Emergency please help: Duck's URI gasping for breath

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beefyduck

Post   » Sat Apr 08, 2023 2:23 pm


Duck is 6 years old and I brought her to the vet yesterday because she was having crackly breaths and a runny nose. We got baytril to treat for URI with suspected pneumonia. We are waiting for radiologist interpretation of her xray so we don't know for sure if she has pneumonia. She has had her second dose of baytril and her breathing sounds less crackly, nose is still runny, but her breathing looks more labored. It looks like she is open mouth breathing/gasping for air. What can I do for her at this point? Is there anything I can do short of buying an oxygen mask for her? Has anyone had experience with their pigs gasping for air and surviving?

Any help is greatly appreciated thank you

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Apr 08, 2023 4:02 pm


Sometimes a steamy room/shower can help break up congestion (the same as what one might do for a child with a lot of congestion). Oxygen can indeed help. Interpretation of the xray is important (which you point out). There may also be heart issues.

I am so sorry she is ill.
https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

beefyduck

Post   » Sun Apr 09, 2023 4:12 pm


Update: I decided to take her to the 24 hour animal hospital, which is costing me an absolute fortune, but I am very grateful to have access to. She has been with them since last night and they said she is doing about the same as when I brought her in. The vet said she is still occasionally gasping for air, but also picks at hay, suggesting that she is not in crisis mode. They added azithromycin to her treatment on top of the baytril and they are also doing a nebulizing treatment with a medication to help break up her congestion. She is getting oxygen and all the necessary supplemental feeding and vitamins.

Thank you for pointing out that it could be a heart problem, I did not suspect that at all. I requested that they don't do any additional xrays because they would have to sedate Duck and I'm worried about sedation on an older pig. Her doctor said she wants to give her a chance to heal on the antibiotics and will only do the xray if necessary (for example if she doesn't respond to antibiotics and it starts to look more like a heart issue). If her breathing was caused by heart problems would her antibiotics improve her condition at all? Or would the heart condition have to be treated in order to get her breathing back to normal? It has only been 2 days since she started antibiotics but I was really hoping she would see some sort of improvement by now. Please share any of your experiences with your heart pigs/uris. Thank you

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Apr 09, 2023 8:13 pm


It sounds like you have very competent and thorough vet care.

Read over:
https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

Lots of info there. The antibiotics should help. Long term, if heart issues are diagnosed, medicine to maintain her health should prevent her from having so many respiratory issues, from what I understand.

beefyduck

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 12:02 pm


I read over the heart page- duck seems to check a lot of these boxes but her doctor said duck was given a lot of fluids and her condition did not get worse, which she would have expected if this were an underlying heart condition 💁‍♀️

Duck's breathing seems to have gotten better and her nasal discharge has improved. She is back home with us now and we will continue her care (4 whopping thousand dollars and counting :/)

She is now very noticeably uncomfortable on her feet. She kind of hobbles around or hops with her back feet when she needs to walk. Otherwise she plops down any chance she gets. I have read about pigs who experience this due to a vitamin c deficiency, but they were giving her liquid c twice a day since she was at the hospital and it looks like it has actually gotten worse. I noticed that she looked reluctant to use her legs before but it was nowhere near this bad. I'm going to continue with the liquid c twice daily and hope it get better. I have also read that it could be a calcium deficiency? But that I couldn't find too much information on that

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Lynx
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Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 3:02 pm


Yes, it would see a vitamin C deficiency is unlikely. Are her feet inflamed at all? Tender to touch? This could be the beginning of pododermatitis. Just mentioning this, don't necessarily think it is the cause:
https://www.guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html

Not rereading, but I think you had xrays taken? They could show arthritis. There is a sticky in the main sticky in the Medical Forum that has more info.

beefyduck

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:57 pm


Yes she did have an xray. The radiologist said it was mild arthritis so I suspect something else is going on to cause her this much discomfort.

I took a better look at her feet. I think it could definitely be pododermatitis. I emailed attach@guinealynx a picture for you to post if that's ok? There's spots of darker red on her back feet. Her front paws also look redder than normal though I didn't get a good look at the bottom of them.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 8:58 pm


Thanks for sending the pic. it does indeed look like at least the beginning of pododermatitis - the bottom of each foot looks somewhat inflamed. Make sure you keep her from sitting in any area with pee, which can aggravate things. If you use fleece, change out the pads she sits on to fresh ones freqently.

Here you go:

Image

beefyduck

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 9:15 pm


Thanks for posting! I took another look at her front paws and I'm afraid those might also have some of those red spots. I haven't heard of a pig having bumblefoot on all 4 feet :'( poor baby

I saw on the pododermatitis link that soaking will help. Luckily I have some nolvasan solution so I can begin soaking tonight. Hopefully a soak in some cool water can bring her some relief. Am i supposed to wash off the solution after the soak?

Also if it's the beginning of pododermatitis does it still necessitate antibiotics? She's already on baytril and azythromycin. Not sure if those will act for both her uri and the bumblefoot? Either way, I hope this is early enough that it won't be too stubborn to get rid of. It's so hard to watch her be in all this pain and on top of that have to fight with her to get her to take her antibiotics on top of all the supplemental feedings

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 9:26 pm


Nolvasan contains 2% chlorhexidine.
https://www.guinealynx.info/antiseptic_solutions.html

Chlorhexidine can be drying. Perhaps use it today but see if you can get some povidone iodine tomorrow (see that link above).

You can see how I bandaged my guinea pig Nina's foot. It was much worse than your guinea pig's and may not need bandaging if you can provide soft clean dry bedding.
https://www.guinealynx.info/bandaging.html

I don't think Nina got antibiotics but it was a long time ago and I'm not sure.

beefyduck

Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 9:40 pm


Maybe I will use the nolvasan and apply coconut oil afterwards until I can get my hands on the iodine. I've read gorgeous guineas has a really effective balm for this kind of thing, though shipping will probably take a long time from the UK.

Is fleece soft enough? I have her on fleece that I switch out weekly. Her fleece is typically still dry by the time I have to do change it out but I will be extra mindful about having to switch it out sooner. The fleece still seems chafe on her feet but I don't know of a bedding that's softer than fleece

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Lynx
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Post   » Tue Apr 11, 2023 9:44 pm


Perhaps experiment with different fleeces? I have heard of a product called Vet Bed that is a thicker fleece. Consider the area she hangs out in, changing it more frequently anyway. It may be the urine dries but still irritates her feet.

The coconut oil should help protect the foot from irritants.

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