We have already been to the vet and are continuing to work with this vet, I'm looking for advice to see if anyone else might have ideas that can help in case our vet might have missed or overlooked something.
Nina is sow a little over 4 years old.
We have a second guinea pig kiki, also a 4 year old sow who has shown none of the same symptoms and has appeared completely normal through all of this.
These piggies have a 4 foot by 8 foot fleece lined enclosure, inside they also have smaller cages with aspen shavings (that have since been switched to carefresh fluffy bedding)
Our guinea pig nina had some minor sneezing and discharge from one eye for a couple months. It appeared to start getting worse fast with some significant lethargy so we took her to the vet ASAP. Vet started antibiotics (doxycycline/Baytril) with nebublized albuterol/gentamycin/saline. There was some initial improvement which makes us think she did have an infection when we took her in, but she quickly plateaued (even while continuing to give the antibiotic does as prescribed) and still has sneezing and breathing issues. We are currently at 2 weeks of the 3 week antibiotic regimen with little improvement past the first couple days.
Her current issues do appear intermittent. Sometimes she will look mostly normal and other times she sounds like she has a stuffy nose and is breathing harder than normal with her belly clearly moving more than her usual breathing.
After not seeing a ton of improvement, we went back to the vet. They did xrays and ultra sound and do not see signs of pneumonia or heart problems. The vet also suggested we move from aspen to something else so we have started using care fresh fluffy bedding over aspen shavings. The vet also gave a subcutaneous dose of the steroid prednisone. After this visit she appeared to look pretty good for the following 24 hours so we think the steroid may have helped, but we're not sure because her issues are intermittent.
After letting the vet know about the potential positive effect from the steroid the vet prescribed meloxicam as an NSAID to see if reducing inflammation could help. We have started this medication today but its too soon to see if it has had any effect.
Anyone see anything we - or the vet - might have missed? Anything else we should try?
Nina is sow a little over 4 years old.
We have a second guinea pig kiki, also a 4 year old sow who has shown none of the same symptoms and has appeared completely normal through all of this.
These piggies have a 4 foot by 8 foot fleece lined enclosure, inside they also have smaller cages with aspen shavings (that have since been switched to carefresh fluffy bedding)
Our guinea pig nina had some minor sneezing and discharge from one eye for a couple months. It appeared to start getting worse fast with some significant lethargy so we took her to the vet ASAP. Vet started antibiotics (doxycycline/Baytril) with nebublized albuterol/gentamycin/saline. There was some initial improvement which makes us think she did have an infection when we took her in, but she quickly plateaued (even while continuing to give the antibiotic does as prescribed) and still has sneezing and breathing issues. We are currently at 2 weeks of the 3 week antibiotic regimen with little improvement past the first couple days.
Her current issues do appear intermittent. Sometimes she will look mostly normal and other times she sounds like she has a stuffy nose and is breathing harder than normal with her belly clearly moving more than her usual breathing.
After not seeing a ton of improvement, we went back to the vet. They did xrays and ultra sound and do not see signs of pneumonia or heart problems. The vet also suggested we move from aspen to something else so we have started using care fresh fluffy bedding over aspen shavings. The vet also gave a subcutaneous dose of the steroid prednisone. After this visit she appeared to look pretty good for the following 24 hours so we think the steroid may have helped, but we're not sure because her issues are intermittent.
After letting the vet know about the potential positive effect from the steroid the vet prescribed meloxicam as an NSAID to see if reducing inflammation could help. We have started this medication today but its too soon to see if it has had any effect.
Anyone see anything we - or the vet - might have missed? Anything else we should try?
