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Laboured breathing

T

Trmacc

New Born Pup
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Hi all. New member looking for advice. My daughters 4 month old guinea is breathing really heavily and laboured. No other symptoms and eating drinking pooing as usual. She is a little lethargic but still running about the garden when out in her run. We've been to a vet twice who diagnosed a respiratory infection and are now on second lot of antibiotics but her breathing is not improving. Other than looking a bit uncomfortable she seems totally happy, pain free and still enjoying cuddles etc and munching up her treats. Any ideas of anything else ok could be? Thanks
 
Baytril. My husband wondered if it could be an allergy to her bedding? Shavings and straw
 
Our last guineas lived in that type of bedding quite happily for 6 yrs. Thanks for replying Betsy
 
Vet didn't think it was fluid as she listened to her lungs and couldn't hear anything. I have moved them into the garden in a totally clean hutch with no straw or shavings to see if that helps. Previously they were in the garden through the day and in the house at night, so maybe a bit dry and dusty? I really don't want to take her back to the vet as it is a long drive and it really upsets her (even if we bring her sister along). I should add she hasn't lost any weight either.
 
I’ve found that sulfatrim works better for pigs, it’s my go to antibiotic as it works better than baytril and has less of an affect on pigs. What’s her weight and how much was prescribed? How long has she been on the treatment for?

Piggies shouldn’t be bedded on straw as it can cause hay pokes due to being quite tough so it may be worth removing it :) Shavings can be quite dusty so you could always try another substrate to see if that helps? Carefresh is very good, I use fleece but I use the Carefresh for their carry cases.

I’d still treat it as a URI for now as they can get worse quickly and a change of antibiotic may help. Has her friend shown any symptoms?

Hope she feels better soon!
 
There are various different bugs that cause respiratory infections, and they respond best to different drugs, as I found earlier this year. If your piggie sneezes occasionally as part of her problems, you could ask your vet if they can give you a swab to get a sample of mucus to test it. Once they know what bug it is, they can prescribe the drug that works best to clear it.
 
I would wonder if the antibiotic is not a good match for any bacteria that are there, hence the labored breathing not improving in spite of antibiotics. Would the vet be willing to switch to a different med to see if it helps? It's also possible to culture any phlegm or nasal discharge to try to pinpoint the bacteria involved, but if there isn't any discharge this can be difficult, plus it's ideally performed before antibiotics are begun. It may make more sense to try a different antibiotic than to waste time and money attempting to culture.
 
It works for humans so may work for piggies but try putting a bowl of steaming water by the cage.
If that’s wrong I’m sure someone on the forum will say so
 
You're completely right @Merab's Slave :nod: . It's always worth a try. Sometimes it doesn't do anything but it can loosen things up inside, just like it can for us when we have congestion.

It might be worth trying it indoors @Trmacc. Hold her near a steaming bowl of water, or have her sit in the bathroom with you when you have a hot shower or bath.
 
Hi, thanks for all replies. She is on .1ml of the baytril once a day for 2 weeks. She weighs 600g. I have got rid of all the shavings and straw and will see if that makes a difference. If we need to go back to vet I can ask for a different antibiotic - maybe sulfatrim . No, her sister is showing no symptoms. They were both absolutely fine when we got them and it was about a month after we got them that she started to breathe funny, it has now been 4 weeks. thank you, all advice greatly received.
 
Trmacc said:
Hi, thanks for all replies. She is on .1ml of the baytril once a day for 2 weeks. She weighs 600g. I have got rid of all the shavings and straw and will see if that makes a difference. If we need to go back to vet I can ask for a different antibiotic - maybe sulfatrim . No, her sister is showing no symptoms. They were both absolutely fine when we got them and it was about a month after we got them that she started to breathe funny, it has now been 4 weeks. thank you, all advice greatly received.
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Ah okay, that seems like quite a low dose of antibiotics so that might be why it hasn’t shifted if it is a URI. Glad your other baby is fine :)
 
Hi all, thank you so much for your comments. Very sad to report that little Cho died this afternoon. She was a bit slow this morning, but happily ate some apple and had a cuddle with my daughter. I had an appointment at the vets for tomorrow to discuss trying other antibiotic and maybe getting an xray, but i left it too late. Feel guilty that I didn't do enough for her. Thinking about asking for a post mortem, but my daughter (she is 12) is understandably against the idea) but not sure that knowing what caused it would help anyway.
 
So sorry to hear this news
Guilt is a normal part of grieving- human or piggy there is so often that “why didn’t I....” question.
You and your daughter need to grieve now and remember that you did your best and gave Cho a lot of love.
 
I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your baby. You really did everything you could. I honestly had something similar with mine; it's how I found this wonderful forum. She did have a URI and the symptoms were slow to show up but it started with the heavy and rapid breathing. Vet treated her with the same antibiotics and even changed after the first on wasn't working so well. I syringe fed her and she was given a diuretic after about 10 days and not much improvement. She was on fleece so it couldn't have been the bedding however she did come to our home with this complication. She seemed to eat better after the second round of antibiotics. Eating regularly, no more sneezes or any sign of URI but the breathing was on and off more rapid and heavy. Back to the vet and he said everything seemed fine but was going to look for possible heart problems. I remember that was Thurs about 6 weeks after she was first treated.

My little Goblin passed away after a pretty rough night that Saturday night. The vet was even willing to schedule outside of hours when I called but she just didnt make it.

I'm honestly not sure anything could have been done. We have 3 very happy guinea pigs and 2 with my daughter; have had 3 from before getting my baby, Goblin. They are all very happy and healthy with no problems. I'm not certain what was actually wrong with her and my vet says it possibly could have been the heart but we did no follow up mri.

Rest assured, you did everything you could. I grieved pretty hard for Goblin; we spent a lot of overnight hours together through this illness and I became very, very fond of this little one. Sending warm thoughts your way to both you and your family.
 
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