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Kennel Cough

CarnivalPiggy

CarnivalPiggy

Adult Guinea Pig
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My dog was just at the vet for mild kennel cough as she's been choking/gasping, noticed today, and has been treated, but I'm starting to panick quite a bit as my girls have been in the same room as her today, Zeb sniffed the cage and also was quite close to one of them yesterday. I saw that something called bordatella(?) is shed for three days or something and Guinea pigs can catch. What to do? Thanks.
 
Looking about for info and getting quite stressed. It seems if they do catch it is similiar to an URI and lethal
 
I have heard when a dog gets vaccinated for kennel cough that they can shed bordetella for three days, so you should keep them away from your pigs, but I don't know about when a dog actually has kennel cough. Sorry, I know it's not much help.
 
Thank you. I'm sick to my stomach right now with worry. It seems all I can do is watch out for it for the next few days or weeks :(
 
Question, the vet said it would be there without symptoms in the dog 3-4 days beforehand so wouldn't the pig have caught something by then?
 
Thank you. I weighed them, no change in weight referring to loss, Peppa was 10g higher. They seem to have healthy appetites and I've been checking their noses, eyes etc since creating this thread constantly with no obvious problem. As I was about to go to bed Peppa was in the corner, not facing it however, but she was still skittish as usual and left after I picked her up (picked her up while she was in the corner, bit of struggle as she realised half way up but wouldn't let me try again after putting her down, which is usually how it goes). They were eating fine when I left. I hope it is ok to go to sleep as I have a ton of maths work to catch up on (a month or two ! ah) in the morning with a math tutor coming round.
 
Definitely keep an eye out for any symptoms. Bordetella can be caught by guinea pigs, so all you can really do now that you know they've potentially been exposed is to watch for symptoms of respiratory tract infections and to get to a vet quickly if they show any symptoms. You may also want to dose them with additional vitamin C, which can help to boost the immune system. It can be added to the water or given directly as a supplement and can be purchased over the counter at the pet store or through the vet. It might help, won't hurt.
 
I woke up, they both appear fine, fighting to take pellet from my hand. Both move fine with bright eyes. I heard a sneeze from Porridge while getting out the hay and Peppa before once each. I know they sneeze daily so I can't take it to heart hearing one only but still stresses. How long before theyd display any symptoms? The dog would have had kennel cough for 2-3 or 4 days by now, doors been shut constantly since finding out.
 
Everything seems fine :) however just now my dog slipped in. She was out in two or three seconds flat, but back to being anxious :(
 
It's been about four days since discovery and treatment of kennel cough. Would it be ok to get the pigs out for floortime? They haven't been out in their room or mine. My dog has been in my room today. And didn't get them out in their room as the dog was in there on that day and didn't know if it was ok to be on the same ground as silly as it sounds. I would like to have them in my room so I can work without concentration fussing to the pigs cage but don't want to risk anything
 
Stressing quite a bit. Five days since her shot, when I got up today the door to the pig room was open and no clue how long for. Really hoping it is ok
 
Zen will be infectious before the cough comes out. Ring the vet & ask what the incubation period, is. Zeb may be out of the infectious period already, even if he's still coughing.
 
We spotted her coughing/gasping a lot on the day I posted this thread. She had her injection and came home from the vets before I posted the thread. The vet said it's likely to have been around 2-4 days before the symptoms appeared. She hasn't coughed since going to the vet. I'll ring up and ask the incubation period
 
It should relieve your worries hopefully. Really there's nothing you can do if they caught it also ask what precautionary measures you can take, or medications that can be taken. When should you take instant action. I.e. When they start wheezing or coughing. Would it help if you bought them in for a check up.
Good luck.
 
