gadget gizmo cowbell cello 3 URI

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:49 am


so before you say you should never buy a guinea pig from a pet store I know. I had looked for months to no avail where i am so yes I bought my girls from a pet store. For future I will wait and rescue them.

I have 4 guinea pigs all females first two Gadget and Gizmo are roughly 3 months second two Cello and Cowbell are roughly 2 months.

My boyfriend and I heard a wheeze from Cello on Sunday called the pet store on Monday who are covering the vet bills and meds as I've had my girls for 2 weeks.

we couldn't get a vet visit till Tuesday and on Monday night heard the wheeze in Gadget and Cowbell had the sniffle sneeze and boogies.

The vet has funny notes written on Gadgets paperwork I haven't been able to reach them yet as they are open during my work hours but 3 of the 4 Gadget Cowbell and Cello have URI.

All 4 are on Enrofloxacin per their weight for 10 days 1x every 12 hours so that's 20 doses

my questions
1. is that normal to need 20 doses?
2. will they all recover the vet did say we caught it early but I keep hearing stories of guinea pigs that don't make it i just want all my girls to be ok trying to stay optimistic since they're so little
3. is it normal to give a cagemate meds that their other cage mates are on and will it hurt Gizmo
4. I've read suggestions of hanging bird toys for guinea pigs how do you know if they're safe for your guinea pig or not

The girls have fleece bedding

They potty in a ferret plastic potty corner lined with paper bedding for the most part (Gizmo refuses to be litter trained we aren't pushing it) and they have two of them

They have 2 bottles of water with 4 vitamin c drops in each and continue to drink fine and I continue to buy the kaytee fiesta food I'm going to finish it up then start buying the adult guinea pig food from oxbow because I'm just not ready to push the girls onto another food yet

they are getting introduced to veggies daily I pick up a little bit of everything they hate celery and broccoli they love dill and depending on their moods will eat kale

I've tried a couple bites of fruits to see what they like so far we tried a sliver of banana not fans and we loved kiwi and oranges

They have 3 hay racks one in each flavor: orchard grass hay timothy hay and pay hay

They have 3 wood houses 2 smaller and 1 big one because I thought oh my poor girls trying to snuggle in a pig pile and all the wheeking I'll buy a bigger house oh no they still want the smaller ones go figure

I'm sewing the sleep sacks still but the house is kept at 70-75 degrees and they have a couple blankets and one of those mop dust heads to lay on and a fleece forest

The cage is roughly 19 Sq feet for the 4 of them so adequate room I built the c&c cage and have a store bought one for when cleaning the custom one

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:23 am


Treating twice a day for 10 days is not unusual.

What you want to also do is weigh each of them daily and hand feed if you see them losing weight.
www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:50 am


thank you so much for the tip I was weighing the girls twice a week because it's crazy how fast they're growing I will weigh them daily through the medicine treatment

WICharlie

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:28 am


Welcome to Guinea Lynx!

I hope you won't be upset if I say no drops in the water, no hanging bird toys or no Fiesta food!!! Switch to Oxbow pellets immediately. Fiesta is like feeding them cardboard. No nutrition whatsoever! Throw the Fiesta out! If your pigs are under 6 months, get the alfalfa based pellets for young pigs. Your hay should be from Oxbow too (no kaytee hay, bleh!).

My suggestion is also to seek out your own exotic vet that is knowledgeable about guinea pigs and take them for a well-check. I would not trust the pet store vet. They probably also have mites.

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:29 am


2 of my hays are oxbow I thought guinea pigs weren't supposed to have alfalfa and the vet the pet store uses is the number one small pet experts in ct they know their stuff unfortunately my boyfriend took the girls because I couldn't get that day off so I haven't gotten the chance to speak to them yet

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 1:10 pm


ok so I spoke with the vet they said since the girls are eating fine to see if they sound better Monday if they dont sound better then we will try changing meds

no mites the girls are super healthy other than the wheeze and boogies

I can't find oxbow for baby guinea pigs in a small bag anywhere if someone knows where I can get a small enough bag to last me the next 3 months please let me know as I don't need an immense amount of it

WICharlie

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:34 pm


Your pet store should be able to order it for you if they get in other Oxbow products. You can also check to see if you have a pet supply store like Mounds in your area, as they would carry it. Also, don't worry so much about stopping the alfalfa right at 6 months. Young pigs generally need alfalfa 6 months or up to the first year. So you can feed the whole bag. Alfalfa provides extra calcium and other important nutrients that growing pigs need. Adult pigs don't need the extra stuff and in a few adult pigs it is thought to increase the possibility of bladder stones. It used to be that alfalfa hay used to be the ONLY hay that was available and it was the only choice if you had domestic pigs and had to buy hay from pet stores. So all pet pigs used to get alfalfa. Now there are other choices. It is found to be easier to switch to a different pellet with pigs than to switch them to a different hay. Some balk at eating the Timothy hay after having alfalfa.

How to you know that the employees at this pet store are the number one experts on guinea pigs in CT? Did THEY tell you that? LOL! Don't be naïve. Pet store employees rarely know what they are talking about. Especially since they sold you drops for the water. In fact, I would double check to make sure you do indeed have females.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 4:29 pm


You need a different vet, even if you have to pay for it. Those pigs are too young for enrofloxacin -- it can stunt their growth.

Vitamin C drops should NEVER be put in the water, because liquid vitamin C degrades almost immediately in the presence of light, and within a couple of hours, all you've got is funny tasting water.

Hanging bird toys are not safe for guinea pigs.

Ditto that the pet store employees are not guinea pig experts. And turning them all over and comparing their pertinent parts to make sure you've got all females would be a good idea, as they're all old enough to produce babies.

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:02 pm


I checked gender when I took them home and I said the vet is second best because there is an emergency medical hospital that takes vetrinary transfers and they vet the girls are at is the best vet in ct I did the research I can't just walk into the vet hospital my girls are sick not dieing.

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:04 pm


I can't take the girls to another vet the other vet has prescribed non guinea pig medicines to people before and the next one from there is out of state and idk anything about them other than its not good to take guinea pigs long distance in the first place and the girls are sick

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:06 pm


vitamin c drops are taken out and I read in another chat here that people used the hanging bird toys but if that's a no go I'm glad I didn't order them

portera4242

Post   » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:46 pm


the girls are being picky on veggies so I could use some ideas they love dill but I can't just feed them only dill they nibble at kale and bok choy won't touch celery or broccoli any suggestions I'm picking up peppers tomorrow what do you give picky eaters

Gadget has lost 8 grams and Gizmo lost 10 grams which I believe is less than an ounce if they keep losing weight I'm going to make the mash pellets

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