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Repeat Respiratory Infections.

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foxy2279

foxy2279

Junior Guinea Pig
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One of my guinea pigs Anna has had two bouts of pneumonia since September. We are now on bout number three.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong. My older piggie and her sister she is housed with are in perfect health. She's housed indoors in a c and c cage. I use fleece with towels under as a liner. Then they have a litter tray with megazorb and huge mountain of hay. Fleecey cozies and houses. Also a snugglesafe heat pad ( Trixie my older piggy loves her heatpad).

Is Anna just prone to infections? It's heartbreaking when she's sick x
 
Some Guinea pigs sadly have underlying infections due to bad breeding conditions, previous homes and sometimes just plain bad luck. As piggies get older they also sometimes show more illness as they age their immune system is not quite as it used to be.

What antibiotics has your little one been on and for what length of time? What are the signs she has been showing too? I ask as sometimes inappropriate drugs are used and not for long enough, also that heart problems can manifest and look similar to respiratory infections, did she have any nasal or ocular discharge?

x
 
Anna is a year old. No nasal or ocular discharge just really noisy fast breathing.
First time we tried baytril but no improvement after five days so did 14 days of septrin. Did septrin second time for 14 days too.
She's on septrin again now. She always eats well during each bout and has never lost her appetite.
 
I agree that her heart needs checking too especially as the only symptom is noisy breathing. Does she have a blue tinge to her nose at all? Has she ever been difficult to rouse from sleep?

My Buzz had Pneumonia and was treated with diuretic as he had a lot of fluid on his chest, Bisolvon for mucous and the antibiotic was Zithromax. We also gave steam therapy to help him breathe.
 
It may be worth doing one or all of the following if the infections aren't shifting-

- trying a better antibiotic such as marbocyl as the infection may be resistant
- ruling out heart problems by getting your vet to scan her heart
- doing a deep nasal swab to see exactly what is causing the infections (this needs to be done when she's not on any antibiotics but showing signs)
- trying some nebulizing with F10 diluted

Glad she does ok while on the antibiotics and keeps eating well. I hope she feels better soon.

x
 
I completely agree with @Abi_nurse .

What medication has your girl been on? It can well be that she simply has got a congenital weakness, has had a not completely healed out URI earlier in her life or that her first bout of pneumonia has not fully healed out and is causing a reccurrence. It may be that her medication is not cutting through the pneumonia bacteria.

There is also a chance that recurring bouts can be caused by heart problems, which are often not quite easy to diagnose.

IN some cases, an allergy can be at the root of recurring bouts of URI (respiratory infection).

Has she got fluid in her lungs or thick mucussy discharge? If there is fluid in the lungs or in the chest cavity, then a diuretic will help to drain it and if there is lots of mucus, then a pinch bisolvon powder can to thin it and allow it to come out easier; that also helps with the breathing.

If septrin doesn't do the job (it is usually best with urinary tract infections), ask your vet to try marbocyl or zithromax as stronger antibiotics. With a recurring/persistent problem, you may want to consider a swab/lab test to find out which antibiotic is the best for the job. It is not quite cheap and quick, though, and you cannot do it while she is on medication.

It is however a good sign that she is still eating and holding her weight. A severe bout kills the appetite because the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and thirdly the need to eat. However, please switch from weighing once weekly as with any healthy guinea pig to weighing daily at the same time in the feeding cycle (like always before dinner or breakfast) to keep a close eye on her food intake.
 
Thank you. She's back at the vets tomorrow as her breathing is still laboured despite being on Septrin since Christmas eve. I have been putting a bowl of hot water with olbus in next to her cage twice a day. I will talk to my vet about other treatment options. If it's beyond his remit one of my bunnies is under Ian sayers ( I think he does guinea pigs as well as bunnies) so could take her to him.
Can you attach videos to posts ?
 
foxy2279 said:
Thank you. She's back at the vets tomorrow as her breathing is still laboured despite being on Septrin since Christmas eve. I have been putting a bowl of hot water with olbus in next to her cage twice a day. I will talk to my vet about other treatment options. If it's beyond his remit one of my bunnies is under Ian sayers ( I think he does guinea pigs as well as bunnies) so could take her to him.
Can you attach videos to posts ?
Click to expand...

Sadly, videos are not possible to upload directly. You need to upload them elsewhere and then link them in. Make sure that any settings are on public and be aware that not everybody may be able to view them.
 
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I can't really hear anything but am a bit deaf at the best of times. Will see what the others say. A clicking sound though could mean fluid on the chest or could be from the nose. I didn't think her breathing looked too laboured and she looks bright in herself.
 
She is pretty bright in herself. I just wish we could sort her issues out. She's a lovely loving piggy. Loves kids, will sit in their laps getting fuss and talk to them for ages. Everyone adores her. She's so small at 650g that's she's like a baby piggy.
 
OK her weight gives me another clue. Heart pigs tend to be small as they fail to thrive like their friends. How old is she? I have heart pigs doing well on meds so don't worry if that is what the vet finds.
 
She's about a year old. Her sister Elsa is nearly a kg in weight. Elsa's actually bigger than my five year old sow Trixie.
This shows the size difference Anna is the black, sand and white Aby. These were taken last month. She not grown at all since then.
20150914_125204_zpsjadw5r0a.jpg

20150914_125058_zps4l2kqitj.jpg
 
Oh bless her, she does look diddy. I would definitely ask your vet to check her heart by either scan or conscious xray (ideally a suspected heart pig should not have a GA). If she is a heart pig the heart may be enlarged and there may be fluid around the heart or on her chest. She reminds me of my late Nigel, he came to me with a heart issue (had had recurring URIs) and did do better once on meds. He was about the same weight.
 
She is very cute. (And I love your Black and Tan piggie, I'd love a Black and Tan)

From your videos her breathing is a little bit too fast for me to be happy with. I agree with what everyone else has said, if she makes no improvement then checking her heart would be advisable.

Hope she feels better soon.

x
 
She's been put on a stronger antibiotic.
I mentioned her heart but he wants to get the infection which is in her nose so upper right now under control first.
 
She's on zithromax. She was very stressed at the vets ( poor dog out the back was crying). He did listen to her heart and couldn't hear anything untoward. But I am going to push for a heart check as it does fit her symptoms.
 
Hope the Zithromax clears things up. Most heart problems are unable to be detected on listening so your vet shouldn't rely on this or even X-rays. My little lady in heart failure recently still had a normal sounding heart, and a normal X-rays ( Not trying to scare you into thinking she has heart problems just making you aware that simply listening and taking X-rays are not always definative)

I really hope the Zithromax sorts her out, hopefully it will and it's just a nasty infection.

Keeping fingers crossed.

x
 
Her breathing's improving. Still not where I would like but better than it was. We also are having to chase her to catch her now to give her meds and she's fighting me all the way.
So she definitely more lively than she was.
 
Just thought i'd update. A huge thank you for suggesting this could be linked to her heart. Today she has a heart scan which confirmed her heart is enlarged and has fluid around it. She has now been put on meds for it which we are hoping will help her x
 
I'm so pleased you have a diagnosis. You may find it takes a while to get the right balance of meds and doses but now she is on them she should start to feel much brighter.
 
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