greensn
Junior Guinea Pig
Sorry in advance for the long post. I just want to be as detailed as possible.
My guinea pig Stewie is a 1.5 years old albino male. I work at Petsmart and he was one of the "isolation pigs" who lived there from August 2016-April 2017. Finally my manager let me adopt him. He was isolated for symptoms of a URI, discharge from his eyes and nose and some breathing difficulties. He was given eye drops and 1 course of antibiotics (gentocin, i believe). He never got better but he never got worse. So when i brought him home we went to an exotic vet--we don't have many in Oklahoma City, OK , where I live. The vet gave him an antibiotic eye drop and another antibiotic--sulfa. It helped a little bit, but he still had sneezing and clear discharge from his eyes and nose. He still had some sneezing and boogers so the vet said it might be allergies, and he said to give him 0.4 mL of liquid benadryl 2 times a day, which seemed to help. His symptoms were aggravated whenever the windows were open so it seemed like it was just allergies. I also used the Nose Relief by Homeopet and that also helped.
In late October this year, he started to have "jerky" breathing--fearing the worst, I brought him to the E.R vet who gave him albuterol for a nebulizer--his lungs were clear but this would open up his nasal passages. It didn't really help. 2 weeks later, we went back and she prescribed him Baytril, a few days later he wasn't any better so we did a month of Doxycycline--which really helped! His meds ended yesterday and stewie has clear discharge from his eyes and boogers
I've worked with guinea pigs for 12+ years and I've never had a pig who has been sick longer than a few months and survive. Stewie has been sick his whole life--or at least since he was 6 weeks when he got to our store. I have heard different things from different vets and i don't know what's right. I also haven't met anyone with a pig like Stewie. I should add that he has always been an active, seemingly happy pig. He loves to eat and play and snuggle, just like a regular pig, but he's just the booger pig, always has been. Does anyone have any advice or ideas? Currently he is eating normally, pooping normally, drinking, cuddly, active etc.
My guinea pig Stewie is a 1.5 years old albino male. I work at Petsmart and he was one of the "isolation pigs" who lived there from August 2016-April 2017. Finally my manager let me adopt him. He was isolated for symptoms of a URI, discharge from his eyes and nose and some breathing difficulties. He was given eye drops and 1 course of antibiotics (gentocin, i believe). He never got better but he never got worse. So when i brought him home we went to an exotic vet--we don't have many in Oklahoma City, OK , where I live. The vet gave him an antibiotic eye drop and another antibiotic--sulfa. It helped a little bit, but he still had sneezing and clear discharge from his eyes and nose. He still had some sneezing and boogers so the vet said it might be allergies, and he said to give him 0.4 mL of liquid benadryl 2 times a day, which seemed to help. His symptoms were aggravated whenever the windows were open so it seemed like it was just allergies. I also used the Nose Relief by Homeopet and that also helped.
In late October this year, he started to have "jerky" breathing--fearing the worst, I brought him to the E.R vet who gave him albuterol for a nebulizer--his lungs were clear but this would open up his nasal passages. It didn't really help. 2 weeks later, we went back and she prescribed him Baytril, a few days later he wasn't any better so we did a month of Doxycycline--which really helped! His meds ended yesterday and stewie has clear discharge from his eyes and boogers
I've worked with guinea pigs for 12+ years and I've never had a pig who has been sick longer than a few months and survive. Stewie has been sick his whole life--or at least since he was 6 weeks when he got to our store. I have heard different things from different vets and i don't know what's right. I also haven't met anyone with a pig like Stewie. I should add that he has always been an active, seemingly happy pig. He loves to eat and play and snuggle, just like a regular pig, but he's just the booger pig, always has been. Does anyone have any advice or ideas? Currently he is eating normally, pooping normally, drinking, cuddly, active etc.
