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Colds

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As far as I am aware we can't. I don't even think they can get our colds though it is wise not to handle them too much if you have one and follow proper hygiene.
 
Guinea pigs don't have a cold virus that affects them. They suffer from bacterial respiratory infections which are usually called URI (upper respiratory tract infection). In that sense, you cannot catch a cold off your guinea pigs.

Please still use good hygiene when having a cold or flu yourself or if you are dealing with an ill piggy.
 
I was wondering because a friend of mine's guinea passed away from what I told her was a uri before he passed. She said she tried to give him mouth to nose resuscitation. He didnt make it :( the next day she was sick.
 
The incubation period for human cold and flu viruses is usually two days, so it was just a coincidence.

However, please note that mouth-on-mouth with guinea pigs does not work and that it is never a good idea to do it with an apparently infectious person or animal in the first place.
 
I didnt.. she did but he was already gone when she did it... she claims to know so much... I told her we cant get their uri, and that its not likely ( although not impossible ) that they can get our colds, but she doesnt listen.... she even asked a vet who told her the same as I did and she even called him a liar... I told her no more small and furry critters.
 
Well she should believe a vet as they know what they are talking about... She could just be upset but i'm sure she will get over it. They all have to leave us 1 day :( If the guinea pig was sneezing and fluids were coming out of its nose ( it sounds like cold symtoms but they aren't) then it did have URI Also i read somewhere that guinea pigs can't get colds and it is URI not a cold
 
Oh she hates all vets but thats another story. He wasnt even a year old and she still insists it was a cold and that she caught it :/ I just give up
 
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