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Choking piggie or sick?

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SandraZ

SandraZ

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Hello, my guinea pig, Kirk, makes this sounds once in a while. i posted a video up before but you couldn't really hear anything and i was told he might be making happy noises to himself. i always thought he might be choking because after he coughs he's fine. Today it went on for a while and it sounded pretty scary and serious, i was wondering if anyone elses pigs make this sound and if he's trying to cough or if it's something serious. He doesn't have a runny nose or eyes and he doesn't look depressed so i didn't think he was sick. I didn't think this was wheezing, it didn't sound like this before. any thoughts?

Here's the video :)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_5wXZkhVU"]strange guinea pig noise - YouTube[/ame]
 
Hi I have got my guineas on woodshavings I find if there a little dusty then normal .One of mine makes that noise sounds like there nose is blocked up.It clears after a while. I try and buy dust free as there indoors. It has happened twice to my guinea pig in 3 years.Have you changed bedding or anything like that?
 
no i haven't given them a new type of bedding. I'm using fleece instead of shavings :) could it be from the hay? i guess that could become dusty.
 
It almost sounds like 'hooting'. Don't want to scare you but hooting like this can be a sign of a possible heart condition. Don't worry though, IF it was that there are loads of ways to manage the condition through medication. I have had two heart piggies, one of which sounded very much like this sometimes, and they went on for a long time with heart meds (Fortekor). One died when she was 7.5 (due to tumour) the other when he was 6 so its not as scary as it sounds.

With one of my heart guineas, when she was struggling I found a little bit of Bisolvon (you get this from the vet) helped a lot to manage the condition and loosen any mucus, fluid build up. Frusol also helps alleviate the build up of fluid caused by the heart not being quite so efficient.

However it may not be heart related but wanted to show you that its not all bad and is very manageable :))

This is just from my own experience with something very similar.

I certainly would be checking with a piggy savvy vet and get them to listen to the heart, maybe do a scan to see if the heart is enlarged. Take this video along with you as with mine it was initially very intermittent although the stress of going to the vet did used to set it off.

Good luck! He's a gorgeous boy BTW!
 
i haven't gone to the vet yet. i've only had them for about 2 months. I'm really hoping it's not a URI. i heard that they were very contagious. My other guinea pig doesn't do this at all. They both share a cage so i thought if it was URI he would have had it already. do you think i could cross that off the list or is it still possible for him to have it?
 
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