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Baby Guinea Pig Sneezing

Sapphire

Sapphire

New Born Pup
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Hey! I got a baby guinea pig on Saturday after my other one sadly passed away. She’s in with my other girl guinea pig, but lately she keeps sneezing and i got her out of the cage earlier and notice there was like a tiny bit of crust on her nose. She is only 8 weeks old and I’m just wondering if it’s anything to be worried about. I’ve never experienced this before so I’m wondering wether she’s got an allergy to the Hay or Wood Shavings or if it could be something more serious.
If anyone could help me, I would be thankful, I don’t know wether I’m being too paranoid because my other guinea pig was really really poorly and I just am scared.
 
A few months ago one of my my guinea pigs was sneezing and had crust on her nose so I took her to the vet. She had a URI. It's best to go to the vet to be sure. If it is a URI you want to catch it early. I hope this helps!
 
It would be a good idea to have a vet check her out (It’s always a good idea to have new piggies vet checked in any event) as a hands on vet check is the only to know whether there is something going on or not.

In the meantime ensure your hay/bedding isn’t dusty and that there are no irritants in the room ie no candles, sprays, deodorants etc as guinea pigs have very narrow airways and they are easily irritated
 
Hi! Thankyou so much for your reply! I only got her from the pet shop on Saturday and they did a check before and said everything was fine. I called up my vet earlier and they seemed to think it might be an allergy to the Hay I’m using since I said she is breathing fine and still eating and drinking (they don’t think it is an URI). I’ve removed the hay from the cage and will see how she gets on. She is perfectly fine other than the little sneezes she does so I hope with the hay gone she gets better! ☺️
 
Sapphire said:
Hi! Thankyou so much for your reply! I only got her from the pet shop on Saturday and they did a check before and said everything was fine. I called up my vet earlier and they seemed to think it might be an allergy to the Hay I’m using since I said she is breathing fine and still eating and drinking (they don’t think it is an URI). I’ve removed the hay from the cage and will see how she gets on. She is perfectly fine other than the little sneezes she does so I hope with the hay gone she gets better! ☺
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It’s always best to get your own vet to check them independently once you bring them home anyway.

True allergies in piggies are rare but they can be sensitive to environmental factors such as dust or other irritants in the air. If your hay is dusty then sneezing is the way of clearing the dust from the airways. However, a respiratory issue always needs to be investigated with a hands on check by a vet and the vet listening to the chest to rule out a potential URI before assuming it’s allergies. Dust up the nose can cause a one off sneezing episode while they clear it, more persistent sneezing is of concern and needs to be checked out. Piggies as prey animals can hide their illnesses in early stages very well and continue to eat and behave normally. Keep a close eye on her weight to ensure she really is eating enough hay (you cannot judge they are getting enough hay by watching them eat it).
Hopefully she is fine but we can only advise you to have a vet check done and not assume it is dust, particularly given she is very young and newly with you, and if she is a pet shop piggy, then picking something up from other pet shop piggies who are generally stressed, is possible.

I assume she still has a different type of hay in the cage still - you’ve not removed all the available hay?
 
Okay, I will ring up the vet again today and see if they can check her over for me. I haven’t used this hay before but I wouldn’t say it’s dusty? But I’ll see what the vet says is wrong with her☺️ Thanks for your reply
 
Hi! Just wanted to update you because I wouldn’t want anyone to worry. I called up my vets and they still don’t think it’s anything to worry about but I have an appointment in 1 hour at 11:30 so they can just check her over and see what the issue is. I’ll update once I get back and hopefully it’s not nothing serious☺️
 
Sapphire said:
Hi! Just wanted to update you because I wouldn’t want anyone to worry. I called up my vets and they still don’t think it’s anything to worry about but I have an appointment in 1 hour at 11:30 so they can just check her over and see what the issue is. I’ll update once I get back and hopefully it’s not nothing serious☺
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That’s good that she can have a hands on check. You can never be too careful with any respiratory issues because they can quickly turn fatal. It’s better to have a worried well check than leave it, assume it’s ok and find it’s actually the opposite
 
Hi again! So I took Rosie to the vet and they checked her out and looked at her nose and listened to her breathing. They said her nose didn’t seem crusty at all and that her breathing was fine and she looked very healthy. They didn’t seem worried about her but said it may be the bedding, since I use Wood Shavings. They gave me a better bedding choice which they said is not dusty and softer and hopefully this will help her. If she doesn’t stop sneezing within the next few days they said for me to take her back. But for now I’m going to try this bedding and clean the cage out of the woodshavings and hopefully 🙏🏻 she stops sneezing.
 
I’m glad to hear they can’t find anything medical. Once medical issues have been ruled out you can move to looking to environmental irritants. Changing the bedding sounds like a good place to start.
 
Sapphire said:
Hey! I got a baby guinea pig on Saturday after my other one sadly passed away. She’s in with my other girl guinea pig, but lately she keeps sneezing and i got her out of the cage earlier and notice there was like a tiny bit of crust on her nose. She is only 8 weeks old and I’m just wondering if it’s anything to be worried about. I’ve never experienced this before so I’m wondering wether she’s got an allergy to the Hay or Wood Shavings or if it could be something more serious.
If anyone could help me, I would be thankful, I don’t know wether I’m being too paranoid because my other guinea pig was really really poorly and I just am scared.
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maybe she has a cold?
 
Hi! so this morning I got Rosie out again just to check on her and hold her and I noticed her nose has this sort of cut? Crust? Is this still her allergy or something more. Like I said the vet said yesterday that she seems fine, and she is still eating and everything normal but just wanted to double check this☺️
 

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