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Snuffly guinea

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bringustreats

bringustreats

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone,

One of our pigs, Doris, has had 'snuffles' for quite some time now (probably almost 6-8 months). Slightly raspy breathing and the occasional sneeze. The vet thought it might be a mild upper respiratory infection and we've tried a few different courses of antibiotics but nothing's worked so far. After looking at possible causes we've also been trying different non-dusty cage environment options in case it's allergy-related. Over the last 2-3 months she's been snuffly most days.

Luckily she doesn't have any other symptoms, she seems to be a healthy and happy guinea pig, eyes & mouth OK, eating and drinking as normal. We'd just like her to get over her snuffles but I don't think the vet wants to do anything too drastic (X-ray etc.) as although it doesn't sound great, it doesn't seem to be affecting her otherwise happy life too much.. :)

guineas3.jpg


Anyway, we're going to keep asking for suggestions from the vet but I was wondering whether anyone else had had a 'long-term' snuffly pig like this?
 
Some more info on the beddings you have tried may help people pinpoint what the allergy could be (if it is indeed an allergy) Also, If possible, a video of her being snuffly.

(Sorry, I have no suggestions just having read through similarish threads these will be helpfull to the people who DO have a clue. :) )
 
For bedding we've tried the vegetable fibre and Carefresh beddings - not sure if they're the best, so in the last month or so switched to recycled paper bedding. Both piggies are kept indoors. For the cage we started with woodshavings, but after reading some suggestions we switched to paper-based cat litter and have also tried just using a fleece. They eat Timothy alfalfa hay (the green stuff) , they love that stuff! drool

[Edit - will see if I manage to get a video sorted..]
 
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Sorry to hear Doris isnt too good.

Can you also list the treatment/antibiotics she has been given in the past, the length and dosage, and if they made any difference.

Does the noise come from her chest or nose? Have you been weighing her regularly? Has she lost weight? How old is Doris?

A short video could be helpful too :)
 
Sorry for the masses of questions we are throwing at you! lol.

When they were on fleece, what happened about the hay? Have you tried dust free hay?
 
No problem with the questions, any help is great! Thanks again all for the responses.

Doris is 1 now. Her weight has been fine, we've never observed her going off her food or water at all.

Originally we were given a few courses of Baytril. After the first one we thought she might have improved a bit but we noticed she was stiff a bit snuffly after a couple of weeks. After 2 or 3 intermittent courses, the vet suggested giving injections a shot, which they did over a couple of weeks. Recently we've been given Septrin, which is into the 2nd week now - it doesn't appear to be having any effect.

The sound seems to vary between sounding like a blocked nose and a chesty wheezing sound. Sorry if that's a bit vague, will see if I can put up a quick piggie-vid! :))

The problem we've found for all treatments is that it's difficult to tell how she is, one day she'll seem better then the next day it'll sound as if she's worse. The vet's been monitoring her progress - they largely think it may be upper respiratory but ultimately it's not improving or getting a lot worse either.

We give them Timothy hay but I'm not sure it's completely dust-free (we get it from Pets at Home), but when we switched them to the fleece we tried to give them a lot of the paper bedding in their little house in case it was dusty hay that was causing it. But I think some quality dust-free hay is perhaps something we can try next - we'll probably need to order it over the web as there seems to be a lot more choice.
 
I think there is a company called the dust free hay company, but hopefully someone will be along with more info/a link. Pet shops hay generally is known for being fairly dusty if its their own brand. (wilkinsons, and all the supermarkets are the same)

So, When you tried fleece, did you set it up so all of the cage was fleece then with hay in a rack? Just because you mentioned about stuffing their house...
Sorry I'm asking more questions than giving answers, but hopefully your answers to my silly questions will help someone else who comes along to help :)
 
Just wanted to say the Dust Free Hay company is really good. My Nibbles used to get a bit 'sniffly' but since we changed hay he has been fine. They're really efficent and I believe they also do timothy hay.

Hope you piggy feels better soon.

Amy
x
 
Thanks everyone for all your help.

They have a house that they usually sleep in, when we switched to the fleece we put some shredded paper bedding in their house instead of straw in case it was the hay causing the problem. The hay was in a feeder but some was also scattered around in other parts of their cage as I read they like to forage. (They have a huuuuge cage anyway so it's easy to keep things in different places! :)))

I think we'll try ordering the dust free Timothy hay and see what happens. Are these the ones that people normally go for..?

http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/store/american-timothy-packs-p-13.html

Should they have a different sort of hay for bedding etc. or does it really not matter particularly? And I assume we should stay away from the stalky/straw options..?

