xmegj_96x
New Born Pup
Hi, firstly I'd just like to say that i've been using this forum for help for many years but have only just made an account to make my first thread as usually I am able to find the info I need from others but I am now in a bit of a tricky situation and I'm not sure where else might be able to help me.
Also thank you in advance for anyone who takes time to read this thread/can help me as it's probably going to be quite lengthy!
My guinea pig's name is Peanut and he is just a little over 3 years old, for some time (probably almost 2 years) he's been having issues with his breathing, it ranges from raspy to wheezing to hooting sounds, when it first started it would go on for an hour or so, then nothing for a month, then it would last a few days and then nothing for a few months, gradually it has started happening more often and for longer periods of time. I've taken him to numerous different vets where they have all listened to his chest/lungs, told me everything is fine and clear and sent me on my way, i've had vets suggest dust allergies and even asthma but nothing concrete.
A few months ago he started getting scabs on the edges of his mouth so I took him into the vets again but this time I was told about a vet named Mike who is guinea pig savvy (not sure why it took them so many trips there to let me know about Mike) but anyway I take him to see Mike and he checks his teeth and says he has dental issues which was causing him to drool which was then causing him to have a sore mouth. So I get him booked in to have his teeth burred, all goes well. A few weeks later I notice the scabs are getting worse so I take him back to Mike and he says he wants to put him under and have another look to see what's going on, this was now just over a month ago.
Right before he was due to have his teeth burred his breathing issues start again, so I take him to see Mike hoping he might have a better answer for me than the vets before, after listening to his chest/lungs and confirming everything is clear he listens to his throat/airways and says he sounds like he has a lot of mucus in his airways. He then prescribes me with Zithromax as this is apparently the best for tackling URI's, i've used Zithromax very successfully in the past for my pet rats chronic URI's so this all seems good to me but now i'm here 3 to 4 weeks later and absolutely no improvement.
I've been back and fourth to the vets for weeks, i've booked and cancelled 3 teeth burring appointments as we keep expecting him to be better but he's not getting any better. At the minute he's eating lots and has actually gained weight since the last time I weighed him so i'm not necessarily worried about his teeth for the time being, i've also been applying Daktarin to the scabs on his mouth twice daily which has improved them a lot and is keeping them at bay for the time being. My main concern is getting his breathing back to normal.
Like I said he's been put on Zithromax and he's been on it for the past few weeks without any improvements, I also noticed on the box that it says discard after 10 days and its been at least 15 days so there's that. I went down to the vets today to pick some fresh up as I accidentally knocked over the bottle I had the day before yesterday but I'm actually glad I did that now as it seems like after 10 days it's probably not going to help much anyway.
The issue i'm now having is Mike is away on holiday and told me that he was coming back this Sunday and would be back in work on Monday, I found out yesterday when trying to get an appointment with him that he's not in work next week and I go on holiday myself next Wednesday for 2 weeks so I really wanted to be able to see Mike before I left which is why I double checked with him that he would be there, so i'm not sure whats gone on there but i'm now left stranded without a vet and all the other vets at the practice don't seem to want to touch a guinea pig with a ten foot barge pole. I only managed to get some more Zithromax today because I told the vet I would mix it myself at home because even that was an issue for them.
I've only ever mixed Zithromax up for my pet rats which I had to add 9ml of water to the powder, but from reading lots of threads today it seems like that's also how it should be mixed up for guinea pigs. I also noticed from reading threads on here that the dosage that Mike put Peanut on seems low. Peanut is currently on 0.2ml twice daily and he said I could up it to 3 times daily if he wasn't improving but that still makes it 0.6ml a day altogether which according to all the other threads on Zithromax is less than half of what he should be on. Also if 9ml is the correct amount of water to be added i'm pretty sure Mike added more water than that as after a week of him being on it I still had 12ml left. So if all this information is correct, the Zithromax solution was too diluted and he wasn't having a high enough dose of it which is maybe why he was showing no improvement.
So here is my question,
My Zithromax strength is 200mg/5ml, how much water should I add to the powder and what should Peanuts dosage be? He currently weighs 1.430kg so by what i've read he should be on 1.4ml a day not 0.6, is this correct?
Also if anybody can recommend a good vet in the West Yorkshire area I would really appreciate it. I have an appointment for Peanut on Monday but by the looks of it with Mike not being there, nobody is going to be of much help. I feel completely stranded at this point as I don't know how i'm going to be able to leave him and enjoy my holiday for 2 weeks whilst he is like this.
P.S. Other than him having breathing issues he is very bright and alert, he is his usual self and is running around like a happy little pig eating all the food. I also have someone looking after him when I am away who is very good with animals and will get him to a vet if needs be. But I still would really like a guinea pig savvy vet to see him before I go and to maybe try different antibiotics if the Zithromax is still a no.
