HI There
I live in South Africa and have 2 male guinea pigs. I have been battling the past year with my Peruvian guinea pig (Pepper Pig) with URI's.
First he got a URI that spread to his lungs and chest. He was put on Baytril which helped a little bit, but it made him very sick. He lost a huge amount of weight, was very lethargic and did not have a good appetite at all. The VET then switched him onto Choramphenicol for 1 week. This A/Bs was very strong and my little boy had severe diarhee. But it worked and his URI was cleared up. We also used a humidifier on him twice a day.
After that about 2 months he developed another URI. This time it was in his nose. It wasnt that bad and only got very serious about a month ago. We took him again to a VET. Firstly they put him on Bisolvon and Purbac suspension, no A/Bs. This was for about 2 weeks, and no improvement. The VET then put him on Baytril as well. The A/Bs again made him sick and he refused to eat. We force feeded him with a syringe, but this was not good enough and the VET was very worried about his rapid weight loss.
The VET then took him in to hospital for a week. They still had him on all the same medications, and also used a nebuliser on him with Bisolvon twice a day. They also took cultures of his nose, and it came back that he is infected with Mycoplasma. They also took x-rays of his sinus', but it came back normal. The medication seemed to help alot, and at least my little boy is eating again. When we picked him up at the VET, we thought that his URI will be completely gone, but this was not the case. It only improved a little bit. Pepper Pig now still has a stuffy nose everyday, but he seems to be eating at least. We still give him the same medication twice a day, and also put him on the nebuliser twice a day.
But how long will this take before the URI completely clears up? It has been so traumatic for my piggy, and I just want him to be healty again! He is sooo skinny, and I miss the piggy that always weeked so loudly when it was feeding time! He also seems to have "attacks"where his nose will just stuff up, and he then goes crazy!
Are we following the right path in treating Pepper Pig with his URI? How long still before he will get better (he has been on the medication for 3 weeks now)? Is there something extra we should do?
Please give me any more advice as I am really desperate in helping my little boy!!!
Regards,
HELP!!! Guinea Pig with severe URI
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Talishan
- You can quote me
As far as I can tell Bisolvon is an expectorant. If what he has is in fact analogous to human walking pneumonia, he is going to need to be on an antibiotic, one that works on that particular microbe, and for something like 21 to 28 days.
Many of the fatal AB's can in fact be nebulized -- carefully and with plenty of probiotic and plenty of very careful monitoring. It's a very fine line to walk, but sometimes they can be used successfully because they go straight into the lungs where they need to go directly and bypass the GI.
My other thought is a significantly longer course of chloramphenicol, with a lot of probiotic and a lot of forcefeeding.
Many of the fatal AB's can in fact be nebulized -- carefully and with plenty of probiotic and plenty of very careful monitoring. It's a very fine line to walk, but sometimes they can be used successfully because they go straight into the lungs where they need to go directly and bypass the GI.
My other thought is a significantly longer course of chloramphenicol, with a lot of probiotic and a lot of forcefeeding.
I have a lot of experience with mycoplasma with pet rats. In fact, I'm treating two rats for it right now.
You need to put your pig on doxycycline & baytril. But given his reaction to baytril, try the doxycycline alone for now. Perhaps doxy and minimum dose of baytril?
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Here is info from Rat Fan Club.
Mycoplasma makes rats more susceptible to secondary bacterial infections from a variety of bacteria. These infections are usually opportunistic, taking advantage of a break in the immune system, and are not usually contagious.
Treating Mycoplasma
The antibiotics that tend to be most effective against mycoplasma are doxycycline and enrofloxacin. There are different strains of mycoplasma that are more or less resistant to various antibiotics. In some cases, a strain will respond best to both doxycycline and enrofloxacin together.
Because mycoplasma is a very resistant organism, treatment must be persistent. Humans can contract a version of mycoplasma which is a different disease than what rats get (humans get Mycoplasma pneumoniae) and when they do the treatment is antibiotics for 1-2 years!
I recommend treating mycoplasma for at least 6-12 weeks at a time or even much longer. An older rat with chronic symptoms and/or heart disease should be on enrofloxacin and/or doxycycline for the rest of his life. Both these antibiotics are usually well tolerated by rats for long periods of time. I have had some of my rats on enrofloxacin or doxycycline for over a year with good results, and one of my vet’s patients lived to be over 4 years old and was on Baytril the last 2 years of her life!
You need to put your pig on doxycycline & baytril. But given his reaction to baytril, try the doxycycline alone for now. Perhaps doxy and minimum dose of baytril?
------------------
Here is info from Rat Fan Club.
Mycoplasma makes rats more susceptible to secondary bacterial infections from a variety of bacteria. These infections are usually opportunistic, taking advantage of a break in the immune system, and are not usually contagious.
Treating Mycoplasma
The antibiotics that tend to be most effective against mycoplasma are doxycycline and enrofloxacin. There are different strains of mycoplasma that are more or less resistant to various antibiotics. In some cases, a strain will respond best to both doxycycline and enrofloxacin together.
Because mycoplasma is a very resistant organism, treatment must be persistent. Humans can contract a version of mycoplasma which is a different disease than what rats get (humans get Mycoplasma pneumoniae) and when they do the treatment is antibiotics for 1-2 years!
I recommend treating mycoplasma for at least 6-12 weeks at a time or even much longer. An older rat with chronic symptoms and/or heart disease should be on enrofloxacin and/or doxycycline for the rest of his life. Both these antibiotics are usually well tolerated by rats for long periods of time. I have had some of my rats on enrofloxacin or doxycycline for over a year with good results, and one of my vet’s patients lived to be over 4 years old and was on Baytril the last 2 years of her life!
