Sick Upper Resp Infection

If it is indeed a URI then medical attention is the only thing that can help Chester, he won't get better on his own. You need to find another vet as soon as possible. A guinea pig with a URI could go downhill really quickly, and three days would be way too long & could risk Chesters life.

https://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
GL vet list:
https://www.guinealynx.info/vetlist.html

I have been calling around and so far the only place that can get him in today is not cavy savvy. I looked over the pages you gave me and he only has 2 of the symptoms so it is making me wounder if it is something else. He has been peeing a lot though. He has soaked his cuddle cup even.

Well he is in the hospital and will be for a few weeks.

Sorry, I hope he gets better soon.

What was the diagnosis?

He has an uri and lice. He was not eating and with the discharge out of his nose I thought it was a uri. They said that the uri is so bad that we will be lucky to get him back alive. I am so scared about it. I hope my baby will be ok.

I'm sorry Chester has to be hospitalized but I hope you know that your other piggies are at risk for contracting both the lice & URI from him even if they aren't in the same cage. You can give it to them if you didn't take the precautions from going from him to the girls. I would definitely treat the girls for lice and keep an eye on them if they start to show any symptoms. You really should find an emergency vet place that look at exotics even if it's 2hrs away.

I had them looked at by the vet as well and has the vet give me the meds to treat for lice. They were not in the cage because he is not fixed and was going through quarantine. (I wanted to treat the girls on the off chance.) But all for girls are healthy.

It doesn't matter that he's in a separate cage. IF you handled him and then the girls w/out changing your shirt &/or washing your hands, you could've made them sick too. And who was looked at by the vet for lice? The girls? Him? All of them? And when did you have them looked at?

amcashes - keep an eye on the girls for signs of URI and please, if you suspect a URI in any of them, get them to a vet immediately rather than hoping for a home remedy and waiting until it's possibly too late to get them to a vet. Having "only two" of the symptoms of a URI isn't sufficient cause not to have it checked out by a vet asap. Trust me, it's better to be out the exam fee and not have a URI than to wait too long to get them in and be facing a much more serious infection than if you'd reacted promptly.

If you got medication to treat for lice, please do treat the girls too. Lice and mites are easily transmitted from pig to pig (same cage or not) and treating them if they don't have lice/mites won't hurt them.

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I started the lice treatment the same day the girls got checked out by the vet. I have been checking the girls out and what is going on with them is put in the health books. So far there are no signs of an uri in any of my girls. Because this is the first time any of my pigs have been really sick I have been looking up on guinealynx for info and I have been talking to our vet.

Well there is great news. I get to take Chester home this Friday!!!!

Please search here and on guinealynx for how to properly quarinateen. Make sure you ALWAYS handle the sick guinea pig last and change your shirts & pants if you hold him on your lap and wash your hands really good before touching anything else. Make sure he is quaranteen in a different room as far away as possible. Also you will want to buy some critical care and hand feed him several times a day if he is not eating much on his own. Also if he is on an antibiotic he should he on a probiotic to build up the good bacteria in his stomach. acidophilus pills are readily available at your local pharmacy. 1/2 a crushed pill with a tiny bit of juiced (apple) mixed in and syringe fed 1/2 an hour after the antibiotics will make a world of difference. (some people debate on if the probiotic should be given before or after...) You should also get a scale so you can weigh them because weight loss of 3 or more oz is a sign that something is wrong. It would be best to start weighing the girls asap just in case they contracted anything. Also make sure they are getting an adaquate dose of vit c to prevent them from getting worse. Oxboxs vit C tabs for guinea pigs are perfect for this reason...