General Pneumonia

[ZiggyDiggy]

Unfortunately, my favorite girl Louise has pneumonia. She is on Baytril and I give her Bene Bac a little while after as well, she is still eating pretty well but mostly resting of course and breathing heavily, she has only been on the baytril for two days now. I understand that she may not make it, and I’m so sad. I just don’t want her to suffer. Have any of you had experience with your guinea pigs and pneumonia? And if so did you euthanize when they got to a certain point or if they weren’t showing much improvement. This is horrible and I feel so bad for her.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

With proper care, she most likely will survive just fine.

Baytril is hard on a pigs gut, and it's good to hear that you are giving her benebac. But she may also go off her food, and that's bad news. You will more than likely need to supplement her with Critical Care. If she goes off her food entirely, you will have to force feed her via syringe. This is essential if she is to survive.

If you don't already have a digital kitchen scale that measure in grams, get one. Like, today. The only way you'll know if she's eating enough is by weighing her, and while sick and on Baytril I would weigh her daily.

If she has been on Baytril for two days, you should start seeing improvements in her in the next day or two.

Just out of curiosity, how old is Louise?

 

[ZiggyDiggy]

Thank you so much for the response, my critical care just arrived in the mail today and even though she still eating I plan on supplementing her with it soon as I get home from work. I will also head to Walmart and grab a little kitchen scale. Fortunately I can tell that she hasn’t lost too much weight because she feels the same when I pick her up and she doesn’t have any bones sticking out. She was always on the fat side. I took her on when a man abandoned her at the pet store that I work at, so I don’t really know much about her but part of me thinks she’s a senior, vet agrees.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

As a rule of thumb, you should weigh each of your pigs once a week. For instance, mine get weighed first thing (7am) on Sunday mornings.

The reason for this, is often times the only way you can tell there is a problem with a pig before it's too late, is through weight loss. Their weight should stay consistent from week to week as an adult. Up to 28 grams fluctuation in either direction in one week is considered normal .

Guinea pigs are prey animals and as such are hard wired to hide any illness, injury or other weakness for as long as they possibly can. If they show any sort of weakness to a predator they immediately become the target so they will hide it until they absolutely can't any more. Weekly weigh-ins are extremely important for a guinea pigs well being.

 

[ZiggyDiggy]

Wow okay that’s very interesting and I’m going to get that scale today! I appreciate all the help! Louise is doing a lot better today so I’m cautiously optimistic! We are not giving up!! Thank you very much for the help and info!


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[Kelsie]

I will be keeping Louise in my thought and prayers for a speedy recovery. You are a very kind person to take her in when she was abandoned. I hope you will keep us updated as to how she is doing.

 

[ZiggyDiggy]

Thank you so much! I love her, I will definitely do an update! So far she’s milling about much more than she has been!


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[Guinea Pig Papa]

Just wondered how Louise was faring today? Hopefully she's feeling better and eating well.

 

[ZiggyDiggy]

Just wondered how Louise was faring today? Hopefully she's feeling better and eating well.

Louise is back out and about and eating so so much better!! She’s so strong!! She also isn’t breathing heavy anymore!! Thanks again so much for your input! Very helpful!!


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[Guinea Pig Papa]

Glad to hear she's feeling better! Stay on top of this and I'm sure she'll be just fine. Have you weighed her yet?

 

[ZiggyDiggy]

I am definitely staying on it to make sure she completely gets back to health! And no I haven’t weighed her yet, I know it’s very important and will very soon! I’ll be off Wednesday and can make it to the store.


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[Guinea Pig Papa]

I just wanted to say, @ZiggyDiggy....

I saw in another thread last week that you had lost Louise. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am to hear that she was taken from you.

Rest in love and peace, Louise. You will be missed.

 

[ZiggyDiggy]

Thank you very much for the kind words. Vet said he thought she was older and I guess it was just too far along. I’m grateful for the time we had!

 

[escapay]

Sorry to hear of your loss. My girl, Sadie, had pneumonia. Noticed because she had a bloody nose and was breathing funny, so took her to the emergency vet after finding which one had someone comfortable seeing guinea pigs. They kept her stable until the next day when I took her to the exotic vet as an emergency drop off. (Interestingly the office visit for the ER vet was cheaper than the exotic emergency drop off visit). Sadie did stop eating and lost a lot of weight even with critical care supplementation. Pneumonia is definitely rough on them. The hardest part is when you see some improvement, and then it goes back downhill. Unfortunately Sadie also did not make it.