Am I over reacting to a few sneezes?

[SuperC]

I have a health question about my Piggie & am asking if I’m being over paranoid. First things first- The exotic vet was booked solid today & so I will be going in tomorrow morning during her drop in hours for a walk in appointments. This is the only exotic vet in a 50 mile radius & I let the vet know I was coming in tomorrow morning.

So I’m concerned she might have a cold, or maybe a beginning respiratory infection. I can’t get her into the vet until 9am tomorrow (& then it might be up to a 3 hour wait based on walk in volume), but I’m wondering if I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill and she’s doing ok, or if I should be more worried. She’s a smidge bit puffier than normal when sitting still, but she’s not lethargic or hiding in a blanket or anything. The only sign of her maybe not feeling great was the sneezing & occasional Tiny honking while breathing . I’ve had birds (Parakeets & mini parrots) for years, so I’m pretty attuned to watching signs in an animal that “hides their illnesses”.

Background: female Teddy bear, 4.5 months old.
She has been the picture of health since we got her Jan 2nd, and as of this morning she seemed perfect as usual. Starting at noon, she sneezed big once when I went to get her out of her cage, & then had tiny sneezes since then (dainty little sneezes). Now Today since “the big sneeze”, she went between breathing silently like normal & then making a breathing sound that sounds a little bit like a raspy honk but that only lasts a minute or so (or even just a breath or 2) before she starts breathing quietly again. No barking/wheezing/squeaking or anything odd other than the raspy honk for a moment or so at a time. I saw her paw wipe her face a few times (maybe brushing off snot? Her eyes are not runny or crusty.

- Behavior: happy and normal activity levels- she’s a nap-happy piggie, so she doesn’t play a lot, but she’s alert & moving around as much as normal.

- Eating: normal & happy- over the 2 hours I was watching her like a hawk she ate pellets, 2 mandarin orange wedges & a treat & was happily munching on a blend of alfalfa & meadow hay. She’s drinking water & she also enthusiastically “wheeked!” & danced & got up on her hind legs for a treat when I bumped the treat bag. She also did this before bed (because she always get a bedtime cookie)
She doesn’t like greens yet, but yesterday ate 2 mandarin orange wedges & 1/5 of a banana as her “fresh treat”.

- Bedding/living conditions: lives on fleece in a 8SF C&C cage & her pee pads are changed daily & the “forbidden tictacs” are swept up twice a day. She spends her nights in a room set to 68* (it fluctuates between 65& 68 depending on if the heater is on or off at the moment) & her days are spent in the office where my hubby keeps it 75*. Her poo & urine output in the last 24 hours has been normal.

She’s never had more than 2 sneezes in a day, or had a moist honk during breathing (even just as a brief sound). I put a heating pad along side her cage today with a blanket draped over it & the side of the cage to make a “heat tent” & she used it a bit, but no more than she would on a normal day.
when I put her to bed (she shares a room with my daughter), I put on a warm humidifier, covered her pigloo with a blanket to add extra insulation & coziness. It should be about 68* in there overnight.

do I need to be in a panic to rush to the vet tomorrow? Am I overreacting? Sunday they are closed & Monday my husband starts radiation as part of a cancer treatment and I’m not sure I’ll have time to go Monday During open office hours. I don’t want to freak out & replan my weekend over a “wait and see” situation, but I don’t want to ignore symptoms if something is brewing.
I’m in the USA so I’m headed to bed soon, but I’m curious what you all have to say.

 

[Piggies&buns]

The occasional sneeze isn’t a concern - they have narrow airways and they’ll sneeze to clear their airways, but if you can hear her breathing noisily or the honking you report, then its always a good idea to have any breathing issue checked by a vet. Only a vet listening to the chest is going to tell you whether there is anything going on.
Do note though, that guinea pigs do not get viral colds.

Does she live alone? If so, once she has a clean bill health, please do look to get her a friend. Piggies are highly social animals and must always be kept in pairs, particularly at her age, youngsters should never be by themselves.

 

[Merab]

Hope it’s nothing more than dust but it’s good that you are watchful and alert to your girl’s behaviour.
Let us know how you get on at the vets.

