Reaction To Medication

[Lindsey24]

Hi, I took one of my piggles to the vets last week who prescribed Enrobactin as got a little sniffly sometimes when he breathed and also some clx wipes for his feet and a bit of dry skin.
He has had 2 lots of the antibiotics (I’ve already checked it was the correct dosage) and then last night I used one of the wipes on him as well.
He wasn’t himself yesterday. Something just felt a little off.
When I went to feed him this morning he was very lathargic and wouldn’t eat or drink and generally not himself at all. His breathing seems a little odd. I have given him some probiotics with a syringe and I have just managed to get him to eat a few peas (he won’t go near anything else today) but all he is doing is sleeping. Is this a bad reaction to the medication.
I haven’t given him the meds today as I’m not risking it but he seems to be moving a little bit more tonight as he is now grooming himself.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I took one of my piggles to the vets last week who prescribed Enrobactin as got a little sniffly sometimes when he breathed and also some clx wipes for his feet and a bit of dry skin.
He has had 2 lots of the antibiotics (I’ve already checked it was the correct dosage) and then last night I used one of the wipes on him as well.
He wasn’t himself yesterday. Something just felt a little off.
When I went to feed him this morning he was very lathargic and wouldn’t eat or drink and generally not himself at all. His breathing seems a little odd. I have given him some probiotics with a syringe and I have just managed to get him to eat a few peas (he won’t go near anything else today) but all he is doing is sleeping. Is this a bad reaction to the medication.
I haven’t given him the meds today as I’m not risking it but he seems to be moving a little bit more tonight as he is now grooming himself.

Please have him vet checked as soon as you can. Lethargy and loss of appetite are always very worrying signs. Heaving breathing when the sides are moving (i.e. diaphragmic breathing) is also an alarm sign.
If there is a fluid build-up in lungs or in the chest cavity, your boy will need a diuretic; if nose or airways are congested with mucus, a mucus thinning medication like bisolvon powder can help.

Any antibiotic can cause loss of appetite; you need to be on the lookout for that with your scales and step in with syringe feeding fibre and water asap. The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. Respiratory illnesses mean a double whammy for the guts and the appetite.

Please start support syringe feeding ASAP; just a little probiotic is not enough! Keep in mind that over 80% of the daily food intake is hay while veg is about 10% and pellets 5% or less. Switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time in order to control the food intake whenever your guinea is ill. A guinea pig needs the equivalent of 40-60 ml in 24 hours to keep the guts going. One pea is not enough! You can use mushed pellets in an emergency (prep the tip of your syringe as shown in the syringe feeding guide to allow fibre to come through), but having recocvery formula at home would be good.

List Of Life And Death Out-of-hours Emergencies
Not Eating And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Information and tips in syringe feeding (amounts, how often, how to medicate an uncooperative piggy) and support products in the syringe feeding guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

 

[Lindsey24]

Please have him vet checked as soon as you can. Lethargy and loss of appetite are always very worrying signs. Heaving breathing when the sides are moving (i.e. diaphragmic breathing) is also an alarm sign.
If there is a fluid build-up in lungs or in the chest cavity, your boy will need a diuretic; if nose or airways are congested with mucus, a mucus thinning medication like bisolvon powder can help.

Any antibiotic can cause loss of appetite; you need to be on the lookout for that with your scales and step in with syringe feeding fibre and water asap. The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. Respiratory illnesses mean a double whammy for the guts and the appetite.

Please start support syringe feeding ASAP; just a little probiotic is not enough! Keep in mind that over 80% of the daily food intake is hay while veg is about 10% and pellets 5% or less. Switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time in order to control the food intake whenever your guinea is ill. A guinea pig needs the equivalent of 40-60 ml in 24 hours to keep the guts going. One pea is not enough! You can use mushed pellets in an emergency (prep the tip of your syringe as shown in the syringe feeding guide to allow fibre to come through), but having recocvery formula at home would be good.

List Of Life And Death Out-of-hours Emergencies
Not Eating And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Information and tips in syringe feeding (amounts, how often, how to medicate an uncooperative piggy) and support products in the syringe feeding guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

I am phoning up the vet first thing. The sooner I can get him in the better.
I have fed him some mushed up pellets through a syringe and some liquids too.
There is no crackling or heavy breathing it just sounds like his nose is bunged up.
I have just put him back in his house and he is eating some hay.
Many thanks for you response.

 

[Wiebke]

I am phoning up the vet first thing. The sooner I can get him in the better.
I have fed him some mushed up pellets through a syringe and some liquids too.
There is no crackling or heavy breathing it just sounds like his nose is bunged up.
I have just put him back in his house and he is eating some hay.
Many thanks for you response.

Try a bowl of steaming water next to the cage to help ease his breathing. if it works, keep it refreshed.

All the best!