Cracking sounds when breathing

[Lisatka]

Hi, I have a male guinea pig and his name is Scratchie.
He has been having uri since i got him more than two month ago. I have seen two vets with him and i believe that his recent vet, who is an exotic vet, is cavy savvy vet. She has put him on antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs. Antibiotics from the first vet solved sores in his mouth he had and i think they could have been signs of scurvy. But when he told me he wanted to anesthetize him and keep him without food for 10 hours, i decided he knew nothing about anesthetizing guinea pigs and found my new wet. The new vet told me he probably has an antibiotic resistant uri that stays in his nose and that some infections do not spread to lungs. She wants to wait two weeks and then explore his nose under anesthetics and get a sample from his nose so she can select new antibiotics. Any suggestions on how to help him more? Thank you for advice!

 

[DMS260820]

Hi, I have a male guinea pig and his name is Scratchie.
He has been having uri since i got him more than two month ago. I have seen two vets with him and i believe that his recent vet, who is an exotic vet, is cavy savvy vet. She has put him on antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs. Antibiotics from the first vet solved sores in his mouth he had and i think they could have been signs of scurvy. But when he told me he wanted to anesthetize him and keep him without food for 10 hours, i decided he knew nothing about anesthetizing guinea pigs and found my new wet. The new vet told me he probably has an antibiotic resistant uri that stays in his nose and that some infections do not spread to lungs. She wants to wait two weeks and then explore his nose under anesthetics and get a sample from his nose so she can select new antibiotics. Any suggestions on how to help him more? Thank you for advice!

My old boar had this nose problem. Crackly and stuffy, antibiotics wouldn't clear it, nothing... He did get 2 uri's and pneumonia, but weva they were because of the stuffy Ness I'm not sure. He did survive it all.

He lived to 6. And had the crackly Ness for the 4 years I had him. Came to me like it ( I rescued him from a school)

 

[Lady Kelly]

Is he eating fine or is he losing weight? If there is weight loss it means his appetite has decreased as a result of the infection (the need to eat comes third after the need to breathe and drink). You can step in with additional syringe feeding to keep his guts going and to keep him strong enough for the anaesthetic Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Is there a reason your vet wants to wait 2 weeks before doing the tests? If he is losing weight I would call them and ask them to do it sooner

 

[Wiebke]

Is he eating fine or is he losing weight? If there is weight loss it means his appetite has decreased as a result of the infection (the need to eat comes third after the need to breathe and drink). You can step in with additional syringe feeding to keep his guts going and to keep him strong enough for the anaesthetic Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Is there a reason your vet wants to wait 2 weeks before doing the tests? If he is losing weight I would call them and ask them to do it sooner

I agree with @Lady Kelly

 

[Lisatka]

Thank you for your input, guys :-)
He was not eating well before when he had the mouth sores. But now he is eating a lot and gaining weight. He has also started eating greens and bell peppers. So he is otherwise well now. His vet says it is in his upper respiratory tract, not on his lungs. Before last visit she gave him anti inflamatories and she said his breathing is better and now wants to wait to see if he improves on his own. He now weights 430g, she says he is small for his age, which is about 3-4 month. Not too sure why she wants to wait 2 weeks because we spoke spanish and this was the part i did not get :-) we live in the canary islands and my spanish still needs improvement.

My old boar had this nose problem. Crackly and stuffy, antibiotics wouldn't clear it, nothing... He did get 2 uri's and pneumonia, but weva they were because of the stuffy Ness I'm not sure. He did survive it all.

He lived to 6. And had the crackly Ness for the 4 years I had him. Came to me like it ( I rescued him from a school)

Lets hope Scratchie will cope with it somehow :-)

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for your input, guys :-)
He was not eating well before when he had the mouth sores. But now he is eating a lot and gaining weight. He has also started eating greens and bell peppers. So he is otherwise well now. His vet says it is in his upper respiratory tract, not on his lungs. Before last visit she gave him anti inflamatories and she said his breathing is better and now wants to wait to see if he improves on his own. He now weights 430g, she says he is small for his age, which is about 3-4 month. Not too sure why she wants to wait 2 weeks because we spoke spanish and this was the part i did not get :-) we live in the canary islands and my spanish still needs improvement.


