Guinea pig with pneumonia how safe is Ciprofloxacin?

[Rinoa]

My guinea pig callysto (3rd guinea) is 6 years and 4 months old. on Jan 31st she started making "clicking" noises with her breathing. I made a video of this and can re-post it. I took her to the vet Feb 1st and he said URI so was prescribed Doxycycline (0.35ml) and Baytril (0.14ml). She was eating all her food, drinking water, running fine.

Well i started weighing her daily and noticed her weight changing Feb 2nd (1.79lbs = 811g) and then dropping feb 15th (1.62lbs = 734g) . Her hips are more skinny and more obvious than before. she is clearly losing weight around her backside area to the point her legs look like they are getting closer. in a normal guinea pig thier backside is wide and thier legs are spread apart. when she walks its almost wobbly and it looks like her legs are about to give out like she cant walk straight. I'll try to get a better video than this one

While on Doxycycline and Baytril the clicking noise went away a lot by the 7th day. the 8,9,10th day i did not hear clicking and thought it was gone but her weight was still changing. on 11th day i hear clicking again.

I took her to vet today feb 17th saturday (well now its late night 18th). He says he can hear something in her lungs. Thinks its pneumonia. We were contemplating giving her Doxycycline and Baytril again (since for 3-4 days it got rid of the clicking) but instead he brought up a new stronger medicine called "Ciprofloxacin" at 2.4ml twice daily. I gave her one dose earlier and then started researching this and barely can find anything on it. I'm debating not giving this to her anymore and asking monday for the Baytril instead. I barely found any info on this med.

Would a longer course of Baytril+Doxycycline be better than Doxycycline+ a new medication?

and yes i have been giving her a probiotic (benebac) after an hour and critical care (oxbow) using 1ml syringe. Tho not 60-100ml of critical care. Think i've been giving her maybe 20-25ml. I tried using bigger syringe but all it does is suck up air.

 

[Wiebke]

My guinea pig callysto (3rd guinea) is 6 years and 4 months old. on Jan 31st she started making "clicking" noises with her breathing. I made a video of this and can re-post it. I took her to the vet Feb 1st and he said URI so was prescribed Doxycycline (0.35ml) and Baytril (0.14ml). She was eating all her food, drinking water, running fine.

Well i started weighing her daily and noticed her weight changing Feb 2nd (1.79lbs = 811g) and then dropping feb 15th (1.62lbs = 734g) . Her hips are more skinny and more obvious than before. she is clearly losing weight around her backside area to the point her legs look like they are getting closer. in a normal guinea pig thier backside is wide and thier legs are spread apart. when she walks its almost wobbly and it looks like her legs are about to give out like she cant walk straight. I'll try to get a better video than this one

While on Doxycycline and Baytril the clicking noise went away a lot by the 7th day. the 8,9,10th day i did not hear clicking and thought it was gone but her weight was still changing. on 11th day i hear clicking again.

I took her to vet today feb 17th saturday (well now its late night 18th). He says he can hear something in her lungs. Thinks its pneumonia. We were contemplating giving her Doxycycline and Baytril again (since for 3-4 days it got rid of the clicking) but instead he brought up a new stronger medicine called "Ciprofloxacin" at 2.4ml twice daily. I gave her one dose earlier and then started researching this and barely can find anything on it. I'm debating not giving this to her anymore and asking monday for the Baytril instead. I barely found any info on this med.

Would a longer course of Baytril+Doxycycline be better than Doxycycline+ a new medication?

and yes i have been giving her a probiotic (benebac) after an hour and critical care (oxbow) using 1ml syringe. Tho not 60-100ml of critical care. Think i've been giving her maybe 20-25ml. I tried using bigger syringe but all it does is suck up air.

Hi

Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic that is related to baytril (enrofloxacin) and marbocyl (marbofloxacin); the latter is a stronger antibiotic than baytril but from the same class and has been used against respiratory infections before in forum piggies with baytril the main licensed antibiotic for guinea pigs.

