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Georgie - Chest Infection and Possible Heart Condition

YvonneBlue

YvonneBlue

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Yesterday we noticed our lovely Georgie was breathing heavily and got a vet appointment for yesterday evening. The vet found that he probably has an infection on the right side of his chest. However, he also thinks that there may be an underlying heart condition. For now we have Doxycycline 0.2ml once a day and 0.6ml of Metacam twice daily for 14 days. If he isn't showing any improvement in 5 days i have to take him back. They may then trial some heart meds to see if this helps. Unfortunately, they can't do an x-ray to look at his heart as they don't want to give him an anaesthetic while he has breathing problems.

Today he seems a little worse, he ate his veggies but has no interest in pellets or the fresh grass i brought in from the garden. If he is still not eating well later i will top him up with Critical Care, i also have some Bene-Bac Plus on its way (which i bought from the TEAS fundraising page) which will hopefully help with his tummy. Hopefully we can get him through this and some healing vibes would be welcome for our little one.
 
Poor Georgie, hope the doxycycline does the trick and good that you're prepared with syringe feed and probiotics, doxycyclune can be tough on the guts and also I think make the mouth a bit sore.
Some heart meds like diuretic frusamide can help a lung condition whether or not you are sure of heart involvement, helping clear fluid from the lungs, Blodwen did great with frusol syrup to get flyid off her lungs and her respiratory chlamydia infection was cleared up really well with doxycycline though she still has a residual wheeze some days but nothing we cant manage.
Blodwen sends wheezy love and honky kisses to Georgie x
 
PigglePuggle said:
Poor Georgie, hope the doxycycline does the trick and good that you're prepared with syringe feed and probiotics, doxycyclune can be tough on the guts and also I think make the mouth a bit sore.
Some heart meds like diuretic frusamide can help a lung condition whether or not you are sure of heart involvement, helping clear fluid from the lungs, Blodwen did great with frusol syrup to get flyid off her lungs and her respiratory chlamydia infection was cleared up really well with doxycycline though she still has a residual wheeze some days but nothing we cant manage.
Blodwen sends wheezy love and honky kisses to Georgie x
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Thank you Blodwen pig, Georgie appreciates all the love and kisses you are sending.

He is feeling very sorry for himself and hasn't even been to look if i have any naughty fruit snacks for him when i came back into the piggy room to work. I am used to seeing his little face waiting for me and then him chewing the bars of the cage if i haven't brought anything. He did take a pea flake but i would rather he ate some hay.
 
Quick question everyone. I have some Bene-bac Plus coming for Georgie (a US product). It is a gel and even having read the instructions i am not sure how much to give. Can anyone offer any insight?

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YvonneBlue said:
Yesterday we noticed our lovely Georgie was breathing heavily and got a vet appointment for yesterday evening. The vet found that he probably has an infection on the right side of his chest. However, he also thinks that there may be an underlying heart condition. For now we have Doxycycline 0.2ml once a day and 0.6ml of Metacam twice daily for 14 days. If he isn't showing any improvement in 5 days i have to take him back. They may then trial some heart meds to see if this helps. Unfortunately, they can't do an x-ray to look at his heart as they don't want to give him an anaesthetic while he has breathing problems.

Today he seems a little worse, he ate his veggies but has no interest in pellets or the fresh grass i brought in from the garden. If he is still not eating well later i will top him up with Critical Care, i also have some Bene-Bac Plus on its way (which i bought from the TEAS fundraising page) which will hopefully help with his tummy. Hopefully we can get him through this and some healing vibes would be welcome for our little one.
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HUGS
Doxy is unfortunately an even worse appetite killer than baytril. :(
All the best and fingers firmly crossed.
 
So sorry to hear Georgie is under the weather, hope the meds kick very soon and he is back to good health very soon 🤞 Posh, Ginger, Kiki and Hector send wheekie hugs and healing vibes to Georgie x
 
Hoping for a speedy recovery for Georgie. Healing vibes from Percy and Pepper ❤️
 
Oh poor Georgie. I hope his meds soon kick in and he starts to improve for you. We are sending him all our best healing vibes. I’ve no experience of Benebac. Sorry.
 
