URI/Upper Respiratory Infection Guinea Pig URI not doing good

[Jrodr33]

Hi everyone,
My guinea pig names Russell has been not doing good recently, he has had 2 recent vet visits, the first one was about two weeks ago which I took him in because I noticed he started looking a little tired, had a very wet chin, and lost a good amount of weight. The vet prescribed bactrim for a uri and gave some pain meds because she noticed he had a little bit of pain when she touched his bladder. Keep in mind Russell did have a bladder stone back in August that he had removed. I noticed Russel had not improved so I took him back and she then prescribed baytril and I had mentioned to her that there was blood in his urine and sh took x- rays and he now has another bladder stone. She said we first should make sure the uri is gone then we will deal with the stone.

Here we are today Russell has 9 days left on his antibiotics 14 in total and today he seems that he is at his worst. His breathing seems very bad he is probably taking less than 40 breaths a minute and I put my ear up to him to hear him and he has a little squeal everytime he breaths. When he does breath he lifts his chin up a little and pulses his whole body to take a breath.I did record a video but I do not know how to show it on here. I dont know if his nose airways are blocked or not , he does have mucus in them and I did try to put hik over some steam to help him but nothing happened. He hasnt been wanting to eat very much he just grabs his veggies and lets them go. I have started critical care he does eat it but very slowly.

Im running out of ideas right now as to what to do the vet office is closed on Sundays so I would have to wait till tommorow to make an appointment, i forgot to mention the vet weighed him which was on the 21st and He weighed about 1,100g and today he weighed 1,000 which I find hard to believe he lost that much in 3 days. I just dont know what to do right now, I appreciate any advice.

Thank you

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Continue giving him the critical care as long as he'll eat it. A guinea pig that isn't eating is a guinea pig that's dying. They MUST have food constantly moving through the gut.

Has your vet checked his teeth? The weight loss that he's experiencing could easily account for a 100 gram loss in 3 days, and that's not good. If he's having trouble breathing be very careful with him. Be very careful you don't force the critical care in so much that he chokes on it. A bladder stone can also block the urethra, which is a life threatening emergency and is also quite painful.

And yes, get him back to the vet as soon as you can. Is your vet cavy savvy? What are the odds you can find a cavy savvy vet today to look at him?

 

[bpatters]

He needs a good exotic vet today if you can find one.

Where are you? City/state, not your actual address. We may be able to help you find a competent vet.

 

[Jrodr33]

Continue giving him the critical care as long as he'll eat it. A guinea pig that isn't eating is a guinea pig that's dying. They MUST have food constantly moving through the gut.

Has your vet checked his teeth? The weight loss that he's experiencing could easily account for a 100 gram loss in 3 days, and that's not good. If he's having trouble breathing be very careful with him. Be very careful you don't force the critical care in so much that he chokes on it. A bladder stone can also block the urethra, which is a life threatening emergency and is also quite painful.

And yes, get him back to the vet as soon as you can. Is your vet cavy savvy? What are the odds you can find a cavy savvy vet today to look at him?

Hello thank for the response,

My vet did check his teeth she did not find anything unusual though with them. I am not sure if my vet is cavy savy, but I did have another vet that was cavy savy but she is currently on vacation. Unfortunately the odds are very low that I would find a vet for Russell today sadly. Do you havy any recommendations on how much critical care I should feed?
thanks

 

[Jrodr33]

Hi
I am located in Lafayette, Indiana
Thanks

 

[bpatters]

The Purdue Vet Small Animal Hospital is open 24 hours a day. The Avian and Exotic Clinic in Indianapolis provides 24 hour emergency care. If he were mine, I'd get him to one of those. Critical Care will only do so much to help him, and he sounds very ill.

The general rule of thumb for Critical Care is that an animal that's eating nothing else needs 100+ cc. of Critical Care for every kilogram it weighs, every day, split into 6-8 feedings per day. Adjust up or down according to the animal's weight, and down if he's eating anything on his own.