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What Exactly Causes A Uri?

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cinn&sugarmybbs

cinn&sugarmybbs

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So I took all my guinea pigs to the vet, 2 of the new ones have a URI and my old ones are just getting over it now. What causes URIs? Is it lack of cleaning or something else? Thanks just interested to know for the future. I don't like giving them antibiotics a lot
 
Generally bacteria is the cause of URIs. We just went through a persistent URI with Hadley. My vet said that guinea pigs can be colonized by a lot of bacteria without symptoms, but sometimes will have overgrowth of bacteria, or can be introduced to a new bacteria, that causes illness. He said it can be hard to know the trigger... it can be triggered by unclean conditions, breathing in ammonia from an unclean cage, malnutrition, etc., but can also occur in pigs living in good conditions with a good diet. So they may come into contact with a new bacteria from another animal that causes illnesses, or can undergo stress to the system that causes a subclinical colony of bacteria to flare up.
 
UTIs are often caused by fecal bacteria which get into the urinary tract and which is rather hard to avoid completely. Regular cleaning can cut down on the risk of infections.

They are then often triggered by damp ground/chills etc. (spring time is high time for UTI) when people put their piggies out on the lawn on a sunny day while the grass is still damp and the ground cold to bare feet. Putting guinea pigs outside in a hutch too early can also contribute to UTIs - basically any weakening of the immune system allows the bacteria to flourish.
Treat your indoors guinea pigs like tender plants in spring and use your bare feet to check the lawn for 5 minutes to see whether it is safe to put your piggies out. Always give them a warm, hay filled hide that is dry, off the ground and any sudden wind chills.
Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time
 
Freela said:
Generally bacteria is the cause of URIs. We just went through a persistent URI with Hadley. My vet said that guinea pigs can be colonized by a lot of bacteria without symptoms, but sometimes will have overgrowth of bacteria, or can be introduced to a new bacteria, that causes illness. He said it can be hard to know the trigger... it can be triggered by unclean conditions, breathing in ammonia from an unclean cage, malnutrition, etc., but can also occur in pigs living in good conditions with a good diet. So they may come into contact with a new bacteria from another animal that causes illnesses, or can undergo stress to the system that causes a subclinical colony of bacteria to flare up.
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How many rounds of antibiotics did you go thru? My gp were on it for 2 weeks and one of them is still losing a bit of hair and breathing heavy. As soon as I started it up again they are acting fine. Not sure how much longer I should go
 
cinn&sugarmybbs said:
How many rounds of antibiotics did you go thru? My gp were on it for 2 weeks and one of them is still losing a bit of hair and breathing heavy. As soon as I started it up again they are acting fine. Not sure how much longer I should go
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Hadley was on a course of sulfatrim for 10 days- her main symptoms were just noisy breathing. She got better on the meds, but had it recur after three or so days with no meds. The vet then put her on 20 days of sulfatrim.... again, she did well on, then had symptoms recur about a week after stopping. She is just now finishing up a course of Baytril for 10 days, as they decided to change the antibiotics. I am hoping the change did the trick for her, as I really do not want to prolong her Baytril, as it bugs her stomach a bit. Maybe if the original antibiotic is not clearing things, the vet would consider changing to another one because not all bacteria are susceptible to all antibiotics. Was the vet able to do a culture to see what organism is causing the problem? We weren't able to do that with Hadley, as she really didn't have any nasal discharge to culture, but it would have simplified things if we could have!
 
Freela said:
Hadley was on a course of sulfatrim for 10 days- her main symptoms were just noisy breathing. She got better on the meds, but had it recur after three or so days with no meds. The vet then put her on 20 days of sulfatrim.... again, she did well on, then had symptoms recur about a week after stopping. She is just now finishing up a course of Baytril for 10 days, as they decided to change the antibiotics. I am hoping the change did the trick for her, as I really do not want to prolong her Baytril, as it bugs her stomach a bit. Maybe if the original antibiotic is not clearing things, the vet would consider changing to another one because not all bacteria are susceptible to all antibiotics. Was the vet able to do a culture to see what organism is causing the problem? We weren't able to do that with Hadley, as she really didn't have any nasal discharge to culture, but it would have simplified things if we could have!
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No the doctor never did a culture, but I am doing the second round of bayteil so hopefully that clears it up. If not I'll have to switch it like you did :)
 
cinn&sugarmybbs said:
No the doctor never did a culture, but I am doing the second round of bayteil so hopefully that clears it up. If not I'll have to switch it like you did :)
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Good luck! Hadley is just doing her last dose of Baytril today, fingers crossed everything goes well for both our pigs!
 
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