I am not a medications expert but I would expect ciprofloxacin to be a somewhat stronger form of baytril, similar to marbocyl? We see now see new medications coming in that are also safe for guinea pigs on a more regular basis. Your vet is basically throwing the kitchen sink at your piggy. Doxy and baytril are well known for also knocking out the gut microbiome.

You need to adapt the feeding frequency to how much you get into your piggy with each session. If you struggle to get 5-10 ml into your piggy, you feed ideally every two hours during the day so you can get some unbroken sleep during the night for yourself. You can reduce the number of feeding sessions according to how much you get into your piggy.

Feeding a piggy totally off their appetite is unfortunately a very frustating, exhausting and lonely battle that needs to be fought. It gets worse when your own exhaustion is starting to catch up with you. Please accept that antibiotics take several days to build up to full efficiency and then equally gradually peeter out after the end of the course. The microbiome usually takes a while to rebuild.

If you have a healthy companion, additional 'poo soup' (i.e. healthy live microbiome transfer) can additionally help. How to do that is also included in our guide below.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

HUGS

All the best.

 

[Wheekallweek]

I hope she's feeling better soon

 

[fluffysal]

Have you tried giving her the cc in a bowl or off a spoon? I'm lucky that I've never had to support feed but I'm aware of other forum members who have done it. Some mix in oats or grated carrots/mushed banana etc.

 

[Rinoa]

Have you tried giving her the cc in a bowl or off a spoon? I'm lucky that I've never had to support feed but I'm aware of other forum members who have done it. Some mix in oats or grated carrots/mushed banana etc.

I actually did put it in a bowl but my 4th guinea pig started eating it not callysto. I'm glad she is eating it if i use syringe tho. Just have to divide how many times i give it per day more often.

 

[Rinoa]

Callysto didnt make it. I woke up at 12:10 n went to check on her n saw her up against the wall laying there. I gave her meds at 2am....then critical care at 3am. i went to sleep at 6am. woke up at 9 but felt tired so i laid back down. at 12:10 i get up and shes just not moving.

My mom said she saw her at 7:30-8am before she left for work callysto was walking around. so between 8-12 something happened. she was up against the wall almost looked like she was pressed there. my only guess is my other guinea kiki may have laid against her somehow. There is a snuggle sack in that corner.

I'm so sad. Because she stopped making the clicking noises with her breath and also she was gaining weight finally after all the critical care n food i gave her. she was eating her hay etc....She looked so good last night i thought she already made a recovery and all i have to do is keep this up. not missing any medicine dosages. I believe i messed up not checking on her at 9am.

I left the heater on facing the cage and i initially thought heat stroke but both guineas have been in the same cage and ive had the heater on for 4 days or so. Also the heater is on one side and she was on opposite. i didnt even record any videos of her because i thought i had plenty of time since she is making a full recovery. the last videos i have are the ones above.

 

[fluffysal]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Sleep well over the rainbow bridge Callysto

 

[Rinoa]

The night before (a couple hours before she passed) i saw her chewing on a green plastic bag in the living room. For a second i thought i should take it away but she seemed to be nibbling on it like she did the food bags (they all did this). So i left her alone.

After she passed i went to check the green bags and sure enough there was a hole in it and she did indeed eat some of it. I may get a Necropsy done to find out if this was the cause. Does this look like it would cause enough damage to her? I put a quarter next to it for comparison. either this plastic got caught in her system or my other guinea pig layed down against her somehow. A Necropsy should show whats in her system hopefully.

 

[Freela]

I'm really sorry for your loss. Honestly, my pigs have occasionally gotten to the hay bag and consumed more plastic than that with no ill effects. I really don't think that would have had any effect on why you lost her. At 6+ years she lived to a really good age and pneumonia is a tough opponent for older pigs (I've lost at least one elder to pneumonia pretty quickly despite meds being given.) ((HUGS)) to you and so sorry you lost Callysto.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I am so sorry you lost Callysto, you did all you could have done to get her better, please don’t feel it’s something you have not done. I don’t think it will have been anything to do with eating the bag, my piggies have occasionally eaten plastic with no ill effects. I think it was just a combination of illness and age that finally got to her. I’m so sorry

Popcorn high little lady