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Jazz - Noisy breathing

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Caviesgalore (EPGPR)

Caviesgalore (EPGPR)

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Hi all, just after a little bit of advice/input from people who may have been in a similar position.

Jazz is a 3 1/2 year old neutered boy who lives with his 4 wives. The gang live indoors, are bedded on newspaper, megazorb and meadow hay. They have a mixture of Excel pellets and cavy cuisine and a selection of fresh veg daily plus Excel grass or Readigrass.

Back in March Jazz had what appeared to be an URI, he had a bit of a snotty nose and crusty eyes and a wheeze and was generally a little quiet. A course of Baytril at 0.2ml twice daily sorted him out. Nothing has changed in respect of bedding, food etc., but Jazz has started to wheeze again. The pigs are still indoors for most of the day, but they have been out in the run on the grass when the weather has been nice, the change of location doesn't make any difference to Jazz's breathing. I started him on the Baytril again last Thursday (3rd June) and by Sunday he sounded worse. This time, however, there is no obvious sign of illness, his nose and eyes are clean and dry and he is still tucking into his food and running around.

I took him to the vets yesterday for a check up as I was concerned he hadn't improved. Nicola gave him a thorough MOT, said his lungs and heart sound fine, but she was concerned that his breathing seemed a little laboured and his lymph glands under his arms were slightly swollen. She wants us to stick with the Baytril until Friday, but she gave him a shot of Dexafort yesterday, which is an anti-inflammatory, to try to help with any inflamation. If he is no better by Friday I need to take him back for another visit and she may consider swapping him on to Septrin.

Has anyone had any similar experiences? Is there anything obvious that we are missing and should be checking for?
 
I had a struggle with Llewelyn this spring - he started after Fflur died and the baytril wouldn't clear it and it always came back. however a three week course of septrin cleared him (I kept him on it for ten days after we heard him wheeze for the last time).

My vet had ordered zithromax as a last ditch effort on recommendation from this forum and after a chat with a vet who prescribes it. However, this is a very strong antibiotic and should only be used in extremis. It also works on very bad abscesses. Thankfully, I didn't need it in the end!
 
Thanks for your post Wiebke. I do hate unexplained illnesses, at least if you know what you are dealing with you are half way to winning the battle!

I am going to make a follow up appointment with Nicola on Friday just to get Jazz checked over again before the weekend. He will have been on the Baytril a week tomorrow and there is no sign of improvement. She did say that if things hadn't improved by the end of the week she would try Septrin - which is my prefered AB as it is more kind to their stomachs! I will mention your experience with Llewelyn - funnily enough Jazz's problems started just after we lost Flo (the rest of the girls are fine), I wonder whether stress has played a part in his illness?

Thankfully he is still eating at the moment, but he really is struggling with the wheezing, mind you he still gives me the run around when I need to catch him to give him his meds!

Thanks again for your post, I will keep you updated.
 
I strongly assume that stress has played a big part with my outbreak; Llewelyn was only the only who had it worst and needed more than one round of ABs! I went on septrin after three lots of baytril.

We also had to deal with an outbreak of mites after Fflur died; her sudden death REALLY upset the tribe!

I have eased Llewelyn's wheezing with 0.2 ml sudafed expectorant for children ( up to twice daily), bisolvon powder from the vets (clears mucus) and a dab of vicks on the nose.

Sadly, Llewelyn has still not gained the weight he has lost during his illness; I would like him to have 50-100g more.
 
Hi Sandra, sorry to hear Jazz isn't quite right. I agree that Septrin is worth a try if Baytril is having no effect.

Is he getting worse, or just not getting better?
 
Last Thursday to Saturday he had a quiet rattle, nothing majorly worrying just enough to make you aware something wasn't quite right. On Sunday the rattle became a wheeze and his breathing looks laboured, which it didn't before. He hasn't got any worse since Sunday, just isn't improving at all. He is still eating, albeit a bit more slowly as I guess it's like when we have a cold it is more tricky to eat. He isn't at all snotty nosed or crusty eyed or lethargic he just sounds awful!

I am definitely going to get him checked before the weekend, he makes me feel tired just looking at him.:(
 
Have you tried any Vicks Vaporub or Olbas Oil around his cage? Placing some on a tissue or in a bowl of hot water outside the cage can help ease breathing - obviously in a safe place where piggies can't get to it, but still smell it.

I also second the suggestion of trying Sudafed Expectorant, it's one thing Peter Gurney suggests in Piggy Potions as well. It does tend to help my piggies who develop grumbly/raspy breathing sounds, although theirs is caused by allergy instead of infection and they respond well to Piriton as well - but again, I treat as such as I'm in no doubt that it's something irritating their respiratory tracts as opposed to infection.
 
Just wanted to add a quick update to Jazz's thread.

He has shown no sign of improvement following his course of Septrin, so last Wednesday (14th July) he had a full body x-ray and his heart, lungs, mouth, teeth, throat area and bladder were all shown to be clear. Nicola also gave him another steriod shot to see whether that would help.

He is eating and moving around as normal, but his breathing is still laboured. He is now off all prescription meds and he is currently having 0.2ml of Sudafed expectorant twice daily and I have vicks covered tissues suspended through the top of the cage.

Nicola checked his heat/lungs again and said all still sounds fine, which x-rays confirmed and she is pretty sure he is suffering from some form of rhinitis. She was going to try to contact a local exotics specialist in Maidstone to chat through his case. We are back for another check up on Thursday (22nd).
 
Thanks for updating, Jazz is really putting you through the mill but at least you can rest a little easier on it being less likely an infection, more likely allergy.

Longer term treatment you might like to consider is Piriton Syrup, 0.2ml 2x daily.
 
Thanks for that Laura. I hate unexplained illness/symptoms they make you feel so useless!:{

Todate the sudafed still hasn't made a great deal of difference so I will definitely try the Piriton syrup - is it one specifically for children or does one bottle do children and adults? Sorry, it's not something I generally buy as I get my antihistamine on prescription in pill form!
 
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