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When should we expect to see improvement from antibiotics treatment for suspected respiratory infection?

badger2503

badger2503

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Hi all!

My boar, Patrick, has discharge from one eye, a bit of discharge from his nose, will make a few odd grunts/snuffles but is not sneezing or coughing. He was treated the previous week with fusidic acid eyedrops for the discharge by the general vet and this made no difference, then he started showing more symptoms. No change in weight, no loss of appetite. He seems a bit "off" and puffed up. He was seen last Wednesday by the exotics vet who could not hear anything from his lungs, but could hear some noise in his windpipe area. Going from that and his eye/nasal discharge, he has been prescribed 14 days of Enrocare antibiotics, 0.53ml once a day. He also has Dog Strength Loxicom twice a day.

Things the vet noted:
- no sign of weight loss
- no obvious bumps/lumps
- no noise in lungs
- the other eye seems unaffected
- front teeth are even and OK but obviously that doesn't rule of back teeth issues.
- no sign of injury/debris in the affected eye. Just inflamed, and have the "bobbly" bits
- seemed like he wasn't properly clearing his pocket, I had noticed a bit of decreased output the past day which I let her know about at the appointment.

He started treatment on Wednesday evening, however I have so far not seen any improvements in his symptoms. Is it too early to tell? At what point would I normally expect to see signs of getting better after starting antibiotics? I've actually not had a guinea pig treated for an infection before so I don't really know the normal timeframe! He is scheduled for another exotics vet visit after his course is over, but his vet does not work Mon-Tues so I can't call her to ask at the moment. If he's not starting to improve by this Wednesday, a week after starting, is that cause for concern that he should be seen sooner by the vet for further investigation?

Essentially, his exotics vet said that the most common bacteria that cause respiratory illness respond well to antibiotics, but the tests for them are not very accurate. The other bacteria could be chlamydia, which is resistant to the antibiotics, so he's following the most likely course of treatment and ruling out the common bacteria if this doesn't work. If no improvement, he'll be tested for chlamydia and also have X-rays to look for other causes of his symptoms like dental, masses etc.

If it is actually chlamydia, or another cause, I don't want to waste any more time than necessary to get him on the correct treatment. If you've had piggies with URIs, by what point did you see improvement? And by what point would you say "this isn't working"?

Sorry, I'm just so worried about him and want him to get better. He's only 18 months old :(
 
So he's been on them about 6 days? I woukd have thought there should be sone improvement by now but I'm not an expert. You could always ring up and ask over the phone if there should be a change by now
 
Usually you expect to see some improvement within a few days but it depends on the illness, dosage etc. A course of antibiotics may need to be longer, it may not be quite the right antibiotic and a different one may need to be tried, a higher dose.

If tomorrow marks a week, then it may be worth giving your vet a call to ask if things are where they would expect them to be at this point or whether something else needs to be considered.
 
:agr:If it is a bacterial URI and it is the right antibiotic then you usually see some improvement within a few days. I would definitely be giving the vet a call to discuss the situation. Best of luck
 
Usually if I've not seen improvement by the 3rd day I'd be phoning the vet again. My old boy has just had to have 3 weeks of Septrin for a UTI in order to clear it. He'd previously had a more standard 10 day course but the infection returned within a few days of stopping the ABs. However, both times we saw clear improvement in symptoms within a day or two, it's just that it was very difficult to clear out the last dregs of infection.

@PigglePuggle , you've had a chlamydia piggy I think? Was it difficult to shift once you'd identified it?
 
Hi everyone, thanks for your replies! I spoke to his vet today and yes she agreed that we should be seeing improvement in his condition by now. She is prescribing a stronger antibiotic to pick up and start this evening which is effective against chlamydia.

Hopefully we will start to see some positive changes in his condition, if not he has another appointment booked in next Thursday to review and investigate further :)
 
Update: I came home after picking up his new medicine and the side of his face where the eye discharge is looks swollen. The lump is hard to the touch. I'm calling his vet first thing in the morning when they open, does this look like a dental abscess?

Pictures here:
 

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Ooh - look at that! Is he still eating OK and maintaining weight? That's the immediate worry with a dental abscess.
Patrick you really are in the wars!
 
Free Ranger said:
Ooh - look at that! Is he still eating OK and maintaining weight? That's the immediate worry with a dental abscess.
Patrick you really are in the wars!
Click to expand...
Fortunately he's so far been eating fine! We've been weighing him every day while he's been under the weather and he's stable around 1320g - 1350g. I'm sure this must have been brewing under the radar and it's only just become visible to me so that could change now it's much larger :( just waiting for his vet to call me back
 
Hopefully last update: thank you all for taking the time to reply, it was really helpful for determining that treatment wasn't working and to get Patrick back at the vets ASAP.
He had surgery yesterday afternoon. From the assessment and X-rays the vet was absolutely convinced it was going to be an abscess. However it turned out to be a singular mass, which was starting to put pressure on his orbital socket and causing sinus-related issues. This has been sent off for a biopsy, hoping for unexciting results. In the meantime, he is back home and starting to pick up in himself and eating (we're supporting with some syringefeeding too) so paws crossed for an uneventful recovery and clear biopsy results!
 
Sending Patrick healing vibes. I hope all goes well and the mass is nothing to worry about.
 
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