Thanks for the advice everyone! I thought that doxycycline is toxic to guinea pigs?
I am going to wait till the end of the week and see if the Baytril is working or not, otherwise switch him to chloramphenicol. At the moment he is getting 0.04ml of Baytril (10% oral silution) twice a day, with 0.5ml of Purbac suspension twice a day and then also 1ml of Bisolvon in a nebuliser twice a day. He weighs about 0.9kg. The treatment seems to help a little bit, but his symptoms are not going away.
The only thing is that we dont really have probiotics for guinea pigs here in South Africa. Is there an alternative I can use?
I am going to wait till the end of the week and see if the Baytril is working or not, otherwise switch him to chloramphenicol. At the moment he is getting 0.04ml of Baytril (10% oral silution) twice a day, with 0.5ml of Purbac suspension twice a day and then also 1ml of Bisolvon in a nebuliser twice a day. He weighs about 0.9kg. The treatment seems to help a little bit, but his symptoms are not going away.
The only thing is that we dont really have probiotics for guinea pigs here in South Africa. Is there an alternative I can use?
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Bytxlaura
- Remembering Nemo
Since you have two guinea pigs, take some fresh poop from your healthy piggie and make poop soup. You need to give him the 'poop soup' an hour and a half to two hours after administering the antibiotic. Make the poop soup right before you need to syringe it to him so that is really fresh.
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PinkRufus
- Contributor in 2020
Doxycycline is safe for guinea pigs. I have used it several times for my pigs.
https://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html#doxycycline
In addition to poop soup, some human probiotics may be used. Be sure that they do not contain any dairy ingredients though.
https://www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html
This mat also be helpful:
https://www.guinealynx.info/motility.html
And:
https://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotic_advice.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html#doxycycline
In addition to poop soup, some human probiotics may be used. Be sure that they do not contain any dairy ingredients though.
https://www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html
This mat also be helpful:
https://www.guinealynx.info/motility.html
And:
https://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotic_advice.html
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Talishan
- You can quote me
"I thought that doxycycline is toxic to guinea pigs?"
It is very confusing. Many (most?) antibiotics in the -cycline group are toxic, or at the very least rough on the pig's system. Doxy is not, and can work very well.
Note the information given in PinkRufus' link about using the rat dose. This is important. Whenever I've used doxy I have used the rat dose. It has worked well with no apparent side effects or problems.
It is very confusing. Many (most?) antibiotics in the -cycline group are toxic, or at the very least rough on the pig's system. Doxy is not, and can work very well.
Note the information given in PinkRufus' link about using the rat dose. This is important. Whenever I've used doxy I have used the rat dose. It has worked well with no apparent side effects or problems.
Ha ha, the poop soup is actually funny cos we have tried it before and my piggy was not happy!!!
Our 2 guineas have an on and off relationship. Seeing that they both are males, they sometimes dont get along at all. But when it is roaming time for them they are best mates and play together!
So we have tried the poop soup before, but my boy was just so angry, sort of like he was saying "what are you doing to me?!?" and we could not resort to this option for probiotics at all as ha got a violent outburst of refusal to eat the stuff...
His tummy seems to be fine at the moment, but the problem is his appetite. Some days he'll eat like a pig, and some days just refuse to eat at all.
I am going to consult my vet to put him on doxy, hopefully we have it here in South Africa. Otherwise Chloramphenicol.
I just so desperately want him to be healthy again!
Our 2 guineas have an on and off relationship. Seeing that they both are males, they sometimes dont get along at all. But when it is roaming time for them they are best mates and play together!
So we have tried the poop soup before, but my boy was just so angry, sort of like he was saying "what are you doing to me?!?" and we could not resort to this option for probiotics at all as ha got a violent outburst of refusal to eat the stuff...
His tummy seems to be fine at the moment, but the problem is his appetite. Some days he'll eat like a pig, and some days just refuse to eat at all.
I am going to consult my vet to put him on doxy, hopefully we have it here in South Africa. Otherwise Chloramphenicol.
I just so desperately want him to be healthy again!
Doxycycline is the only antibiotic that works for Mycoplasma. You had your pig tested, you know what is going on... Lots and lots of info on various rat sites. Put your pig on doxy.
The other drugs you mentioned work to keep secondary infections at bay, because myco makes the host much more susceptible to other infections. But the doxy & baytril combo is very good because (I forget the scientific name for it) the combo makes each individual drug work much better than if given alone.
Your pig will remain sick until you get him on doxy. And myco just doesn't attack the lungs, it attacks the whole body and can cause paralysis and other nasty things. I suggest you read up on it. You can't cure it, just manage it.
I cannot stress this enough... get your pig on doxy with the baytril today. I promise you that 24 hours later, you will have a much healthier pig.
The other drugs you mentioned work to keep secondary infections at bay, because myco makes the host much more susceptible to other infections. But the doxy & baytril combo is very good because (I forget the scientific name for it) the combo makes each individual drug work much better than if given alone.
Your pig will remain sick until you get him on doxy. And myco just doesn't attack the lungs, it attacks the whole body and can cause paralysis and other nasty things. I suggest you read up on it. You can't cure it, just manage it.
I cannot stress this enough... get your pig on doxy with the baytril today. I promise you that 24 hours later, you will have a much healthier pig.
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