Amanda1801
Senior Guinea Pig
So my little Maggie Maggot still isn't right.
She started out with what we assumed was a straight forward URI on 15th August, just by chance, as she was taken to the vets to keep Big Dave company while he was being treated for his fungal willy. She started with the snuffly snorty breathing, just noisy breathing, no lung crackles, pops, wheezes, so she was put on Baytril and Septrin for 7 days. Husbandry wise, back on fleece, dust extracted hay etc.
After a couple of days of antibiotics, she seemed fine. We finished the course, no futher snuffles. Went back to the vets for a check up on day 7, as Big Dave wasn't improving, and the snuffles and snorts were back as they had been from day 1 - so commence a week of septrin and marbocyl. She also had 2 days of frusemide.
A week of further antibiotics later and she's still snuffling and snorting, so clearly antibiotics aren't helping. Snuffles and snorts are intermittent with no nasal discharge, so we tried nebulising her. Unsure whether this helped or made any difference what so ever, but it wasn't going to do her any harm, so continued nebulising 4x a day. After 4 days it was clear that this was doing nothing, still no nasal discharge, no change at all. Lung sounds still the same, snorting is definitely nasal.
On Friday 6th Sept, I was given the option of going ahead with some imaging (xrays of chest and nose) or trying some bisolvon (which would break down any mucus in her nose) for a couple of days (until Monday when she was back in for a check). Since a GA is contraindicated in an animal with compromised breathing, I opted to try the bisolvon. 4 days of this, no change.
So here we are... this has been going on for almost a month and we're no further forward. After having thought about this long and hard, discussed with my almost-vet friend (who is keen to specialise in exotics...hurry up and graduate!), and the vets at work, we're all in agreement that there's either a foreign body (piece of hay or whatever) up there, although that's unlikely as she's not sneezing, there's no irritation, no discharge, or there's some kind of soft tissue abnormality, maybe a growth or similar.
So...I've been trying to get her into a vets with an exotics specialist down the road from where I live, as they have a CT scanner which is the best piece of equipment for the job. However, the genius surgery has decided to allow 2 of their 3 exotics certificate holders to go on holiday at the same time, and as a result, the third is fully booked. Next available appointment, Monday afternoon.
I was awake most of the night last night, as she's snorting and snuffling that badly at the moment. It's definitely worse at night too.
So we're off to Swindon today, a 1hr 30min drive, to see an exotics specialist for the low low price of £113. They're considerably more expensive than the surgery up the road from me, but I'm not happy waiting until Monday to get her seen.
I guess I'd better go print off an insurance form.... :{
She started out with what we assumed was a straight forward URI on 15th August, just by chance, as she was taken to the vets to keep Big Dave company while he was being treated for his fungal willy. She started with the snuffly snorty breathing, just noisy breathing, no lung crackles, pops, wheezes, so she was put on Baytril and Septrin for 7 days. Husbandry wise, back on fleece, dust extracted hay etc.
After a couple of days of antibiotics, she seemed fine. We finished the course, no futher snuffles. Went back to the vets for a check up on day 7, as Big Dave wasn't improving, and the snuffles and snorts were back as they had been from day 1 - so commence a week of septrin and marbocyl. She also had 2 days of frusemide.
A week of further antibiotics later and she's still snuffling and snorting, so clearly antibiotics aren't helping. Snuffles and snorts are intermittent with no nasal discharge, so we tried nebulising her. Unsure whether this helped or made any difference what so ever, but it wasn't going to do her any harm, so continued nebulising 4x a day. After 4 days it was clear that this was doing nothing, still no nasal discharge, no change at all. Lung sounds still the same, snorting is definitely nasal.
On Friday 6th Sept, I was given the option of going ahead with some imaging (xrays of chest and nose) or trying some bisolvon (which would break down any mucus in her nose) for a couple of days (until Monday when she was back in for a check). Since a GA is contraindicated in an animal with compromised breathing, I opted to try the bisolvon. 4 days of this, no change.
So here we are... this has been going on for almost a month and we're no further forward. After having thought about this long and hard, discussed with my almost-vet friend (who is keen to specialise in exotics...hurry up and graduate!), and the vets at work, we're all in agreement that there's either a foreign body (piece of hay or whatever) up there, although that's unlikely as she's not sneezing, there's no irritation, no discharge, or there's some kind of soft tissue abnormality, maybe a growth or similar.
So...I've been trying to get her into a vets with an exotics specialist down the road from where I live, as they have a CT scanner which is the best piece of equipment for the job. However, the genius surgery has decided to allow 2 of their 3 exotics certificate holders to go on holiday at the same time, and as a result, the third is fully booked. Next available appointment, Monday afternoon.
I was awake most of the night last night, as she's snorting and snuffling that badly at the moment. It's definitely worse at night too.
So we're off to Swindon today, a 1hr 30min drive, to see an exotics specialist for the low low price of £113. They're considerably more expensive than the surgery up the road from me, but I'm not happy waiting until Monday to get her seen.
I guess I'd better go print off an insurance form.... :{