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Guinea pig illness

The_Cavies

The_Cavies

New Born Pup
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So Bruno had a minor respiratory infection was given medicine and now apparently he has a strep pneumonia, has anyone been in this position before?
 
We had taken him 02/04 and we gave him ear drops, antibiotics, and even nebulizar, but was taken back for a follow up to see how he was doing cause he still had that nasal breathing and sneezing and now it’s a heavy growth of strep pneumonia, I just want to know besides meds that will be given to him again 2-3 weeks anything else I could do to make him feel better, he still happy and jumping around and stuff but he still an animal he can’t speak
 
So he is still on antibiotics now?

Are you weighing him daily and syringe feeding? This is so important with a poorly piggy
 
Hi

Please take the time to read the links with lots of detailed practical advice for crisis support care at home to get your piggy through a severe illness. Your home feeding and support care is every bit as important in keeping your piggy going until medication do the healing.
Antibiotics need several days to build up to optimal efficiency by the end of the course; but they can sometimes also impact on the digestive bacteria in the gut. Since the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat, any serious respiratory illness also comes with loss of appetite. Your feeding support replaces the three quarters or more that the crucial hay fibre makes in the daily food intake. Keeping a piggy going through a crisis can be a round the clock struggle but it is worth it when you get it through.

Pneumonia can be caused by different germs; it can either start looking like a mild respiratory infection and then develop into pneumonia or it can hit as fully developed pneumonia out of the blue and can kill in a matter of hours if you come up against one of the real nasties. Sometimes you will need more than one course of antibiotics; especially if there are potential resistancy issues.

Next to respiratory bacteria, pneumococcus and streptococcus are the most common bugs to cause pneumonia. If you have a slowly developing pneumonia, you are generally in for a much better recovery chance but your feeding support care is critical for any success, so please read our practical links that contain all the necessary tips and information for the home care side of it.
Weighing daily at the same time on your kitchen scales allows you to adjust the feeding support accordingly; you need to feed the more often throughout the day and if necessary once in the night the less feed your piggy takes in a session.
 
Yes I cleaned out his whole cage too made sure he’s in an open environment rearranged his house and everything to make sure he’s better too. Like he still eating good, his veggies and all , the vet did inform me to give him vitamin c in powder mixed with water so he could drink more to help him too. He still happy which is good. Thank you so much for the information I will definitely look and read more through the links make sure I could do everything possible. Also do you guys recommend a specific hay or pellets cause we give him oxbow brand but they’re still dusty and I know that still gets inside his nose.
 
Piggies&buns said:
So he is still on antibiotics now?

Are you weighing him daily and syringe feeding? This is so important with a poorly piggy
Click to expand...
I don’t have nothing to weigh him in, I’m not sure what to use. He actually eats and everything fine he runs around, does his popcorning speaks with the other Guinea pigs around him. We do have him in his own cage to prevent the others getting sick
 
Please get a normal set digital kitchen scales. This is so important. Weight checks should be carried out once a week in a healthy piggy as part of routine care but you must weigh daily when a piggy is poorly.

Do make sure you weigh him every day as it is the only way to know he is actually eating enough hay. You cannot judge hay intake by eye but hay is 70-80% of the daily food intake so any reduction in hay intake has a dramatic effect on them. Often hay intake will reduce first when they are unwell, they may still continue to eat veg , nibble at hay (which is why you cannot tell they are in fact eating enough) and otherwise behave normally, but any reduction In hay intake is a serious problem and requires you to step in with syringe feeding to keep their gut functioning, stop weight loss and give them a chance of recovery . Eating veg is not enough to keep their system functioning properly.

Please don’t mix anything into their drinking water bottle. It can actually cause them to drink less, plus it can degrade the water much more quickly. It is much better to give it as a standalone supplement directly to a poorly piggy as a short term boost to the immune system
 
Ohhh ok yea I’ll buy a scale and yea I’ll make sure he’s eating more. His meds will be Friday starting 2-3 weeks and we’ll have to make sure he’s eating enough hay, and we’ll do a follow up with vet too.
 
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