Help Please!!!
I have a big issue. I have a 3.5 year old female piggy who was always happy and healthy and recently we encountered a big issue. She stopped eating and started having a breathing issue. They diagnosed her with URI and gave us baytril. She didn't take it well but I gave it to her for 5 days, a small break and another 4 days. The respiratory breathing went away, still fixing her stomach and she lost weight. I took her to another vet for second opinion, they did full body x ray, blood work, poo work and didn't find anything besides small spots in the lungs but they said it is not pneumonia. Then, the respiratory breathing and stopping eating happened again a week later. Back on batyril and also asked for some diuretic in case there is fluid in the lungs. The heart looked normal on the x rays. She has sunken eyes and is def. not herself. Doesn't want to eat hay much or pallets. they checked her teeth and looked at her head x ray and didn't find anything wrong with her teeth. She means the world to me. For the last 3 weeks I am sleeping 4 hours a day and hand feeding, critical care, etc. Am I missing anything? Do you have any other suggestions? She also never drank water, just never did. Always gets water from fresh veggies and I also supplement with syringe water feeding. Any help is much appreciated. Lena
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I'd want a definitive diagnosis on the spots in the lungs. It could be a fungus, it could be tumors, it could be cysts, or something else. It seems to me that treating for anything else is pretty pointless until you know whether this is something serious.
It's also possible that the URI wasn't cleared up. Five days on Baytril and then a break will just make the organism intolerant to Baytril. Once you start on an antibiotic, you should give it without a break unless it makes the pig so sick that it must be discontinued permanently. And even then, you should start another one as soon as you stop that one.
If I were going to continue with treatment for the URI, I'd want to switch to another antibiotic and also put her on a nebulized antibiotic.
Is she eating on her own at all?
Also, please do not make duplicate posts. The people who read the forums read all the new posts, so there's no need to post more than once. All posts about a sick pig should go in the Medical forum and be kept on one thread for that pig.
It's also possible that the URI wasn't cleared up. Five days on Baytril and then a break will just make the organism intolerant to Baytril. Once you start on an antibiotic, you should give it without a break unless it makes the pig so sick that it must be discontinued permanently. And even then, you should start another one as soon as you stop that one.
If I were going to continue with treatment for the URI, I'd want to switch to another antibiotic and also put her on a nebulized antibiotic.
Is she eating on her own at all?
Also, please do not make duplicate posts. The people who read the forums read all the new posts, so there's no need to post more than once. All posts about a sick pig should go in the Medical forum and be kept on one thread for that pig.
I am really sorry about the duplicate posts, just freaking out and new to this. I can email you the x rays if that is helpful. The vet, said she saw some "debree" is what she called it. Zoe is eating only fresh food by herself, hardly any hay or pallets. I am supplementing with critical care, bene bec and vit c. Her poops are very soft because she only wants to eat fresh food. She doesn't tolerate baytril that much and the vet said she might have to combine it with something else as well. What would be a nebulized antibiotic?
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An antibiotic is put into a nebulization chamber, which turns it into an aerosol. The pig is put in the chamber for 20-30 minutes, and inhales the antibiotic. Much stronger antibiotics can be given that way because the gut is bypassed. I've had good luck with pigs with stubborn URIs using oral doxycycline and nebulized gentamycin. Sometimes a steroid is added to the nebulized solution.
Will she eat hay if you hand feed it to her? And have you tried different types of hay? Either of those tricks might help get some more hay in her.
Will she eat hay if you hand feed it to her? And have you tried different types of hay? Either of those tricks might help get some more hay in her.
Thank you for the explanation. She just stopped eating hay due to either the breathing problems or the baytril. I am trying to hand feed and she would just have a couple of bites. During the day when I am at work, there is no one to hand feed her the hay. I don't know why she doesn't want to eat it. As far as the nebulized antibiotic, would the vet have that equipment? How would I get it?
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Twenty minutes twice a day is right.
You actually need an antibiotic already mixed with saline -- the oral preparation isn't the right stuff. Can you contact your vet and ask for gentamycin? It's much stronger than Baytril, but given in the nebulizer, doesn't have the bad effects.
You can easily make a nebulizer box. I use a plastic bin about 14 inches square, and tape the medicine container to the side of it. I then put a heavy towel over the top of it to keep the vapor in.
You actually need an antibiotic already mixed with saline -- the oral preparation isn't the right stuff. Can you contact your vet and ask for gentamycin? It's much stronger than Baytril, but given in the nebulizer, doesn't have the bad effects.
You can easily make a nebulizer box. I use a plastic bin about 14 inches square, and tape the medicine container to the side of it. I then put a heavy towel over the top of it to keep the vapor in.