• 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

Sandy coughed once and breathed weird

sport_billy said:
Sending continued love and healing vibes to Sandy

Has there been any more watery brown spots in the cage - just read your post from Saturday...

how many days of antibiotic does she have left? Is she eating veggies and hay all okay?
Click to expand...
Thank you for your kind words. The watery brown spots were there yesterday but not today. They appear to be urine. She has had her urine checked before. About a few weeks ago and vet assures me all is normal. She has 9 days of antibiotic left. She eats veggies just like she always does. No change in her desire to eat there. Since her poos have been normal and the spots appear to be urine I've decided to keep giving her veg for now. She eats hay, but not as much as usual. She only eats a little kibble.
 
Poo all normal consistency?
 
That is good news indeed :) Keep as you are, you are doing fab. Try and get her to eat more hay if possible. We found Oxbow orchard grass is very tempting when they are a little off hay.
 
Keep an eye on her food, they often lose weight with anitbiotics, it is a long course of antibiotics also, but your vet sounds knowledgable on choosing a good one for URI related issues and she seems to be tolerating it well.
 
sport_billy said:
That is good news indeed :) Keep as you are, you are doing fab. Try and get her to eat more hay if possible. We found Oxbow orchard grass is very tempting when they are a little off hay.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the kind words. It means more than you can imagine! Had not thought of trying orchard hay. Will order some now and offer that to her ASAP. Thanks again!
 
That's okay, we have all been there and it is stressful. You are doing all you can and being attentive and caring, she is lucky to have you as her piggy slave.
 
sport_billy said:
Keep an eye on her food, they often lose weight with anitbiotics, it is a long course of antibiotics also, but your vet sounds knowledgable on choosing a good one for URI related issues and she seems to be tolerating it well.
Click to expand...
Will definitely keep an eye. We weigh her at least once per day, support feed at least 3xs per day, and offer kibble and unlimited hay. She is offered veg (from the suggested plate on TGPF) about one cup total.
 
is that Sandy in your avatar?
 
sport_billy said:
is that Sandy in your avatar?
Click to expand...
Actually, that's Penny in my avatar. Here's a pic of Sandy...20210510_203557.webp
Forgive the poor lighting. I just took the pic tonight when I was doing her last feeding for the day and it was a bit dark outside already.
 
Awwww is she grey and white? she is soooo pretty!
 
I have a thing for grey and white piggies @Lady Kelly had a piggy called Bea that I adored from seeing her on the forum ever - ever since then i have been smitten with them! we have never chose our piggies, we just have had whatever rescue ladies where around at the time since Pitch and Putt our first girls. So i never thought I'd end up with a grey & white piggy - many years ago we went to donate a cage to our local rescue and the lady that runs it asked us to foster a baby who had been surrendered to them, we ended up keeping her (she passed at nearly 7 last year sadly) Widget was her name.
1620696293674.png
 
sport_billy said:
I have a thing for grey and white piggies @Lady Kelly had a piggy called Bea that I adored from seeing her on the forum ever - ever since then i have been smitten with them! we have never chose our piggies, we just have had whatever rescue ladies where around at the time since Pitch and Putt our first girls. So i never thought I'd end up with a grey & white piggy - many years ago we went to donate a cage to our local rescue and the lady that run is asked us to foster a baby who had been surrendered to them, we ended up keeping her (she passed at nearly 7 last year sadly) Widget was her name.
View attachment 175415
Click to expand...
Awwwww! She's so cute! What a beautiful little lady! She sure was lucky to have you as her guinea pig mommy.
 
Thanks :) she was.

Sandy is so adorable :love: and so is Penny! I will keep an eye on her thread and hope for continued improvement for her, lots of healing vibes sent to your grey & white little lady!
Keep doing what you are doing, increased hay will help her guts with the antibiotic and any concerns be sure to speak to the vet.
 
Grey and white piggies are awesome, my Bea was quite the character too. I wanted piggies and my ex said I could have one if I got one whose hair went all over the place (aby) so I reached out to a rescue and reserved a ginger and white aby. Went to pick her up and of course she can't come along so my ex chose one of her cagemates and that's how I ended up with BeaFB_IMG_1620715834043.webp
 
sport_billy said:
Thanks :) she was.

Sandy is so adorable :love: and so is Penny! I will keep an eye on her thread and hope for continued improvement for her, lots of healing vibes sent to your grey & white little lady!
Keep doing what you are doing, increased hay will help her guts with the antibiotic and any concerns be sure to speak to the vet.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!
 
