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Sick Battling pneumonia/URI -- Need some help and advice

EclipseCritters

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Cavy Gazer
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Sep 23, 2017
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I've posted this in the guinea lynx forum as well, so I apologize to anyone who's seen it twice. I just want to maximize the eyes that see it so I can get some help. I'm feeling pretty desperate, so I hope you understand the cross-posting on two different forums. Anyway . . .


In early August we had one pig, Bartlet, who was diagnosed with pneumonia. He spent 5 nights at the vet's office getting nebulized, vitamin-C treatments, nutritional support, etc. He came home with a 10-day course of oral Baytril and recovered very well. In early September, all 4 boy pigs went into the vet for some nasal discharge and were given a 10-day course of chloramphenicol. They recovered and the discharge stopped. In the middle of September another pig, Warren, started to show symptoms of pneumonia. He went into the vet for the same treatment as Bartlet and spent 3 nights and was doing really well. They released him home with a 10-day course of chloramphenicol. He seemed to have recovered very well but on the last day of his antibiotics course, he started to show symptoms of pneumonia again. Back to the vet. On the second night there, he unfortunately passed away. I took Bartlet in when I picked Warren up and the vet said he had another case of mild pneumonia again. The vet gave me meds (gentamicin) for a nebulizer, which I purchased at a medical supply company on the way home. He also sent me home with Meloxicam for inflammation and another 10-day course of chloramphenicol. He also sent me home with injectable vitamin-C and some lactated ringers in case he stops eating. I used to be a vet-tech so I'm comfortable doing all this at home myself. The vet made sure I have everything to do at home that he would do in the office.


This brings me to my predicament: Now my other 4 remaining pigs are showing symptoms of a URI. I don't hear any rales, crackles or rubs in their lungs but they have quite a bit of clear nasal discharge. They're all eating well, are active, and their poops are normal. Ginsburg, one of my females, looks like her breathing might be labored but she's awfully shy so it's hard to tell if we startled her or if she's having trouble breathing.


My vet is closed and doesn't have hours on Sunday. The closest emergency vet doesn't have anyone that knows about exotics. I don't want to wait and since I have the gentamicin, I think it would be a good idea to start nebulizing them right away. I have to go back into my vet's office on Tuesday (I forgot our carrier when I picked up Warren to bring home to bury). I'll take the other pigs in at that point if he wants to see them. I'm fairly certain he will give me more of the gentamicin solution so I can nebulize all 5 pigs. I have enough right now to last 1 week, nebulizing everyone twice a day. I'll talk to the vet to see if oral antibiotics are appropriate for the other pigs, or if the nebulized gentamicin is enough. I'll make an appointment with him in about 3 weeks to check to see if it's cleared up or not. If not, I'm thinking about asking him to do a culture so we know exactly what we're dealing with. I really, really don't want to lose any more pigs.


This brings me to my questions:
1. Is my plan above a good one? Is it a good idea to nebulize gentamicin for the URI? I'd like to avoid creating a resistant strain of bug, so I'm a little hesitant to just throw gentamicin at a pig without asking my vet but I know they can go downhill really quickly and don't want to wait until Monday if it will help.
2. Do you think it would be a good idea to quarantine everyone from each other? I have two pigs with very little nasal discharge, and two that have a pretty good crust going on. I'm afraid of this bouncing around back and forth forever at this point. I'm not even 100% sure at this point if everyone has the same bug or if Bartlet has something different from everyone else. Bartlet is already quarantined.
3. I have some F10SC on the way. It will arrive on Monday. I've read that some people have nebulized this with some success. I've also read that it can be used as a fogger to clear the air of airborne bacteria. Is anyone familiar with its use? Can you put it in a humidifier to fog the air? Has anyone here used it in a nebulizer? If so, what dilution did you use and how long did you leave the pig in the chamber?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Woo. Long post. I'm sorry about that but wanted to give a good background so anyone helping can understand what I've been dealing with. Thank you so much in advance to anyone who replies. And thank you for all the help I've already received from my research on the forum. I'm looking forward to participating more.
 

bpatters

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I answered you at GL, so won't repeat it here. But I'm wishing you all the best with your pigs.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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I read the replies at GL as well.

I also want to wish you and your pigs the very best, and I'm hoping for a safe and speedy recovery. Please let us know how everything works out with them.
 
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