I've not used Benebac either but Blodwen did really well on Fibreplex probiotic, we just mixed that with her SS recovery food and it was excellent- she went from verging on gut stasis just hours after her first dose of doxycycline, to just needing twice daily 10ml top up syringe feeds a couple of days later. The doxycycline really wiped her appetite with every dose so we were feeding a proper meal then hay an hour before the antibiotic, then doing a syringe feed with probiotic an hour or 2 later. She still lost about 100g but luckily she's a chubby little madam with a passion for naughty strawberries and babycorn so she soon chubbed up again afterwards.
Hope you figure out the Benebac but I imagine squirting a ml or two into a portion of recovery food might work for that too?
 
I have managed to get some pro-c from PAH, not sure how much to give as it says a scoop to 300g of food or 200ml of drinking water. I guess I'll have to either syringe feed a small amount with some water or add a small amount to some critical care.
 
YvonneBlue said:
I have managed to get some pro-c from PAH, not sure how much to give as it says a scoop to 300g of food or 200ml of drinking water. I guess I'll have to either syringe feed a small amount with some water or add a small amount to some critical care.
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I used to put a pinch of Pro C in critical care mush
 
YvonneBlue said:
I have managed to get some pro-c from PAH, not sure how much to give as it says a scoop to 300g of food or 200ml of drinking water. I guess I'll have to either syringe feed a small amount with some water or add a small amount to some critical care.
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I just put a pinch into a shot glass of water and then syringe feed it to the piggies. I don’t think you can do any harm by just giving it this way. Mine love the taste of it.
 
So far, so good. As the weather was nice we put Georgie on the lawn with his girls. He seemed to eat plenty of grass and then had some veggies and we gave him his antibiotics. Now he has just had his supper. So me and Georgie are both covered in Critical Care and ProC. He only had a few syringe fulls but hopefully enough for the probiotics to work.

He seems a bit lethargic but was eating hay when I left the piggy room. I will check on him again later. So far he hasn't lost any weight.
 
YvonneBlue said:
So far, so good. As the weather was nice we put Georgie on the lawn with his girls. He seemed to eat plenty of grass and then had some veggies and we gave him his antibiotics. Now he has just had his supper. So me and Georgie are both covered in Critical Care and ProC. He only had a few syringe fulls but hopefully enough for the probiotics to work.

He seems a bit lethargic but was eating hay when I left the piggy room. I will check on him again later. So far he hasn't lost any weight.
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Great stuff, Yvonne. Hang on in there. You are doing well if he’s lost no weight.
I’m afraid I’ve got CC stains on my bath robe that have never come out. It’s really messy stuff.
 
I saw a video about this on LA guinea pig rescue YouTube. They told the owners to pop a pea sized amount into the side of their mouth.
 
So sorry to hear gorgeous Georgie isn’t well Yvonne, me and the gang are sending massive healing vibes and hugs to you both! :hug: ❤️
I do the same as Vicki and just put a sprinkle of the Pro-C in a little bit of water, my lot have always loved the stuff so not much of a struggle to get it in which is always good! :)
Really hope he has a good day and tucks into lots of grub for his lovely mum! xx
 
Unfortunately things are not going well for Georgie. He has started to swell up a little but not solid like bloat more squishy. I'm thinking it's water retention as heart problems have been mentioned. Unfortunately our vets usual out of hours service at their practice is not available at the moment and they are using Vets Now. I am currently waiting for a video appointment.🙁
 
Poor Georgie, and poor you. These things always happen at weekends. Vets Now are usually quite good as they do have access to on call exotics vets for telephone advice
 
Hope they can sort Georgie out. 🤞. I had a piggy who had this around his neck area. Think it was called edema. The vet couldn’t find what was causing it. He was over 7 though. Thinking of you. ❤️
 
Poor Georgie, sounds like some furosamide diuretic medicine (frusol) might help his symptoms x
 
So the vet isn't too worried as he is still eating and pooping. She thinks it could just be very mild bloat. I have to monitor him and take him to Ashleigh tomorrow as they open Sundays for a couple of hours. If he deteriorates in any way I have to take him to the Vets Now Hospital which is nearby.

Georgie spent the whole consultation with his head in a dish of critical care.
 
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