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Terrified Toast Has An Uri

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Beans&Toast

Beans&Toast

Adult Guinea Pig
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Long post but please stick with me.

I've spent the last few hours searching through health threads on here and Guinea Lynx and I've got a horrible sinking feeling Toast has a URI.

For some time, every now and again Toast would make this strange sound, which after researching and listening to other people's videos, I've realised is hooting.
It was very intermittent and until now I didn't think it was anything to be concerned by.

There's been a few odd things going on with Toast that when put together it seems to be a URI.

Firstly the hooting .
It sounds a bit like a duck quacking, a bit raspy/ like rattling, when she makes this sound her body gently rocks back and forth. And I'm sick with worry because she's been doing it a fair bit tonight (which is what made me start researching hours ago)
I've tried to get a recording of this sound but every time I try to she stops doing it. She has also been ever so slightly less active. Not much though and she is still zooming around having her mad half hour, but to me I can see a slight change in her.

I also noticed a few days ago her fur looks different, fluffed up.. and as if it was thinner? I noticed a little bald spot under her chin yesterday, too.

She hasn't stopped eating or drinking and is doing both fine without any difficulty.

Her weight has fluctuated the past week and she's lost around 40-50gs but she was on Baytril and probiotic for a week just there for a suspected bladder infection ( at the time of the suspected bladder infection I had no idea about the hooting etc) so I assumed the weight loss was down to this.

I'm absolutely terrified as now that I've put it all together it seems like it's a definitive URI.

My vets is closed tomorrow. I'm not sure if they're open again on Monday as it's a Bank Holiday. There is another vets I could go to but they are not exotic specialists and the vet I am registered with is.

As Toast is still eating/drinking/ moving okay is this something I should be extremely worried about (as I am right now hence the reason I'm still up researching at 3am)?

Should I wait until Monday/Tuesday to make an appointment with my normal cavy savy vet or take her to one tomorrow who I know are not great with exotics...?

My mum always thinks I'm over reacting with the pigs and looking into things too much, but I know the signs to look out for and I know how subtle they can be while still being very serious which is why I'm so scared right now.

Sorry for the long post but I'm worried sick I know I won't be able to sleep tonight:(
 
Toast's breathing got a lot worse as the night went on and I had to phone for the emergency vet. Luckily the surgery is only a 2 minute drive from where I live.

As I thought, Toast has an upper respiratory infection. :(

She's been prescribed Sulfatrim 0.3mls twice daily for 14 days and Bio-Lapis to sprinkle over her food.
She was also given a one off dosage of Loxicome for pain relief/anti inflammatory.

It cost a fortune for it being out of hours but I'm so glad I went with my gut instinct on this, the vet told me if I waited until Monday, Toast may not have been here..

I'm devastated for my poor Toasty but relieved that it got seen to quickly and hopeful it's been caught early enough.
I'm just hoping it doesn't spread to Beans but I'll be keeping a close eye on the two of them.
 
Oh goodness, so glad you where able to get her seen quickly. URI's are really nasty, she's so lucky to have you as her slave. Healing wheeks to little Toast.

You definitely made the right decision to have her seen last night.
 
Sorry to hear Toast hasn't been well. Hope she is feeling better soon. (((Hugs))) to Toast and you.
 
URIs can come on really quickly so you were right to get Toast to the vet when she showed signs. My Connie is on ABs for a URI - she didn't have the usual symptoms of sneezing, discharge or coughing but I noticed her fur was not sitting flat and I heard a hoot when scooting down for her poos. She's on A different AB from Toast.
Please can I suggest you get Toast checked over by your own vet before the ABs finish in case she needs another course. Poor little girlie but lucky to have an attentive and devoted slave x
 
VickiA said:
URIs can come on really quickly so you were right to get Toast to the vet when she showed signs. My Connie is on ABs for a URI - she didn't have the usual symptoms of sneezing, discharge or coughing but I noticed her fur was not sitting flat and I heard a hoot when scooting down for her poos. She's on A different AB from Toast.
Please can I suggest you get Toast checked over by your own vet before the ABs finish in case she needs another course. Poor little girlie but lucky to have an attentive and devoted slave x
Click to expand...
Luckily it was my own vet I see out of hours.
Glen Hodgson is my cavy savy vet, I'm luckily enough that the surgery has its own emergency out of hours and it's minutes from me.

Toast didn't have discharge either, it was the puffed up fur and noisy (faintly) breathing that worried me.
Does the antibiotic she's on sound right?

Despite being massivly poked and proded last night Toast is doing well today, eating and drinking.

I'm slightly worried about Beans that it may have spread to her. The past 2 days she's been a bit "off" but I put that down to the fact that Toast is in season just now and had been especially aggressive with mounting Beans..
 
