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Snowball Is Very Ill, Sadly It Is Pneumonia

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didipiggywiggly

Junior Guinea Pig
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I am heartbroken.
I went into my piggy room this morning as I always do.on route to the kitchen to.put on kettle and to get my 5 piggy boys their veggie breakfast.
All came running to the edge of the frames wheeking and clambering ad usual for titbits and attention apart from Snowball who was laying prostrate under his fiddlestick arch making horrible breathing noises and shuddering.
After shouting for OH to get up and get into.pigs room, I had scooped him up in his fleece and he was really limp and poorly. I called my vet surgery (Taverham vets,
norwich ) and was told to.bring him straight in after trying to get a small dose of Metacam for the journey into him.
He was limp, distressed and barely able to swallow the pain killer, kept dribbling out.
We got him to the vet, about hour from us, and was seen almost straight away by Tom. Tom was thorough, handled my beloved pet and me sensitively as I was crying all over the place when he had checked out his chest and announced pneumonia. He gave him an IV dose of antibiotic and was so kind as he said that next 24hrs to try to get oral antibiotic, Vertark critical care and fluids into.him with as much love and attention as I could give. He feels he may succumb to this and tried to prepare me.
He requested I return in next 24hrs if he gets any more distressed as then must think of snowball overall picture and PTS. Told me to do all.these comfort measures. Give Metacam and pray.
PLEASE everyone pray with for my gentle little snowball. He was a rescue we got last summer from RSPCA and unsure of his age but had been neglected and poorly treated before he came to live with my gang.
Is there anything else I should be doing?
What did I do wrong? Everything so quick my head spinning and heart breaking.
 
I'm so very sorry. I know exactly what you're going through as I went through this myself a few months ago. It's heartbreaking and awful and no kind words can quite take that worry or heartbreak away.

Just know that I'm thinking of you and Snowball. Sending positive thoughts. Feel free to PM me if you need someone to talk to as I know how stressful it can be.

Keeping fingers and toes firmly crossed for you and Snowball. X
 
I'm so so sorry your both going through this. Lots and lots of healing thoughts to your little man, lots of love & luck to him from me and the pigs.

Only thing's I can think of is to keep him in a separate room from your other pigs until it clears, and to watch your other pigs for the development of symptoms.

xxxxx
 
I am ever so sorry - pneumonia that is hitting right out of the blue without any previous symptoms (it is also called 'walking pneumonia') is any loving owner's nightmare. There is nothing you have done wrong; this type of pneumonia can happen to anybody and when it happens, it hits very swiftly and severely. Try to be strong for Snowball and try to give him whatever chance you can. You have not failed him in any way! :(

Please keep hand feeding and watering him little but often, round the clock; adjust how much you are syringing in one go, the speed you are feeding and the frequency of the feeding sessions to what he can cope with so nothing is going down the wrong way. Place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage and add two drops of olbas oil if you have them handy, otherwise the water will do to help ease the breathing.
If snowball is being seen the next time, I would ask your vet for some additional diuretic to help drain the lungs from the fluid build-up. Make sure that he is comfy and warm; if you have a snugglesafe, use that.

Here are our hand feeding tips: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-hand-feeding-guide.115359/

Lots of vibes!
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Oh I am so so sorry. Please do not think you did anything wrong. This is just a really tragic incident that could not be helped. I really hope Snowball pulls through. My thoughts are with you.
 
Oh poor snowball. My little girl Cagney was very sick with pneumonia last year totally out if the blue in the summer. I honestly think what saved her was diuretics which were injected and started to get the fluid off her lungs as an emergency treatment. She then had them orally (frusol) She was on antibiotics, metacam, and I used steam to help her and slowly she recovered. She was very very sick and I really thought we would lose her. She saw the vet daily for 5 days. But she recovered , there is hope but the diuretic is so important .

Good luck and loads of healing vibes and hugs x
 
I'm so sorry for this awful news. Sending healing vibes!
 
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and healing hugs. I have just syringed the antibiotic, pain killer and 0:6mm s of critical care solution before it started to dribble out of his mouth. He keeps tossing head about as though distressed, bothered by something. His partner , toffee keeps running up.and down, darting into tunnels etc, can't settle.
Is 0:5 ml enough every hour or so?, he can't manage more. Also the green sludge oxbow critical that you mix to a paste is clogging syringe and he keeps tossing head and letting it fall out of mouth. I feel so inadequate, such a useless piggy mummy :)
 
The fight for my little snowball is sadly over.
He passed away about 7:30pm tonight when I put him into his little cosy pigloo for the last time after trying to get a few mils of fluids into him. He struggled into and flopped down into.his little bed and body just gave up.
I am so shocked, totally at a loss
Called vets surgery and with the sudden fatalness of it all the says I must take the remaining pigs(4) into vets for check up tomorrow in case any of others are brewing this and fall to it as equally swift.
I feel so awful, crying buckets, I Must have missed something, or syringe fed wrong, or made things worse.
I can't believe he has gone, he now wrapped in towel.in his little Philip in garage, his beautiful, little face all covered up.​
 
You didn't do anything wrong. You did everything you could, but sometimes - and very unfairly it - these horrible events cannot be dodged.

Sending you the very best and loving wishes. We're all here for you xx
 
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and healing hugs. I have just syringed the antibiotic, pain killer and 0:6mm s of critical care solution before it started to dribble out of his mouth. He keeps tossing head about as though distressed, bothered by something. His partner , toffee keeps running up.and down, darting into tunnels etc, can't settle.
Is 0:5 ml enough every hour or so?, he can't manage more. Also the green sludge oxbow critical that you mix to a paste is clogging syringe and he keeps tossing head and letting it fall out of mouth. I feel so inadequate, such a useless piggy mummy :)

Anything that you can get down is a little success. The dribbling is likely due to his being very weak and struggling to swallow, poor mite. Cut off the tip off your syringe as shown in the hand feeding thread and if necessary make the mix a bit more fluid.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-hand-feeding-guide.115359/
 
I am so sorry for your loss, you did all you could, none of this is your fault, he was jsu ta very poorly boy unfortunately x

RIP Snowball
x x
 
The fight for my little snowball is sadly over.
He passed away about 7:30pm tonight when I put him into his little cosy pigloo for the last time after trying to get a few mils of fluids into him. He struggled into and flopped down into.his little bed and body just gave up.
I am so shocked, totally at a loss
Called vets surgery and with the sudden fatalness of it all the says I must take the remaining pigs(4) into vets for check up tomorrow in case any of others are brewing this and fall to it as equally swift.
I feel so awful, crying buckets, I Must have missed something, or syringe fed wrong, or made things worse.
I can't believe he has gone, he now wrapped in towel.in his little Philip in garage, his beautiful, little face all covered up.​

BIG HUGS

I am very sorry for your loss! You haven't done anything wrong or made anything worse; pneumonia can really hit that fast and hard if you come up against a very virulent strain. All you can do is try your best and keep your fingers crossed. You are just VERY VERY unlucky having contracted it. Snowball may even have come with the bug already in his system from his previous life. Sadly, you will never know. :(

As Snowball was dribbling I have been worried all the time that his strength was fading fast and that his body had already started to close down, but be assured that YOU HAVEN'T KILLED HIM!
 
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