Unexplained deaths -- weight loss

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KarasKavies
For the love of my girls!

Post   » Tue Feb 26, 2002 11:38 pm


Cytomegalovirus Well, I was close!

Kara

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Feb 27, 2002 7:42 am


Thanks.

Paulatidey

Post   » Wed Feb 27, 2002 2:18 pm


ok, I got some results back from the pathologist, does anyone know of an online vet who i can ask?

pinta

Post   » Wed Feb 27, 2002 5:44 pm


There is an online vet community but only vets can access it. You vet should be familiar with it or should be able to get the URL from another vet.

Paulatidey

Post   » Sun Mar 17, 2002 4:42 am


Hello there, Paula again. Well I got a result back and it showed that it was a type of streptococcus bacteria. It can be a cause of disease in guinea pigs ranging from septicaemia with acute death to chronic wasting disease with caseeating lymphadenitis. I have been treating them sub cutaneously by injection for over a week now. I thought things were going well when another went down with it all of a sudden and has died. I will keep on going and hope that all goes well eventually. Thanks to everyone who tried to help me x

User avatar
KarasKavies
For the love of my girls!

Post   » Sun Mar 17, 2002 11:45 pm


I am so sorry. My heart goes out to you. So much loss is unfair. Does the vet think it can be stopped and/or contained? Were the pigs that you lost all adult pigs or babies? Maybe someone here will have some help for you. I can only offer my sympathies and hope that it stops.

Kara

Paulatidey

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2002 2:44 pm


Thanks Kara, I have given up with the treatment. How many times can i inject them, i am putting them through that and it hasn´t worked. It was meant to stopp it from happening again. I will just have to hope thats all i can do. The most recent one that died, was very special as i hand reared him. He was 2 yrs old and 2 months, i was proud of him. x

pinta

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2002 3:33 pm


I would not give up on the treatment. It could be that whatever they have incubates for a while and you may have prevented future deaths by treating.

It´s obvious the really visible symptoms occur at the last stage of this illness. The one who recently died might have had the infection already in an advanced state. You don´t know about the others. The ones who appear completely healthy may already have the beginnings of the infection. These are the ones the treatment might save.

It would be worth continuing unless your vet says the treatment is having no effect. Since you know what the bacteria is, you know you are using the right antibiotic. That is half the battle.

Jac

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2002 10:28 pm


I´m so sorry for all your losses, but don´t give up. Pinta´s right, having the right antibiotic is most of the battle, it may be too late for some, but some may be saved. See if your vet can give you an oral form of the antibiotic.
Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole (aka. Bactrim, tribrissen, TMP-SMX) can be injected or given ORALLY, kills Streptococcus and it´s safe for pigs, and the dosage is 15-30mg/kg twice a day. I´m not a vet, but found that on the web, so get your vet to check it´s correct. Some antibiotics are more effective if injected, I don´t know if this is one of them, but it is better orally than none at all I´m sure, and less traumatic for the pigs. It might be worth continuing to inject the worse ones for this reason.
It must be hard to inject so many pigs, and not knowing if it´s going to work. Just think if it saves just a few and gives them a chance at a full healthy life, it´s worth it.
I really feel for you and hope that they will be ok, try not to give up hope, try to think about the ones you are keeping alive. So sorry, that you and your pigs are going through this.
Jac
Last edited by Jac on Tue Mar 19, 2002 10:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Evangeline

Post   » Wed Mar 20, 2002 8:08 am


Jac-
There is an accurate safe meds list (with dosage) on this site. Maybe you could take a look at it.

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