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Specialist mysterious number of guinea pigs dying

I'm so sorry you are going through this.so devastating.i have a large number of piggies .i lost 6 all in one month,similar symptoms to your piggies.in my case it was adenovirus,which causes pneumonia.the piggies passed away very quickly.after that i worked with the vet ,all my remaining piggies were placed on zithromycin in case pneumonia was causing a secondary bacterial infection.no further piggies passed.i know one very loved member on the forum that has lost alot of piggies in succession in one go ,who maybe able to relay her [email protected] hope the post mortems give you some answers .we are all here to support you.:hug:
 
Offering my deepest sympathy, and sincere condolences for your loss.

If the post mortem does not prove conclusive, other than faecal flotation test/culture, you my wish to discuss having nasal swabs performed, particularly on your new additions.
 
I’m so sorry for your losses :( it must be truly heartbreaking. Sending you my love :hug: x x
 
@Guinea-pigGaga if you have a problem with other members, use the report facility and do not have a go at them on public forum - thank you.
 
It is always heartbreaking losing one piggy, so losing so many in such a small amount of time must be so much worse. All I can offer you is to say that they are out of pain and suffering now, and popcorning free over the rainbow bridge. I hope you get answers from the pm and that you do not have to suffer the loss of any more. x
 
I'm ok. thanks everyone for your kind words and suggestions. we are just hoping it is just a bad run of luck as dont want to lose anymore. we also had a pigeon stuck in our chimney yesterday (such a bad day). but we managed to get him out so one positive and life saved! but thanks again and thanks for welcoming me into this community.
 
helen higgins said:
I'm ok. thanks everyone for your kind words and suggestions. we are just hoping it is just a bad run of luck as dont want to lose anymore. we also had a pigeon stuck in our chimney yesterday (such a bad day). but we managed to get him out so one positive and life saved! but thanks again and thanks for welcoming me into this community.
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BIG HUGS

I am so sorry that you are having such a rough time!

Try and see whether your vet can test for some of the real nasties germs, like adenovirus etc. once you have you excluded all the easier options like environmental angles. That is the next step.

We are seeing too few of these horrible cases to be able to tell you what is going on. What is happening to you and your beloved piggies is all our own worst nightmare, so we truly feel for you. I sincerely hope that you can get to the bottom of it.
 
got the initial results of the autopsy. looks like we have had a bacteria infection. not got all the facts yet but sounds very similar to the one the east anglia rescue had.

planning all new flooring, bedding and may even move them to a different room in the house (had been our overall aim but sooner than planned). thankfully with all other piggies seems ok an an incubation period of 15 days. we are hopeful no impact on the remaining 9.

my other worry is with being 8 1/2 months pregnant, I or my baby may have been infected. but that is rare.

thanks again for everyone who posted. definitely not going to add any more piggies for the foreseeable future.
 
I’m glad you got some kind of answer from the autopsy. Hopefully it’s gone and won’t affect the rest of your piggies.

Wishing you a safe birth and hopefully whatever it was wouldn’t affect you.
 
helen higgins said:
got the initial results of the autopsy. looks like we have had a bacteria infection. not got all the facts yet but sounds very similar to the one the east anglia rescue had.

planning all new flooring, bedding and may even move them to a different room in the house (had been our overall aim but sooner than planned). thankfully with all other piggies seems ok an an incubation period of 15 days. we are hopeful no impact on the remaining 9.

my other worry is with being 8 1/2 months pregnant, I or my baby may have been infected. but that is rare.

thanks again for everyone who posted. definitely not going to add any more piggies for the foreseeable future.
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I am glad that the autopsy has given you an answer and that you have now got some ground under your feet from where to start. It is so hard when you don't know what you are up against and therefore cannot treat. The East Anglian GPR piggies generally did show more in the way of respiratory symptoms and they were not passing with quite the speed if I remember correctly as yours but once you are playing in that league, there are a number of unpleasant customers. :(

I would recommend that you get hold of some F10 vet grade disinfectant and practise extra good hygiene with hand washing/wearing disposable gloves etc. Do you have anybody else who could do the cage cleaning for you?
Here are our pregnancy tips: Human Pregnancy/Immune Deficiency And Guinea Pigs

Hopefully, you have escaped an infection yourself, especially if you generally practise reasonable handwashing hygiene after handling and cleaning. I am keeping my fingers firmly crosses.
 
Wiebke said:
I am glad that the autopsy has given you an answer and that you have now got some ground under your feet from where to start. It is so hard when you don't know what you are up against and therefore cannot treat. The East Anglian GPR piggies generally did show more in the way of respiratory symptoms and they were not passing with quite the speed if I remember correctly as yours but once you are playing in that league, there are a number of unpleasant customers. :(

I would recommend that you get hold of some F10 vet grade disinfectant and practise extra good hygiene with hand washing/wearing disposable gloves etc. Do you have anybody else who could do the cage cleaning for you?
Here are our pregnancy tips: Human Pregnancy/Immune Deficiency And Guinea Pigs

Hopefully, you have escaped an infection yourself, especially if you generally practise reasonable handwashing hygiene after handling and cleaning. I am keeping my fingers firmly crosses.
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thankfully. I have been wearing gloves throughout my pregnancy. dont normally when not pregnant and have been very extreme with hand washing etc during my pregnancy. husband will be doing the last few weeks as getting more difficult for me anyway. yes going to up the cleaning more than ever. vet has suggested some cleaning products and she is just waiting on recommendation from specialist on whether we treat others as a precaution. just can't believe its all come at once and we'll never know how it came to us in the first place. vet said we could have walked it in off our shoe!
 
helen higgins said:
thankfully. I have been wearing gloves throughout my pregnancy. dont normally when not pregnant and have been very extreme with hand washing etc during my pregnancy. husband will be doing the last few weeks as getting more difficult for me anyway. yes going to up the cleaning more than ever. vet has suggested some cleaning products and she is just waiting on recommendation from specialist on whether we treat others as a precaution. just can't believe its all come at once and we'll never know how it came to us in the first place. vet said we could have walked it in off our shoe!
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Yes, the EAGPR bug has most likely been carried in like that, especially as they are in a rural location. Please don't beat yourself up; you have been doing all the right things and any transmission risk should should be therefore rather low. This is NOT due to any bad care or carelessness of yours; it is just what I call 'cosmic bad luck' that could happen to any of us and that is beyond reasonable care and precaution.

These things seem to always happen unfortunately at the worst time possible, like EAPGR shortly after they reopened again after a baby pause. But you will get through it nevertheless and come out the other side with the active support of your vet and their own information network and the support of your husband. :tu:
 
Good to hear that you have some answers and that the rest of the group seem to be ok. Hope all goes well with your cleaning and moving of the piggies.
 
So sorry about what you're going through. It must be heartbreaking and stressful.
F10 have great customer service. 4yrs ago I was awaiting results for ringworm and contacted them about their aerosol fogger to see what the contact time to kill ringworm spores would be, how long to keep the piggies out of there etc. They got back to me and helped me with a deep clean plan. Luckily, the test came back negative for ringworm, but I still use the fogger about twice a year when I literally remove everything from the piggie shed to clean it.
Maybe you could contact them once you have a name of the bacteria to check what the best product and strength would be for the deep clean.
 
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