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Help! Respiratory Issues

zoe.sterns

zoe.sterns

New Born Pup
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One of my young silkie boars was sneezing a lot and wiping his nose so i took him to the vet and the diagnosed him with what i thought it was, a mild upper respiratory infection. so i had him and his two other cage mates all on antibiotics for two weeks and they finished the two weeks yesterday. but the same guinea pig that i brought in first is sneezing, not as much and he did and his nose sounds stuffy when he is sniffing? could this be allergies or should i call my vet again.
 
Has he lost any weight?
What antibiotic was he on and what was the dose?

Sometimes in the case of a strong infection a longer course or a different antibiotic might be needed.
However I would also question how experienced your vet is with guinea pigs, as you wouldn't usually put cage mates on antibiotics at the same time unless they also had symptoms.
 
They are on Bactrim, my two 3 month old boars had .25 mL doses while my senior boar had .5 mL twice a day for two weeks. He hasn’t lost any weight just gained a few ounces. He definitely hasn’t been sneezing as much as he was but still looks like he has a stuffy nose and a raspy voice. The other two pigs have no symptoms anymore. I know my vet is an exotic specialist and has worked with guinea pigs before.
 
I would suggest taking your piggy back to the vet if he still isn’t quite right. Like @Swissgreys has suggested they might need a different antibiotic to shift the infection. My boy had a mild URI and was on baytril (horrid antibiotic) but it shifted after a week as he was on quite a strong dose. Hope you manage to get to the bottom of it!
 
zoe.sterns said:
They are on Bactrim, my two 3 month old boars had .25 mL doses while my senior boar had .5 mL twice a day for two weeks. He hasn’t lost any weight just gained a few ounces. He definitely hasn’t been sneezing as much as he was but still looks like he has a stuffy nose and a raspy voice. The other two pigs have no symptoms anymore. I know my vet is an exotic specialist and has worked with guinea pigs before.
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Hi!

If there is no change I would recommend to contact your vet again. It may be that it is just a sensitivity to hay dust, air conditioning or a more complex home environment but your vet has to decide whether they want to prolong the baytril, try another antibiotic or decide to chase up sensitivities, which is a wide field with basically a trial and error approach. Keep in mind that pet shop piggies often come from a rather sterile background and can struggle at first with a pet home.
Because URI is a potential killer, any vet will first and foremost treat for that before considering other options that are much less easy to work out.
Irritants to Avoid Around Guinea Pigs
 
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