Incubation period for dogs is 7 days. They've each sneezed once or twice today but other than that I don't see anything out of the blue. Nervous
 
poor you! you are living a stressful period... I undersrtand and I would feel worse than you... and being skilful in Maths does not help!:))
Statistics calculations into our mind sometimes make a mess!
Anyway, I think the risk is over...
Would it be possible to put the cage outside? in a garden or in a balcony.. so that the risk of breathing something dangerous is even less...
Or what's about closing the piggies into a room where dogs cannot have access? you could also keep indows open.
I know this situation because my first daughter caught varicella when my second daughter was 15 days old! the baby had a preventive treatment which couldn't guarantee that much, the second daughter had to live with my parents (luckily in the same district), I was asked to always wear a mask and to keep my baby OUTSIDE as much as possible and inside always with open windows. It was March... my baby slept in the balcony...
Therefore I understand the way you feel...
 
I can't put them outside as it is too cold and hutch is currently occupied by many toxic paints and other chemicals. Could open the window but again cold and worried about catching an URI.

More than anything worried about Porridge as her poos are small and did a few sneezes (though is surrounded by hay with her nose dug into it). Looked it up and saw small poos could be because of lack of water or food? one or the other. Which is probable as she has been mostly hiding away from the hay in a house as I'm in here and their confidence has gone down since Ginny passed. I'm tempted to syringe feed water but not sure if it will just stress her out
 
The dog has been out of the piggy room for five days, since her discovery. But this morning I woke late to find the door opened :( no one will admit to it so I don't know
 
Vet appt booked at Taverham for 1:15pm tomorrow. Highly suspects they've got fleas of some kind as they're itching/biting more than usual
 
It's a constant worry with these piggies, but then we wouldn't be without them. The danger period probably has past, its more the bit before Zeb showed he had kennel cough, & the first 2 or 3 days
Wonder if its worth getting a baby or young one to put in with girls. Ginnys death hit you all maybe they'll settle. It's the constant not knowing, wish they could talk. Lol
 
Yeah x actually girls are going back to Elisabeth on here end of July I think. She let me have them temporarily until Ginny passed. Trios are my favourite xx
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
I can't put them outside as it is too cold and hutch is currently occupied by many toxic paints and other chemicals. Could open the window but again cold and worried about catching an URI.

More than anything worried about Porridge as her poos are small and did a few sneezes (though is surrounded by hay with her nose dug into it). Looked it up and saw small poos could be because of lack of water or food? one or the other. Which is probable as she has been mostly hiding away from the hay in a house as I'm in here and their confidence has gone down since Ginny passed. I'm tempted to syringe feed water but not sure if it will just stress her out
Click to expand...
I also found some little poos when the piggies did not appreciate the dinner... My stubborn piggies don't drin at all and don't like plain water. Although they wee normally, considering that now at home I have switchen on air conditioning and the air is dry, I am trying to syringe water plus some drops of cranberry juice... They find this very yummy and jump on me as soon as I take the syringe. But only 4-5 ml, not more. Doing that twice a day I don't see any difference in the form of the poo, but only some wet spots more. Instead, the difference is of what they eat... When they don't like vegs at dinner or the grass is a the one they dislike (and poo on it!), I see little poos on the fleece.
I don't think Porridge is ill for the dog; maybe he is sad for the lost of Ginny... and I don't know what to suggest...:no:
And of course sorry for the silly advice to put the piggies outside. Here we have 32-33° and 21-22° in the night. The Hell.:hb:
I wouldn't have imagined you have normal temperatures...
 
Thanks :) I did recently introduce one or two new fruit or veg, wondering if that was the problem as they seem to be ok now. I did wonder about the cranberry mix, but hesitant if it encourages diabetes etc. Is it very likely? I've never given any my pigs any other drinks than usual water.

Aha fine x I feel sorry for you to be honest ! If it is muggy here then even thirteen is a nightmare, can't image over 20 constantly
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
Thanks :) I did recently introduce one or two new fruit or veg, wondering if that was the problem as they seem to be ok now. I did wonder about the cranberry mix, but hesitant if it encourages diabetes etc. Is it very likely? I've never given any my pigs any other drinks than usual water.

