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Bloody Nose

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mittenpie

mittenpie

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Hello everyone,

My guinea pig Billy has been sneezing on and off for a couple of days over the bank holiday weekend. I thought this was perhaps down to some dusty hay as the last lot I put in their hay rack was near the end of the bag and was bitty.

Last night when I had him on my lap, Billy sneezed and some blood came out his nose. I wiped his nose but about 30 mins later there was dry blood around his nostril again. I cleaned this very gently with warm salt water and a cotton bud around the outside and just inside his nose.

He hasn't been sneezing as much since, maybe once or twice and his nose has not bled again.

He is eating, drinking, his usual chirpy self and is not losing any weight.

I am taking him to the vet this evening just to be on the safe side but does anyone know what might be wrong with him in advance? URI?

Thanks x
 
Thank you - I'm hoping the vets goes OK.

I have been trying to look on the internet about what it could be - I did read something about deficiencies and also heat stroke can cause nose bleeds in guinea pigs apparently - although his living conditions haven't change for him to overheat.
 
Try the simple thing first. Has he had a piece of hay scratch his nose?
Also check very carefully that nothing is stuck up his nose.
If necessary, make him sneeze and see what, if anything, comes down his nose.
 
How did the appointment go? Sometimes it's something very simple as AP said, like hay up the nose. It's not unheard of for such a symptom to be that of a URI, so be sure that is ruled out, but given the situation (last bits of hay from bag, dusty etc.) I'd be inclined to suspect it's related to the hay.
 
Thanks so much for your concerns.

The vets went OK. Billy has been sneezing for a good few days now and since the vets appointment which makes me think its not anything stuck up there - I would have thought he would have sneezed it out by now. The vet had a good look up his nose too but couldn't see anything that would be causing irritation so he has prescribed a course of Baytril which I have to syringe to Billy and I have to go back in a week with him to check everything's OK.

He has been looking a bit dejected and sitting around more than usual although is eating and drinking fine.

The vet did mention that guinea pigs are prone to respiratory problems but didn't say directly that this is what Billy has. Would it be a problem giving him the antibiotics if its not an infection after all?
 
I have to say this, although be prepared for others to shoot me down in flames!
Many vets. take the view "If in doubt, give Baytril as it is better to prescribe something rather than nothing, if only for the psychological benefit of the owner"
Have you noticed how many people are reporting that their pigs are having respiratory problems at the moment?
It is hay-fever time and guinea pigs are prone to this. I would be inclined to let your pig sniff the contents of a bottle of Olbas Oil, which should help to relieve his symptoms.
I have had pigs with hay-fever problems for 3, possibly 4 weeks. Treatment was purely symptomatic relief. A pig with h-f, which causes a snuffly nose, can often be heard some distance away eg 20 feet.
Pre-empting others comments. Your pig may indeed have a respiratory infection but common things happen most commonly!

For something entirely different, I have a male rescue rabbit from Bournemouth. He was found wandering the streets in heavy rain last August.
 
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Thanks for your advice alcesterpigs - I didn't even think about the possibility of hayfever. Never really considered animals suffering from it! Poor things!

I was a bit apprehensive about accepting the antibiotics as the diagnosis wasn't 100% certain and I thought they could do more harm than good but again I'm not sure what is wrong with Billy so wouldn't want to not give the antibiotics to him if he WAS ill.

I will try the Olbas Oil, I think I have some in the cupboard, I assume something like Vicks would work too?

Poor bunny wandering in the rain and no one claimed him? :(
 
Vicks works too. You could just let him sniff it, which is preferable, or you could put a tiny dab on the nostrils. It took me a long time to work up the courage to do this, and when I do it now I use the tiniest, thinnest smear possible - but it really helps with my allergy-suffering piggies.

Best to stick with the safer option of letting the pig breathe in the vapours but have the option of moving away, though. I found tissues with Olbas Oil/Vicks placed outside the cage to be of use when one of my past pigs had pneumonia.

Hayfever is seriously in the air right now. The high winds blowing the blossom about has done nobody any favours. Myself, I have had to resort to antihistamines, got fed up of sneezing - it's been no fun at all!
 
I don't use Vick on the pigs for two reasons.
I don't like the smell of it.
If it is on their nose they have no escape from the smell and the greasy texture of it.
 
That's perfectly true and far more responsible. And, just to be contrary, I can't stand the smell of Olbas Oil!

At risk of going off on a tangent, before you initially mentioned just letting the pig just sniff at the 'fumes', it is not something I had specifically heard of being done; I've come across more cases of Vicks on the nose or around the cage. Your suggestion, or the idea of the Vicks/Olbas sat around the outside of the cage, is the safest to advise over a forum without doubt.
 
There is another problem with Vick, apart from the smell.
When first administered the swollen tissues "shrink" however this can be followed by a rebound effect so that the tissues swell back to the state that had just been treated. This leads to more treatment and to a vicious circle.
With olbas oil I use it on the pigs on a little but frequent basis. A 30 second sniff every couple of hours. Having said that, the next time maybe it will be 5 minutes every half an hour. Which is another way of saying, try it and see and do what seems to work best in a given case.
 
My piggie had a bloody nose one morning and found out she had poked herself up the nose with some hay rolleyes Keep an eye on her and if there's any more blood then I'd take her back to the vet. You could try sudafed for children, 0.3mls for up to 3 days. This helped my sow. I think she had an allergy as she always had a runny nose but not discoloured, apart from dust from hay :)
 
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