fournakedpigs
Junior Guinea Pig
Apologies in advance if this is long. I tend to overshare because who knows what COULD be relevant or important.
We have four boars, all living separately, but next to each other. One boy, Mortimer, who is a one-year-old skinny pig, is the biggest momma's boy. He loves to cuddle, will BEG for attention if I neglect him for even a few hours, etc. Last week, I noticed he wasn't as attention-hungry. So I did a quick check over him, and I noticed his right ear had some wax build up, but also that it was incredibly sensitive. He refused to let me get a good look or clean it, and he was even getting upset when I touched the outside of his ear. This isn't normal, and I checked his left ear to see how he reacted there, and he was fine, no problems. We had a vet visit scheduled for this Monday, so I wasn't too concerned. While waiting the couple of days for the visit, I noticed his urine was smelling HORRID. It looked normal, no excess calcium, and I made sure he wasn't just urinating in one spot that was building up.
At the vet, they confirmed he has bacteria in his ear, though they did mention it wasn't a concerning amount, but it did met the threshold for being treated. He's now been on Baytril topical drops twice a day since Monday. As for his urine, we got a urine sample, and the results came back beautifully. No infections, no bacteria, no crystals. I'm stumped. I asked them if there was anything else we should test, as I want to make sure he's feeling okay, but they said we'll give the ear drops a few more days and see if he's acting more like himself. I guess my question is...are we missing something obvious? The only thing I can think of is that his ear is making him so uncomfortable that he's drinking less, which is making his urine smell (although he's still eating and seems to be drinking, poops look normal, etc.).
I'm not sure how long the Baytril takes to really help, as we've never used a topical, but he appears to be acting somewhat more normal. However, he's still very much hiding under his Guineadad pocket liner, which he NEVER does. I assume this is because he's still not feeling well and is trying to distance himself from his brothers. I'm kind of using this to determine how he's feeling because he's usually the pig who's bustling around and sleeping half-exposed in the cage, not even interested in the liner. Also, we discussed the possibility of mites, but it seems unlikely because he's not excessively itching himself or his ear, and none of the other boys have any issues. It seems so unlikely that he'd have two infections going on at once especially considering how on top of cleanliness we are with them, but I'm so extra protective of this boy that I wanted to ask the pros.
Also, our vet is an exotic vet (over 50% of their clients are exotics, so I do trust them), and we're in the USA.
If you read all of that, thanks so much! <3 Here's Mortimer the very first day I brought him home, over a year ago.
We have four boars, all living separately, but next to each other. One boy, Mortimer, who is a one-year-old skinny pig, is the biggest momma's boy. He loves to cuddle, will BEG for attention if I neglect him for even a few hours, etc. Last week, I noticed he wasn't as attention-hungry. So I did a quick check over him, and I noticed his right ear had some wax build up, but also that it was incredibly sensitive. He refused to let me get a good look or clean it, and he was even getting upset when I touched the outside of his ear. This isn't normal, and I checked his left ear to see how he reacted there, and he was fine, no problems. We had a vet visit scheduled for this Monday, so I wasn't too concerned. While waiting the couple of days for the visit, I noticed his urine was smelling HORRID. It looked normal, no excess calcium, and I made sure he wasn't just urinating in one spot that was building up.
At the vet, they confirmed he has bacteria in his ear, though they did mention it wasn't a concerning amount, but it did met the threshold for being treated. He's now been on Baytril topical drops twice a day since Monday. As for his urine, we got a urine sample, and the results came back beautifully. No infections, no bacteria, no crystals. I'm stumped. I asked them if there was anything else we should test, as I want to make sure he's feeling okay, but they said we'll give the ear drops a few more days and see if he's acting more like himself. I guess my question is...are we missing something obvious? The only thing I can think of is that his ear is making him so uncomfortable that he's drinking less, which is making his urine smell (although he's still eating and seems to be drinking, poops look normal, etc.).
I'm not sure how long the Baytril takes to really help, as we've never used a topical, but he appears to be acting somewhat more normal. However, he's still very much hiding under his Guineadad pocket liner, which he NEVER does. I assume this is because he's still not feeling well and is trying to distance himself from his brothers. I'm kind of using this to determine how he's feeling because he's usually the pig who's bustling around and sleeping half-exposed in the cage, not even interested in the liner. Also, we discussed the possibility of mites, but it seems unlikely because he's not excessively itching himself or his ear, and none of the other boys have any issues. It seems so unlikely that he'd have two infections going on at once especially considering how on top of cleanliness we are with them, but I'm so extra protective of this boy that I wanted to ask the pros.
Also, our vet is an exotic vet (over 50% of their clients are exotics, so I do trust them), and we're in the USA.
If you read all of that, thanks so much! <3 Here's Mortimer the very first day I brought him home, over a year ago.