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Snuffly Pig

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Berylblanche

Junior Guinea Pig
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Apr 16, 2017
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Uk
hi I'm new here and after a bit of advice. We bought two baby piggies around 10 weeks old just over 2 weeks ago. Both were checked over for any problems at the pet shop and were perfectly fine and healthy. Anyway the other night I was holding Blanche and noticed a little bold patch on her, I took her back to the pet shop along with beryl to be checked and they sent us down to their instore vet who treated them both for mites just in case and gave us some oral drops for Blanche to treat ring worm. This morning beryl who was perfectly fine is all snuffly and sneezy She's eating fine but doesn't seem her usual self she's usually running around chasing and playing with her sister, I'm really worried about her. Has anyone else had this after being treated for mites?
 
hi I'm new here and after a bit of advice. We bought two baby piggies around 10 weeks old just over 2 weeks ago. Both were checked over for any problems at the pet shop and were perfectly fine and healthy. Anyway the other night I was holding Blanche and noticed a little bold patch on her, I took her back to the pet shop along with beryl to be checked and they sent us down to their instore vet who treated them both for mites just in case and gave us some oral drops for Blanche to treat ring worm. This morning beryl who was perfectly fine is all snuffly and sneezy She's eating fine but doesn't seem her usual self she's usually running around chasing and playing with her sister, I'm really worried about her. Has anyone else had this after being treated for mites?

Hi and welcome!

Sorry, it is Easter Sunday. We are modding on a voluntary, unpaid basis in our free time.

Please have your girl seen by a vet again as soon as you can. She may have respiratory infection (URI), which needs prompt treatment with an antibiotic as it can kill.

Until you can get hole of a vet, please place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage and keep refreshing it to help ease the breathing.

Weigh her daily at the same time in the feeding cycle (weight can swing about 30g over the course of 24 hours depending on how full tummy and bladder are). If her appetite is muted or goes off completely, you need to step in with syringe feeding promptly to keep the guts going. Up to 80% of the daily food intake is unlimited hay, which is ofen the first food group that is dropped when a piggy is in pain or not well, hence the importance of weighing. Cheap kitchen scales from the supermarket will do.

Ideally you feed little but often round the clock if a piggy is totally off food; with each feed as much as they will take. Make sure that you never give more than a mouthful at once (adjust to size/age), especially with a with respiratory problems, as the last thing that you want to happen is things going down the wrong way (see our guide for the detailed tips and recommendations).
The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and thirdly the need to eat. Your care in a serious illness is as important as the medication to help keep her as fighting fit as possible.
You can use mushed up pellets and get a syringe from a pharmacy. The sooner you can treat, the better the chances of a quick and straight forward recovery!

I am very sorry that you are having a such a steep and expensive learning curve. As exposure to the bacteria that cause URI must have happened at the shop, you can claim any vet cost on them. Like mange mites and fungal (which require repeat treatment to get on top of them), URI is the third most common problem that gets passed around stressed out young shop piggies whose immune system is not yet full developed. The constant upturn of their world coupled with close proximity to other young ones makes them particularly vulnerable. Outbreak of these opportunistic issues takes often up to 10-14 days after infection, so it is often not yet visible when the youngsters are being sold.

Here is more information that you may find helpful:
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Guinea Lynx :: URI
Guinea Lynx :: Mange Mites
Guinea Lynx :: Fungus

Our guide collection for new owners also contains a section about preparing for and spotting illnesses and what is normal/not normal in guinea pigs.
New Owners' " How To" Starter Kit

Since we have members from all over the world from very different climates and backgrounds, as well as different medical and food brands and vet/rescue access, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can adjust any recommendations and advice accordingly straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This will make it appear below your username on the top bar. Thank you!

All the best!
 
Thank you for your reply, she seems ok in herself, eating etc. It does seem strange that she's been fine until yesterday when she was given drops for mite I will weigh her and keep a close eye on her until I'm able to get her in to see the vet again. I have bought some sawdust from a different shop also which i used the other day I'm wondering if maybe that could have something to do with it also. It's clean out day for them so I think I'll leave out the saw dust and just only put in the hay and see if that makes any difference. She doesn't seem happy at all bless her, really hope it's nothing serious and she's better soon
 
Thank you for your reply, she seems ok in herself, eating etc. It does seem strange that she's been fine until yesterday when she was given drops for mite I will weigh her and keep a close eye on her until I'm able to get her in to see the vet again. I have bought some sawdust from a different shop also which i used the other day I'm wondering if maybe that could have something to do with it also. It's clean out day for them so I think I'll leave out the saw dust and just only put in the hay and see if that makes any difference. She doesn't seem happy at all bless her, really hope it's nothing serious and she's better soon

Are they in a hutch?
There are alternatives to wood chippings (NEVER use sawdust) and if yours are indoors you can consider fleece bedding. Please be aware that you need to treat young piggies like tender plants, and that guinea pig generally need insulation and protection from the outdoors elements and the cold/dampness if they are not indoors all year round.

The sneezing is definitely not connected to any mites treatment, but it can be a reaction to dust/pollen from bedding or hay.

Please switch to weighing daily at the same time instead of the regular weekly weigh-in whenever a piggy is not looking quite right. Piggies can go downhill very quickly. For that reason, always step in with syringe feeding promptly. Also check her poos - if they are suddenly thinner and small, you know that she has not eaten properly in the last couple of days.
 
Wow I had no idea that you couldn't use saw dust as this is what I was sold in the pet shop! They are indoors, I have a hutch outside for them but they are still babies so won't be going out there for a while. I've just cleaned them out and left out the saw dust and she already seems so much happier running around with her sister, they usually always chase each other around for a few minutes in a morning after veg but it's the first time today she has. No more saw dust! what can I use that will still help soak up some of the urine?
 
Wow I had no idea that you couldn't use saw dust as this is what I was sold in the pet shop! They are indoors, I have a hutch outside for them but they are still babies so won't be going out there for a while. I've just cleaned them out and left out the saw dust and she already seems so much happier running around with her sister, they usually always chase each other around for a few minutes in a morning after veg but it's the first time today she has. No more saw dust! what can I use that will still help soak up some of the urine?

Wood chippings as sold by a pet shop are some else from sawdust, but they are still not recommend if you have access to alternatives. Guinea pigs only have a very small respiratory system; most of their body is literally guts to break down the nutritionally low hay/grass fibre they have evolved and specialised on. ;)

Have a look at our bedding guide, and you may be surprised!
Bedding For Guinea Pigs - Overview

Member Gallery: C&C cages/homemade cages
Member Gallery: Commercial Cages
Member Gallery: Hutches

Cold Weather Care For Guinea Pigs
Hot Weather Management And Heat Strokes
Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time
 
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