guinea808
Active Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Messages
- 29
Hi,
One of our 2 piggies (both female and approximately 8 weeks old) recently started sneezing a lot and her left eye was partially closed. We took her to a vet and they said she had an upper respiratory and eye infection. They put her on 0.2 ML of Baytril daily for 10 days along with an eye drop (Ofloxacin) 3 times a day for a week.
BTW: I have read several posts that Baytril should not be given to small piggies. I did question the vet about this but he said because it is such a low dose, and only for 10 days it should not be harmful.
After 2 days she was better and after 4 days she was doing great. Her eye was fully opened and no more sneezing. But on the morning of day 5 she was in the corner of her 2x4 c&c having a hard time breathing and a crackling sound was omitting from her at every breath.
A second trip to the vet and her new diagnosis is Bordetella (also know as kennel cough). The vet is keeping her for 1-2 days while he periodically gives her oxygen as well as Doxycycline (not sure of ML yet).
The vet is not an "exotic" vet, but they are the only vet within about a 50 mile radius of us and they do frequently treats cavies.
Needless to say, this is not how we (or our piggie) wanted to start the new year. I hope all turns out ok. But I would like to ask you all a few questions since most of you are way more experienced with cavy health than my wife and I are.
#1. Has anyone ever heard of Petsmart footing the bill for selling a sick animal? (We have only had them for 13 days). Were already in excess of $300.00 in vet fees.
#2. Should we treat the other cavy (who has no symptoms of a URI or Bordetella) just to be safe? They live in the same cage and share hide-a-ways, food bowls, water bottles etc...
#3. Although I have found several posts on URI's, I can't seem to find much on Bordetella. Has anyone been successful in curing their cavy of this?
#4. Do young cavies frequently have these kinds of health concerns or did we buy an unusually unhealthy pet?
Thank you in advance for any helpful replies!
One of our 2 piggies (both female and approximately 8 weeks old) recently started sneezing a lot and her left eye was partially closed. We took her to a vet and they said she had an upper respiratory and eye infection. They put her on 0.2 ML of Baytril daily for 10 days along with an eye drop (Ofloxacin) 3 times a day for a week.
BTW: I have read several posts that Baytril should not be given to small piggies. I did question the vet about this but he said because it is such a low dose, and only for 10 days it should not be harmful.
After 2 days she was better and after 4 days she was doing great. Her eye was fully opened and no more sneezing. But on the morning of day 5 she was in the corner of her 2x4 c&c having a hard time breathing and a crackling sound was omitting from her at every breath.
A second trip to the vet and her new diagnosis is Bordetella (also know as kennel cough). The vet is keeping her for 1-2 days while he periodically gives her oxygen as well as Doxycycline (not sure of ML yet).
The vet is not an "exotic" vet, but they are the only vet within about a 50 mile radius of us and they do frequently treats cavies.
Needless to say, this is not how we (or our piggie) wanted to start the new year. I hope all turns out ok. But I would like to ask you all a few questions since most of you are way more experienced with cavy health than my wife and I are.
#1. Has anyone ever heard of Petsmart footing the bill for selling a sick animal? (We have only had them for 13 days). Were already in excess of $300.00 in vet fees.
#2. Should we treat the other cavy (who has no symptoms of a URI or Bordetella) just to be safe? They live in the same cage and share hide-a-ways, food bowls, water bottles etc...
#3. Although I have found several posts on URI's, I can't seem to find much on Bordetella. Has anyone been successful in curing their cavy of this?
#4. Do young cavies frequently have these kinds of health concerns or did we buy an unusually unhealthy pet?
Thank you in advance for any helpful replies!