 

[SuperC]

The occasional sneeze isn’t a concern - they have narrow airways and they’ll sneeze to clear their airways, but if you can hear her breathing noisily or the honking you report, then its always a good idea to have any breathing issue checked by a vet. Only a vet listening to the chest is going to tell you whether there is anything going on.
Do note though, that guinea pigs do not get viral colds.

Does she live alone? If so, once she has a clean bill health, please do look to get her a friend. Piggies are highly social animals and must always be kept in pairs, particularly at her age, youngsters should never be by themselves.

Good to know about the nasal passageways- I assumed any sneezing of more than 1 of 2 a day was immediately a bad thing. My daughter wakes up in an hour or so, so I will be able to go in and check on our piggie then (her name is Penelope).

Currently she is a solo pig; it’s a long story but for 15 years my husband didn’t want guinea pigs and finally said yes to Penelope. He (despite his best efforts) has come to enjoy/like having her & I'm trying time talk him into a second pig so she can have a companion but it’s a hard sell- but I’m trying!
I know human interaction isn’t the same as a piggy friend, but I’m doing the best I can to keep her engaged and happy being a solo piggy. Currently she spends 8am-6pm in the “day cage” which is 4 feet away from my husband in the office (he works from home) and they spend all day talking & interacting together & he gives her pets/treats all during the day. I also give her about 3-5 sessions of 10-30 minutes of love/snuggles time & at 3pm-5pm my daughter plays/reads/snuggles with her. 6pm she goes to the “night cage” where my daughter reads to her before bedtime & bedtime is 7pm for both of them. The breeder who sold her to me is having another round of baby teddies in 2 months or so & I'm trying to convince my hubby by then that we should get another baby. In the mean time, Penelope gets probably 4-5 hours of hands on love & snuggles over the day and is never alone unless we need to leave the house for an errand.

 

[SuperC]

Hope it’s nothing more than dust but it’s good that you are watchful and alert to your girl’s behaviour.
Let us know how you get on at the vets.

I will let you know! We have a huge rain storm passing thru this weekend (5 inches of rain predicted) so I’m hoping that keeps the vets office a bit less crowded! With Covid precautions they are having people wait in the car until they are seen, so at least I can snuggle her and keep the temps warm and she won’t be waiting in the same room as cats and dogs and things, so it should be less stressful on her I hope!

 

[SuperC]

I will let you know! We have a huge rain storm passing thru this weekend (5 inches of rain predicted) so I’m hoping that keeps the vets office a bit less crowded! With Covid precautions they are having people wait in the car until they are seen, so at least I can snuggle her and keep the temps warm and she won’t be waiting in the same room as cats and dogs and things, so it should be less stressful on her I hope!

@Merab's Slave @Piggies&buns
Update: after a 2 hour wait in the car, the vet came to get her (I wasn’t allowed in! ). I texted her the entire thread I posted above And updated her on how she was doing this morning (which was a bit more tired, a few more sneezes and also another drop or 2 of snot out of her nose on a sneeze.

The vet said that after listening to her, there was a hint of squeak/wheeze on some of her breathing & rattles for sure, but nothing too Loud (since she only was loud after a moist sneeze) & her nose has just a hint of moisture but nothing too bad yet. She thinks that she’s in the early stages of an URI and was very shocked and pleased that she was brought in to the office so early to see her. She said most people don’t notice a change that faint in their pigs and don’t bring them in until days after this stage of illness (when eyes are goopy, and muzzles are wet/crusty with drippy noses) and that she thinks the meds will work for her really well at this stage. she gave me 2 antibiotics to give her twice a day for 2 weeks & we have a follow up in 2 weeks (unless things go downhill or she stops eating or something).

But she said that her current diet is perfect, that it’s all top of the line items she’s eating, that she looks excellent and that she’s one of the sweeter pigs she’s ever seen (Penelope kept trying to neck snuggle her As she was trying to examine her).

