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Aspirated meds

Hope4gem

Hope4gem

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Our guinea pig, Lilly, started coughing this morning after being syringed her morning meds. We think she may have aspirated some of the liquid. She stopped coughing after 10 minutes, but I called the vet just in case. The soonest I can get her seen is 1:40 this afternoon. She's acting normally running around with her cagemates so hopefully everything is fine, but I will be keeping an eye on her. Any guesses on what I can expect the vet to do? I've not taken a piggy in for aspirated meds before. Thanks for taking the time to read this. (We try to syringe it slowly and carefully to the side of her mouth - not straight on - and we use a small 1mL syringe, but unfortunately this still happened).
 
Hi,

Sorry to hear about your piggy. That's great that she is acting fine but any aspiration can take a while to cause a related problem. It's brilliant to hear you have got her in to see the vet this afternoon. They will listen to her chest most likely. If they don't find anything it is unlikely they will prescribe anything at this point; but I would closely monitor her over the next few weeks. Make sure her breathing is normal (our vets say that they should do anything between 80 and 120 breaths per minute and to note if there is a gradual increase over a few weeks). Sounds like she may have just choked on some meds and managed to clear it so don't be panicking just yet. See what the vet says and monitor her. Fingers crossed for you both!
 
Thank you so much for the advice. I'm hoping that she will be just fine, but definitely feeling anxious about it. Our little piggies are so important to our family. I'll definitely keep an eye on her breathing. Thanks again.
 
Bradshaw Piggies said:
Hi,

Sorry to hear about your piggy. That's great that she is acting fine but any aspiration can take a while to cause a related problem. It's brilliant to hear you have got her in to see the vet this afternoon. They will listen to her chest most likely. If they don't find anything it is unlikely they will prescribe anything at this point; but I would closely monitor her over the next few weeks. Make sure her breathing is normal (our vets say that they should do anything between 80 and 120 breaths per minute and to note if there is a gradual increase over a few weeks). Sounds like she may have just choked on some meds and managed to clear it so don't be panicking just yet. See what the vet says and monitor her. Fingers crossed for you both!
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Thank you so much for the advice. I'm hoping that she will be just fine, but definitely feeling anxious about it. Our little piggies are so important to our family. I'll definitely keep an eye on her breathing. Thanks again.
 
Good that you have her seen.
Aspiration is a bit of a waiting game. It depends on how much has gone down the wrong way and on whether it all has been coughed out again or not. It is mostly the very young (suckling babies) and the very frail/old that are at risk of developing pneumonia down the line because their immune defence is not strong.

Fingers firmly crossed.
 
Wiebke said:
Good that you have her seen.
Aspiration is a bit of a waiting game. It depends on how much has gone down the wrong wat and on whether it all has been coughed out again or not. It is mostly the very young (suckling babies) and the very frail/old that are at risk of developing pneumonia down the line because their immune is is not strong.

Fingers firmly crossed.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it!
 
Your vet can check whether the lungs sound clear and the breathing is easy. ;)
 
As an update, we just got back from the vet. They took a listen and Lilly's breathing sounds clear. The XRay looked good as well. We will keep an eye on her breathing over the next few weeks, but for now it seems like all is well. Thank God. Thanks for all the support.
 
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