Eye discharge and squinting

Alibabble

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:49 pm


Sweetheart has whitish discharge from both eyes, and is squinting. Very slight nasal discharge, lungs sound clear, no sneezing. He´s quieter than normal, but appears to still be eating. What is this? Is it the start of URI?
I have a vet appointment for 8:30 tomorrow (the soonest they could fit me in), and if he gets worse I´ll make them come in for an emergency visit. It won´t be my regular vet, she´s away from work with an illness.

pinta

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:10 pm


Could be. Sometimes the white discharge is just their "cleaning" fluid.

Squinting, nasal discharge and quieter than usual is not good.
If you caught it right at the start of a URI, tomorrow AM is probably fine for him to see a vet. Give him extra C and keep him warm in the meantime. If he sounds congested, a steam humidifier could be helpful - or a sojourn in a warm steamy bathroom. Just make sure he is warm and dry when he is out of the bathroom.

Print off stuff from GuineaLynx to give the vet if you´re worried about his/her experience level.

Alibabble

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 8:12 pm


I´m definitely printing out the stuff from Guinea Lynx. My vet is quite good, and looks things up if she´s not sure... but I don´t trust other vets:)

I just went and got some new syringes in case he stops eating, some extra tempting fresh veggies, and some more chewable vitamin C. He´s not happy at the moment because I removed him from the usual big cage (with Gavin) and put him in a small cage in a warmer room. Which brings up another question: if it is a URI should Gavin be given antibiotics also?

pinta

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 8:46 pm


I wouldn´t dose Gavin unless he shows symptoms. At the first sign - then go for it. Often just one of our pigs will have a URI without giving it to any of the others. Since we figure they´ve already been in contact with the sick one and have been exposed, we don´t usually separate. In a herd situation it´s different than if the pigs are in separate cages to start.

Alibabble

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 9:56 pm


With your situation in mind I might put them back in together. Gavin seems lost, he definitely knows that something is wrong. I´m hoping that Sweetheart´s competitive urges will convince him to eat a bit more. His appetite seems down from this morning, so I hand fed some pellets and parsley as well as a vitamin C supplement. He had some diarrhea when I picked him up a half hour ago. It´s going to be a long night.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 10:20 pm


Hang in there. At least you have an appointment in the morning. Catching things early is great.

Good luck.

pinta

Post   » Mon Apr 15, 2002 11:17 pm


Give him a poop from Gavin to help his diarrhea. One benefit to keeping them separated is to keep Gavin from coming into contact with the diarrhea. Also you can tell what the food intake is although we do that primarily by weighing.

I would cut out all fresh food and syringe down unflavoured Pedialyte. Keep up with the handfeeding. Stress can cause diarrhea as well, so being separated from Gavin might be contributing to the problem.

It is kind of a judgement call. If they have been in close contact, Gavin has probably already been exposed and sometimes pigs do much better when they are ill, with company. When Willie was extremely ill he did much better surrounded by pigs. And his cagemates seemed to know he was ill and cuddled up to him protectively. He was much calmer and more relaxed.

Alibabble

Post   » Tue Apr 16, 2002 12:55 pm


Just back from the vet, she actually admitted that she didn´t know some things and went off to do a bit of research on guinea pigs. Sweetheart´s lungs are clear despite the eye and nose discharge. A fecal exam showed no protozoa or bacteria that showed up under gram staining. He got a subcue and the vet prescribed Chloropalm, 2cc every eight hours.

I´ve got him in with Gavin, and Sweetheart´s pigloo is covered with towels to keep more heat in. He´s getting handfed (or force fed depending on the mood) a pellet mash with yogurt and a healthy poop from Gavin. He´s getting vitamin C supplements. I´m going to get some unflavored Pedialyte at the store today, in the mean time I´ve been giving him plain water through a syringe.

I feel so horrible about this, like I should have picked up on something sooner. He was fine at 7:00 yesterday morning, at 3:40 I picked him up for another cuddle and found white crusties around his eyes. At about 7:00 yesterday night he started to have diarrhea. Even knowing how quickly pigs can go downhill I´m still surprised, it´s one thing to hear people talk about a sick pig... quite another to actually have a sick pig. This is my first illness with a guinea pig, I´ve only had to deal with fungus and mites before.

User avatar
Sunny

Post   » Tue Apr 16, 2002 1:41 pm


I´m so sorry Alibabble.

Well it sounds like you are doing everything you can. Hang in there! Lots of love to Sweetheart and Gavin too.

pinta

Post   » Tue Apr 16, 2002 2:57 pm


If his appetite seems off with the chloropalm, you might want to switch to Baytril or Bactrim or Doxycycline.

Watch carefully. It´s a great antibiotic but I´ve had more pigs have trouble tolerating it than any other antibiotic. If he gets worse - that´s a signal to switch drugs. So far, I´ve found Doxycycline to be tolerated the easiest by our pigs. Bactrim and Baytril are pretty good but there does seem to be weight loss on Baytril with some of our pigs.

Doxycycline is in the tetracycline family so if he´s still having diarrhea - it might not be that advisable.

Bismuth - 1 cc every 4 hours or so can help with diarrhea too.

Alibabble

Post   » Wed Apr 17, 2002 12:37 am


He seems to be getting worse. He refuses to even swallow the pellet slurry, I can get it into his mouth but he won´t chew. He barely takes any water, he lets most of it dribble out of his mouth. Sweetheart is also not keeping his body heat up, we have him beside a hot water bottle, cuddled under the blankets with us. The diarrhea has stopped, I think mostly due to the lack of food material passing through him.

Is there any way to force him to chew? If I put the syringe right against his back molars he will chew briefly, then stop. He won´t continue to chew, or swallow the food. My regular vet is ill and the vet on call didn´t seem overly concerned. I´m going to try calling the other vets in town, to see if any of them are willing to do an emergency visit for a possible change of antibiotic. He´s had two doses of the Cholorpalm and seems to have gone downhill.

pinta

Post   » Wed Apr 17, 2002 12:46 am


Get him off the Chlorpalm right away. This is a similar reaction our pigs have had. He needs a hydration subcue and most likely an injection of an antibiotic to make sure the drug gets in his system. If he´s reacting to the drug, he should improve within 12 to 24 hours of being off of it.

Doxycycline is great for URIs but if his tummy is upset - it might not be a good idea. I also don´t know if it comes in an injectable form.

I really would consider a visit to an emergency clinic for a subcue. Oxygen can help too.

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