Not Eating Can I trust my vet??

[sandycmcr]

Hi, I recently adopted two beautiful boys from LAGPR. One teddy 1 yr old and one Abby 6 wk old. It all started when we got home and my teddy, Lionel, would be nonstop sneezing and coughing for a few days until suddenly it stopped. When that stopped now my Abby, Ziggy, started to hoot and make awful noises. That was when I went to a vet(who claims to work on local pet stores GPs) and he noticed on his own that my teddy had just gotten over being sick. I thought "Ok seems like he's good so far" but then went on to say my abby had soft fur and my teddy had weird fur. Which i presume he's never seen a teddy before so now I'm wondering if he's as knowledgeable as I thought. Well, he was nice enough to do a check up on both piggies for the price of one. However, proceeded to tell me various care tips for them. One of which being to give them broccoli and spinach, no parsely or cilantro. Never mentioned bell peppers and now I'm concerned...Those tips (minus the no parsely) aren't ones Ive ever heard before. Well he sent us home with a 65$ bill, which seemed reasonable, and some ciprofloxacin to dissolve into their water.

I hadn't heard of that medication before but decided to trust it and followed the instructions on the bottle. He had said it didn't matter if they both drank the medicine water even if my teddy was no longer sick. So, I did so and they only progressively got worse from there. Ziggy's wheezing did come and go much less but he started having mushy poop and not much poop either. He no longer ate any of his veggies besides a bit of green bell pepper and stopped drinking water until i gave in and replaced it with regular water to make sure he didn't get dehydrated. Lionel on the other hand, almost completely stopped eating or drinking anything. He ate scraps of hay once a day and one tiny piece of lettuce, no water. His poops were tiny until he didnt seem to poo at all. He also suddenly developed a limp and will not use one of his front paws. He sounded like he was wheeking in pain this morning. I was so worried he was dehydrated and not eating that i rushed him back to the vet this morning.

They didn't call for updates, I had to call hrs later only for them to say they hadn't gotten to treating them yet. I called a 2nd time an hr before there closing time because they never called to pick them up like they said they would. Unfortunately, it was too late to make it there before closing time and they offered to keep them overnight for free. The big red flag to me was that even after telling them he suddenly got sick after taking the ciprofloxacin they gave me, they said it couldnt be it and he just caught a URI, to continue giving it to them after i pick them up. I'm afraid I'd just be killing them myself at that point. Not only do i have to pay for the 2nd vet visit after they got my boys sick but they also insist on making them take what made them sick. On top of that when my boyfriend dropped them off ( i was too emotional to do it myself) they claimed he was acting that way because of his limp and on the phone they never even updated me on his limp. I don't think they even treated his limp because all they talked about on the phone was a URI and i was so frazzled during the call i forgot to ask about it. They never said I would be recieving any other medication, no probiotics, no pain medication, nothing, just pick them up and continue with the ciprofloxacin. I basically am paying for the vet to force feed them which i couldve done myself!!! I think i really need so probiotics and a feeding syringe but is there anywhere to get them in person? I dont have the time to wait for a shipment of them.

I really need advice, please tell me I'm wrong and that ciprofloxacin is safe for them... I definitely will not be returning to this vet...
Side note: Is my abby possibly a heart pig? when he was sick he didnt have discharge or crust just terrible hooting. The vet didn't mention him having a URI.

 

[scoottie]

Okay ciprofloxacin will destroy there appetite and he should of said get a probiotic and don't put it in their water. Don't give them broccoli or spinach they are gas inducing foods and bell pepper is a great way of getting vitamin c into their diet. I would say get a new vet as this one has no idea what he is doing.

 

[sandycmcr]

Is there any way to get his appetite going again?Do you know any probiotic I can get in person and not online?

 

[scoottie]

It depends on where you are Benebac is a good one I use it for my problem pig as for his appetite your going to have to force feed him Critical Care if he isn't eating.

 

[sandycmcr]

Thank you, I'm hoping i can find all those things in store.

 

[scoottie]

I have to ask is he drinking?

 

[sandycmcr]

No, he stopped when i switched to the medicine water like the vet told me and when i switched back to regular water he still wouldnt drink it. I tried force feeding it to him at one point but that wasn't very successful. Tried leaving a bowl of water too and still nothing. The girl on the phone said she would double check with the vet techs if he was eating or drinking on his own but she never let me know and just said to pick him up tomorrow morning.