It was a bit confusing because at Pets at Home they seemed to think that the Timothy stuff was the best we could give them (they really like it), but there was nothing indicating it was dust free and I wasn't convinced it was as it made me sneeze (though I suffer from hayfever a bit too..).
 
If you are thinking this may be an Allergy thing and always good to check all avenues this thread is interesting
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32086&highlight=hay+fever

I had a pig that had respiratory systems this year. No weight loss, no gunky eyes. More of a bobbing of his head, deeper breaths. Although this is different to Doris I thought I'd mention that I tried the DustFree Meadow hay, Baytril and Seprin, and a Diuretics (although my vet was pretty sure their was no fluid on the lungs) also this stuff http://www.homeopet.com/noserelief.html

Anyhow 2 months later and we tried the Antibiotic Zithr omax, within days his symptoms cleared but I still gave him the 2 weeks course, it was such a relief I can tell you.
 
Just a quick update on Doris...

We bought some dust free hay a month or so ago - it seems pretty good stuff, I suffer from mild hay fever but don't sneeze when I dish it out.

Her condition hasn't really improved long term. The vet thinks there might be some additional upper respiratory inflammation somewhere.
Doris is now on a very small dosage of Prednisolone. I've been reading about it in some other threads, it sounds as if it wouldn't be prescribed without a lot of thought.

I asked the vet if we could give it to her on cucumber as she loves cucumber, and he said yes. It seems the easiest way of getting it into her!

doris2.jpg
 
Aw, what a beautiful girl :rose
Good to hear she is doing ok, hay is a pain in the a** tbh. I have just thrown 3/4 of a full farm bale away as I thought the piggies were scratching more than usual so blamed the hay yet again :x (full investigation of all 18 furries showed no unwelcome visitors ;)) It is either damp or dusty but have bought a few bags from different pet stores now with no problems so far :...
Your vet sounds very good too :)
 
Quick update..

Well, an X-ray and blood test later and I think we're getting somewhere. They found two types of bacteria in Doris' blood which are indicators of respiratory disease/problems and apparently the symptoms can be managed.

Both bacteria respond to the same antibiotic.... Oddly enough it's .... baytril..! Which is what we started with. mallethead

So we're looking to give her a higher dose over the next couple of months to see what happens.

We were fearing the worst at one point after the X-rays, so that's cheered both me & the GF up a bit for now.. :)
 
It is great to finally know what is causing the problem. I hope she is well soon.
 
This is a relevant post for me, as Parkin is currently being treated for a URI. He has always been a bit wheezy, but it hasn't been a problem for him, but recently he developed crusty eyes, so I took him to the vets. We are now on bay tril (0.4ml per day), plus meta cam (also 0.4ml per day) plus zan tac (0.25ml twice a day) and a probiotic to help his gut cope with the abs. the bay tril is a two week course. What does and what length of bay tril are you on? Did s/he tell you what bacteria are present?

The vets listened to his heart as well, as crusty eyes can be a sign of early heart disease, and he will have an xray if it doesn't clear up.
 
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One of the bacteria was streptococcus I think, not sure of the other one. We haven't picked the drugs up yet so not sure of dosage but I think it might be a couple of months to see if it works.

Hope Parkin recovers soon..
 
Thanks. Parkin is doing well tolerating the baytril - using zan tac and probiotic, currently, he's noming some celery. However, no real progress with his snuffle. So I will follow your progress with interest. He has another 9 days of baytril, but I will go back and ask for another two weeks supply if he isn't absolutely right.

Hope your story has a happy outcome!
 
We've picked up the baytril from our local vet - she's on a whopping 0.8 ml per day - for 2 months! If that dosage doesn't clear it, I guess nothing will..

It was prescribed for 1 dose per day - but after checking with the vet we're going to give her half the dosage, twice a day. It was hard getting that much into her yesterday, there's only so much cucumber she can eat in one go! :p
 
Good grief! That's a very heavy dose! I hope her gut stands up to it. Poor Parkin has lost quite a bit of weight - I can feel his bones through his fur, but he is eating. He weighed 980 g down from 1.2 kg and his dose is 0.4ml per day - one dose. I am taking him back next week, as I am not completely happy that he is actually better. It may be that a longer, higher dose or a switch to another ab is called for. I will ask lots of questions thanks to your experience!

Hope she's feeling better soon.
 
The fact that she has already had several baytril treatments would indicate a new antibiotic is peferable rather than *** upping the baytril dose- despite the blood and (presumably) antibioitic senstivity tests.