Lady Kelly said:
Grey and white piggies are awesome, my Bea was quite the character too. I wanted piggies and my ex said I could have one if I got one whose hair went all over the place (aby) so I reached out to a rescue and reserved a ginger and white aby. Went to pick her up and of course she can't come along so my ex chose one of her cagemates and that's how I ended up with BeaView attachment 175421
Click to expand...
What a sweet story. Bea's a beauty!
 
Good news! I was so nervous about going to work today because Sandy's second support feeding would be a bit later than usual, but good news - she was just weighed and her weight is the same it was this morning. It's stable! Will give her the second support feeding as soon as I get home from work, but just so grateful that she seems ok. :yahoo:
 
Sandy only took 2 mL's of recovery food this morning. Usually I can get her to take 5. I have been giving her Oxbow CC and I've been able to get her to take it, but often she fights me on it and sometimes it takes a while to get it in. I tried for 45 minutes this morning using spoon, syringe, and my finger and she only took 2 mL's. Even tried switching to Oxbow fine grind because I thought maybe the change in flavor would help. Nope. I've ordered Emeraid, but not sure how soon it will come. Luckily, her weight was 817 this morning so hopefully that's a good sign. She ate a bit of bell pepper this morning. She has kibble and 2 types of hay (orchard and timothy) in the cage so maybe that will appeal to her. Will call vet if her weight drops. For now, her weight has been stable so I guess that's the most important thing.

Edit: tried again just now and got one more mL into her before she started fighting again so at least that's 3 total. Better than nothing. She's eating some hay just now. She's a feisty one, that girl, but she is a cutie.
 
Last edited:
Sandy's doing better this evening. Cooperated more with her 2nd syringe feeding of the day. Poos still look normal. I've seen her eat some hay. Her weight is up to where she was before she started the antibiotic. :luv:
 
This little pancake definitely seems to be on the mend. She's taking less at each syringe feeding, is eating hay regularly, is back to the weight she was (before all this mess), and is maintaining that weight.
:yahoo: :luv::yahoo:
20210514_192820.webp
 
Her Royal Picky Eater Sandy has gotten a bit bored of recovery food...or she's just being difficult...maybe both! In all seriousness, unfortunately, her weight dropped 42 grams in the past two days. I'm increasing syringe feeding again, but she'll only take about 2 mL's before she starts to fight it so I'm also trying mushed and slightly warmed pellets, sprinkling foriage onto orchard and Timothy hay, offering recovery food in the cage to see if she feels safer to eat there, offering a bit of her favorite veg throughout the day to see if that will stimulate her appetite, and I just ordered baby food. I want to see if mixing in a tiny amount if baby food (squash, carrots, or peas) with critical care will help her want more at each feeding. Also feeding more often in case that helps and I continue to offer her two types of recovery food. (I have a third ordered, but it didn't arrive yet). I give her the option of eating out of the bowl, eating off a spoon, and syringe. Fingers crossed that a combination of these things will help her put that weight back on, or at least stop losing weight. We have a vet appointment for her cagemate on Wednesday so if Sandy needs to be seen again we will ask the vet to see her then. Of course will go to emergency vet if the situation worsens to the point of warranting that.
 
Saturday Sandy's weight dropped again so on Sunday and Monday I syringe fed every two hours during the day and by mid-day yesterday her weight was up to 820 grams which isn't far off from where she was before this whole mess, so that's good. She was really fighting me on the syringe feeding though and in hindsight perhaps I was too forceful with it, but she wouldn't eat the recovery food otherwise. (I tried bowl and spoon and allowing her to eat it off my finger). It's so hard to know how much to push it with her. She has two more doses of antibiotic (tonight and tomorrow night) and then she's done. I'm hoping after that her GI tract will settle a little and she can eat more on her own and eventually all on her own again. At any rate, I decided that today I would offer her recovery food in her cage. She wouldn't eat it and I decided not to push the matter via syringe. Her weight was stable this morning and continued to climb throughout the day so far. She started at 827 and is currently at 851. So I'm guessing she's eating just fine but this whole thing has got me so nervous! She is peeing and pooping normally so hopefully we are on the mend.
 
I think Sandy is eating Penny's poos. I'm guessing that's a good thing and may actually help her. I just hope that she gets better soon. Gave her the antibiotic tonight. One more day to go. Will continue to weigh her to see if she needs support feeding but for today her weight continued to go up throughout the day even without support feeding.
🤞
 
Sandy's weight remains stable so I stopped the syringe feeding around the time of her last dose of antibiotic. She is eating hay, veg, and pellets normally. I continued probiotic, but decreased to twice per instead of 3 times per day with the plan of increasing again if needed. Her poos were normal for several days, but today she has very small poos...normal shape and firmess, just very small. I'm going to call the vet and see if they can give me any advice. Also going to go back to probiotic 3 x's per day to see if that helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top