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Can guinea pigs get asthma?

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boysmum

My piggy Davey had an upper respiratory tract infection 2 weeks ago and was treated with Septrin. He was fine after a day or so, but we continued the antibiotic for the whole course (5 days). The vet said that it was like a mild cold and as they can't blow their noses, the breathing sounds noisier. But he gave us antibiotics to be on the safe side.

He is normally housed on vetbed, but I was doing a big wash this weekend and had no spare bits so I dressed his run with newspapers and loads of hay. He was jumping about in it and loved it. He is housed indoors at night. This morning, I was awoken by husky, raspy breathing, just like the symptoms he had previously.

I wonder if the hay was dusty and has irritated him? The breathing had settled down by mid morning. He is eating normally and is alert.

I gave him 0.2mls of Tixylix chesty cough medicine for kids, which he liked.

Has anybody else experienced this?
 
Yes I have had several pigs in the past who have had allergic rhinitis.Timothy had it very badly,he would wheeze like mad but I found that a dose of Sudafed 0.3mls would do the trick.He would sometimes go days or even weeks without wheezing.He was worse in the winter so it may have been caused by the central heating which does dry the air.All my other pigs were fine.
 
I also am wondering about this problem, for some reason just the last few weeks i've noticed every 5-6 days Duke will get wheezy and then do the guinea sneeze-cough thing this lasts not more than 12 hours then all goes well again. Spoke to the vets but they want to see him when it's happening, gosh that's real hard to predict.
I wonder if it's because we here have had un seasonally dry weather and it's affecting the hay, and in other areas like the UK where it's been super wet it may also be affecting the hay. Food for thought (sorry for the pun) would be interesting if anyone else has had this occur?

Good thread :) :)

Loads of piggie kisses to Davey :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
I am relieved that it's not just me.

The boys are indoors at the moment as I too think it is too cold for them to go back into the shed. The central heating may be having an effect. I will get some Sudafed today and give him a dose. Was it one dose a day or twice a day? It is a horrible noise, I thought it was the little dog next door! Then I realised it was Davey. Plus, Davey tends to drink a lot of water at night, wonder if it is to relieve his tickly throat after the central heating has been on for the evening? My other pig is fine.

Thanks for both your replies. It has put my mind at rest.
 
I'd be interested in dosage and exactly which Sudafed you use, must check out what i can get here.
I'm still going to get things checked out, just need for it to be happening in vet hours, why is it always in the middle of the night or really early mornings?
Gosh i wish i understood wheek language :-\
 
The Sudafed I use is the one formulated for nasal congestion in children. The dose rate is 0.3ml per day.
 
Hello, sorry, replying to quite an old topic here, but I pulled it up with the search and it sounds exactly like my guinea pig Max.

Glynis - what you described is exactly like him, we have only had him for 2 weeks but twice I have heard him make a strange wheezy type noise. He doesn't seem to do it for that long and then he does the sneeze-cough thing you described (exactly how I would describe it) and then seems ok.

I was feeling a bit concerned as I noticed Max doing it again this morning, have had him out and checked him over. I was worried he had a cold but not signs of a running nose etc. Maybe I will try the sudafed if it persists.

I did wonder if it could be to do with the hay. At the moment he is still a bit nervous and spends most of his time underneath the hay, whereas my other piggies are normally sitting on top of it. Wondered if it could be hay dust?
 
This does sound quite common doesn't it?

THis morning, I went into the shed to feed the boys and the most dreadful raspy noise was coming out of Davey. It was really loud. Then he coughed twice and the raspiness stopped!

I think it is an allergic rhinitis thing, hay or grass seed. I think it must be a build up of phlegm which collects in the throat and then gets coughed up.

A little dose of blackcurrant tixylix childrens expectorant cough syrup seems to loosen it and Davey then is able to cough it up. I only give 0.2 mls, he has been fine on it.
 
hi i know it's quite old topic but gideon suffers from breathing problems quite a bit and someone on here recommended a hanky with vic's vapo rub by his cage it really does help O0
 
Max hasn't been making the wheezing or cough/sneeze noises as much lately, he has been sitting on top of the hay more than under it lately though - so I can quite believe it's an allergy thing.

This topic was a bit of a relief for me to read i'm not the only one who has a piggy making these funny noises!
 
Guineas with 'short' noses make grunting sounds sometimes, too. As Mary said a dose or two of Sudofed will right this also :)
 
karenrgpr said:
Guineas with 'short' noses make grunting sounds sometimes, too.

What does a 'short' nosed guinea look like? I don't think i've seen one/seen a picture of one?
 
x>>Hi

just wondering how people know if its ok to give guinea pigs childrens medicines? i think one of my guineas has allergies when it comes to the timothy hay but I would never give him anything to ease it without knowing if it 100% ok for him to have as the vet told that guiea pigs are very sensitive in medications they can be given! can anyone help n let me know where the info originated from as to it been ok for them to have tixilyx etc...
Thanks
Katie
x
 
Welcome to the forum.

Well this is aold thread..

People know it's Ok thought years of experience of keeping guineas and unfortunately trial and error where many times vets have not been able to help. I have met Maryh personally and she is a wonderfull lady with many years experience of looking after piggies and she knows what she is talking about.

Guinea pigs can often cope very well with human medecine but of course I would never advocate giving something which hasen't been tried and tested and that you are unsure of. it's alays best to seek vet advise but unless you have a piggie savvy vet (which are few and far between) they can sometimes be quite clueless when it comes to treating pigs. In any case human medecines can sometimes buy you some time until you can get to a vet.

Not sure what tixilyx is actually... sorry. Is your pig showing any symptoms? If you let us know what it wrong with them someone may be able to help.

Lx
 
my Ronny is like that and whenever i take him indoors he's OK i just think it is 'cause he's cold out in the shed so i put a curtain round their hutch and bought them a beany bag (safe hot water bottle) he seemed a bit better after that its so cute when he coughs and sneezes 'cause his brother comes up to him and gives him a cuddle rolleyes
 
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