Conditions Dillie medical thread

[korryn92]

OK Dillie is my newly bonded boar. I had Oreo before him and bonded the pair together and they are doing great.

To the medical part. It is chilly in my house today, 68 F, I know this is an acceptable temperature for piggies but I feel chilly so I figure they might be a little chilly.

Dillie is all scrunched up like he might be a little bit cold. He also has is fur a little fluffed up. I have seen is fur fluffed when he is curled in a ball sleeping but he is just scrunched up and not in a ball right now. He is also awake while being scrunched up and fluffy.

I have cuddle cups in their cage and he has used them before but he is not in one right now.

Do you think he might be getting sick, or be cold? I figured he would get in a cuddle cup if he was cold so I'm not sure if he may be getting sick.

Also the air is so dry in my house my clock that senses temperature and humidity can't even register it. It usually registers as low as 20% Could the dry air cause him to sneeze? He has been sneezing a little bit for a while now but never showed signs of illness so I was thinking it might be the air.

Advice would be greatly appreciate

 

[bpatters]

Sixty-eight degrees is fine. Guinea pigs are descended from animals that lived in the Andes mountains, so if you can tolerate the chill in your house, they can too. If he's not a skinny, he's not cold. The dry air is also no cause for sneezing.

How much is he sneezing? Wet sneeze, or dry sneeze? Any discharge from his eyes or nose? Is he eating/pooping/peeing ok? Is he losing weight? If it's an occasional dry sneeze, he's probably fine. If a lot of sneezing, or if they're wet sounding, or he's got any other symptoms of illness, you should probably take him to the vet.

 

[korryn92]

He doesn't sneeze real often, tops once a day. They are dry sneezes. He has no crusties or discharge on his eyes or nose. He is still a poop machine and is peeing fine. There are no other signs of illness other than the occasional sneeze and he is fluffed up once in a while.

Is there any reason other than illness that would make him fluff up? He has straight fur that lies flat on his body so do you think that it is fluffed up because he is scrunched up instead of stretched out making his fur stand up a bit more?

 

[bpatters]

I definitely wouldn't worry about a sneeze per day.

If he sits on his feet, he'll look a little more fluffed up.

It doesn't sound to me as if there's anything at all wrong.

 

[korryn92]

Thank you very much for helping me!

I have been very paranoid since Vinny passed so I wanted to make sure

 

[foggycreekcavy]

Do you weigh him? It's one way to know for sure if your pig isn't feeling well. If you are worried you can start weighing him daily, otherwise once a week is enough.

 

[korryn92]

This morning the boys were running around in their cage and when I went over too look I noticed Dillie babying his one front paw. I picked him up out of the cage to look him over. As I set him on my lap I noticed blood on my hand, it was coming from his foot. I looked and he had a cut on the pad of his foot, looked like a clean straight cut, not rough edges or anything. So I checked Oreo over just in case and he is fine. I cleaned the fleece, didn't have a clean liner to put in there but I can wash one, I probably will after I post this.

I checke3d his foot a few hours ago and a few minutes ago. A few hours ago it looked fine, no swelling or blood. Now when I checked it a few minutes ago it was swollen quite a bit and a little more red than his other paws, the rest are a healthy pink color but the one with the cut is a little darker.

I have ointment from the vet when Oreo had something lanced that is still good and some antibiotics. The antibiotics have been in the fridge and the vet said they can be good for up to a year in there and it hasn't been more than a couple of months. I wasn't sure how I could keep the ointment on his paw since I am assuming he would either pull or chew a bandage or wrap off if I put it on his paw. I have gauze and some of that sports tape stuff that is stretchy and only sticks to itself if he might be able to keep it on. I could cut it really thin to make it fit and cut the gauze too. I also still have some wound cleanser from the vet when Oreo has his thing lanced that I could use to wash off his paw. The antibiotic I have is Cipro since we were trying to get rid of some stubborn lumps Oreo had but they needed removed anyway, I also have some medicine to help with an upset tummy from cipro from the vet.

Should I give him some antibiotics? Would it be wise to wrap his foot or useless? Should I just forget about the ointment if I can't wrap his foot? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

My exotic vet is open tomorrow so if I need to take him I can call them first thing in the morning and tell them I need an appointment asap or talk to the vet and see if I could use the antibiotics I already have.

 

[korryn92]

Forgot to add to my last post that I also have a white towel that can cover most of the cage area that he likes if I should put that on top of the clean fleece to see if theres anything coming out that the fleece is rubbing of that I can't see.

 

[bpatters]

I would call and see if the vet would call me back, and ask about whether to give the antibiotics. Cipro is pretty strong stuff, and while it would probably work, it may be more than is necessary. But if you can't get in touch with the vet, you may want to go ahead and give it to him. Your decision, but I probably would. Swollen and red definitely indicates infection.

But I would soak his foot in some warm epsom salts water -- a jar lid makes a good piggy foot bath. But make very sure he doesn't get his foot anywhere his face, especially his eyes. Rinse carefully, and dry his foot well. I wouldn't put an antibiotic ointment on it, because he could lick that off, and it wouldn't be good for him.

 

[korryn92]

How do I soak just one foot? Do I get a clean wash cloth and soak it in the worm Epsom salt water then hold it on his foot? Or do I set him in the water with all four paws in it? Hoe much Cipro do you think I should give him? 0.25 cc? or 0.5? not sure what I should give him since he might not need super strong medicine, Oreo needed strong medicine so he got 0.5 because he needed it, so was thinking since Dillie is smaller and probably doesn't need that strong of meds that it might be fine for 0.25 until I can call the vet in the morning.

 

[korryn92]

Sorry I read your post wrong and didn't see you already said what to use to put his foot in to soak it. Thank you very much for the advice, you have been a life saver for this situation

 

[bpatters]

Glad you saw it. And half the dose the other pig got should be about right. It's just a guess at this point, anyway.

 

[korryn92]

Thank you so much! His foot looks like it has swollen more than before so I'll be giving the vet a call first thing in the morning. Looks like it hurts pretty bad, he isn't really limping but it looks like he does every once in a while when he has been walking around for a while so I think she might have to do an x-ray in case he hit his foot hard when he cut it and broke his ankle or something.

He is still eating and drinking fine, no panting to show a lot of pain or squeals so he should be ok until tomorrow morning when I can call the vet. I'm on a night schedule sort of thing so I'll be up through the night to watch him, probably couldn't sleep if I tried, so I'll just stay up a few hours later to call the vet as soon as they open.

Thank you again for responding so quickly, you helped me out a lot

Sorry if this is a sort of dumb question but should I wrap it a little bit, like his ankle and foot, just in case he did break something or just let it be until I see the vet so I don't mess his leg up worse?

 

[bpatters]

I wouldn't wrap it. It's an iffy proposition, anyway, as most pigs will promptly chew the wrapping off. But I would soak it every few hours for several minutes at a time, if you can get him to hold still for it. Food applied to the mouth will help with that.