Yeah, I've went there with my pig's for around 5/6 years. I don't take my pig's anywhere else.

Toast is in good hands.
 
Another thing to mention. Glen said I should record how many breaths per minute they're both taking whilst relaxed.
He said it can vary but for a relaxed pig they'd expect around 20 breaths per minute?
I just done this while they were both lying down relaxing and they were both at around 50-60 breaths per minute...

Unless I'm doing it wrong?
I'm couting every time they inhale and I see their body move...
 
I'll be totally honest I've never counted breaths. I just notice when it looks different eg faster or more diaphragmatic than normal. I have no idea how you count breaths! I think you could become obsessive (not you in particular I mean anyone) if you sat trying to count breaths.
 
VickiA said:
I'll be totally honest I've never counted breaths. I just notice when it looks different eg faster or more diaphragmatic than normal. I have no idea how you count breaths! I think you could become obsessive (not you in particular I mean anyone) if you sat trying to count breaths.
Click to expand...
I've been watching them and Beans seems to be breathing quite fast for a piggy who was lying down sleeping...
And she seemed a bit more "hunched" today, but then she also gets up and popcorns around so it's so difficult to tell if something wrong.
I haven't heard any funny hooting or crackling from Beans but she's a bit more lathargic today, in between zoomies..
If she's still a bit "lazy" tomorrow should I make an appointment for her too or am I over reacting?

I tend to look to much into things when it comes to their health but I've lost a piggy before when in inexperienced vet gave her amoxocilin so I'm just fearful now.
 
I'm not overly worried about her right now, she's bopping about and eating and annoying toast trying to hump her :P

But if she still seems "off" tomorrow I'll phone to get an appointment. Thanks everyone :nod:
 
I'm really worried about Toast.
(Sorry another long post but please stick with me)

About an hour ago I went to check on the pigs because I could hear squealing for a considerable amount of time.

I was horrified to see that Toast was chewing on Beans and pulling her hair from her back. Beans seemed a bit distressed by this, and was squealing in submission.

I was even more horrified to see Toast aggressively chewing her own hair out from her chin/neck.

I've read about barbering but neither Toast or Beans have ever done this before.

About a week ago I noticed the fur at Toast's chin/neck was looking slightly thinner but I put that down to a couple things;

  • Firstly I thought it may have been falling out due to stress as she was on Baytril for suspected bladder infection.
  • Secondly I thought it was the fact that I was having to constantly wipe her chin a lot as when I was syringing her medicine she was letting it dribble back out.
However I've now seen for myself that Toast is pulling her own hair out and it's now left a bald patch about 1 inch wide down her chin and neck.

The past couple of weeks have been very stressful for Toast as well as Beans (and myself) she was on Baytril for a week for suspected bladder infection then on Sunday 27th was taken to emergency vets and was diagnosed with a URI and given another antibiotic, Sulfatrim to take for 14 days along with a probiotic.

For the past 8 or so weeks, Toast has been getting more and more aggressive with Beans when she comes into heat and it seems to be lasting longer than the usual few days.
Toast has always been the submissive pig and Beans the dominant, but lately that has changed around.
Beans is constantly squealing in submission and Toast is constantly nibbling her ears, something that was rarely done before as Beans was always the dominant one, although was never overly agressive to Toast.

Is this sudden barbering due to the stress of what's going on, medication/syringe feeding etc..?
Or could it be pain related?
I'm wondering if there is something going on with Toast hormonally which is causing the change of behaviour lately?

I'm at a complete loss as to what to do.:no:
Both pigs seem fed up by it, although they are both eating, drinking and moving about fine, apart from Beans who seems slightly less herself sometimes, which I'm assuming is because Toast is being quite relentless at the moment... :(

Should I seperate them for a bit? I really don't want to do that but poor Beans sometimes can't get a rest from Toast.

I have an appointment at the vets on Friday for a follow up concerning Toast's suspected bladder infection but I'm thinking I should try get an appointment for tomorrow (well today now..) to get to the bottom of this barbering, or is it something that could wait until Friday?
I'll do whatever is best for my pigs.
 
This is what it looks like.
To be honest the picture doesn't even show how bad it really is, I struggled to get Toasty to cooperate so I could get a decent picture.
(I'm not sure why her fur is stained yellow where she's been biting?)
20160330_033428.webp 20160330_033334.webp 20160330_033309.webp
My poor girl, looks so tender :(


I've included this picture to show what Toast's fur usually looks like, quite long and thick in the neck area.
7b3a0d84-389d-4ded-a2f7-dff5402f2726-1-1.webp
 
I would have Toast checked for Ovarian Cyst's, also explain her new behaviour at the vets on Friday. If your really worried maybe see if they can fit you in sooner.
 