Lets hope Scratchie will cope with it somehow :-)

It is good that he is eating and putting on weight, so I would not worry about URI or a serious infection too much! The breathing obstruction is not so bad that it is impacting on the appetite (the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and the need to eat; this is the reason why a URI is connected with loss of appetite and such a killer).

Hopefully the crackling is just a sensitivity to hay dust (one of my piggies sounded like she had URI because of that) but glad that he is improving and putting on weight.

Don't worry about him being small; with your good care and on a good hay based diet he is still young enough to realise the full genetically determined potential in his own time. Individual weight and sizes vary massively throughout life. I've adopted a 6 months old rescue born baby with this weight once; in the end she sneaked into the bottom end of the normal adult weight range of 800g and even weighed as much as 900g in the prime of her life.

Important is at all times that your piggies are healthy in themselves and that their individual weight/size ratio is fine (we call it the 'heft' but it is basically a rough equivalent to a body mass index).
How weight changes over life and how to judge the heft around the ribcage you can learn in this important weight monitoring guide here - it is one of the most important life long health monitoring tools: Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Lady Kelly]

It may be that if he is gaining weight your vet would like him to gain a bit more so if he needs anaesthetic he is stronger and more able to manage the procedure. Keep going with what you are doing but if he goes downhill please go straight back to the vet

 

[Lisatka]

That is what i also thought. She seems to know what she is doing. I also think she does not really want to put him under.

 

[Lisatka]

Well, The two week wait is over and Scratchie is the same. i contacted his vet and she said that as long as he is not worse she wants to wait it out. He still often makes his noices but has no nasal discharge and is gaining weight. My question is, can i now move his cage next to his girlfriend that was suppose to be his friend without the fear of not infecting her? They are both in separate rooms now and i think it would do them good to finally meet each other. Also, as the vet does not want to neuter him now, can i let them be together under supervision? I do not want them to mate, but from what i read so far, if i watch for her fertile days carefully, and make sure she is not on heat every about 17 days, they should be fine, right? I would appreciate any reading links on this topic. Thank you guys for your info and tips :-)

 

[Wiebke]

Well, The two week wait is over and Scratchie is the same. i contacted his vet and she said that as long as he is not worse she wants to wait it out. He still often makes his noices but has no nasal discharge and is gaining weight. My question is, can i now move his cage next to his girlfriend that was suppose to be his friend without the fear of not infecting her? They are both in separate rooms now and i think it would do them good to finally meet each other. Also, as the vet does not want to neuter him now, can i let them be together under supervision? I do not want them to mate, but from what i read so far, if i watch for her fertile days carefully, and make sure she is not on heat every about 17 days, they should be fine, right? I would appreciate any reading links on this topic. Thank you guys for your info and tips :-)

You can move the cages next to each other so they can be best of friends through the bars, but what you cannot do let them meet, unfortunately. Guinea pigs don't do playtime. For them, every single meeting is a frustratingly interrupted full-on bonding session before they are ripped apart again. Not putting them together is ultimately much kinder than a constant high and low emotional rollercoaster with hopes regularly dashed.
Not to mention the fact that sows can come into season spontaneously in the presence of a boar... It is simply not worth putting your girl's (and any potential babies') lives at risk for what is ultimately your own gratification but not your piggies.

I know that it is a very unsatisfactory state for you but your piggies will adjust to it and will still have each other for company and interaction as long as they can see each others' bodies, talk and smell the pheromones for communication on all levels. You can exchange smelly cosies for them to sleep and play in; that is as close to each other as they should safely get.

 

[Lisatka]

Thank you for your answer Wiebke, how sad that they dont do playtime :-(
I will have to wait than for him to get strong to get neutered. My vet is confident it will go smoothly but we have to wait.