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syringed too much water

Wizzy

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
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Location
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
i was just syringing rexy some water with pro c (to help with her digestive issues as prescribed by vet) and the big 15ml syringe like snapped and she got a big mouthful at once. it wasn’t full but i’d say she swallowed about 1.5 mls at once. now she has coughed a few times. i’m petrified! what can i do? has it gone into her lungs? should i be worried?
 
tagging @Piggies&buns @Wiebke i’m hoping it’s not too worrying and should clear soon but i’d like to make sure! :mal:

Hi

I am very sorry for the accident. You can always contact your vet or an out-of-hours service for advice if necessary in the UK.
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Please keep an eye on her and see a vet asap if she is showing heavy breathing, clicking from the chest area, crackling or rasping in the coming weeks (smyptoms of pneumonia).

I would recommend switching to a 1 ml syringe in the future. Most of our own forum members prefer them as you have better control, can push much more gently and only as much as a piggy can process at any given time, so that aspiration is not so much of a problem.
An adult piggy can hold about 0.5 ml of fluid/feed in their mouth; in the young and very weak, this can be as little as 0.1-0.3 ml.
 
Hi

I am very sorry for the accident. You can always contact your vet or an out-of-hours service for advice if necessary in the UK.
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Please keep an eye on her and see a vet asap if she is showing heavy breathing, clicking from the chest area, crackling or rasping in the coming weeks (smyptoms of pneumonia).

I would recommend switching to a 1 ml syringe in the future. Most of our own forum members prefer them as you have better control, can push much more gently and only as much as a piggy can process at any given time, so that aspiration is not so much of a problem.
An adult piggy can hold about 0.5 ml of fluid/feed in their mouth; in the young and very weak, this can be as little as 0.1-0.3 ml.
thank you for the reply! if she coughs a few times would she be able to clear it herself? is there anything else i should be worried about?
 
i’ve just thought of another question. If she does have pneumonia how would the vet treat this? as it wouldn’t be caused by a infection, and rather just fluid in the lungs.
 
i’ve just thought of another question. If she does have pneumonia how would the vet treat this? as it wouldn’t be caused by a infection, and rather just fluid in the lungs.

Pneumonia is a term for the inflammation of the tissue or air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs, that can fill with fluid as a result. It can be caused by aspiration of water or food, or infection. So essentially aspirational or infectious pneumonia can develop. Sometimes aspiration can lead to infectious pneumonia developing.
It can be treated with antibiotics and diuretic drugs.
As I said, hopefully it’s not going to be the case for your little one, but well worth getting a vet check to make sure.
 
Pneumonia is a term for the inflammation of the tissue or air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs, that can fill with fluid as a result. It can be caused by aspiration of water or food, or infection. So essentially aspirational or infectious pneumonia can develop. Sometimes aspiration can lead to infectious pneumonia developing.
It can be treated with antibiotics and diuretic drugs.
As I said, hopefully it’s not going to be the case for your little one, but well worth getting a vet check to make sure.
i really hope not. she’s been poorly lately with bloat and what not and she’s nearly 7 so i don’t think i could bear her having pneumonia :no:
 
i really hope not. she’s been poorly lately with bloat and what not and she’s nearly 7 so i don’t think i could bear her having pneumonia :no:
🤞🏻🤞🏻 Hopefully it won’t be. Try not to worry too much. But a prompt vet check and fast veterinary intervention if required, can help prevent something becoming a more serious situation.
do let us know how she gets on
 
🤞🏻🤞🏻 Hopefully it won’t be. Try not to worry too much. But a prompt vet check and fast veterinary intervention if required, can help prevent something becoming a more serious situation.
do let us know how she gets on
Thank you for the reply. i took her to the vet yesterday but we’ll see how she does. she had some white crust around her nose this morning but her nose waters sometimes anyways and she wiped it off in the morning and it didn’t return since. i also weighed her earlier and she is back to her original weight! she lost about 75g at the beginning of january and is now back to 870g, although her poos still aren’t 100%. the other thing that really worries me was the coughing. i feel awful, she wasn’t massively keen on the probiotics but i’m just trying to get her poops back to normal and all her digestive issues fixed. i’m not at home this weekend (family issues, covid checked!) so my mum is looking after them over the weekend. god knows how i’m going to last until sunday! :mal:
 
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