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Sick Sick Guinea Pig not doing well

kusecat

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Cavy Gazer
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My three year old guinea pig Leo is on his second round of antibiotics for a URI. He was doing better but wasn't breathing perfectly, so I took him back to the vet and she decided to put him back on the anibiotics. If these do not work she will be sending me to another vet who also handles piggies. He has been on the second round of antibiotics since the 2nd of August and he started the fisrt round on the 26th of July. I have been syringe feeding him critical care when he hasn't been eating or has been eating very little and steaming him when his breathing is particularly bad.
Today he is not doing so well. He hasn't eaten solid food today and when I syringe fed him he wasn't as willing to be fed as normal. His nose is running more and his breathing is weaker than normal. He has much less energy. I'm going to syringe feed him for the night, and give him water from the syringe because I think that he may be dehydrated. I'm going to call the vet in the morning.
I'm not sure what else to do at this point. Does anyone have any advice?
 

bpatters

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The most important thing to do is to feed him -- he's got to have food moving through his gut. And syringing the water is also important.

It seems that neither of the antibiotics has been effective against whatever he's got, and it's possible that he has a fungal infection that antibiotics wouldn't help at all anyway.

I do hope he makes it through the night and that you can get him to a good vet in the morning. Keep him warm.

Good luck, and let us know how you and he get along.
 

kusecat

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I think his nose is completly blocked. He is taking little breaths from his mouth. Is there anything I can do to unblock his nose? Could a flush it with saline?
 

bpatters

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I'd be afraid that flushing it would force the infectious material back into his lungs. Does the steaming not help?

Is there an emergency vet near you that has someone on staff with knowledge of exotics? He sounds very ill.
 

kusecat

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I steamed him last night, and that helped some. I called my vet this morning, and she’s sending us to another vet that should be able to help since the antibiotics aren’t working.
 
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