Ronny Lunkarya
New Born Pup
Carlos has always been a bright, lively, confident pig with no health problems, besides seeming sensitive to cold and prone to sniffles. I adopted him aged 7 weeks old nearly 5 years ago, and up until late February, he lived in my flat, with lawn time in a friend's garden on summer afternoons when I could manage it. So, he was used to being indoors.
In late January/ early Feb, we had a bit of a warm spell, so I turned my heating off and went away for a few days, with a friend popping in each day to feed my guinea pigs. Unfortunately, it suddenly turned cold at nights again while I was away and Carlos caught a chill. His breathing became noisy and his nose ran a little. The vet diagnosed a respiratory tract infection and put him on Baytril twice daily for a week. It had no effect, in fact Carlos became more unwell, lost weight and started to sit in a hunched way. The vet then put him on a pink, fruity-tasting antibiotic designed for human children. He seemed to make a full recovery on this and I was very relieved.
In late February, I moved the pigs from my flat to my boyfriend's house in Dumfries. I needed to completely empty the flat as I am selling it, and unfortunately I had to transport the lads by train, which was stressful for them. They then settled into their new home, which must have been scary and weird for the first few days, especially as I had to shoot back to Derbyshire to fetch the rest of my stuff and they had to get used to a new human carer. Soon after this move, Carlos' breathing got bad again and he made as much noise as before, with visibly heaving sides when he slept. I got really nervous that his condition was viral or that he had a mass on his lungs and reluctant to try antibiotics again. I started to wonder whether he would pull through. I did some Googling and his symptoms sounded like pneumonia.
I had looked up a new vet in Dumfries and was on the verge of taking him there, when I decided to try something, first. The old Indian chemist at the wonderful wholefood shop House of Mistry in Hampstead, London, had recently sold me a bottle of organic, alcohol-free propolis tincture for a sore throat I'd had, that I wanted to knock on the head quickly. I had most of the bottle left over. So I started Carlos on it, twice a day. I diluted two drops of it in some water and dripped it onto small, strongly-flavoured treats such as basil, parsley and celery leaves. After a day, the heaving sides had gone, so I kept up the treatment, postponing the vet appointment and keeping a really careful eye on the little guy. I also added vitamin drops to the water bottle and made a point of keeping him extra warm.
After four days, Carlos no longer makes any noise at all when he breathes, has perked up and seems back to his old, cheeky, energetic self. So I am going to keep up the treatment and only take him to the vet if he relapses.
Any thoughts?
In late January/ early Feb, we had a bit of a warm spell, so I turned my heating off and went away for a few days, with a friend popping in each day to feed my guinea pigs. Unfortunately, it suddenly turned cold at nights again while I was away and Carlos caught a chill. His breathing became noisy and his nose ran a little. The vet diagnosed a respiratory tract infection and put him on Baytril twice daily for a week. It had no effect, in fact Carlos became more unwell, lost weight and started to sit in a hunched way. The vet then put him on a pink, fruity-tasting antibiotic designed for human children. He seemed to make a full recovery on this and I was very relieved.
In late February, I moved the pigs from my flat to my boyfriend's house in Dumfries. I needed to completely empty the flat as I am selling it, and unfortunately I had to transport the lads by train, which was stressful for them. They then settled into their new home, which must have been scary and weird for the first few days, especially as I had to shoot back to Derbyshire to fetch the rest of my stuff and they had to get used to a new human carer. Soon after this move, Carlos' breathing got bad again and he made as much noise as before, with visibly heaving sides when he slept. I got really nervous that his condition was viral or that he had a mass on his lungs and reluctant to try antibiotics again. I started to wonder whether he would pull through. I did some Googling and his symptoms sounded like pneumonia.
I had looked up a new vet in Dumfries and was on the verge of taking him there, when I decided to try something, first. The old Indian chemist at the wonderful wholefood shop House of Mistry in Hampstead, London, had recently sold me a bottle of organic, alcohol-free propolis tincture for a sore throat I'd had, that I wanted to knock on the head quickly. I had most of the bottle left over. So I started Carlos on it, twice a day. I diluted two drops of it in some water and dripped it onto small, strongly-flavoured treats such as basil, parsley and celery leaves. After a day, the heaving sides had gone, so I kept up the treatment, postponing the vet appointment and keeping a really careful eye on the little guy. I also added vitamin drops to the water bottle and made a point of keeping him extra warm.
After four days, Carlos no longer makes any noise at all when he breathes, has perked up and seems back to his old, cheeky, energetic self. So I am going to keep up the treatment and only take him to the vet if he relapses.
Any thoughts?
