Buster

[Renonvsparky]

Definitely good to hear. These little ones are so precious. It's so hard to see them sick and a big relief when we can nurse them back to health. I'm hoping your little guy keeps getting better and back to full health soon.

[daj]

Thank you. I've heard a couple of sneezes today, so I guess he's staying on the antibiotic.

[daj]

I only keep Buster on the azithromycin for 7 days. He seemed good for a week, but then I saw some blood in the urine, and he started making the grunting sounds again. I started to AB again, and he's now been on for 5 more days. He does something that I find perplexing. He makes the grunting sound and it kind of builds in intensity, and then he sneezes and seems OK. Then it might repeat again later.

I assume stones are not ruled out based on x-rays. But why the sneezing too? And why the grunting until a sneeze comes? It seems like the sneeze relieves something. Maybe the sneezing is an allergy??? Why isn't the antibiotic taking care of it?

[Lynx]

This sounds like a mystery to me! Given the signs, I would have guessed stones too.

[ItsaZoo]

Could the sneezing be dusty hay? I just bought some of the Full Cheeks from Petsmart and am surprised how nice it is. I have Oxbow stacks which are supposed to be less dusty, but both pigs are snorting and I can see dust on their paws when they wipe their noses.

[daj]

I use orchard by the bale, and I actually shake it out in a wire basket before bringing portions into the house. I also use some Oxbow timothy. It's all still dusty. I think if I shook it for an hour, the dust would continue. But yeah, I think it could be allergy. I took him off the AB today after the additional 5 days. If I see anymore blood, I will assume it's stones. I bought shilintong to have it ready.

[Lynx]

Years ago I bought a couple of bales of orchard grass. One of the bales was stored in a nice dry (enclosed with no air circulation) out building BUT I could tell it had developed mold and the mold was very dusty. I live in Virginia and it gets humid in the summer. An air conditioned space will generally be much drier than anything that is not air conditioned.

I would be quite skeptical of any hay that is very very dusty. If you have a good nose, you can sometimes distinguish between nice healthy hay and moldy hay (I don't think everyone can).

[daj]

A day or two after stopping the antibiotic he started sneezing again. I really don't understand what could be going on. He seems more or less fine during the day. He just doesn't have a good appetite. During the night he starts to do the vocalizing on the out breath. It strikes me as suffering, like he's in pain, but I really don't know. Last night I gave him Metacam, but it didn't make any difference. He made the sound all night, and in the morning he simply stops. He's lost his appetite for tomato and carrot. He still likes the very inner most leaves of lettuce and celery heart, although I don't really trust celery. He still loves parsley and cilantro, and he is loving broccoli and cauliflower, but I don't really want to give him sulfurous vegetables. I'll continue giving small amounts of the things he will eat, because if he doesn't get those, he simply passes on vegetables.

This is the first time I've used azithromycin. I'm not sure why the vet prescribed it rather than Baytril, which I have never had any trouble with.

[Lynx]

Sorry to hear he is sneezing again. Hopefully the azithromycin will be effective.

[daj]

I doubt it's mold. The place sells a lot of hay to horse owners and it's the same as what Oxbow boxes up and sells for 4 or 5 x the cost. I've never seen hay without tons of dust. Seems to me that the bagged stuff is the same. I'd think it just amounts to pulverization.

[ItsaZoo]

How frustrating that he’s sneezing again. I hope the azithromycin helps him out.