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Poorly Guinea Pigs - Only Had Them 5 Days!

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They are on baytril. 0.1 ml twice a day. I changed their bedding - they are now on fleece. Initially they were on shavings. I've tried carefresh too. I asked the vet if there was a chance it was an allergy, but she said she was certain it was a URI. I am also giving them Bisolven and pro-biotic, as well as loads of veg (as much of the vit C variety I can!). The vet said that she wouldn't do anything differently. Is there anything else you can think of that I'm not doing?
 
I would ask your vet if they would consider a change in antibiotics as Poppy's Mum has mentioned as it may be that Baytril is not strong enough. Steam therapy can also help as Wiebke mentioned further up.
 
I asked both vets if they could try a different anti-biotic and they said they wouldn't give them anything else?
 
It may be because Baytril is the only licensed antibiotic for pigs but lots of vets are happy to consider others. Have you had a look on our recommended vets locator?
 
Lisa.Griff said:
They are on baytril. 0.1 ml twice a day. I changed their bedding - they are now on fleece. Initially they were on shavings. I've tried carefresh too. I asked the vet if there was a chance it was an allergy, but she said she was certain it was a URI. I am also giving them Bisolven and pro-biotic, as well as loads of veg (as much of the vit C variety I can!). The vet said that she wouldn't do anything differently. Is there anything else you can think of that I'm not doing?
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You are doing everything you possibly can, at no point should you ever doubt that x I would ask about the Zithromax or Marbocyl rather than Baytril, a lot of piggies are becoming resistant to Baytril as it is the licensed one so most normal vets use it. The Frusemide will help clear any fluid on their lungs. How are they in themselves apart from the sneezing? Are they eating ok & running about? Are you weighing them each day at the same time? x
 
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The vet I have been seeing is one from the locator list on here. She said that she wouldn't want to continue with the medication after two weeks. (since seeing the vet at P@H I've managed to get a third week). They are great in themselves, they look a lot healthier. They popcorn everywhere, are full of beans and love coming out into the indoor run in the evening. They literally don't stop eating and squeak for my daughter every morning. I've weighed them every evening for the last week or so and they are putting on weight. They don't seem to hate me for the constant medication feeding either, they climb up and nuzzle into my chest after and nibble carrot shavings. I've seen three different vets now and none of them will prescribe anything other than baytril. :-(
 
Well they actually sound like they are doing normal things, why on earth do the think they should be pts?! x
Can I ask what hay are you feeding them? x
 
I was surprised. The vet at P@h said that URIs can be persistent and that they can't cure them all. She said that if after a week there wasn't a significant improvement (from my point of view, I thought there already had been a huge improvement!) that pts might be the only option. She said that she couldn't prescribe them anything else, so if they came off the baytril, they would decline and suffer.
 
Lisa.Griff said:
They are on baytril. 0.1 ml twice a day. I changed their bedding - they are now on fleece. Initially they were on shavings. I've tried carefresh too. I asked the vet if there was a chance it was an allergy, but she said she was certain it was a URI. I am also giving them Bisolven and pro-biotic, as well as loads of veg (as much of the vit C variety I can!). The vet said that she wouldn't do anything differently. Is there anything else you can think of that I'm not doing?
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That is a pretty low dose of baytril; there are stronger antibiotics if necessary. Can you get to one of our listed piggy savvy vets? https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/

It is definitely not time for pts yet considering that your boys are doing well otherwise!
 
The vet I've been seeing is one from the list - in Shifnal. Maybe it's because they are still young? They are about 14 weeks old.
 
I asked each vet if I could increase their dosage of baytril and they said no :-(
 
I don't mean to be horrible but I believe the P@H vet is from a certain chain of vets that I've been to, one of which didn't diagnose my guinea properly and she ended up being pts... My son also said that this certain vets also has a bit of a reputation. We have since switched to one that does know about guinea's.

They don't even sound like they need putting to sleep... are you sure it's not allergies?

I just took the following from a web site, don't know if it's accurate.
  • Contact/Inhalant Allergies. Contact/inhalant allergies can be reactions to contact with a chemical your guinea pig cannot tolerate, typically in his cage, or reactions to dust and airborne irritants. Remove any new items, such as new toys, from your guinea pig's cage to see if he improves. If the new item is not the source, move your guinea pig to a different room to see if a change of location reduces his allergic reaction. Common inhalants that cause allergies in your guinea pig are dust, pollen or cage cleaner; symptoms include sneezing, wheezing, skin irritation, runny eyes and fur loss. After you discover the cause of the allergy, remove it from your guinea pig's environment -- or remove him from the environment -- and he will be back to his happy, healthy self very quickly.
 
