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Pip has a chest infection :-(

  • Thread starter Thread starter shard27
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shard27

One of my piggies called Pip has just been rushed to the verts as he seemed to be gasping for breath and his mouth seemed open a bit wider than usual. Also he was making these clicking noises. The vet has said that he has a chest infection and he gave him a shot of antibiotics and given me some baytril to give him tomorrow. Also since he has not eaten for a day or two I am hand feeding him grass and dandelion leaves with water all mashed up in a food processor through a syringe every half an hour. If he does not get better I may have to have him put to sleep.

Is it possible for him to get better as I would hate to lose him. Could really do with some advice please :0
 
Piggies can recover from chest infections if caught in time. Will keep everything crossed for you both. x
 
So sorry to hear he's so unwell, sometimes they do just go downhill out of the blue.

Piggies can and do recover from respiratory infections, I pulled one of my past pigs through pneumonia but it was very touch and go for a few days.

How old is Pip?
 
Pip is about 3 or 4 years old. He is a lovely lad and is so sad that he isn't well. His brothers (I have 4 guineas all in all) seem to know something is wrong. I have him in a box with a hot water bottle in with him and he is just lying down. I am off to feed him now and will be doing this every hour throughout the night too.

I really do hope he gets better as I don't know what I would do without my little Pipster as I like to call him
 
Sorry to hear about poor Pip. He does sound very poorly but it is possible for a piggy to recover from this kind of ailment.

Just wondering, is he only getting the grass/dandelion/water mix to eat? Have you tried syringe feeding anything else?

I'm no expert but I've been through a similar thing myself - my piggy was very ill with pneumonia and couldn't eat/drink for himself. Members here recommended that I syringe feed him either Critical Care/Science Recovery or a similar alternative. Perhaps you could give something like that a try?

If your Vet didn't give you any of the CC or Recovery powdered feed then don't worry as you can make a similar version which should also pass through a syringe well, using regular guinea pig nugget/pellet food (the plain brown stuff, rather than the muesli mix ). Burgess Excel Nuggets work very well, if you have those. Simply pour some just boiled water onto the nuggets and let it soak for a little while. When the nuggets soften you'll then be able to mush it all up with the back of a spoon until it's a smooth paste without lumps. When it's cool you can syringe feed it. I'd also hand feed some water by syringe, alongside the nugget paste, every couple of mouthfuls or so.

It's really hard, I know. If you're new to syringe feeding, then I'd say just make sure that you take your time over it, only giving a very small amount each mouthful (I keep it to approx 0.25ml max, each squirt) and make sure that each mouthful has been fully swallowed before you give the next.

The main concern is obviously making sure he eats/drinks but did your Vet mention probiotics at all? Lots of people use these during a course of antibiotics, especially Baytril. Perhaps something to consider but for now just hang in there with the feeds.

Good luck. Really hoping Pip responds well to the treatment and you see an improvement very soon x
 
I would just like to thank everyone for asking about Pip and let you know he has fully recovered!

I am so happy I was crying over the phone with joy to my mum recently. We are taking him to the vets later today just to make sure, but he is eating by himself and drinking and yelling for his food with his brothers x
 
aww glad to hear hes better! Yeah I had a scare with Boris when he was little stayed up with him after his shot and hes a cheeky fit piggie now xx
 
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