Respiratory infection

[Harvey16]

Hi guys,
I have a 5 month old female guinea pig who’s got a bit of a respiratory infection.
Took her to the vets today and got some medicine and anti - inflammatory.

Any other tips on how to get rid of the infection and help my little piggy get back to normal?
Thanks

 

[Wiebke]

Hi guys,
I have a 5 month old female guinea pig who’s got a bit of a respiratory infection.
Took her to the vets today and got some medicine and anti - inflammatory.

Any other tips on how to get rid of the infection and help my little piggy get back to normal?
Thanks View attachment 121782

Hi!

Keep your guinea pig out of drafts/big and quick temperature changes/direct blast of air conditioning.

Monitor the weight (i.e. food intake) daily at the same time instead of weekly and step in with syringe feeding support if your piggy loses more than 50g. Keep in mind that hay should make over 80% if the daily food intake and that you cannot control that by eye. Limited veg (50g or less) and 1 tablespoon of pellets should only make about 15% of what your piggy eats.
Also keep in mind that the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. This means that a serious URI will impact quickly on the appetite; this can be acerbated by the antibiotic impacting on the gut biome in some cases.

You can give extra vitamin C to boost the immune system for a couple of weeks. Please to do not give high levels of vitamin C regularly as the body adjusts and then conversely will develop symptoms of scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) as soon as levels drop for some reason later in life. It is much better to feed a good balanced hay based diet and to only supplement during illness when the extra vitamin C will actually make an impact. A good diet that is over 80% hay is the best long term immune booster and can add 1-2 years to your life if you do not overfeed on veg and pellets.

Please take the time to read these links here:
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-syringe-feeding-guide.115359/(including information on probiotics and vitamin C products)
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets