Help please - Baby pig URI!

[guineadad1]

Hi all,

I have 4 pigs, all of them are around 3 months old and still babies and extremely cute! However, last week I noticed one of my girls had started sneezing a fair bit more than usual. This was then shortly followed by snot/goo and I knew I had an issue. I’ve taken her to the vets twice now. The first time they didn’t want to say it was a URI, the second time confirmed it was a URI but due to her age, refused to prescribe baytril due to the effects it can have on baby pigs. Has anybody else ever had this issue before? This isn’t going to go away on its own and I’m worried that the vets are just passing me off at this point. My girl is still eating, drinking, running around and generally looking well, but the sneezing hasn’t stopped and I’m just wondering what else I can do (or maybe put more pressure on the vet?). Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Piggies&buns]

We have seen baytril given to new piggies/youngsters on the forum. URI in pet shop babies for example is not an uncommon occurrence unfortunately.
Your vet needs to make the decision although a bacterial infection needs treating.

Please switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh her daily so you can more closely monitor hay intake. Hay is 75% of their daily food intake but you cannot tell they are eating enough by watching them, hence the importance of weight checks.
The need to breathe comes before the need to eat so a pigs who is struggling to breathe due to an unclear chest will usually reduce their hay intake and hence their weight will drop quite quickly. It’s important you step in with syringe feeding a fibre rich recovery feed or mushed pellets if she loses any weight.

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[guineadad1]

Thanks so much. I have seen others be prescribed baytril if the case is serious enough. I think our vet wanted that to be last resort in case she starts to deteriorate, but I was just worried it will be too late at that point.

I’ll start with daily weighing and monitor her closely, if needs be I’ll explain the urgency to our vet and see how they want to proceed. Thanks for the quick response!