Respiratory Tract Infection

[AbbyH]

Hi, I took one of my piggies to the vet today - got the last appointment of the day, not with my exotic vet but it was all I could get. My piggie had been making some very occasional squeaky noises (also very sporadically) when breathing over the last couple of days, but this morning was very noisy for a period of time, hence deciding to get her to the vet asap. The vet diagnosed upper RTI (after initially suggesting she had something stuck up her nose), but said that vets don't routinely prescribe antibiotics for this anymore and she was likely to get over it herself, but if she got worse (discharge from nose, weight loss, loss of appetite) I should take her back. I was very unsure about this and did end up getting a prescription for Batryl.
I'm now unsure what to do, is the vet right, are antibiotics not routinely prescribed for upper RTI' s anymore ? I have not started to give her the antibiotics and am not sure what to do. Typically there has been no noisy breathing at all tonight ! Appreciate any thoughts.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I took one of my piggies to the vet today - got the last appointment of the day, not with my exotic vet but it was all I could get. My piggie had been making some very occasional squeaky noises (also very sporadically) when breathing over the last couple of days, but this morning was very noisy for a period of time, hence deciding to get her to the vet asap. The vet diagnosed upper RTI (after initially suggesting she had something stuck up her nose), but said that vets don't routinely prescribe antibiotics for this anymore and she was likely to get over it herself, but if she got worse (discharge from nose, weight loss, loss of appetite) I should take her back. I was very unsure about this and did end up getting a prescription for Batryl.
I'm now unsure what to do, is the vet right, are antibiotics not routinely prescribed for upper RTI' s anymore ? I have not started to give her the antibiotics and am not sure what to do. Typically there has been no noisy breathing at all tonight ! Appreciate any thoughts.

Hi

There is a growing problem with overuse/resistance of antibiotics. If a vet is not fully concerned that your piggy has indeed got an infection but is willing to treat with an antibiotic if there are clear signs of one. It is often impossible to tell whether there is a sensitivity, a temporary nasal blockage or a bacterial infection without any further developments.

Thinking and guidance on this subject has recently changed and vets are asked to think carefully whether antibiotics are really necessary before prescribing.

 

[AbbyH]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, especially at this time of year ! Piggie is still fine, and I have not given her the antibiotics.

 

[Storm1974]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, especially at this time of year ! Piggie is still fine, and I have not given her the antibiotics.

A good alternative to antibiotics if/when they are needed, is Colloidal Silver, which you can either nebulize or add to their water.

Many people have used it for their animals for all kinds of infections with great success and we put a few drops on our boys veggies once a day as a preventative!
If you do a search online, there is quite a lot of info on what kind of illnesses it helps with, amounts to use etc., and if you're on FB, there's a really good group on there with people giving testimonials on using CS successfully on their pets.

I've attached a general guide for how much you can use, but apparently it's almost impossible to give 'too' much!

 

[AbbyH]

Interesting, I'll have a look in to it, thank you