Hey all, I got a re-home pig today with breathing issues. The previous owners and I share the same vet and I've always had a good experience with them. They prescribe me the usual meds you see in guinea pig guides. However, the owner sent me a photo of the bottle of meds he was prescribed 2 months ago and it was minocycline for an upper respiratory. I can't find any information on this online and I'm worried sick for this pig. Has anyone heard of this? I'm calling the vet first thing Monday.
-
Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement
Minocycline for guinea pigs?
- Thread starter grotty
- Start date
Hi
Minocycline is - from its name - related to doxycycline (tetracyclines), which is sometimes prescribed for bacterial respiratory infections and pneumonia. Minocycline can also be used for certain types of pneumonia.
This is what has come up for me when googling. I hope that this will help you. These days, with the vet clinics needing to keep their (expensive) medical stocking costs low, vets may have to use more often what they have available in stock at the time, so we are seeing a wider variety as well as differing generic brand names.
General vets have usually a more restricted range of medications; quite a bit of the higher consulting fees with exotics vets actually comes from stocking a wider range of meds and goes towards maintaining it.
Minocycline, sold under the brand name Minocin among others, is a tetracycline antibiotic medication used to treat a number of bacterial infections such as some occurring in certain forms of pneumonia. It is generally less preferred than the tetracycline doxycycline.
Doxy tends to be rather harsh on the tummy so I would recommend that you supplement with both probiotics and poo soup as Minocycline may likely have the same effect.
All the best! I hope that your new arrival is going to have a very happy life with you once their health issues are sorted.