Urgent Question About My Ill Guinea Pig

[SquareWheels30]

My little one, Panda (8 weeks old) is suffering from what was called pneumonia by a non-exotic vet, though I am sure it is actually an upper respiratory infection.

He was first given the antibiotic Baytril which gave him diarrhea and severe loss of appetite shortly after the first dose, so just yesterday we had the vet switch antibiotics for him.

The new antibiotic is a smaller dose to be given every 12 hours, instead of once a day.

His appetite has immediately started returning (yay!!!!)

The problem now is that there haven't been any droppings in his cage at all since he began the new antibiotic.

However, I have most definitely seen him engage in coprophagy (the eating of a certain kind of dropping which gives him essential vitamins) very often.

My question is: Is it possible that because he has been so ill he is eating all his droppings, not just the vitamin-rich ones?

I am aware of the dangers of bloat and impaction and to that end, he has a vet appointment at 8:30 this morning.

I am asking my question because I am hoping that the lack of droppings in his cage doesn't necessarily have to mean that he's coming down with bloat or he has an impaction. My poor little Panda has been through too much already!

Thank you kindly for any answer anyone can provide!!

[Ly&Pigs]

URI's that aren't treated right away can progress into pneumonia.

Baytril should not be used on young pigs because it's thought to impede or interfere with growth so it's a good thing the pig is not longer on it. What is the new AB he was put on?

Is he eating at all? And what is he eating and when did he last have the AB?

[SquareWheels30]

URI's that aren't treated right away can progress into pneumonia.

Baytril should not be used on young pigs because it's thought to impede or interfere with growth so it's a good thing the pig is not longer on it. What is the new AB he was put on?

Is he eating at all? And what is he eating and when did he last have the AB?

I requested Bactrim as the replacement antibiotic, but he is on Doxycycline now instead because the vet said that was the closest thing she had to Bactrim. He is drinking his normal amount of water and his food consumption is more than halfway back to normal at this point. I am so happy about this because for the short time that he wasn't eating, the syringe feeds were barely working (he absolutely hated them and fought hard). His last dose of the replacement antibiotic was at midnight last night. Strangely enough, he seems to like the taste of this medicine I think, and doesn't fight the med syringe at all. This was more information than you asked for, I'm sorry!

[SquareWheels30]

I missed the part of your reply that asked what he is eating. Since getting his appetite back, he is eating a good quantity of his pellets, more timothy hay than before he stopped eating and he's had 3 baby carrots and 1 bite of an apple slice.

He's getting back to normal, he's just not eating every 10 minutes like he did before he was sick. He has access to an unlimited amount of pellets because of his age and of course unlimited hay as all pigs should have.

Note: Before he got his appetite back, we were attempting to syringe feed. We tried different mixtures of mashed up pellets, such as he pellets with water and his pellets with organic carrot baby food. I'm not sure how much, if any, of these mixtures he ate. Throughout his illness, though, he has never refused his water bottle.

[SquareWheels30]

Today is 3rd day of the new antibiotic and he's eating normally.

Impaction and bloat were ruled out this morning, but he is just beginning to defecate again and the stools are clay colored instead of his normal colored dark brown, so if his stools don't completely normalize soon, I'll have the vet check for bloat and impaction again at his medication check later this week.

Here's another question about URIs: Is suddenly putting his head way up and sniffing the air for almost a full minute at a time-while in his cage only-a symptom of URI? He's also spending more time sniffing his (Carefresh) bedding than before he was ill.

He would not do the minute long head up while sniffing the air thing for the vet.

[SquareWheels30]

Just one last update on Panda's medical thread. I found an exotic vet for his follow-up appointment for his pneumonia. After 7 days of Doxycycline, he has been pronounced completely healthy. This vet actually said that Panda is the most healthy guinea pigs he'd seen in weeks simply because not many guinea pig owners around here know about the necessity of Vitamin C in their pig's diet. This is beyond surprising to me!