Aha fine x I feel sorry for you to be honest ! If it is muggy here then even thirteen is a nightmare, can't image over 20 constantly
Click to expand...

(don't tell me anything about our impossible weather! I am alive only thanks to that saint man who invented air conditioning!. And the worst hasn't arrived yet!)
About cranberry, first of all I am talking of few drops of pure cranberry juice which has a strong and not at all sweet taste... Actually pure cranberry juice is used for preventing bladder infections and there are owners of piggies who had a great success; there is also some research published online... Anyway, cranberry juice has only 9g of sugar (pure apple juice has 39g and coca-cola has 40g). I used to drink it for recovering from a cronic bad cystitis (it worked! better than medicines), its taste is terrible, if not diluited. Also diluited 1:1 the taste covers all the other tastes. If the piggie likes this taste it could be useful for mixing medicine, I guess...
One of my piggie (Calliope) came home (3 months ago) from the rescue with an alert for her bladder; no infection yet, but she screamts when someone touched her belly... her urine was not that good, too... and she did not drink at all. I tried this method, the vet says it can be useless, but not dangerous; and he himself saw some amazing improvement among his piggies. He let me free of making an experiment. Both piggies love this strong taste and... my piggie in pain stopped being in pain... her urine is normal and clear now, therefore I go on like that.
But I am able to give her only max 4 little syringes 1ml, that is one spoon of water and one little tea spoon of cranberry. Calliope drinks so avidly that sometimes she makes a sneeze then! If I diluite the juice more, she does not drink at all... she is a sort of boozer! (is this the correct word?:beer:)
For sure 5 drops of cranberry juice will not encourage diabetes. The researches online suggest 10 ml of pure cranberry daily... for giving the piggie some benefit. But if you want to give it a try, be careful to read the label: the juice must be pure 100%. I put the single doses (one is for both piggies) into an ice-cube tray, because the bottle needs to be consumed within 3 days (and costs quite a lot). Each dose will be diluited.
But this does not change the poo... if your piggie likes water I would not get him/her used to a different drink. Consider cranberry only if your piggie starts having some trouble at the bladder. It might work.
A last thing about the syringe: it should not be a stress, but a game... Consider that when I take in hand the syringe Calliope and Calipso climb on me...
This below is my daughter who enjoys syringing Calliope with the mix water+cranberry. It was funny because Calliope did not want to let the syringe go out from her mouth; unfortunately from the pic this is not visible:))
100_6875.webp
 
Don't think I'll be able to go to the vet, just my luck it's incredibly hot today. Mum was on her way home from a friend's, 20 minute ride ish. She said she had to have all the windows down, AC on and she was still sweating buckets. I'm in the car while my mum is walking the dog just to see, and it is similar to a sauna. I wanted them to go but I would definitely be risking heat stroke, them in a carrier in a car in hot weather :(
 
I just spent the last 7 months fighting bordetella in my guinea pig, so I have become a bit of an expert. While it can technically jump between species, it is very very unlikely that it will jump from dog to guinea pig. Usually, guinea pigs only contract it from rabbits or other piggies.

Definitely keep an eye on their weight, but the first symptom for me was coughing. It was just one cough, very sporadically. I took him to the vet, but they couldn't find anything wrong with him. It was months before the cough became bad enough that they actually started treatment, because they kept telling me it was allergies. Turns out my cavvy savvy vet wasn't very savvy, so he was receiving the wrong dose of medication until I switched to a new vet. By that time, the infection became very persistent.

It took us 7 months, thousands of dollars, countless antibiotics before we finally beat the infection. We ended up having to build him a chamber to nebulize an antibiotic penetrate the pneumonia he developed. So, my advice to you is if you hear ONE cough, take them in. But, like I said, it is very very uncommon for bordetella to jump from dogs to piggies so you are probably ok. I've had 2 cats in the house with my sick pig, and they are totally healthy.
 
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