Poorly pig with URI or allergy...would love some advice :)

[Tillytiltpig]

Hi there,
Tilly is 5 months old with a head tilt which she has had from a young age. She has been medicated for this and is much better although the tilt will always stay. Added this in case it becomes useful in a way. Sooo when Tilly came home to us she was on shavings with timothy hay bedding, the exact same as she was using before she came home. About 2 weeks later I get up to hear her making hideous noises like she had a chest infection, I took her to the vet who diagnosed a URI, prescribed her Metacam, baytril and ronaxin , also recommended I remove all the bedding to pellet bedding and only give her compressed hay. I would like to point out Tilly had no signs of any other kind, she did not sneeze, cough or went off her food. After 2 weeks of these medicines we returned to the vet (in this time she had started to sneeze and cough (not very regular)and she didn't seem to like the compressed hay very much, I started to give her washed grass which she loves. (When Tilly had no hay her faeces became quite soft and shorter) . Vet now suggested Tilly should return to using hay (washed to remove dust) taken off the Metacam but to remain on the baytril and ronaxin for a further 2 weeks to see how she fares. We are a week and a half into the new routine, Tilly is still eating fine, running around like a crazy piggy when having floor time and faeces have returned to normal. We have changed her bedding to half fleece, half pellets which she loves and she has piggy pillows to lay on. Her sneezing and coughing is getting worse as well as the wheezing and tonight I've noticed she has watery eyes and although her nose is dry it looks wet in the nostrils and sounds congested. I'm at a loss, could this be an allergy related case rather than a URI? I read that timothy hay can cause irritation so I've changed her to green oat readigrass which she doesn't seem to enjoy as much. Any ideas before I return to the vet?
Thanks in advance

 

[DMS260820]

Hi there,
Tilly is 5 months old with a head tilt which she has had from a young age. She has been medicated for this and is much better although the tilt will always stay. Added this in case it becomes useful in a way. Sooo when Tilly came home to us she was on shavings with timothy hay bedding, the exact same as she was using before she came home. About 2 weeks later I get up to hear her making hideous noises like she had a chest infection, I took her to the vet who diagnosed a URI, prescribed her Metacam, baytril and ronaxin , also recommended I remove all the bedding to pellet bedding and only give her compressed hay. I would like to point out Tilly had no signs of any other kind, she did not sneeze, cough or went off her food. After 2 weeks of these medicines we returned to the vet (in this time she had started to sneeze and cough (not very regular)and she didn't seem to like the compressed hay very much, I started to give her washed grass which she loves. (When Tilly had no hay her faeces became quite soft and shorter) . Vet now suggested Tilly should return to using hay (washed to remove dust) taken off the Metacam but to remain on the baytril and ronaxin for a further 2 weeks to see how she fares. We are a week and a half into the new routine, Tilly is still eating fine, running around like a crazy piggy when having floor time and faeces have returned to normal. We have changed her bedding to half fleece, half pellets which she loves and she has piggy pillows to lay on. Her sneezing and coughing is getting worse as well as the wheezing and tonight I've noticed she has watery eyes and although her nose is dry it looks wet in the nostrils and sounds congested. I'm at a loss, could this be an allergy related case rather than a URI? I read that timothy hay can cause irritation so I've changed her to green oat readigrass which she doesn't seem to enjoy as much. Any ideas before I return to the vet?
Thanks in advance

Difficult one this. I had a pig that had chronic nasal discharge and eye discharge for 4 years. One vet said it could be chronic rhinitis. But it used to clear up whem using baytril. Never did get rid of it,But he lived to 6. Ive heard heart problems cause noisy breathing like a hooting sound in guinea pigs

