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Coughing/Wheezing :S

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Kirjava

Kirjava

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Hello,

My guinea keeps making cough sounds. I've noticed it mostly when he's eating hay. I initially thought that it was because he was just eating too fast, but after he coughs he sounds quite wheezy as well. Have you seen anything like this before or have any advice please? Thanks :)
 
Hello :)

Ok, this could be one of two or more things but either way, you will need to see your vet (hopefully a guinea pig savvy one).

Your piggy could be allergic to hay - it sounds crazy I know but it happens more often than you think and you need to think about changing the type of hay you use. There are hays that are dust extracted which could help.

Your piggy could have a URI (upper-respiratory tract infection) like a chest infection. You might not notice it until he eats because he's struggling to eat and breathe at the same time. If so, this is pretty serious and you will need to get your piggy on an anti-biotic as soon as possible.

Fingers crossed and hope this helps
 
Good that you have him seen.

It doesn't necessarily need to be URI (upper respiratory tract infection), but you want to make sure that it is isn't, as an untreated one can kill. It can be dust in the hay or even a dust/hay allergy.
 
How did you get on at the vets? Hope everything went well.
 
Hello,

It went very well, the Vet had a good look at him and said he seems fine in himself, although his chest sounded a tiny bit crackly. She said that because he's still eating well and doesn't seem under the weather it's likely to be allergies, maybe to hay. This makes sense as it seems to be worst when he's eating hay, especially new stuff.

He's had a good check over (which he did not enjoy!) and he's had a steroid injection. I'm taking him back on Tuesday for a check up. He already seemed much better this morning, no wheezing or coughing at all.

I was also just reading a thread on hayfever in piggies which seems very likely! Does anyone have any reccomendations for any better hay I could try please? :)
 
I'm glad everything seems ok. Hopefully his chest will sound better when he goes for a check-up so you can rule out a URI.

I can't remember the brand but I had one hay that was "dust extracted" once, you need to look for this. The really good timothy hay like "alfalfa kings" (misleading name I know) is probably no good because it's very green and is quite dusty.

The burgess excel herbage seems pretty dust free. There's this place:

http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/hay.html

But it looks a bit large-scale... Oxbow Western Timothy hay also looks pretty good but I've never bought it. You can get it online quite easily though.

I hope this helps :)
 
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