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Causes of URI?

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Chocolate&Coconut

Chocolate&Coconut

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I'm sorry if this has already been asked. I did a quick search but couldn't find an answer.

My question is, what are the causes of URIs? Having sadly lost such a young pig to a URI and currently supporting a recovering one, I'm curious as to how they come about. Thank you in advance.
 
Hi, sorry once again for the loss of Rusty. I hope Pascal is okay. Normally URI's are caused by a bacterial infection they pick up. Sometimes there is nothing we can do to help them as piggies can hide their illnesses very well as they are prey animals.

Guinea lynx is an excellent medical website, here is the link to URI information http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
 
URIs can be passed very easily between guinea pigs, especially those with a lowered immune system, like stressed shop piggies where it is quite frequent.

Drafts, big jumps in temperature (especially between the day and the night at this time of the year for outside piggies) or cold can also cause it.
 
Thank you very much for your replies. Yesterday we managed to get in touch with an excellent rodentologist that we used to take our previous guinea pigs to, and took Pascal to see her. We told her what had happened, and when she heard where we'd rescued them from she said that she unfortunately gets lots of poorly piggies coming to her who have been recently rescued from there. :( The rescue place seemed alright when we had a look round and chose our boys, but I suppose you can never really get a full sense of the conditions the guinea pigs experience.
 
Don't rule out the common cold that we get(yes I know Guinea pigs are not so poster get colds like we do) but they can most certainly contract Viral infections, that we often mistakenly call them a common cold!
Human Viral infections, (depending on the virus type) can give them Guinea pigs respiratory infections that can kill them in hours and, I know! to my shame! I lost 4 in less than 36 hours to human virus
 
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