[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Waffles appears to have a cold

warmbreath at comcast.net warmbreath at comcast.net
Tue Dec 22 06:46:44 EST 2009


You need a vet trip quick, this can become pneumonia or URI. Also guinea 
pigs can get the H1N1 flu as can cats and dogs. Short term your problems are 
to keep him warm, well fed and well watered. Like us with a cold or 
pneumonia he will need meds for pain, Metacam and infant ibuprofen or 
Rimadyl are most commonly used.  The vet is needed for antibiotics and the 
pain meds except Ibuprofen. My Manny came down with this very suddenly  and 
by the time he called me to side his altered immune status had allowed him 
to be over-run with mites, he had an anal impaction, and green mucus 
starting to build up around his nose, he had seemed fine the night before. I 
had all the meds on hand thankfully as it was a Friday night  but by the 
time he saw the vet on Monday morning he was already terminal and he died on 
Wednesday.  He did not have H1N1, just some cold or infection that got out 
of hand at light speed so please get him to a knowledgeable exotics vet or 
rodent tomorrow or today depending on where you live. Use thin pellet mush 
to hand feed by spoon or needless syringe, his whole digestive system is 
designed for constant eating and if he goes off feed he can go into stasis 
or tract shut down very quickly.  Depending on the bug this is very fixable 
with proper treatment or very deadly, plus the complications I mentioned so 
it just cant be ignored or home treated.

 Your vet will  give you Critical Care an important food for hand feeding, 
its like pellets but has more Vitamins.  If you aren't already supplementing 
him with Vit C give him 50 mg of Vit C crushed and dissolved in water twice 
a day while ill and for a couple weeks after, then cut  back to 50 mg per 
day. You can use the chewable type if you can get him to eat them, you eat 
the first half then see if he will eat the other half, or place smallish 
pieces in his mouth behind the front teeth but not so far as to make him 
choke, he will eat it if correctly placed. The Oxbow Hay Company who makes 
the Critical Care also makes a gp version of Vit C, find them online. They 
are a fine source of various hays and pellets for gp's too! Their shipping 
is hi though for the heavy stuff.

for reference see www.guinealynx.org  they tell you what antibiotics are OK 
for piggies as many are deadly, and how to hand feed to keep up his strength 
if he stops or cuts down on eating.  The cold or virus he has is 
transmissible  to Smores so be very careful, and watch her carefully. if you 
can weigh them both daily to catch a decline quickly.  Keep in touch with us 
all. Hopefully they will both be well and can come sailing with us on the 
Black Pearl
Good luck and Merry Christmas  Sandy and Shipwreck Sam, currently sailing.






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