Skunks and Colds

[slimeysnail]

Just over a week ago, I had a pretty rough cold, and was snuffling and coughing etc. I tried to avoid all my animals as much as possible, to avoid passing on any germs!

But last night, I heard a cough/splutter come from my animal room, and I didnt know who it came from. I thought either one of my Gambians, or one of my skunks.

Anyway, tonight, I was feeding my two girls (Maggie and Frizzy Bee) and Frizzy was munching away and all of a sudden coughed and spluttered. It lasted a few seconds, and she was fine and continued eating. But after she had finished, she spluttered again, and it was very loud, and she did a quick high pitch squeak afterwards.

She is fine in herself, nothing has changed dietary wise, no change in her behaviour/poo/appetite etc.

I am just a little worried that if she has picked up a cold, and it doesnt clear on its own, that my Vets wouldnt really know what to prescribe.

I do have a specialist exotic vet, but my last experience with them shattered my confidence in them, and I vowed I would never take any of my animals, let alone my exotics to them.

Antibiotics for skunks- has anyone had to use any, and if they did, did the skunks have any reactions to the anti biotics ? I assume Baytril would be used, but as I say, if Frizbee gets any worse, I will be taking her to the Vets.. but am just after advice from anyone whom has experienced a skunk that caught a cold etc.. hmmmm my poor girl

[Loderuna]

Not experienced a cold in my skunkies, so no help, but I hope Frizzy is ok! All I can suggest is keeping warm and getting fluids in and maybe an extra helping of vitaskunk. Not sure antibiotics would help, other than to prevent secondary infection, given that they don't work on cold viruses. Just be cautious though, as it may not be a cold, but just coincidence (not wanting to be the voice of doom here).

Could lungworm be an issue - does she have access to areas where our native hedgehogs could be, or has she been eating slugs or snails (where hedgehogs get the lungworm from).

I know that a lot of animals can catch our colds, so I hope that's all it is and that it just blows over in a few days!

[slimeysnail]

Originally Posted by Loderuna

Not experienced a cold in my skunkies, so no help, but I hope Frizzy is ok! All I can suggest is keeping warm and getting fluids in and maybe an extra helping of vitaskunk. Not sure antibiotics would help, other than to prevent secondary infection, given that they don't work on cold viruses. Just be cautious though, as it may not be a cold, but just coincidence (not wanting to be the voice of doom here).

Could lungworm be an issue - does she have access to areas where our native hedgehogs could be, or has she been eating slugs or snails (where hedgehogs get the lungworm from).

I know that a lot of animals can catch our colds, so I hope that's all it is and that it just blows over in a few days!

Hmmm, be cautious- do you think it could be the start of something else?

She does not have, and hasnt had access to outside areas where hogs are, though I do keep African Pymgy Hedgehogs- but they too have never been outside or anything like that.

Regarding worms etc, I treat them every month with Panacur- but think this is more targetted at round and tape worms (not sure about lung worms)

[selina20]

If it is a cold antibiotics will do nothing as its a virus.

[sam gamgee]

Going off topic slightly but have only treated ours for worms once or twice (ok, they arent rummaging outside all the time) and only one had em....a nice big plateful of spaghetti, lol.
And I do, er, inspect poos frequently, as I do any other creature we have.

Apologies for slight hijack!

Dave.

[selina20]

Originally Posted by sam gamgee

Going off topic slightly but have only treated ours for worms once or twice (ok, they arent rummaging outside all the time) and only one had em....a nice big plateful of spaghetti, lol.
And I do, er, inspect poos frequently, as I do any other creature we have.

Apologies for slight hijack!

Dave.

We have treated our boy twice as his was infested when he came to us and then the dog ate his pooh and got worms lol. Luckily i wormed them both and no more of the bean sprouts have popped out.

[Loderuna]

Originally Posted by slimeysnail

Hmmm, be cautious- do you think it could be the start of something else?

She does not have, and hasnt had access to outside areas where hogs are, though I do keep African Pymgy Hedgehogs- but they too have never been outside or anything like that.

Regarding worms etc, I treat them every month with Panacur- but think this is more targetted at round and tape worms (not sure about lung worms)

Probably not worm related then. If it's just a cold, then she'll be back to normal in a few days and shouldn't show other illness signs, so providing she's eating ok etc, then monitor and avoid stress is probably the way to go.

It's always a worry when our stripey babies get poorly! Hope she's better soon!

[slimeysnail]

Originally Posted by Loderuna

Probably not worm related then. If it's just a cold, then she'll be back to normal in a few days and shouldn't show other illness signs, so providing she's eating ok etc, then monitor and avoid stress is probably the way to go.

It's always a worry when our stripey babies get poorly! Hope she's better soon!

Thankyou, I am probably just worrying unneccesarily, but I hate it when my pets get ill.. more so when its my more specialised animals, as I just dont think there has been enough research done on them as domestic pets- and dont want any old vet to experiment or so to speak on my babies!

Anyway, Frizbee is absolutely fine today, no noise, no wheeze, no coughing, no nothing, apart from being her normal cheeky self.. I will of course keep the thread updated if there are any other symtoms or anything!

Thanks very much everyone..

Oh one point that I was going to mention though, I was told that skunks would need worming every month, even if they dont have access to outside etc. Hmmmm, that is just a routine I have kept up with.. every month, as Maggie had worms when I first got her- and prolapsed partly because of this- so I am extra careful and paranoid about worms now!

[Loderuna]

Very glad to hear she's feeling better!