibitoics injected, clear it? I was reading as this. But i dont know

No, one injection will not clear it, but the first dosage is often more effective when injected instead of given orally; especially in an emergency. You generally need to wait 24 hours before you can start any oral course after an injection.

But as the poster has nothing said about whether they have been given more meds, we haven't had a chance to check up on the meds front yet, so please hold back.

 

[sport_billy]

Pm sent please read

 

[mocha my rainbow pig]

Ty everyone, unfortunately she had to be laid to rest today. She was suffering and her system was too shut down. I found this page late and was really trying to hold out hope, unfortunately she was just too sick. I appreciate the comments very much I struggled for days in between when I could get the vet to see her and was searching for some kind of way to make her comfortable. I wish I had found it sooner, but now I have it for the future. Thank you all this was her last photo

 

[mocha my rainbow pig]

Is it normal for her cage mate to be almost like crying? It’s a sound I have never heard her make before.

 

[DMS260820]

I'm sorry for your loss . Rip big pig x

 

[mocha my rainbow pig]

Pm sent please read

Idk how to change it

 

[Lady Kelly]

Idk how to change it

Please reply direct to sport_billy in the PM.

 

[mocha my rainbow pig]

Please reply direct to sport_billy in the PM.

I did

 

[Wiebke]

Ty everyone, unfortunately she had to be laid to rest today. She was suffering and her system was too shut down. I found this page late and was really trying to hold out hope, unfortunately she was just too sick. I appreciate the comments very much I struggled for days in between when I could get the vet to see her and was searching for some kind of way to make her comfortable. I wish I had found it sooner, but now I have it for the future. Thank you all this was her last photo ❤

I am very sorry that you have found us too late!

Please be sad, but do not feel guilty. We can only do our very best at the time; and you have done that. That is all we can do at any given time. There are sadly no nice large signs pointing 'This Way' right from the start since pet shops are not known for their care for welfare and information. When we get a piggy, we do not think of it maybe coming with an infection and not have the strength to fight it off.

You are welcome to post a tribute to your beautiful little girl in our Rainbow Bridge section if you feel that remembering her and sharing your grief will help you.

Yes, piggies suffering badly from a loss can bawl like they are crying, especially when they are just babies themselves and are feeling totally lost.
Please follow the advice in this guide here; you will hopefully find it very helpful. Keep a close eye on here in case she is coming down with a URI, too; especially with the added stress of her bereavement: Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig

If you have had your piggy for less than 2-3 weeks before the outbreak (UK) / 1 month (US), you can reclaim any vet cost from the pet shop as part of your customer rights for having been technically sold damaged ware. Exposure and infection will have happened at the shop. Don't let yourself be fobbed off! What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)

 

[alpacasqueak]

I’m so sorry for your loss x

 

[mocha my rainbow pig]

No, she was my older piggy. I got a baby in November and wound up rescuing her a friend a week later. I adopted mocha (the pig that just passed) from a shelter. She was found outside in freezing cold weather and both of her cagemates she was found with had to be euthanized the same day bc they were so ill. They estimated her at 2-3 years old but the vet said she was much older. I find solace knowing she spent her last months in a home filled with love and spoiled with all the veggies she could ever imagine. My younger pig (baby) has shown no signs of illness, mocha was visibly sick for a week today. (She was probably sick for longer she only became symptomatic last Tuesday night) baby is still devouring her food and water and wheeking for veggies. They lived in the same cage with a partition bc they didn’t get along and once I realized mocha was very ill I put a towel over the partition to try to quarantine mocha. I pray that mocha did not spread anything to baby and feel hopeful bc she isn’t showing any signs of sickness and I have been monitoring it. Thank you all for your condolences I hope she knows how loved she was.

 

[Lady Kelly]

So sorry for your loss but you are right. The last part of her life was filled with love and warmth and she will have been very grateful for that