I managed to get a video of it. Towards the end you can see she starts on Beans.
Sorry it's quite small to watch.

I phoned the vets this morning and explained, managed to get an appointment at 3. She said it's only 10 minutes long and they usually give 20 minutes to piggies but it's all they hadfor today so I took it.

I will ask about stress and ovarian cysts.

Should I seperate them temporarily or will that do more harm than good?

Beans does seem quiet stressed by it all, she's not really herself at the moment due to Toast's relentless behaviour.

I feel so helpless :(
 
Beans&Toast said:
I'm really worried about Toast.
(Sorry another long post but please stick with me)

About an hour ago I went to check on the pigs because I could hear squealing for a considerable amount of time.

I was horrified to see that Toast was chewing on Beans and pulling her hair from her back. Beans seemed a bit distressed by this, and was squealing in submission.

I was even more horrified to see Toast aggressively chewing her own hair out from her chin/neck.

I've read about barbering but neither Toast or Beans have ever done this before.

About a week ago I noticed the fur at Toast's chin/neck was looking slightly thinner but I put that down to a couple things;

  • Firstly I thought it may have been falling out due to stress as she was on Baytril for suspected bladder infection.
  • Secondly I thought it was the fact that I was having to constantly wipe her chin a lot as when I was syringing her medicine she was letting it dribble back out.
However I've now seen for myself that Toast is pulling her own hair out and it's now left a bald patch about 1 inch wide down her chin and neck.

The past couple of weeks have been very stressful for Toast as well as Beans (and myself) she was on Baytril for a week for suspected bladder infection then on Sunday 27th was taken to emergency vets and was diagnosed with a URI and given another antibiotic, Sulfatrim to take for 14 days along with a probiotic.

For the past 8 or so weeks, Toast has been getting more and more aggressive with Beans when she comes into heat and it seems to be lasting longer than the usual few days.
Toast has always been the submissive pig and Beans the dominant, but lately that has changed around.
Beans is constantly squealing in submission and Toast is constantly nibbling her ears, something that was rarely done before as Beans was always the dominant one, although was never overly agressive to Toast.

Is this sudden barbering due to the stress of what's going on, medication/syringe feeding etc..?
Or could it be pain related?
I'm wondering if there is something going on with Toast hormonally which is causing the change of behaviour lately?

I'm at a complete loss as to what to do.:no:
Both pigs seem fed up by it, although they are both eating, drinking and moving about fine, apart from Beans who seems slightly less herself sometimes, which I'm assuming is because Toast is being quite relentless at the moment... :(

Should I seperate them for a bit? I really don't want to do that but poor Beans sometimes can't get a rest from Toast.

I have an appointment at the vets on Friday for a follow up concerning Toast's suspected bladder infection but I'm thinking I should try get an appointment for tomorrow (well today now..) to get to the bottom of this barbering, or is it something that could wait until Friday?
I'll do whatever is best for my pigs.
Click to expand...

The barbering is likely social barbering gone overboard as the usual hierarchy is suspended/overturned due to Bean's illness, but I would check for mange mites, as they can make an appearance if the immune system is majorly lowered in the wake of illness.
If necessary, separate them temporarily, so they can still interact through the bars and have daily run time together to keep the bond alive, but Bean can get some respite.
 
Wiebke said:
The barbering is likely social barbering gone overboard as the usual hierarchy is suspended/overturned due to Bean's illness, but I would check for mange mites, as they can make an appearance if the immune system is majorly lowered in the wake of illness.
If necessary, separate them temporarily, so they can still interact through the bars and have daily run time together to keep the bond alive, but Bean can get some respite.
Click to expand...
If I did seperate them temporarily, would this make it difficult to re introduce them again? I have a c and c cage so I could put grids across the middle so they could still see/smell and kiss (lick) through the bars butI'm just worried if this would stress them as it would be a change to their environment and they're stressed as it is.

But if it's for the best I'd do it temporarily, it's just so hard to know what to do for the best sometimes :soz:
 
Beans&Toast said:
If I did seperate them temporarily, would this make it difficult to re introduce them again? I have a c and c cage so I could put grids across the middle so they could still see/smell and kiss (lick) through the bars butI'm just worried if this would stress them as it would be a change to their environment and they're stressed as it is.

But if it's for the best I'd do it temporarily, it's just so hard to know what to do for the best sometimes :soz:
Click to expand...

See how they are when they are separated. You can keep the bond alive with letting them have daily time together, anyway. In these situations, there is no hard and fast rule - it all depends on the piggies, the nature of the illness and the resulting dynamics.
 
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