Possible Uri And Piggy (seemingly) Not Responding To Doxy

[Kimmy]

Hello!

I have a lovely 3 year old boar who has been having a "wet nostril" with occasional wet white boogers coming out, and sneezes every so often. Everything else seemed normal, but of course I went to the vet and they don’t seem to know what to do with "exotic" pets in my area... The vet gave us a 10-day course of Doxy, to administer twice a day at 0.07 cc. He said it could be harsh on his little throat, so I am mixing it in a tiny bit of freshly made apple-carrot juice (not store-bought).

Of course my Merlin hates the force-feeding and is now a bit scared of us, but he seems also more sluggish and stressed than usual. He also seems to grind his teeth or chew on wood more (pain?) and his poops are a slightly different shape. Plus, he has been sneezing away mucus as usual (clear or white), and we are on Day 8. No weight loss, good appetite. I can’t help but wonder if he is not responding well to the medication? Could it be something else than a bacterial infection? Also: any idea why only one nostril is an issue and not the other? I will finish the 10 day course, but am scared it did nothing but bad things...

I started giving him Oxbow Vitamin C supplements and bought some Bene-Bac, since I read it could be good, but I am a bit lost here as I don’t want to overload his system and the vet couldn’t tell me if I could give him Bene-bac and how much/when to give.

His bonded piggy brother is totally fine, by the way, and very protective of him.

Any advice would be much, much appreciated! Or anyone who knows of a vet in the Vancouver, Canada area who actually cares about piggies...

Thank you so much for reading

 

[sport_billy]

Hello Kimmy

Sorry your post got missed.

tagging in @helen105281 @Wiebke @Jaycey for you.

Has the vet tried other antibiotics. Doxy is a big one to jump first too, though not unheard of your side of the pond.

Any coughing? Has Merlin always been a 'snotty' piggy or is this a recent thing? Any discharge from eyes? Or hooting?

Will ask around for vet for you

 

[sport_billy]

vancover vet Vet Excellent Vet for Guinea Pigs in Vancouver, Canada off guineapigcages
Need a good vet in Vancouver, BC

 

[Wiebke]

Hello!

I have a lovely 3 year old boar who has been having a "wet nostril" with occasional wet white boogers coming out, and sneezes every so often. Everything else seemed normal, but of course I went to the vet and they don’t seem to know what to do with "exotic" pets in my area... The vet gave us a 10-day course of Doxy, to administer twice a day at 0.07 cc. He said it could be harsh on his little throat, so I am mixing it in a tiny bit of freshly made apple-carrot juice (not store-bought).

Of course my Merlin hates the force-feeding and is now a bit scared of us, but he seems also more sluggish and stressed than usual. He also seems to grind his teeth or chew on wood more (pain?) and his poops are a slightly different shape. Plus, he has been sneezing away mucus as usual (clear or white), and we are on Day 8. No weight loss, good appetite. I can’t help but wonder if he is not responding well to the medication? Could it be something else than a bacterial infection? Also: any idea why only one nostril is an issue and not the other? I will finish the 10 day course, but am scared it did nothing but bad things...

I started giving him Oxbow Vitamin C supplements and bought some Bene-Bac, since I read it could be good, but I am a bit lost here as I don’t want to overload his system and the vet couldn’t tell me if I could give him Bene-bac and how much/when to give.

His bonded piggy brother is totally fine, by the way, and very protective of him.

Any advice would be much, much appreciated! Or anyone who knows of a vet in the Vancouver, Canada area who actually cares about piggies...

Thank you so much for reading

Hi!

Has your vet checked whether it may be due to something stuck in the nose? Guinea pigs can suffer from persistent rhinitis, too. it can be caused by an allergic reaction, too, but that is always something that can only be addressed after a potentially deadly URI has been excluded.
A mucus thining product may help. In the UK we have bisolvon but I don't know the name of a comparable Canadian brand. I am linking in @Freela for you. She is Canadian.

Please always give extra fibre rather than veg when support feeding; too much veg and fruit an impact on the poos. Any antibiotic can impact on the gut bacteria and dampen the appetite. Please give a pinch of probiotic 1 hour before you give the antibiotic. Alternatively you can soak fresh poos from a healthy companion in a little water and syringe that; it still contains all the right stuff to help inoculate the guts. It is a normal reaction for a guinea pig whose guts are unbalanced to crave very rough, nutritionally poor fibre like brown cardboard.
Our syringe feeding guide contains lots of tips and also information on support care products like recovery brands, probiotics and vitamin C: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

I haven't been able to find a recommended vet for the Vancouver area on Guinea Lynx, but hopefully Freela can help you.

 

[Freela]

Are you able to track down a vet that deals with 'exotics?' I have found that seeking out vets that see a lot of exotics/birds/reptiles/rodents is the best way to go. Sometimes it takes some research to track one down, but they are worth their weight in gold. I'm on the opposite side of the country from you, so unfortunately I can't recommend anyone in BC. Are you in Vancouver proper? Usually it's easier to find an experienced vet in an urban area, so you have that in your favor.

It's possible for antibiotics to not be properly matched to the bacteria in question (we went through a couple different ones with one of my pigs last year before finding one that actually worked.) It's also possible for it to be an allergy or an irritant (it is very hard to see up those little noses!) But in your place, I would probably seek a trial of a different antibiotic to target a different subset of bacteria.

 

[Kimmy]

Thank you all so much for your advice!

Merlin will be off antibiotics tomorrow, so I will try to see how he is doing and get a good trained vet to help (I will call the one you linked in the post, @sport_billy ! Thank you so much!). Yes I am downtown Vancouver - oddly enough, not many piggy vets here. Many vets won’t even see us at all! Pff...

Probiotic-wise: may I give him tiny bits of Bene-Bac ‘after’ he is done antibiotics? A tiny bit of the gel per day? (Needlehead size, right?)

I tried the "poop soup" tactic earlier on, when we started the antibiotics - it was absolutely disastrous... Hence the purchase of said Bene-bac

The vet didn’t check his nose, but since he told us we’d have to knock him out and do Xrays for this, we thought we’d try the antibiotic first. He wasn’t always a snotty pig...

The only breathing-mucus-aid thing I found at the pet store was something called FerretRx and it’s kind of a breathing oil mix with camphor and rosemary oil... I was thinking it would be too harsh... he is otherwise breathing fine, just needs to push out snot once in a while. Still clear or white, not green. Keeping him warm in a homemade warming hut that he seems to love.

He does seem to scratch himself a bit more than he used to. No weird thing has happened to his luscious fur though (ah, precious coronet ).