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Maggie

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OMG Amanda i am so sorry to hear about Maggie and now her tummy problems too! :...

for little Maggie...

HEALING WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKS AND LOVES FROM THE GIRLS AND I XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Thank goodness you were aware of what she should be doing...aka the poops etc.. and then listened into her tumm! eeeeeeek she's giving you a big scare!

HUGS FOR YOU LOVE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
Oh poor Maggie! Hopefully now you have a diagnosis she will get better quickly. I hope her tummy troubles are nothing to worry about!

Healing vibes sent from me, Archie and the girls!
 
Just a quick update!

Mags is pooing, but they're much smaller than normal (she's not impressed at having had no veggies for 48 hours!) and she's still feeling a bit bloated, so continuing the gut motility drugs and may top her up with CC, although at the last check, she was stood at the bowl with CC in it, so she's probably been eating that by herself.

I spoke to the exotics vet (or rather he spoke to his resident and I spoke to the resident), she's to continue the antibiotics to make it a 10 day course (I have to go and pick more up on Monday as it's only got a life of 5 days), and they want to see her 3-4 days after she finishes the antibiotics to see how she's getting on, and they may GA and scope her again, just to make sure that its not flaring up again, as due to the location of the abscesses, we really don't want them to return!

He took a biopsy of the abscess wall (as this is where the infection usually starts from apparently), and did a culture and sensitivity with it, to make sure that she's on the right antibiotic - apparently nothing grew. It's highly unlikely to be a sterile abscess due to the location, so that's got them scratching their heads even more!
 
Amanda1801 said:
Just a quick update!



He took a biopsy of the abscess wall (as this is where the infection usually starts from apparently), and did a culture and sensitivity with it, to make sure that she's on the right antibiotic - apparently nothing grew. It's highly unlikely to be a sterile abscess due to the location, so that's got them scratching their heads even more!
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Spooky - I was talking to Simon about this when we were discussing how to proceed with Bailey's lump last week. I too was surprised when he said it is not unusal to get a negative result from a needle aspirate/biopsy of an abcess.

Having said that, as pus is the visible manifestation/result of the neutrophils doing their job of eating up the bacteria - if you get a negative result it sounds like the neutrophils are doing a good job and the pus is sterile.!

Also I can't remember if Maggie had been treated with any other antbioitics prior to the sampling taking place - if so, then this would also reduce the chances of growing anything.

Glad to hear she's managing to produce something - I have found with "gutsy" guineas that although they start eating for themselves, it is not normally enough to get the guts working to their full potential - In the short term I could only get their poos back to normal size if either they were happy to eat shedloads of fresh grass......or failing that, I gave the full 120ml of syringe feeding per 24hours.

HTH
x
 
Pebble said:
Spooky - I was talking to Simon about this when we were discussing how to proceed with Bailey's lump last week. I too was surprised when he said it is not unusal to get a negative result from a needle aspirate/biopsy of an abcess.

Having said that, as pus is the visible manifestation/result of the neutrophils doing their job of eating up the bacteria - if you get a negative result it sounds like the neutrophils are doing a good job and the pus is sterile.!

Also I can't remember if Maggie had been treated with any other antbioitics prior to the sampling taking place - if so, then this would also reduce the chances of growing anything.

Glad to hear she's managing to produce something - I have found with "gutsy" guineas that although they start eating for themselves, it is not normally enough to get the guts working to their full potential - In the short term I could only get their poos back to normal size if either they were happy to eat shedloads of fresh grass......or failing that, I gave the full 120ml of syringe feeding per 24hours.

HTH
x
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Thanks for the reply :)

Shes not been on antibiotics for at least 10 days prior to wednesday, maybe 12, I can't remember if the septrin/marbocyl course was 5 or 10 days.

She's a bit nervy so it's difficult to know exactly what shes eating as she stops when you go in the room, she doesn't seem as enthusiastic about her hay, but we offered her a tiny amount of veg (a few rocket leaves) and that went down straight away. She still seems a little bloated, but like I say, she is pooing, just not normal size. She was ok this morning, but seems uncomfy on abdomen palp this afternoon.

Not really sure what to do. She's going to stay in tonight so they can monitor input and output, she's on oral Zan tac and metaclop, and I gave her another dose of Infacol late this morning. Going to continue the metacam as advised as she seems uncomfy, and she's obviously on the Zithro max. Tried fibreplex today...that got spat out so will continue the avipro!
 
Shellza said:
How's Maggie now? Is she getting any better?
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She's doing much much better thank you :) I've been meaning to update the thread but my life is so mad at the moment I just haven't had chance!

Today is day 8 of 10 on the antibiotics; her breathing is much much better, she's got no snorts or snuffles or anything now! Shea going back to the specialist 3-4 days after finishing the antibiotics, where I think they are going to scope her again, and just make sure that the abscesses aren't coming back. If they are, then they may need removing surgically :...
 
Amanda1801 said:
She's doing much much better thank you :) I've been meaning to update the thread but my life is so mad at the moment I just haven't had chance!

