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Rattling Breathing

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PappisnDemba

PappisnDemba

Junior Guinea Pig
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Just joined as member after using forum as a guest for past year and getting some very good advice.
My 2 year old guinea pig had rattling breathing in march this year - luckily it was a week day, she was seen by a vet and given an injection with follow up antibiotics. This morning, her breathing is very rattly again, although her eating and drinking is not affected. Typically after being well for months, it is now bank holiday weekend and regular vets not open until Tuesday.
Phoned our emergency vet - vets now - and will be £90 consultation plus any medication. Guess what I'm asking is does anyone have any experience of this - last time she was treated so quickly so I don't know if this kind of thing can ever clear up on it's own.
Thank you.
 
Hi and welcome, I'm not able to offer you advice but the forums monitors with knowledge and experience of illnesses will reply soon, For example Helen who watches out for messages such as this and she replies as soon as she can. The only help I can be is to say keep a close on your piggy,( I fully understand your worry about the vet costs) and pop back on here for updates to this thread. I hope your piggy gets better soon.
Kell x
 
I agree that she ideally does need to see the emergency vet, these things come on so quickly and need to be treated promptly. t sounds like an upper respiratory infection or Pneumonia so she will need antibiotics and if she has fluid on her chest she will need diuretics too (plus extra fluids). If she has a snotty nose Bisolvon can help clear any mucous.
 
Assuming you are in the UK (please put your location in your profile), there has been massive sudden change in temperature this last week, particularly with night-time temperatures dropping well into single figures. Guinea pigs kept outside (and also inside if the house temperature drops a lot overnight) are at serious risk of developing URI's (upper respiratory tract - snotty runny noses) in response to these large variations. These URI's can easily and quickly spread to become lower respiratory tract infections (ie pneumonia) which as Helen has mentioned is inflammation/fluid in the lungs that may need to be removed with the help of diuretics in addition to antibiotics.

Under the circumstances I would not wait until tuesday to get vet appt/meds - as these types of URI's can develop swiftly (and sometimes fatally) within 24 hours without antibiotic intervention.

Sadly I am fully expecting to see quite a few URI and pneumonia cases posted on here in the next few days. I had to rush my Lewis in last week (an indoor pig) with burning hot ears, clear nasal discharge, spiky fur and rapid breathing from the abdomen. Luckily his heart sounded good, his lungs were clear and a course of septrin cleared it up.
 
Thank you everyone - she's going to vets at 3 o'clock. Just hope her pal doesn't need to go tomorrow :)
We are in Durham and the temps have dropped - they're usually outside from May to September but I guess it's time to come in now x
 
PappisnDemba said:
Just joined as member after using forum as a guest for past year and getting some very good advice.
My 2 year old guinea pig had rattling breathing in march this year - luckily it was a week day, she was seen by a vet and given an injection with follow up antibiotics. This morning, her breathing is very rattly again, although her eating and drinking is not affected. Typically after being well for months, it is now bank holiday weekend and regular vets not open until Tuesday.
Phoned our emergency vet - vets now - and will be £90 consultation plus any medication. Guess what I'm asking is does anyone have any experience of this - last time she was treated so quickly so I don't know if this kind of thing can ever clear up on it's own.
Thank you.
Click to expand...

Please have her seen by the emergency vet despite the high cost, as you would have to wait two days otherwise. URIs can kill quite quickly, so the sooner you treat the better the chances of a good and quick recovery. The much cooler weather lately can have triggered it. I am sorry about the bad timing; emergencies tend to happen at the worst time possible.
http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
 
Wiebke said:
Please have her seen by the emergency vet despite the high cost, as you would have to wait two days otherwise. URIs can kill quite quickly, so the sooner you treat the better the chances of a good and quick recovery. The much cooler weather lately can have triggered it. I am sorry about the bad timing; emergencies tend to happen at the worst time possible.
http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
Click to expand...
Jus
 
Just back from vets where Pappis received an injection and 10 days of antibiotics. Vet confirmed there was a lot of fluid on her chest and she would have deteriorated quickly without treatment. Likely to have been triggered by drop in temps so they are coming in at night before they move back in permanently in a few weeks time. She's munching happily on the grass now, reunited with her beloved friend! Very bad timing money wise (ouch) but nothing else you can do if they're ill.
 
Glad she has seen the vet. Did the vet not give any diuretic if she had fluid on her chest or was that the injection?
 
If you can, make sure that she gets some diuretics from your regular vets on Tuesday to help get rid of the fluid build-up and ease her breathing. Good that you have had her seen in time!

Please weigh her daily to make sure that she is still eating properly. If you can, up her vitamin C dose with vitamin C rich veg and fresh herbs or give 1/8-1/4 of a human tablet to boost her immune system.
 
The injection was antibiotic, just to get it into her system quickly. Her weight was 1.1kg, which is normal for her - she has a very rich vitamin c diet but will certainly keep an eye on her - she did recover from this same thing in March and the vet said that unfortunately some guinea pigs are just more susceptible to it. Hopefully we've nipped it in the bud again!
 
The antibioitic should help show signs of improvement within 24-48 hours. However given that the vet has diagnosed pneumonia - if breathing doesn't improve tomorrow (or gets worse) you will need to go back to the vest and press for for diuretic. Print out the posts here to enable discussion/persuasion!

Also please print out Jesse's thread for the vet- this was a heart condition rather than pneumonia but supports how crucial diuretics can be for these little furries with breathing difficulties owing to fluid accumulation.
Highly agressive diuretic dose for the first 24-48 hours is key in pneumonia or heart issues to kick-start fluid removal - 10mg/kg.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/jesse-pneumonia.116402/

x
 
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