Any suggestions/help will be very appreciated as I am feeling very stuck right now, Thank you!
Also thank you in advance for anyone who takes time to read this thread/can help me as it's probably going to be quite lengthy!
My guinea pig's name is Peanut and he is just a little over 3 years old, for some time (probably almost 2 years) he's been having issues with his breathing, it ranges from raspy to wheezing to hooting sounds, when it first started it would go on for an hour or so, then nothing for a month, then it would last a few days and then nothing for a few months, gradually it has started happening more often and for longer periods of time. I've taken him to numerous different vets where they have all listened to his chest/lungs, told me everything is fine and clear and sent me on my way, i've had vets suggest dust allergies and even asthma but nothing concrete.
A few months ago he started getting scabs on the edges of his mouth so I took him into the vets again but this time I was told about a vet named Mike who is guinea pig savvy (not sure why it took them so many trips there to let me know about Mike) but anyway I take him to see Mike and he checks his teeth and says he has dental issues which was causing him to drool which was then causing him to have a sore mouth. So I get him booked in to have his teeth burred, all goes well. A few weeks later I notice the scabs are getting worse so I take him back to Mike and he says he wants to put him under and have another look to see what's going on, this was now just over a month ago.
Right before he was due to have his teeth burred his breathing issues start again, so I take him to see Mike hoping he might have a better answer for me than the vets before, after listening to his chest/lungs and confirming everything is clear he listens to his throat/airways and says he sounds like he has a lot of mucus in his airways. He then prescribes me with Zithromax as this is apparently the best for tackling URI's, i've used Zithromax very successfully in the past for my pet rats chronic URI's so this all seems good to me but now i'm here 3 to 4 weeks later and absolutely no improvement.
I've been back and fourth to the vets for weeks, i've booked and cancelled 3 teeth burring appointments as we keep expecting him to be better but he's not getting any better. At the minute he's eating lots and has actually gained weight since the last time I weighed him so i'm not necessarily worried about his teeth for the time being, i've also been applying Daktarin to the scabs on his mouth twice daily which has improved them a lot and is keeping them at bay for the time being. My main concern is getting his breathing back to normal.
Like I said he's been put on Zithromax and he's been on it for the past few weeks without any improvements, I also noticed on the box that it says discard after 10 days and its been at least 15 days so there's that. I went down to the vets today to pick some fresh up as I accidentally knocked over the bottle I had the day before yesterday but I'm actually glad I did that now as it seems like after 10 days it's probably not going to help much anyway.
The issue i'm now having is Mike is away on holiday and told me that he was coming back this Sunday and would be back in work on Monday, I found out yesterday when trying to get an appointment with him that he's not in work next week and I go on holiday myself next Wednesday for 2 weeks so I really wanted to be able to see Mike before I left which is why I double checked with him that he would be there, so i'm not sure whats gone on there but i'm now left stranded without a vet and all the other vets at the practice don't seem to want to touch a guinea pig with a ten foot barge pole. I only managed to get some more Zithromax today because I told the vet I would mix it myself at home because even that was an issue for them.
I've only ever mixed Zithromax up for my pet rats which I had to add 9ml of water to the powder, but from reading lots of threads today it seems like that's also how it should be mixed up for guinea pigs. I also noticed from reading threads on here that the dosage that Mike put Peanut on seems low. Peanut is currently on 0.2ml twice daily and he said I could up it to 3 times daily if he wasn't improving but that still makes it 0.6ml a day altogether which according to all the other threads on Zithromax is less than half of what he should be on. Also if 9ml is the correct amount of water to be added i'm pretty sure Mike added more water than that as after a week of him being on it I still had 12ml left. So if all this information is correct, the Zithromax solution was too diluted and he wasn't having a high enough dose of it which is maybe why he was showing no improvement.
So here is my question,
My Zithromax strength is 200mg/5ml, how much water should I add to the powder and what should Peanuts dosage be? He currently weighs 1.430kg so by what i've read he should be on 1.4ml a day not 0.6, is this correct?
Also if anybody can recommend a good vet in the West Yorkshire area I would really appreciate it. I have an appointment for Peanut on Monday but by the looks of it with Mike not being there, nobody is going to be of much help. I feel completely stranded at this point as I don't know how i'm going to be able to leave him and enjoy my holiday for 2 weeks whilst he is like this.
P.S. Other than him having breathing issues he is very bright and alert, he is his usual self and is running around like a happy little pig eating all the food. I also have someone looking after him when I am away who is very good with animals and will get him to a vet if needs be. But I still would really like a guinea pig savvy vet to see him before I go and to maybe try different antibiotics if the Zithromax is still a no.
Any suggestions/help will be very appreciated as I am feeling very stuck right now, Thank you!
