dee10535
New Born Pup
Hello, my guinea pig (about 4 years or so) has windpipe thickening, possibly inflammation (that's what the X-ray suggests to the vet). Originally, they said it could be bronchitis, although today they said she probably also has some extent of nasal congestion that's not super obvious externally. The only symptom she noticeably has is loud, wheezy kind of breathing. Either way, they're treating for possible URI, although they did say it could be something else, like allergic bronchitis. Anyway, I first noticed the breathing issue on Monday night, and brought her in on Tuesday. She had her first dose of enrofloxacin on Tuesday at noon. She is on a 10-day course of the enrofloxacin with 0.09 ml twice a day, so fairly small dose. She is also receiving an anti-inflammatory, meloxicam, 0.18 ml once a day. It is the end of Day 3, and the vets had said we should see improvement within 2-3 days. But now that it's the end of Day 3, she is no better or worse. Breathing/possible congestion not improved at all. I brought her in today, and they didn't hear anything in her lungs to suggest it's progressed. They said I had two options: stay the course or add doxycycline. I decided to take the doxycycline, and am considering starting tomorrow. The thing is she did warn me the risk of side effects goes up with this double combo, and since she hasn't had any yet I hate to have to add on something new. The dose for the doxycycline is 0.1 ml twice a day, so not too bad dose-wise but ultimately she will be getting twice as much antibiotic into her system. I did request a probiotic, and they obliged (only once a day though, not twice so can't do it before each dose). They did say though that there is no real evidence that the probiotic is useful, it's all anecdotal. Anyway, we are leaving for an extended trip (a week or so) on Monday, and we plan to leave both my guinea pigs in the care of a sitter. Unless she backs out in which case I'll be forced to take them with us in a cage. I know there is a chance she might have to take one of them to the vet (my other guinea pig isn't symptomatic yet but if it is infectious, I am expecting her to get it. They were exposed to each other for enough time that I thought the stress of separating them would do more harm than good.) But I would like to minimize the risks of the sitter having to do this, so am nervous to start the doxycycline on top of the Baytril with potential serious effects.
Does anyone have any suggestions on the best course of action to take? Should I stick with the Baytril only for a couple more days, and then tack on doxycycline the day I leave if there's still no improvement? Or would it be better to just start the doxycycline tomorrow anyway, and take the risk? The vet said that in her experience, 25% to 33% of guinea pigs show side effects (she didn't say whether it was diarrhea, loss of appetite, or something else) with this specific combo. She also didn't seem to imply that one way was better than the other, but based on everything I've seen, she should have been improving by now, which makes me think the Baytril is either ineffective or too weak (or maybe it's not an infection, who knows?)
Does anyone have any suggestions on the best course of action to take? Should I stick with the Baytril only for a couple more days, and then tack on doxycycline the day I leave if there's still no improvement? Or would it be better to just start the doxycycline tomorrow anyway, and take the risk? The vet said that in her experience, 25% to 33% of guinea pigs show side effects (she didn't say whether it was diarrhea, loss of appetite, or something else) with this specific combo. She also didn't seem to imply that one way was better than the other, but based on everything I've seen, she should have been improving by now, which makes me think the Baytril is either ineffective or too weak (or maybe it's not an infection, who knows?)
