ongoing URI, A/B's not working??

[Lana]

Well, today's the 12th. Did the test results come in? What bacterias are present with your pig?

[grace505]

So i got the results. It came back as Alpha Hemolytic Streptococci. It also identified yeast, but does not identify sensitivities for it. Came back sensitive to:

Amikacin
Claforan
Naxcel
Chloramphenicol
Doxycycline
Gentamicin
Penicillin
TMP-Sulfa

Intermediate sensitivity to:

Enrofloxacin
Marbofloxacin
Orbifloxacin

So based on that i'm assuming oral Doxy and nebulize Amikacin or Gentamicin, is that right? I think i read on a thread of the Amikacin being pricey, but could be rememering wrong.

I also tried to do some research on pricing on the Gentamicin and it seems that there are maybe different strengths sold??? If anyone had the base dosing, eg 10mg/kg, i would appreciate it. I know Lana stated it was 1ml Gentamicin to 3ml saline, but was not sure how much was in that 1ml of Gentamicin. Some examples of what they gave me was 80/2, 80/8, 60/6 and 40/1, with the first number being the Gentamicin and the second being the saline. So i need more info on this end so i can ask better questions on the pharmacist end. Thanks for any and all input!

[grace505]

If anyone needs any more info off the culture results page, please let me know, i don't really know everything i'm supposed to look for and can email a scanned copy or whatever. Thanks!

[Lana]

Chloramphenicol - has your pig been on this yet? If not, try this first. Oral, relatively inexpensive... My pigs had a rough time on it and personally, I would never use it again. But others have had no issues with it for their piggies. But you must use probiotics several times a day.

The gentamycin was 40mg per ml.

[Lana]

TMP-Sulfa - is this bactrim? If so, even better.

edit: just looked it up. Yup, it's Bactrim.

Try this drug first. Inexpensive, and very well tolerated by pigs. And it tastes good.

[grace505]

Lana, we used the Bactrim previously at 30mg/kg, does that sound like a good dose to start with? Also, should i be combining it with something? Or maybe start with the Bactrim and see if we need to add anything in later?

[Lana]

You used Bactrim and it didn't work... Okay move on to Chloramphenicol. Have you tried this yet?

No point in going back to a drug that did not work. I found this with Piggles' test results. Technically several drugs were indicated, but only one worked with him.

Chloramphenicol doesn't work, then gentamycin it is.

[grace505]

Well i used Bactrim back near the very beginning, like in March??? or so and i don't think we tried it very long, i don't think we knew how stubborn and resistant this URI was going to be. You don't think it's worth trying at all? I also thought maybe the infection's changed and could be sensitive to different things now???

And no, I haven't tried the Chloramphenicol nor the Gentamicin yet. If i did the Chloramphenicol, do i start at the 50mg/kg listed on the medication page? I know the vet said he doesn't carry it, but may be able to order it.

[Lana]

Talk to your vet about the dose. I haven't used this drug in years...

[Lynx]

80/2 and 40/1 are the same thing.

And 80/8 and 60/6 are the same thing (broken down to 10/1).

So it would appear one is a 40/1 solution and the other a 10/1 solution.

[natashaheuser]

Hi there

My 3 year old guinea pig is currently being treated for and URI he had now for 2 months already.

His treatment method was like this:

1) He was put on Baytril to combat the infection, but these ABs were not working;
2) X-rays and cultures were taken. X-rays had no findings, but his lap report showed that he had 2 strains of Streptococcus and Mycoplasma (bacteria that causes tuberculosis in humans) bacterial infections.
3) He was then switched onto Doxy. He was better for a week but the Mycoplasma is resistant to the Doxy and then suddenly he had a downfall;
4) We then took him to a 2nd vet. He was then put onto Florfenicol ABs. These ABs so far has completely wiped out his URI, and he is on the road to recovery, thank goodness!

You have to use a nebuliser on your sick piggies if they are battling to breath. This will help to loosen the mucus and makes it easier for them to breathe through their noses. If their noses are stuffy they will end up breathing through their mouths, which is not good as this can cause lung infections.

You have to monitor them every day, weigh them as well. If they are losing weight, you have to force feed them. Also make sure that you give them vitamin c supplement - a quarter of a tablet 3 times a day did wonders for my piggy to get his immune system strong again.

Also, if they are on ABs, you must also make sure that they get in some probiotics.

Something my piggy developed from his URI is bloat (which we treated with Simethicone) and also tooth overgrow as he was not eating (which the vet did end up trimming).

I strongly suggest that you do a culture test first to see what kind of bacterial infections they have. From this you will get an anti-biagram which will list all the ABs and note if they will kill the bacteria or not.

I live in South Africa, and the best ABs that has worked so far was Florfenicol (brand name is Nuflor). I strongly recommend this for URIs that are resistant to Baytril, Bactrim and Chloramphenicol...

Some advice I got from other owners on this forum is that Gentamicin and Tobramycin also works well. We use Bisolvon in the nebuliser when his nose is stuffy, and also F10 (antifungal solution)

I am a specialist in treating guinea pigs URI's now! Feel free to ask me any questions…

[natashaheuser]

Thanks to Lana's advice she gave me, my piggy is recovering now!

I would use her advice, she knows what she's talking about!