mackenziejanetaylor
Junior Guinea Pig
Hey guys, please read and help:
So I had two boar brothers - Charles and Billy - and Billy really sadly passed away a few weeks ago. I got Charles a new buddy so he wouldn’t get lonely and called him Frank. Frank was 8 weeks old, and they got along almost instantly and it was so great to see Charles happy again.
Not even 24 hours after bringing Frank home I noticed he was making a clicking noise while breathing, and it wasn’t going away so I messaged the woman I bought him from, she offered some “anti-inflammatory” medicine for him (I have no idea what it was). I was giving it to him for about a week, and the clicking stopped but I noticed he would start wheezing while wheeking as well as sneezing. He was eating fine/running around/ being so affectionate.
I got concerned so I told the woman I was planning on taking him to the vet. The next morning he seemed more lethargic than usual, I separated him from Charles (something I know now I should have stupidly done ages ago), and he started like falling over as if he was losing balance. On the way to the vet he started seizuring (for literally a good 30 minutes), he was on one side and it looked like he was trying to run and his head was tilting back, it was horrific. I felt awful and couldn’t even help him as it was pretty obvious he was dying. He died almost 5 minutes after we got to the vet, heartbreaking as he was too young.
Anyway I think he got some sort of bacterial infection from the place the woman breeded him? I know she also has mice and rats and all sorts of animals so looking back I really should have thought twice before getting a new guinea from her.
Now Charles has started sneezing (and wheezing while wheeking) and I’m just so so worried. He is eating fine and his behaviour is completely normal but I know how good Guinea pigs are at hiding illness.
I took him to an emergency vet after the first time I heard him sneeze. They said he seemed fine after checking his heart and breathing (and other basic checks). I still booked an appointment with an exotic vet because I have a huge feeling he’s caught whatever Frank had.
He’s had an X-ray and a swab test done. The swab test is going to take a few days to get the result from, the X-ray did show some stuff around his lungs and heart but they weren’t sure what it was?
They gave us quite broad antibiotics called Marbocyl (as they don’t know what it is yet) and powder called Bisolvon which is supposed to help with mucus.
He’s been on that three days now, his eating and everything is completely fine still, he has no discharge from eyes or anywhere. But is still sneezing and only wheezes when he wheeks from excitement for food.
Has anyone experienced stuff like this before? I’ve been going CRAZY on Google and lots of stuff I’ve read about URI’s, bacterial infections and pneumonia and none of it looks good for Guinea pigs.
The vets sounded confident but I’m really not, I know how quickly Guinea pigs can go downhill and I just can’t lose Charles after what happened to Billy. He is literally my world and I will literally pay anything to get him better.
So I had two boar brothers - Charles and Billy - and Billy really sadly passed away a few weeks ago. I got Charles a new buddy so he wouldn’t get lonely and called him Frank. Frank was 8 weeks old, and they got along almost instantly and it was so great to see Charles happy again.
Not even 24 hours after bringing Frank home I noticed he was making a clicking noise while breathing, and it wasn’t going away so I messaged the woman I bought him from, she offered some “anti-inflammatory” medicine for him (I have no idea what it was). I was giving it to him for about a week, and the clicking stopped but I noticed he would start wheezing while wheeking as well as sneezing. He was eating fine/running around/ being so affectionate.
I got concerned so I told the woman I was planning on taking him to the vet. The next morning he seemed more lethargic than usual, I separated him from Charles (something I know now I should have stupidly done ages ago), and he started like falling over as if he was losing balance. On the way to the vet he started seizuring (for literally a good 30 minutes), he was on one side and it looked like he was trying to run and his head was tilting back, it was horrific. I felt awful and couldn’t even help him as it was pretty obvious he was dying. He died almost 5 minutes after we got to the vet, heartbreaking as he was too young.
Anyway I think he got some sort of bacterial infection from the place the woman breeded him? I know she also has mice and rats and all sorts of animals so looking back I really should have thought twice before getting a new guinea from her.
Now Charles has started sneezing (and wheezing while wheeking) and I’m just so so worried. He is eating fine and his behaviour is completely normal but I know how good Guinea pigs are at hiding illness.
I took him to an emergency vet after the first time I heard him sneeze. They said he seemed fine after checking his heart and breathing (and other basic checks). I still booked an appointment with an exotic vet because I have a huge feeling he’s caught whatever Frank had.
He’s had an X-ray and a swab test done. The swab test is going to take a few days to get the result from, the X-ray did show some stuff around his lungs and heart but they weren’t sure what it was?
They gave us quite broad antibiotics called Marbocyl (as they don’t know what it is yet) and powder called Bisolvon which is supposed to help with mucus.
He’s been on that three days now, his eating and everything is completely fine still, he has no discharge from eyes or anywhere. But is still sneezing and only wheezes when he wheeks from excitement for food.
Has anyone experienced stuff like this before? I’ve been going CRAZY on Google and lots of stuff I’ve read about URI’s, bacterial infections and pneumonia and none of it looks good for Guinea pigs.
The vets sounded confident but I’m really not, I know how quickly Guinea pigs can go downhill and I just can’t lose Charles after what happened to Billy. He is literally my world and I will literally pay anything to get him better.