So the “giving of the meds” didn’t go so well at first. I tried to burrito her but that was a disaster; so I tried the “make them stand on the hind legs” trick and that worked great- she had no where to twist or turn away. She tolerated the thick white stuff that had a vanilla scent ok, but the clear fruity stuff was a big NO for her. She’s such a sweet piggy who’s always loved snuggles, so I’m afraid this will cause trust issues doing this twice a day. So I ordered some new treats (free dried strawberries) for “post medicine rewards” and will step up my snuggle times with her so that the “medicine sessions” are a lower ratio for out of the cage time.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m glad you’ve caught it early. Hopefully she will recover quickly.

What antibiotics has she been given?

I personally would not give freeze dried strawberries after each dose of meds. I appreciate its only while she is on meds but it’s a lot of sugar to be giving her. Fruit should only ever be a once a week treat and the sugars are concentrated in dried fruit so they are even less healthy. Antibiotics can upset their tummies as it is and adding a lot of sugar on top could make things worse. You’d do better to give a fresh herb as a post medicine treat, as it’ll be kinder to her tummy.
It would be wise to also give a probiotic an hour after a dose of antibiotic as they can help rebalance the guts and counter act the effects of the antibiotics

Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

 

[SuperC]

I’m glad you’ve caught it early. Hopefully she will recover quickly.

What antibiotics has she been given?

I personally would not give freeze dried strawberries after each dose of meds. I appreciate its only while she is on meds but it’s a lot of sugar to be giving her. Fruit should only ever be a once a week treat and the sugars are concentrated in dried fruit so they are even less healthy. Antibiotics can upset their tummies as it is and adding a lot of sugar on top could make things worse. You’d do better to give a fresh herb as a post medicine treat, as it’ll be kinder to her tummy.
It would be wise to also give a probiotic an hour after a dose of antibiotic as they can help rebalance the guts and counter act the effects of the antibiotics

Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

The meds are Enrofloxacin (the vanilla smelling stuff) and Doxycycline (the fruity stuff) .3ml each twice a day. Now she smells like a sweet & fruity Chapstick or popcicle

She won’t eat eat fresh herbs or veggies yet- she hard core snubs herbs (from cilantro to sage she ignores it all and turns her head away in disgust like I’m trying to poison her) and she ignores greens & veggies too (not like she does herbs, but close). The vet said she might start liking that stuff as she ages but maybe not. I keep trying new veggies and greens all the time but she ignores them. apparently organic baby butter lettuce, or kale, or carrot tops or any veg is not worth her time

I wouldn’t give a whole dried strawberry... I usualy give her OxBow Apple hay treats, but I break the heart shape into 6 pieces so all she gets is a taste and I was thinking of doing the same thing for the strawberries (Break it into super small chips so 1 strawberry is now 6-8 servings). But I wanted to reward her with something so she doesn’t hate the process so much.

I’ve never seen probiotics for guinea pigs- where would I find them?

My husband has stage 4 cancer and between chemo and radiation and surgeries he’s been on countless antibiotics in the last few months, but I can feed him dairy based pre & probiotics but I know pigs can’t have yogurts or dairy. We live a bit rural so we have a petsmart and PetCo but nowhere else to get pet stuff except online.

 

[SuperC]

oh derp! I just realized that you (@Piggies&buns ) linked an article about Probiotics (facepalm!) Sorry, I am newer here and I switched between my phone and my laptop and it was more obvious on the laptop that it was a link. But I am in the USA, so no UK ordering for me... but I will see what I can see on the brands.

 

[piggieminder]

@SuperC Bene Bac is popular as a probiotic in your Country I believe, you can find it on Amazon if you can't buy it locally.

 

[Siikibam]

Giving her a treat after each dose won’t make her like it any more. If she hates it she hates it. Treats (even the apple one) are just that - treats. They shouldn’t be fed too often as they’re not really good for them. And not a necessity diet wise. I’d look at what those treats contain as well. Sometimes things aimed at guinea pigs (and other pets) aren’t appropriate

You will need to be persistent with veg. Try bell pepper and keep trying coriander. Put it in and if still uneaten after a few hours you take it out. Also try lettuce (not iceberg). Again, keep trying every day. If she wasn’t fed veg where she lived then she won’t know what’s safe (or not).

I hope she starts feeling better soon.