Medications No interest in pellets or hay after starting Baytril

[2boys_mom]

Recently, Hoshi's urine was very dark and his breathing sounded like "hooting", so I took him to his doctor, who suspected UTI and prescribed Baytril. He did x-rays to check for bladder stones (none, fortunately!) but I did not let him do urine analysis (almost $400 for the examination, w/out the urine analysis). For the first three days, he ate his Oxbow pellets, but stopped the following morning. He never eats as much hay as his brother, but now he barely touches it. Sometimes he'll eat hay when I offer it to him - bit by bit! All he is interested in is lettuce, carrots, and yellow pepper. That's it. He won't even finish his hard treats.

After reading threads about side effects of Baytril, I called to ask about using probiotics, but every time I'm told that (1) as long as he is alert, he will be okay and (2) if I am concerned, I should bring him back for urine analysis ($200 more!). I don't mind giving him a whole head of lettuce every day (he'll take maybe one baby carrot a day, no more) but I am afraid that without consuming at least more hay he will lose too much weight. He's got about 8 days to go to finish his antibiotic.

Good thing I am working from home now - Can't imagine him going on for an entire day without eating!

Should I go and buy the probiotic anyway, or try something else to get him to eat more hay?

By the way, urine is getting clearer, and no more "hooting", so it seems he really needed the medication.

 

[lemoncake]

When I first got my boar, he had a URI and was put on Baytril too. Antibiotics are TOUGH on piggies. I noticed he stopped eating and pooping as much, and I researched like crazy for an answer. Not eating or drinking anything is a BAD sign, if he's not drinking water please give him water through a syringe. I got Bene-Bac Plus Probiotic on amazon, it's really cheap!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7ABlwTBHAs&t=35s

This video helped me so much, this Youtuber is an excellent piggy mom and talks about how to use/when to use probiotics.

Not sure if it's the same sound, but mine was hooting and it sounded like he was moaning saying "owww" with his breath. He stopped after he sneezed really hard LOL, which I researched too for hours. It's not the same sound as wheezing either, so I'm not entirely sure what yours sounds like but I'm glad he isn't making it anymore

 

[bpatters]

Definitely get him a probiotic and give it 60-90 minutes after each dose of antibiotic. BeneBac works well, or a plain acidophilus or kyodophilus tablet will work.

Weigh him daily to make sure he's not losing. Hand feed him if he's not eating enough. The MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do for him is to make sure he's eating. He'll develop painful, possibly fatal stomach ulcers if he doesn't have food moving through his gut all the time.

 

[ItsaZoo]

You may have to hand feed him Critical Care, which is a nutritional food for convalescing guinea pigs. As Bpatters said, guinea pigs need to keep moving food through their digestive tract. You can’t wait until they feel like eating again because that can be fatal.

You mentioned lettuce and other veggies that he’s still somewhat interested in. For hydration you can take leaf lettuce and dip it in water so it’s very wet. If he eats that it will help. But he needs fiber from hay. Veggies just don’t provide enough.

 

[SSLee]

Totally agree with everyone above on the need to give probiotic following antibiotic. 2 months ago, my new piggy, Felicia, developed an abscess which ruptured. The vet put her on Baytril and another antibiotic. Felicia's appetite went down and she was only nibbling at her hay and somewhat interested in her veggies. Vet said no need to give her probiotic but I had been reading from more experienced members here about the benefits. Day (broken link removed) , I went ahead and started Felicia on BeneBac following the schedule @bpatters stated above. Over several days, saw appetite improvement in Felicia and it increased daily to a normal level. Now I always make sure I have a packet of BeneBac on hand.