Today is day 8 of 10 on the antibiotics; her breathing is much much better, she's got no snorts or snuffles or anything now! Shea going back to the specialist 3-4 days after finishing the antibiotics, where I think they are going to scope her again, and just make sure that the abscesses aren't coming back. If they are, then they may need removing surgically :...
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Ahh, that's great! Let's hope that's the last of it now and they don't grow back. Good luck at the specialists :)
 
Just an update on the Magster.

She finished the antibiotics, all fine. She was going back for a check up on the Wednesday to hopefully be given the all clear.

But nooo! Tuesday, the noisy breathing was back again, so off to Swindon we went.

They GA'd her again, she had an endoscopy, which showed that one of the abscesses (that a sample was taken from) had gone (I think I mentioned that I suspected that one had burst), but the other two were back. The inflammation had reduced a lot, so he could see more, and decided to lance and drain the remaining two abscesses. Within minutes of recovery, she was munching on hay rolleyes Prescribed 3 weeks of antibiotics to get rid of it once and for all.

Hopped in the car, drove the 90 minutes home, got her out the carrier to give her the antibiotics/anti inflammatories etc. and she'd bloated right up in that short time! So, back in the carrier, and off to the local vet! She stayed in overnight, was given prokinetics, infacol etc. etc. etc. and came home the next day (wednesday) albeit with slightly runny poo.

Thursday morning, got her out the cage to give her her medications, and lo and behold - gut stasis! mallethead I decided there was no point taking her to the vets for that to stress her out and ultimately not help, as I had everything I needed medication wise at home, so a quick call to the vet to get some doses and frequencies, and just sat and waited! 4 hours later - poo explosion! I had to leave my lovely landlady on pig watch while I went to work, I came home and came home to, well, pretty much a spreadsheet of what she'd eaten, when she'd eaten it, when she pooed, how many, colour, shape etc. :))

This morning, she's doing pretty well, but I'm away overnight, so Maggie and Big Dave have gone to work overnight, as it's a bit much to ask my landlady to try and get several medications in her at varying times of the day! I'll be picking them up tomorrow when I go in for work.

Big Dave seems to have his penis "infection" back...time for swabs I think!
 
Poor Maggie, hoping she gets better soon. That's sounds like a crazy week, you must be quite emotionally drained after it all. Lots of love and Vibes to Maggie and hope Dave's bits get better soon - poor lad x
 
sport_billy said:
Poor Maggie, hoping she gets better soon. That's sounds like a crazy week, you must be quite emotionally drained after it all. Lots of love and Vibes to Maggie and hope Dave's bits get better soon - poor lad x
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Thanks :)

It's actually been surprisingly unstressful. They're both fat, happy, eating well, no weightloss, generally fine; you wouldn't know they were unwell! Cameo was my first experience of an unwell pig, and that was a bit of a baptism by fire and a real battle for 5 weeks, so in comparison, this is a walk in the park!

Going to swab Big Dave's bits today, send them off for bacterial and fungal culture and sensitivity, and cytology.

Manky Maggie and Discharge Dave thank you for their well wishes!
 
Oh poor little girl. She is going through the wars at the moment. I really hope she gets well soon and Dave too. Your landlady sounds lovely.
 
Just a quick update, may as well see this through!

Both piglets are good, no more bloating and plenty of poos from Maggie. Big Dave was swabbed yesterday, he's quite unhappy about the whole thing, I think it's a bit sore, so he's back on metacam until we have the results, and back to daily checks and keeping things clean.

Had a call from the specialists today; Maggie's swabs came back with absolutely no bacterial growth again for the second time, and it was a really good sample this time, so who the hell knows what it is!

Big Dave's samples will have gone off today, should hear back soon - costing about £100 each and he's not insured rolleyes:x

Every time I look at them, they're both stuffing their little piggy faces, so they can't be feeling too bad! :))
 
Wow how strange nothing showed on Maggie's tests. I wonder what it could be. Poor Dave. It sounds so sore. I hope they both improve soon.
 
Dare I say it....little Maggie Maggot is fixed! Insurance have paid out the whole lot, all is good! :laluot_03:
 
Glad they are both heading in the right direction xx Didn't realise you could get GP insurance. Is there many of them?
 
Jebebr said:
Glad they are both heading in the right direction xx Didn't realise you could get GP insurance. Is there many of them?
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The only UK company that I'm aware of is Exotic Direct.

I have 3 of my 4 pigs insured; Jeff and Cameo have a joint policy at about £16 per month, they get £2000 worth of vets fees between them each year. Maggie has her own insurance policy, as I got her at a different time, she's about £11 a month, and has £2000 worth of vets fees a year, for herself.

There is a £50 excess on my policy, and they will cover vets fees, 50% of any dental fees and 70% of any referral fees (e.g. if referred to a specialist). I went to a specialist for a 2nd opinion rather than as a referral, and they paid everything.

I've been really pleased with how they've been - I've put 3 claims in for Maggie's one illness, and all three invoices have been paid directly to my vet within 2 weeks of being sent, totalling £1350 in total!
 
I'm hoping that I'm just tired and need sleep and that I'm imagining that I can hear Maggies respiratory noises again :...:...:...:...
 
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