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Worried About Poorly Piggy - Strong Uri

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Pitterpat

Pitterpat

Junior Guinea Pig
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Wirral,UK
Hi, I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of weeks, but this is my first post.

I have 2 piggies - Vespa, who I've has for 3 years and a new baby piggy called Scooter (had her about 3 weeks).

On Tuesday Vespa's breathing was quite raspy so took her to the vets & she has been taking Baytril since Tues and I've been sprinkling a probiotic on their greens. This is the 1st time she's been poorly since I've had her. She's still a bit raspy but generally ok in herself, eating drinking etc.

Scooter has been fine until this morning. She usually runs away when I try to pick her up and objects to being held. However this morning she was very lethargic and didn't put up any of her normal resistance to being handled. We managed to get her into the vets this morn and she has been prescribed 1/16 of a doxycycline (sp?) tablet twice a day as vet said her chest sounds congested. I've also been given a sachet of decongestant to put a pinch in their water. I've syringed fed Scooter some 1/16 of the doxy tablet, put a bowl of water & olbas oil next to cage and put a heat pad in for her (under lots of fleece so it's not too hot). I crushed/sprinkled a bit of vitamin c tablet on a bit of lettuce for her but she would only take a couple of mouthfuls. She's now just lying on the heat pad and her eyes are starting to look gooey. I don't know what else to do.
 
Pitterpat said:
Hi, I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of weeks, but this is my first post.

I have 2 piggies - Vespa, who I've has for 3 years and a new baby piggy called Scooter (had her about 3 weeks).

On Tuesday Vespa's breathing was quite raspy so took her to the vets & she has been taking Baytril since Tues and I've been sprinkling a probiotic on their greens. This is the 1st time she's been poorly since I've had her. She's still a bit raspy but generally ok in herself, eating drinking etc.

Scooter has been fine until this morning. She usually runs away when I try to pick her up and objects to being held. However this morning she was very lethargic and didn't put up any of her normal resistance to being handled. We managed to get her into the vets this morn and she has been prescribed 1/16 of a doxycycline (sp?) tablet twice a day as vet said her chest sounds congested. I've also been given a sachet of decongestant to put a pinch in their water. I've syringed fed Scooter some 1/16 of the doxy tablet, put a bowl of water & olbas oil next to cage and put a heat pad in for her (under lots of fleece so it's not too hot). I crushed/sprinkled a bit of vitamin c tablet on a bit of lettuce for her but she would only take a couple of mouthfuls. She's now just lying on the heat pad and her eyes are starting to look gooey. I don't know what else to do.
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Please start syringe feeding/watering Scooter asap and syringe a pinch of decongestant directly. The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and thirdly the need to eat. Guinea pigs can't breathe through their mouths, so it is vital a) to free up the wairways as quickly as possible and b) to support the drinking and eating when the infection is so severe that the need to breathe is taking over. You need to feed little but often during the acute crisis, around the clock. Don't give more than 1/4 of a small 1 ml syringe in one go as she is still very small and the last thing you want is for anything to go down the wrong way with a respiratory problem.
Weigh both girls daily instead of weekly, ideally before dinner time, so you have a more steady control of their actual food intake and can adjust the syringe feed accordingly.
Here is our illustrated step-by-step guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

That is all you can do for the moment - you have to wait a day or two for the antibiotic to hopefully kick in; I know it is a very anxious time especially with such a strong infection in a very young piggy that has come up so badly! Doxycycline is one of the stronger antibiotics that is occasionally being prescribed for URIs (respiratory infections).

It would be better if you just heated the snugglesafe for half the time in the microwave, but do so more often to keep the snugglesafe warm but not hot, in order to prevent overheating, especially with younger, very ill or dying guinea pigs who struggle to regulate their own temperature.
 
Thank you so much for your response. I've just syringed some water and decongestant into her. I'll keep doing it at regular intervals.
 
Pitterpat said:
Thank you so much for your response. I've just syringed some water and decongestant into her. I'll keep doing it at regular intervals.
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Please also start syringe feeding mushed up pellets; it is vital that you keep the guts going and maintain the body weight, so she has the strength to fight back.

Read our guide carefully, it really has got all the necessary information what to do in which situation in there, as well has how to go about it! Just syringing water will not give your piggy any extra energy - and she will stop eating before she stops drinking, so you need to do both.
 
She's had 4ml of soaked pellets. I didn't need to syringe it into her mouth, she was licking the end of syringe - I'm hoping that's a positive sign. She's also had a bit more of the water with the decongestant in.

Will try her with some more soaked pellets in couple of hours.
 
Pitterpat said:
She's had 4ml of soaked pellets. I didn't need to syringe it into her mouth, she was licking the end of syringe - I'm hoping that's a positive sign. She's also had a bit more of the water with the decongestant in.

Will try her with some more soaked pellets in couple of hours.
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You are on the right path! :tu:

It is a very encouraging sign that she is still has got the will to eat and the strength to do so. Try to get as much into her throughout the day as you can so you don't have to get up more than once during the night. She will hopefully pick up a bit more between the decongestant and the food in her tummy and feel the better for it.
 
I'm so pleased! She's been down the ramp to the bottom cage, nibbled some food, had a little bit of hay, run back up the ramp and is back in her blanket. She's still a bit wobbly and bit dopey but seems a lot better than she was earlier. I honestly thought we were going to lose her earlier. Thank you for the advice about the soaked pellets and water, I'm going to continue with the syringed food and water... even though she's putting up a bit of a fight now and rumbling at me .
 
Scooter this morning. Still a poorly girl but a lot better than what she was. I gave up syringe feeding/water at 2.30am and resumed syringing this morning. I think she's getting fed up with me

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I've been carrying on giving Scooter her medicine twice a day (doxy & decongestant), she seemed to be getting better through the week (eating and being quite active). However, last night she went down hill again - I could hear some noise from her chest and she wasn't interested in any food. I tried to syringe feed her last night but it was difficult getting her eat. This morning she was very weak again - like she was last Saturday - I got as much soaked pellets as I could into her, gave her some water and her medicine and then had to leave for work. I've just spoken to my dad who's keeping an eye on her for me... but it doesn't sound good. She's booked into the vets after work tonight... i'm sorry this is quite a pointless post, I just feel so helpless and sad that I can't get home to look after her.
 
Just got home from work, she's gone. My dad said she died at about 3 pm. I'm heartbroken.
 
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