 

[sandycmcr]

I'm trying to stay positive but i honestly think It's too late for him, it happened so fast after the medicine came into play

 

[scoottie]

Your going to have to syringe it to him if not you can try Pedialyte. Here is some readings that will be of use to you.

https://www.guinealynx.info/medications.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

 

[sandycmcr]

Is it this one "Pedialyte Electrolyte Solution, Unflavored, Electrolyte Drink, Liquid, 1-"? How much of it should i give him?

 

[Soecara]

For guinea pigs there are three options for probiotics, the first is a product like benebac. The second choice is getting a fresh donor poop from a healthy guinea pig and mixing it with water (but you may not have access to a healthy guinea pig). The third option is getting acidophilus capsules (you would split open the capsules and only give the powdered contents) or powder from a regular human pharmacy, you can either mix this with water and syringe feed it, or you can sprinkle it on some wet vegetables if they are still willing to eat on their own.

My biggest red flag is the recommendation to just put the antibiotic straight into their drinking water, as you have no idea how much of the medicine they have or have not consumed individually so they could either be massively under or over dosing and you would have no idea. I can't find the appropriate dosage of ciprofloxacin for guinea pigs online as it is almost never prescribe to guinea pigs but it is considered a safe antibiotic for rabbits.

If you cant get your hands on oxbow critical care you can make a slurry out of pellets providing you have high quality pellets to work with (either oxbow or kms pellets are the best). For more info on this read this page https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

 

[scoottie]

Honestly as much as he will take

 

[bpatters]

Ciprofloxacin is a VERY strong antibiotic, and should never be put in the water. You asked if you could trust this vet, and the answer is no. You need a good exotic vet, not just one that a pet store would take pigs to. They'll usually pick the cheapest one, not the best. There are vet lists over at Guinea Lynx, and you may be able to find one near you.

If he makes it through the night, I'd be camped on the vet's doorstep when they open in the morning to get him. The most important thing that they should have done for him is to make sure he's eating. Guinea pigs are wired to need food moving through their guts at all times, and not having it can cause painful, even fatal stomach ulcers, as well as bloat. The rule of thumb is that a guinea pig that's eating nothing else needs 100 cc of Critical Care or pellet slurry for every every kilogram the pig weighs, every day, split into 6-8 feedings around the clock. You adjust up or down based on the weight of the pig, and down if the pig is eating part of its normal diet.

You can get pet feeding syringes from a pet store, or syringes without needles from a pharmacy if you tell them it's for a sick pet. There are instructions on hand feeding in these two links: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/115000-Handfeeding-a-guinea-pig and https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html. He won't like it, but you have to force him to eat. He'll think you're killing him, but you're actually saving his life.

Don't feed any veggies when you get him back until he's eating hay and until you can get CC into him. His tummy needs to settle down before you start back on veggies.

Here's some general reading material for new pig owners:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/113176-Information-for-new-guinea-pig-owners
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/107827-What-NOT-to-do-for-your-guinea-pigs!

Good luck with him, and keep us posted.

 

[sandycmcr]

Thank you both so much. Is there any medicine for the URI i can give him in place of the ciprofloxacin or should i just give him critical care/probiotics/pedialyte?

 

[bpatters]

I'd get him to a good vet and let him decide. If he's really debilitated, they may decide to do a nebulized antibiotic for a URI rather than giving him something oral.

 

[sandycmcr]

I had found him on yelp as an exotic vet but now i see he's awful and has most likely killed my guinea pig...I'm hoping with all these tips he will pull through. I will look into finding a new vet through guinealynx

 

[BeckieL]

sorry you experienced this, and it was fortunate that you saw the red flags.

 

[sandycmcr]

I feel so bad, like this was my fault. I wish i had seen the red flags sooner. I guess now I'll know what to do if this ever happens if my other piggy ever gets sick.

 

[sandycmcr]

I got them back today and apparently he was given baytril which i think i should've asked for more instead of the ciprofloxacin they insist on but i didn't notice that was given to him until i looked over my receipt when i got home. They had things like probiotics and critical care there which i had to ask for otherwise they would've never recommended me to get it. He doesn't have a limp anymore and he eats a bit of hay on his own. Ive been giving him critical care and my other piggy has been getting slurry pellets since they both are being particular with what they eat at the moment. They also gave me eye drops for lionel's crust called Terramycin Ophth. Ointment. Is it safe to use?

 

[bpatters]

The ophthalmic ointment is fine.