[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Sneezy Samson

[DebJonSara at aol.com]

Rachel
 
I have lost 2 piggies to pneumonia, and know how difficult a condition this  
is to shift in piggies; the second I lost was one of my youngest, and I 
thought  we had beaten it but it had just lain low. 
 
I would definitely have his teeth checked out, as it does sound as though  it 
could be a tooth abscess. But the reason I'm posting is that his symptoms  
sound very similar to those of my rabbit, Bisou. She sneezed from the day I got  
her, and had all kinds of incompetent diagnoses (I live in rural France, 
where  rabbits are usually eaten before they have the chance to need vet care!), 
but  eventually, spurred on by Internet forum advice, I insisted a swab was 
taken  from her nose, and bordatella showed up. This is a bacteria that can live  
harmlessly inside rabbit nostrils but prove fatal to guinea pigs. Sadly, 
Bisou's  infection was by this time chronic (she had had loads of courses of 
antibiotics,  both oral and injected), so she was never "cured", although she is 
now almost 4  years old and doing well in her new home in Britain (where she had 
to go because  of the lousy vet care here). 
 
I am wondering whether Samson could possibly have bordatella? If the vet  has 
not done a swab from his nose and had it analysed, I think you should press  
for this - really, there is little point in administering antibiotics unless 
one  has identified the offending germ and found out which spectrum of 
antibiotics it  is sensitive to.
 
Bisou never stopped eating or seemed particularly ill - as I say, she still  
sneezes now. She had thick white snot come out of her nose sometimes. One 
thing  I did try with her which did seem to help was nebulising her with 
antibiotics. I  bought a nebuliser through Ebay and attached it to a plastic box with a 
lid and  a hole in it for the nebuliser tube. It did seem to help. It also, 
incidentally,  later saved the life of an elderly cat I had who developed cat 
flu in spite of  having been vaccinated all her life. But sorry, I digress!
 
Good luck with Samson. I know the worry you must be feeling - I was driven  
to distraction by Bisou's constant sneezing and the vets' inability to treat it 
 satisfactorily. Do make sure you keep Samson warm and away from draughts - 
but I  am sure the vet will have told you all that!
 
Debbie (and the 13 Dolly Mixtures)  

"The animal  shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete 
than ours they  move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the 
senses we have lost or  never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. 
They are not brethren,  they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught 
with ourselves in the  net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour 
and travail of the  earth". 

Henry Beston