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Never ending respiratory tract infection

SusieW

SusieW

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
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Hi guys,

I haven't been here for a while but am wondering if anyone has any opinions on what to do here.

I have a guinea pig who will be one on Jan 18th and for the last couple of months he's had a terrible respiratory tract infection. (Since the start of Nov)
We've been to the exotics specialist multiple times, he's had an X-ray and blood tests, and he's been on various medications over the last couple of months:
Sulfatrim and baytril then Sulfatrim twice a day along with a nebuliser with saline and acetylcysteine twenty minutes twice daily. It appeared to be clearing and he stayed on the medication but then the he took a turn for the worse with his breathing so then the vet put him on 0.38ml Sulfatrim twice daily, 0.8ml loxicom twice daily, 0.6ml azithromycin once daily and his nebuliser with f10 and saline once daily and nebuliser with acetylcysteine and saline once daily. He had all of these medications for the length of time prescribed, but then got very bad diarrhoea so stopped the medications (to clarify he did have the full course of everything, the bottles said at least X days and he had reached the minimum number of days).

His breathing seemed better and once he was off the medication his diarrhoea stopped.
But now his breathing is poor again. He's active, eating and happy, but his breathing is bad predominantly at night.

I am now at a loss on what to do next which is compounded by the fact that our vet left over Christmas. There are other vets at the practice but this one was the specialist there.

I'm assuming that we need to go back to the vets but I would quite like to hear any experiences of experienced people when it comes to this type of thing. I've dealt with respiratory tract infections before but they seem to get better quite quickly, and this just isn't. He's only a young guinea pig and the only guinea pig his companion likes and he is particularly lovely but I don't know if I'm imagining he can recover from this when really he can't. He's always seemed weaker and sleepier than the others and has always been a louder breather than the others so I don't know if he may have an underlying issue but nothing that has been revealed by blood tests and xrays.

I have already spent pretty much £750 on this illness over the last couple of months and I wish I could say money is no object but it is- the vet wanted him to have lung cultures and CT scan but it would have cost another £1000 which I can't justify.

I don't really know where to go from here. If the medications give him diarrhoea and the respiratory tract infection hasn't cleared after 2 months on medication, is it likely that he will recover?

Thanks anyone who has read this!
 
What a horrible time you’re having.
I can’t advise but just want to offer support and a hug 🤗
 
We had a very similar thing with Blodwen pig, she was on and off baytril and sulfatrim for almost a year, had xrays, improved a bit but then a couple of weeks later worse again... spent well over £1000 seeing the local vet 2 or 3 times a month, for 8 or 9 months!
We were then referred to a specialist who promptly diagnosed respiratory chlamydia infection and prescribed doxycycline, the only antibiotic which really cures that particular nasty. It was very bad on her digestion, constant support feeding and probiotics, but it fixed her persistent recurrent respiratory issues in a couple of weeks and she hasnt needed the vet since- that was almost a year ago!
So worth querying if doxycycline might be the right antibiotic, many vets avoud it because it is so harsh on the guts, but if its just for 2 weeks then well worth a go if no other antibiotics have worked.
Sending hugs and healing wheeks, constant long term bad breathing gets very exhausting x
 
Thank you so much, PigglePuggle that's really helpful. I will definitely mention that to the vet. I'm so glad Blodwen is doing so well now, gives me a bit of hope for Pedro. I feel pretty fed up with it all and have been struggling with my guinea pigs for quite a while as find them so overwhelming so it's nice to hear your happy ending. Feel really bad for Pedro but he does seem still happy and with a zest for life still.
 
Glad he is still keeping well despite his problems, its also worth noting that long term URIs can leave lung scarring and narrower airways which can produce a long-term mild wheeze even when the infection has gone, Blodwen still has some grunty days because of this especially in cold damp weather or if the hay is a bit dusty- she has bisolvon for sympton relief, its a tasty decongestant powder you just sprinkle on a bit of wet veg- a bit like piggy lemsip lol- a very easy stress free medicine that gives great symptom relief, well worth asking the vet if they can prescribe some of that too- it is fine to give to help any wheezy respiratory congestion whatever the cause :)
 
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