Trixie’s Medical Thread

[Rywen]

Why do our piggies always get sick in the middle of the night?

10:30pm when I gave Bacon & Penny meds and all 3 vitamin C and lettuce Trixie seemed fine.

I heard her choke on some lettuce. Trixie chokes on her veggies fairly often, her vets have never been able to find a physical cause.

1:00am when I went to give them bedtime baby carrots Trixie’s breathing sounds like gravel being stirred in a bucket.

Ugh. Not sure if she inhaled lettuce or what? I gave her a dose of marbofloxacin (leftover from Bacon’s URI) and nebulized her with gentocin and acetylcystine and saline (also leftover from Bacon’s URI). She sounded a bit better after the nebulizer box treatment.

I’m not sure what else I can do for her tonight? She’s not acting sick, she ate a baby carrot and was running around the cage after the neb treatment (maybe from the steroids?).

Penny has a 12pm appointment (today) with their exotics vet for a follow up urinalysis from a bad UTI, it looks like Trixie is going to the vet instead if she makes it through the night.

[TinyFarmRescue]

I am so sorry and of course this all happens when you are trying to relax and get ready for bed. I hope everything is fine. Keep me updated.

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Sure sounds like poor Trixie probably inhaled some lettuce, or some other veggie. I'm certainly hoping that's the case. Sly used to have the same problem rather often, he would eat and then you hear a good loud cough or two out of him and he would be ok. Until he coughed it out, though, he would sound just like Trixie.

Fingers crossed for your little girl, and waiting for good news later today.

[bpatters]

It does sound like she's inhaled some lettuce. But I definitely would not give antibiotics in that situation. Giving one or two doses and then stopping when it isn't needed does nothing but create antibiotic-resistant organisms, and will make future treatments more difficult or useless.

The whole country faces that problem at the moment. Chicken/pig/beef/whatever farmers have dosed their animals with low-doses of antibiotics for years, and we're now seeing strains of organisms that will respond to nothing. If the researchers can't come up with a whole new class of antibiotics, we're all up the creek without a paddle.

[Rywen]

Well, Trixie is fine. She had gotten lettuce stuck in her throat. It’s cleared now. She had either coughed it up or swallowed it by the time I woke up today.

I had the vet check Trixie anyway. Then I got a lecture on giving antibiotics (@bpatters you’re totally right) even though I already know better (Bio degree, had a tough but good microbiology professor back in the day).

I think I panicked more than usual because a friend of mine died from cancer yesterday. I was thinking I can’t loose my little Trixie too!

Meanwhile Penny’s bladder infection isn’t completely cleared up yet. A culture showed trimethoprim sulfa is the best antibiotic. So she’s on an additional 3 weeks.

I asked her vet about trying cartrophen for the bladder cystitis. I was worried about giving injections but now there’s an oral version and the vet found a compounding pharmacy that will make a concentration appropriate for a guinea pig. It should help with Penny’s arthritis too.

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Well, Trixie is fine. She had gotten lettuce stuck in her throat. It’s cleared now. She had either coughed it up or swallowed it by the time I woke up today.

I had the vet check Trixie anyway. Then I got a lecture on giving antibiotics (@bpatters you’re totally right) even though I already know better (Bio degree, had a tough but good microbiology professor back in the day).

I think I panicked more than usual because a friend of mine died from cancer yesterday. I was thinking I can’t loose my little Trixie too!

Meanwhile Penny’s bladder infection isn’t completely cleared up yet. A culture showed trimethoprim sulfa is the best antibiotic. So she’s on an additional 3 weeks.

I asked her vet about trying cartrophen for the bladder cystitis. I was worried about giving injections but now there’s an oral version and the vet found a compounding pharmacy that will make a concentration appropriate for a guinea pig. It should help with Penny’s arthritis too.

Glad to hear Trixie is ok! And as a sidenote, I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend. I don't know a single person that hasn't lost at least one dear friend or family member to that abhorrent disease.