• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Different antibiotics

Pantalaimon

Pantalaimon

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
414
Reaction score
554
Points
440
Location
Cornwall
Hello.
I asked on here a while ago about my guinea pig who has an ongoing respiratory problem. Recurring Respiratory Issues

Since then she has gone through a few phases of getting worse or better. Her bad days however seem to be getting worse, though she is now not sitting hunched up looking awful (I think was because of the cold temperatures) the amount of fluid coming from her nose has increased. It is now enough that the hair around her nose gets wet.
I contacted the vet and he said that unless I thought the bad days were more than the good days and that she was really suffering, he felt the best thing to do was leave her and that another course of antibiotics would do more damage.

I am wondering whether it is worth asking the vet to do a test to work out what is causing the illness? Then would the vet be able to prescribe different antibiotics? Would this work?

My other idea was that she is prescribed loxicom that I could give her to make her feel better when she is having a bad day, I don’t know if this would work though or whether loxicom needs to be given over a longer period of time?

I am asking to work out what the options are and what is worth talking to the vet about or if anyone has any experience of other treatment methods.

Thanks for any help.
 
As for the loxicom it should work like a human paracetamol, unlike antibiotics which can take a couple days to kick in the painkiller should kick in quickly, around 30minutes to an 1hour.

Painkillers work around 12 hours in a piggie as they metabolise their medication quickly.
So yes if she was having a “bad day”, the pain relief would kick in and hopefully help.

What antibiotic is she on?
I do think if it is not going away and you aren’t seeing improvement I would talk to the vet about next steps.
I have never personally had a severe case of URI but I assume they could maybe do a culture or something to help pinpoint what would work best for your girl.

Wishing you all the best x
 
pigmotherof6 said:
As for the loxicom it should work like a human paracetamol, unlike antibiotics which can take a couple days to kick in the painkiller should kick in quickly, around 30minutes to an 1hour.

Painkillers work around 12 hours in a piggie as they metabolise their medication quickly.
So yes if she was having a “bad day”, the pain relief would kick in and hopefully help.

What antibiotic is she on?
I do think if it is not going away and you aren’t seeing improvement I would talk to the vet about next steps.
I have never personally had a severe case of URI but I assume they could maybe do a culture or something to help pinpoint what would work best for your girl.

Wishing you all the best x
Click to expand...
Thank you
She had two courses of sulfatrim, one for a week in February 2022 at the same time as her cage mate who was also croaking slightly (his croaking completely cleared up). Then another for two weeks in April 2022.
Each time she got a little better but always got worse again. She has had nothing since because it clearly wasn’t working and the antibiotics were making her ill in other ways so I decided it was not worth the risk of making her more ill.
That’s good to know that it could work with the loxicom though, if nothing else I will definitely ask the vet about that.
 
Hi

Loxicom is an analgesic; it can add comfort with swellings and pain.
If two courses of sulfatrim have not worked, then your next step would be a nasal swab lab test to see whether she really has got a bacterial infection in the first place and if that is the case, which antibiotics she is reactive to. Or whether you and your vet are dealing with a different issue altogether.

Allergies are very rare in guinea pigs but they can occasionally happen. Because of their rarity there is no established pathway for a diagnosis or treatment.
 
Pantalaimon said:
Thank you
She had two courses of sulfatrim, one for a week in February 2022 at the same time as her cage mate who was also croaking slightly (his croaking completely cleared up). Then another for two weeks in April 2022.
Each time she got a little better but always got worse again. She has had nothing since because it clearly wasn’t working and the antibiotics were making her ill in other ways so I decided it was not worth the risk of making her more ill.
That’s good to know that it could work with the loxicom though, if nothing else I will definitely ask the vet about that.
Click to expand...
As said above it does sound like you need to do some investigation, so I would speak to your vet about getting some sort of nasal swab and some painkillers to keep your girl a bit more comfortable when she is having a bad day.

Fingers crossed you can find what is bothering your girl soon x
 
Thanks for the responses.
I will ask the vet for some loxicom and to test for the bacteria. Hopefully she can be treated as she is otherwise a very healthy guinea pig. She has also recently started reacting to grass, I was trying to give them a more natural diet of grass, forage and hay with some veg but very few pellets and she has started getting a lot of gas after a few days of grass. I wonder whether the stress of her nose is causing her to be more susceptible to bloat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top