If the bloods (microbial culture and antibioitic sensitivity) tests were taken too soon after completing a previous baytril course they will be compromised,

Marbocyl or zithro-max would be first choices to eradicate (rather than just "manage") the problem.

Besides streptococcus - what was the other bacterium they found?

See how she goes on the higher dose - but don't be afraid to go back to the vet for a change in antibiotic if you see no progress within 2 weeks. Also be watchful of her apetite/food intake/poo output as high dose baytril can cause problems with gut motility. This can be resolved with zan-tac/cisapride (2mg/kg and 0.5mg/kg respectively) and (if necessary) syringe feeding mushed pellets and probiotics (eg Biolapis - NOT human ones such as acidophilus)

HTH
x
 
Sorry - tried to edit my last post but ran out of time

The fact that she has already had several baytril treatments would indicate a new antibiotic would be peferable rather than upping the baytril dose- despite the blood and (presumably) antibioitic senstivity tests. However, baytril is what you;ve got and 0.4ml twice daily is OK and actually not that high - this is the routine dose my vets used to give my pigs - how much does she currently weigh?

If the bloods (microbial culture and antibioitic sensitivity) tests were taken too soon after completing a previous baytril course they will be compromised. The fact that you have a baytril-sensitive streptococcus despite the previous treatments would indicate that perhaps there has been some external contamination of the sample. Also, your vet needs to be aware that the occurrence of baytril-resistant bugs (mainly staph and strep) is now common place (and baytril has now been banned from my household by my vets as an antibiotic of choice).

Marbocyl or zithro-max would be preferable choices to eradicate (rather than just "manage") the problem.

Besides streptococcus - what was the other bacterium they found?

See how she goes on the higher dose - but don't be afraid to go back to the vet for a change in antibiotic if you see no progress within 2 weeks. Also be watchful of her apetite/food intake/poo output as higher dose baytril can cause problems with gut motility. This can be resolved with zan-tac/cisapride (2mg/kg and 0.5mg/kg respectively) and (if necessary) syringe feeding mushed pellets and probiotics (eg Biolapis - NOT human ones such as acidophilus)

HTH
x
 
Thanks for the advice - I'm not sure about the 2nd of the bacteria mentioned, the vet spoke to my GF and she couldn't remember.

Doris has been prescribed baytril in the past but it was some time ago, the first antibiotic we ever tried I think. I believe her weight was ~1kg at her last weighing.

I was reading a bit about probiotics on this forum, it sounds as if it's important but not many vets seem to mention it to people..? Molly and Doris were both out in the run for most of yesterday afternoon while I cleaned the cage, so I was keeping an eye on Doris' appetite, pooping etc. At first she seemed a bit subdued and was picking at food but by yesterday evening she was eating fine, and this morning she was scoffing everything in sight as usual, so perhaps I just interrupted her nap time when I moved her.. :)p

We'll see how she gets on; I find it quite difficult to tell, last week she seemed to be enjoying herself, popcorning around the cage and being a bit more active than usual x), but she still sounds a bit snuffly.

We'll also mention the other drugs to the vet to see what she says.

Another problem we have is getting her to take her baytril dose. She *really* doesn't like it syringed (usually ends up all over her face!), and I can't see how we can give her all 0.8ml in one go, so we've had to use the 'ribena tip' and administer it bit by bit on small pieces of cucumber, parsley, melon etc. It's hard work but it's the only way we seem to be able to get it all in her.. :red
 
Although it's an old thread I thought I'd update it as there's been some further information about Doris in case anyone's interested.

..It's bad news I'm afraid, but after no response from the baytril course we got a second X-ray about a month ago. The vet compared it with the first and noticed a mass near Doris's heart that had increased in size since the previous one. It could be one of a couple of things (e.g. tumour), but the bottom line is that her prospects aren't great. Due to its proximity to her heart there would be very high risks and no guarantees if she had an operation (or even further sample taking from the mass). :...

So it's quite sad really as she hasn't even reached her 2nd birthday.. :( But on a positive note, Doris doesn't seem bothered at all, and has been eating loads as normal, and running about happily. Her breathing is still a bit noisy but it doesn't seem to bother her, she's very active and seems to be enjoying life (probably because she's not being force-fed Baytril every day..!) :(|) So we're just going to leave her be until such time she appears to be suffering and her quality of life deteriorates.

guinea_blanket.jpg
 
Sorry we missed this post before. I hope she's still doing well and you should feel happy knowing you've done all you can for her, but now all you can do is help her enjoy her life to the full.
 
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