Lisa.Griff said:
I asked each vet if I could increase their dosage of baytril and they said no :-(
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If a knowledgeable vet is fine with that dosage, then it is likely the right one. He is taking the age and the severity of the symptoms into account. If symptoms persist, please always contact the treating vet; he will then check out other avenues. Sneezing and rhinitis can be caused by dust or allergy.
 
There might be a particular vet at the Practice in Shifnal that is an Exotics vet, maybe the one you saw was a normal vet? x
 
I looked at different options for hay but couldn't see any options? They have the pets at home meadow hay in their cage and I give them a handful of timothy hay each day too. Are there other options?
 
I will phone the vets tomorrow morning and see if the one I saw was the exotic pets specialist. Thank you for all the advice, you have made me determined not to give up on them. Don't think I'll take them back to P@H again, will either go back to shifnal or search for another exotic vet.
 
Worth a try, if their hay is the chopped up stuff it's normally quite dusty :( I do use the Timothy hay from PAH but it must be the Alfalfa King brand. All hay is dusty but I put some in an old duvet cover & give it a good shake, then only use the top stuff, then chuck the little dusty bits at the bottom away. You can also spray the hay with water (Use a new sprayer not one already used for gardening) then let it air dry & feed it to them x
 
Putting them to sleep for a minor infection that they seem to be clearing on their own is ridiculous... and I'm honestly wary of any vet who suggests that right off the bat for a treatable condition. I would be ticked at any vet who suggested it at that stage, honestly!
 
Lisa.Griff said:
The vet I have been seeing is one from the locator list on here. She said that she wouldn't want to continue with the medication after two weeks. (since seeing the vet at P@H I've managed to get a third week). They are great in themselves, they look a lot healthier. They popcorn everywhere, are full of beans and love coming out into the indoor run in the evening. They literally don't stop eating and squeak for my daughter every morning. I've weighed them every evening for the last week or so and they are putting on weight. They don't seem to hate me for the constant medication feeding either, they climb up and nuzzle into my chest after and nibble carrot shavings. I've seen three different vets now and none of them will prescribe anything other than baytril. :-(
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It's weird to me that they don't want to do more than two weeks of meds... if only because my pigs have been on far longer courses of meds than that without ill effect or any reluctance to prescribe (one of mine is on lifelong antibiotic suppressive therapy for bladder issues- she has literally been on Baytril since she was 2 and she is now 5!) I'm sorry you're having such a rough go with such new pets. They certainly sound as though their behavior is normal and they are not feeling poorly at all.
 
I just wanted to say my thoughts are with you and I admire you for the effort you've put in so far for these piggies. Keep going!

I can't really suggest much but I use the same vet that the local pets at home uses and I have found it useful to go armed with suggestions on the medication front - he doesn't seem to mind at all if I ask him whether he would consider something based on advice from this forum. It may be that I have also got a bit lucky with him and other p@h vets wouldn't be so good. Also I do wonder if it makes a difference where p@h are paying the vet bill (cynical of me maybe).

I am not pretending to have any expertise, I dont, but it does sound like there are other meds that could be tried and also that your piggies are improving anyway - maybe just a bit slower than the vet would like but so what? So long as the improvement continues.

I can recommend the Ings hay from hay for pets - I recently tried hay from dust free hay and I think the Ings hay isn't really any dustier tbh. Delivery from hay for pets is often very quick too. I ordered on the bank holiday Monday this week and it arrived on Wednesday!
 
Thanks for the replies. I am definitely NOT giving up on these little piggies, though I might well have if it hadn't been for your advice. I will order the hay this morning. They definitely sneeze more when around the hay. I don't know how the vet at P@H could immediately reject allergy, when the only symptoms they have are sneezing and clear discharge (only a bit) from their noses. (except Olaf's initial gunky eye?). Now I have an interesting question for anyone who knows about medicine.

The first two vets we used prescribed Baytril 2.5% 0.1 ml twice a day.

My husband (who as luck would have it is a pharmacist) has just, out of habit, checked the new meds the P@H vet gave us and it says: Baytril 10% oral solution, give 0.15ml twice daily. Alarm bells are ringing - have they massively overdosed us? We have not given these latest meds to the boys yet.
 
Well, my hubby rang P@H and turned out the "printed the wrong label", but the medicine inside was the same as previous vets had given us, they just upped the dose to 0.15 ml twice a day. My husband insisted that he get new medicine, as they could not be 100% sure that what was inside the bottle was correct. Ridiculous!
Do you think they will be okay on 0.15ml instead of 0.1?
 
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