Guinea Pig Infection

Question
My guinea pig developed an infection about two weeks ago.  His eye began to run, with what looked like puss, and then the side of his face swelled, the swelling has continued and occupies the right side of his face and the top of his nose, the discharge has ceased to come out of his eye, and now comes out of his nose.  He hasn't stopped eating normally, but is having a very difficult time breathing because of the swelling, I can't afford to take him to a vet, are there any tips you might have, vitamins I could give him?



-It is quite possible he picked this infection up from the domestic mice that run about the apartment, we allow our pig to scamper around freely during most of the day.  I caught a mouse  with a similar infection before I noticed my Guinea pig with it, strange?

Answer
Elf --

Well, to be honest, there are quite a few possibilities for what this problem could be, and all of them are made more serious by the idea that your guinea pig picked up this disease from a mouse.  Mice are notorious disease carriers, so it could be any number of things.  What I would recommend is isolating him for several weeks (away from the mice) and making sure that he is receiving plenty of fluids.  I'm still doing research to narrow down the possibilities of what it could be and how to treat it.  I do have one question for you, however, while I am researching: you mentioned swelling - can you describe what exactly it looks like?  Is it just puffy, or is it discolored, etc ...

Thank you, and I'll keep looking for an answer for you.

Lorena