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there,
Tilly is 5 months old with a head tilt which she has had from a young age. She has been medicated for this and is much better although the tilt will always stay. Added this in case it becomes useful in a way. Sooo when Tilly came home to us she was on shavings with timothy hay bedding, the exact same as she was using before she came home. About 2 weeks later I get up to hear her making hideous noises like she had a chest infection, I took her to the vet who diagnosed a URI, prescribed her Metacam, baytril and ronaxin , also recommended I remove all the bedding to pellet bedding and only give her compressed hay. I would like to point out Tilly had no signs of any other kind, she did not sneeze, cough or went off her food. After 2 weeks of these medicines we returned to the vet (in this time she had started to sneeze and cough (not very regular)and she didn't seem to like the compressed hay very much, I started to give her washed grass which she loves. (When Tilly had no hay her faeces became quite soft and shorter) . Vet now suggested Tilly should return to using hay (washed to remove dust) taken off the Metacam but to remain on the baytril and ronaxin for a further 2 weeks to see how she fares. We are a week and a half into the new routine, Tilly is still eating fine, running around like a crazy piggy when having floor time and faeces have returned to normal. We have changed her bedding to half fleece, half pellets which she loves and she has piggy pillows to lay on. Her sneezing and coughing is getting worse as well as the wheezing and tonight I've noticed she has watery eyes and although her nose is dry it looks wet in the nostrils and sounds congested. I'm at a loss, could this be an allergy related case rather than a URI? I read that timothy hay can cause irritation so I've changed her to green oat readigrass which she doesn't seem to enjoy as much. Any ideas before I return to the vet?
Thanks in advance

Hi

Readigrass is too rich for guinea pigs to replace normal hay, unlike with horses - and timothy, meadow or orchard hay should make over 80% of the daily food intake. Please go back to timothy hay but research dust extracted brands; some brands are better than others.

Sensitivity can come from hay, loose bedding or house dust, pollen; air conditioning directly onto the cage or dry radiator air; air fresheners, scent sticks, cigarette smoke, any perfumed/scented products.
It is something that you have decide to pursue with your vet once a URI can be eliminated and the heart is sounding normal (any good vet will check for that during an examination anyway). It is usually a gradual and laborious process of elimination.

All the best!

 

[Tillytiltpig]

Hi

Readigrass is too rich for guinea pigs to replace normal hay, unlike with horses - and timothy, meadow or orchard hay should make over 80% of the daily food intake. Please go back to timothy hay but research dust extracted brands; some brands are better than others.

Sensitivity can come from hay, loose bedding or house dust, pollen; air conditioning directly onto the cage or dry radiator air; air fresheners, scent sticks, cigarette smoke, any perfumed/scented products.
It is something that you have decide to pursue with your vet once a URI can be eliminated and the heart is sounding normal (any good vet will check for that during an examination anyway). It is usually a gradual and laborious process of elimination.

All the best!

Thank you for your advice, would meadow or orchard be just as good as timothy? I noticed on packages It mainly says meadow is for bedding rather than eating. Ill get rid of any air fresheners now to see if that makes a difference too.
Thanks again

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

My current pigs don't seem to like timothy hay, they eat orchard hay as well as the meadow hay that I put in for bedding, when it is fresh.
Does your pig ever produce any mucus when she sneezes, that could be taken as a sample and cultured by the vet to see which bug if any she is suffering from? I had a boar that was prone to URIs and over the 2.5 years I had him he was given baytril, septrin, Zithromax and finally Sulfatrim (but not Ronaxin/doxycycline).
Hope you are able to get to the bottom of Tilly's issues, it's not nice seeing your piggy not getting better. x

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you for your advice, would meadow or orchard be just as good as timothy? I noticed on packages It mainly says meadow is for bedding rather than eating. Ill get rid of any air fresheners now to see if that makes a difference too.
Thanks again

Meadow makes great bedding because of its texture and fluffiness which you don’t get with Timothy so that is it why it often states for bedding but meadow is perfectly fine for them to eat

 

[Tillytiltpig]

My current pigs don't seem to like timothy hay, they eat orchard hay as well as the meadow hay that I put in for bedding, when it is fresh.
Does your pig ever produce any mucus when she sneezes, that could be taken as a sample and cultured by the vet to see which bug if any she is suffering from? I had a boar that was prone to URIs and over the 2.5 years I had him he was given baytril, septrin, Zithromax and finally Sulfatrim (but not Ronaxin/doxycycline).
Hope you are able to get to the bottom of Tilly's issues, it's not nice seeing your piggy not getting better. x

No mucus at all. She had the wetness inside her nose last night but her nose itself stays dry.

 

[Tillytiltpig]

Update on Tilly... since changing her hay from Timothy to meadow her eyes have returned to normal (no watery ness) she still sneezes but not as much but her faeces have got softer. Could the softness be from hay change?