Hi everyone, I'm new to these forums and still pretty new to experiencing owning a guinea pig. I had gotten my Bubba from my animal science trade program, we weren't sure how old he was but I had taken him home for the "2 weeks" my school had closed, 2 weeks turned into months and when it was finally time to bring him back I didn't (with permission of course.) My poor Bubba was incredibly ill on the night of 2/18. Prior to this night he had been making disgruntled sounds but no real symptoms that I could see, so I thought it was him being upset that I wasn't giving him a slice of my orange (it's his favorite food). Earlier in the day of the 18th, he was "wheeking" and seemed normal, and then that night he let me pick him up (very unlike him), so I put him down to see if he was okay and he fell over onto his side and wouldn't get up. This is the first time he's ever been sick and even as someone who is studying to be in the animal field, I panicked because I know what that meant. I rushed him to the hospital and he was put in an incubator and given antibiotics and fluids as the doctor saw discharge inside his nostrils, meaning there was an infection. The first night was the worst and I was told it would be 50/50 if he would make it. I got about 30 minutes of sleep bc all I wanted to do was be by my boy. At around 7am on the 19th I checked on him and found that he had crawled out of his little pouch and was laying in front of it. He was still not wanting to walk or move much but when I put him upright he could stand. He wasn't eating or drinking at that point but then started chugging water (I held the bottle for him). This gave me hope. A few min later he ate about 3/4 of an orange slice and then refused to eat more. Throughout the day he ate more but very little. He's still drinking, but not as much. I called the hospital to see what they recommended and I'm going to be picking up "EmerAid" powder to get him something in his little belly. For now I was told to entice him to eat anything he likes even if it's high in sugar and not the best for him. Right now he can walk and stand by himself and is passing stool and urine, but he will not eat more than a few bites of his favorite food (refuses to eat pellets) and doesn't drink as much as the first time and sometimes will not drink at all. I've been trying to let him rest in my room by himself, but every two hours I check on him just in case. I try to offer some water and if he seems interested in the water, I offer an orange slice. Overall he seems to be improving slowly, but this has never happened and I have no idea what to expect or how long until he shows more signs of improvement. He is on "enrofloxacin" and I definitely notice a decent difference from the first night, however, doing some more research it seems as if this antibiotic is more of a general medicine that vets give when they don't specialize in exotics (which is fine!). Should I wait or should I ask about it? I want to give him time to rest (it hasn't been a full 48 hours yet on antibiotics) and don't want to stress him by taking him to another doctor while he's sick, but I'm worried! I'm probably worried for nothing, and he just needs time and nutrients but when it's your baby all you do is worry. Definitely going to save up for a follow up with our primary vet, however I just want to know if I should be worried or if I need to give the antibiotic more time!
Edit: I'm American, but this is where I had first found the information about everything!
Edit: I'm American, but this is where I had first found the information about everything!
