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Biscuit "wheezing"?!?

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mikulinek

mikulinek

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone :)

Anyone who's read any of my posts knows that our first piggies have been nothing but trouble (little rascals!) but what can you do?!?

Any way, as many of you will know, when we got Biscuit home from pet shop, he had a chest infection. This was cleared up fairly quickly thnaks to a pretty decent vet and some anti-biotics. His health has been fine since then until today I noticed him making a funny sound. It's not quite a wheezing, more of a mix between a complaint and a wheeze. It's a single note when he exhales. He doesn't do it all the time and yesterday he seemd happier than he has been.

I have noticed that he is about 100g lighter than Caramel (they used to be the same weight). I'm definitely going to get hime to the vet's on Monday but do you think it's more urgent than that? It's hard to explain without recording the sound but any advice would, as ever, be vert gratefully received :)

P.S the boys are now about 5 months old so its been roughly 3 months since his infection was cleared up.
 
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Is Biscuit otherwise well? Does the noise sound at all like hooting? http://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=42

It is worth considering if anything could be irritating him. Have you changed the bedding recently, or opened a new bag of hay? Any air fresheners/aerosols used in the same room today? Or been dusting? Worth looking at whether anything in the environment is affecting his breathing if there are no other symptoms.
 
My only experience is with my own two pigs (so I'm no expert at all), but what you describe sounds like hooting. My pig also wheezes, it sounds like human asthma, and with every breath out, he makes the hooty grunting sound (it sounds like a miserable sound when accompanied by a wheeze).

I hear some pigs get hooty and wheezy from allergies, but for others it is due to heart problems. It's best to rule out anything enviromental as suggested, but bear in mind that some pigs hide heart problems very well.

My pig has his epsiodes ever other day or so, and they last a few hours each time, and started at around 4 months of age. His only other easily recognisable symptom was a huge intake of water.

It'll do no harm to get him checked by a good vet, although most heart problems (I believe - do correct me if I'm wrong) can only be properly diagnosed through scans (x-ray, ultrasound etc). Good luck, and keep us updated.
 
It definitely sounds like a hooting. Although it's not very often.

Thanks for all you advice. I'd never heard of hooting before! That's another new sound to add to the list :)

We're taking both boys to see their vet tomorrow morning to get them checked out and weighed as well. I'm hoping Biscuit won't need another round of anti-biotics because A, they're a little dangerous to piggies and B, he hated the last lot (although he quite liked the ringworm medicine and would lick it of my fingers if any got spilled!).

I'll let you all know what the vet says :)
 
Just got back from the vet's.

In general the vet we saw today didn't impress me with his knowledge (when we mentioned their bickering he said "well you could get the castrated to stop the aggressive behaviour"!?!?)

However, he did give both piggies a thorough examination and said that while Biscuit's chest is clear, he does have some clear nasal discharge. He's prescribed him engemycin (0.25ml/day for 10 days). Hopefully that will clear up his hooting. If not, we may have a heart pig. Biscuit has been prone to illness since we've had him and may well just be one of those pigs who gets infections (which would be more bearable than a piggy with heart problems).

I will keep you updated with his progress. Thanks for all the support :)
 
Biscuit's been very quiet today. I'm not sure whether it's his URI in his nose or the anti-biotics but he seems pretty tired. He just spent almost an hour sat under his blanket not moving. Before that he was puffed up in a ball in the corner of his cage. I really hope it's just the anti-biotics taking it out of him a bit...

I'll update any changes tomorrow.
 
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