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Does my Piggie have a cold?

Butterfluf

Butterfluf

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Oct 29, 2019
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Hi there,

My piggie is making noises I haven't heard before I will try and attach a video. It sounds kind of like when the wind is recorded on a microphone if that makes sense. I was wondering what a cause for this could be and if I should keep her separate from my other Guinea pigs.

Update: a video is too large to upload and a recording is not supported so I'm not sure how to show

Thank you
 
Any video has to be uploaded to YouTube first and then put a link onto this site.

Guinea pigs do not get the common cold, but they do get respiratory infections. Any breathing issue needs to be checked by a vet. We obviously cannot see or hear what is happening and we cannot diagnose in any event, but URIs can be serious so please get her seen by a vet. Don’t separate her from her friends - that will cause more stress.
 
Hi, if your piggy is making unusual breathing sounds, and they persist more than a couple of hours, you should get her seen by a vet in case she has a respiratory infection.

Sometimes piggies cough, sneeze, honk and snort for a short while if they have eaten too fast or got hay stuck up their nose, but this usually clears completely within an hour.

So if its gone on for a few hours please book a vet check. No need to separate as her friend will already have been exposed to any possible infection and separations are stressful for piggies x
 
Good advice from @PigglePuggle .

My Phoebe has recently recovered from a respiratory infection - it took a week of antibiotics but she’s fine and none of the others picked it up.

Hope your piggy is ok
 
Thank you guys. My phone died sorry for not getting back until now. She's still making the noise so I do believe there's an issue. As a brief explanation of my situation. My Guinea pigs were at my boyfriends parents house and his mother gave 2 of them to a pet shop without telling me and said to my boyfriend and his sister that all of them had to be gone within a few days. I took them to my dad's house and got them settled and tried to go to the pet shop then and see if I could get my ones back. Unfortunately one of them had been given to someone but I got my other one back. When I held her in the pet shop today she was not making the noise that I noticed, they put her in a box for me with hay and sawdust and since I took her out she's been sneezing and breathing like this. So I was thinking based on suggestions that maybe it was the hay in the box but she is still breathing funny. She's eating fine though.

Another issue is that outside the cage, the Guinea pig she was with (her mother) is reasonably OK with her. There was some rumblestrutting by the mother but they were generally OK. But in the cage the mother (who has 2 babies that I'm trying to find good homes for) kicks this piggie out of the house and chases her. There hasn't been biting or anything but I feel Starlight this piggie who was living with her fine before isn't having a good time. I don't know what's wrong. Do you think when I find homes for the babies the mother and starlight will be OK again or Will it persist like this?

Thanks for the help, I will take her to the vet soon when I can if it definitely isn't the hay she was in with.
 
Merab's Slave said:
Good advice from @PigglePuggle .

My Phoebe has recently recovered from a respiratory infection - it took a week of antibiotics but she’s fine and none of the others picked it up.

Hope your piggy is ok
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Thank you I hope so too. She is eating fine and moving around. I wrote a long post explaining what happened and I, thought it could be the hay she was in with, but maybe it is a respiratory problem seeing as she is sneezing and hasn't recovered from breathing funny yet
 

That is the link to the video of her breathing. Thank you
 
If her breathing is noisy and not normal, then she needs to see a vet.

Regarding their relationship, piggies need to be character compatible, so if there is a problem now, then there will likely always be a problem but your most immediate concern needs to be the breathing issue and having a vet check her over.
 
Piggies&buns said:
If her breathing is noisy and not normal, then she needs to see a vet.

Regarding their relationship, piggies need to be character compatible, so if there is a problem now, then there will likely always be a problem but your most immediate concern needs to be the breathing issue and having a vet check her over.
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Thank you, i will take her as soon as I can. Its not especially noisy and it's a little better than yesterday. They got on before the separation and now they don't.
 
Butterfluf said:
Thank you, i will take her as soon as I can. Its not especially noisy and it's a little better than yesterday. They got on before the separation and now they don't.
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Don’t delay too long with breathing issues. Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about but things can deteriorate quickly if it is an infection.

Did you reintroduce them properly in a neutral area, or did you just put them all back together in the cage?
 
Piggies&buns said:
Don’t delay too long with breathing issues. Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about but things can deteriorate quickly if it is an infection.

Did you reintroduce them properly in neutral area, or did you just put them all back together in the cage?
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I had them on some fleece on the floor, they were sniffing, the mother was rumblestrutting a little but then they were fine. They, were eating together and being quiet. They were on the floor most of an hour and it was fine. Then when I put them in the cage the mother was chasing her away. I thought maybe because she has new babies now that she doesn't want her near them but I don't know the issue.

I may be able to take her today, there just isn't an exotic vet near me. Just standard ones
 
Was the cage thoroughly cleaned down to remove scents? If she sees the cage as her territory, she may not like another piggy in her space. If she has babies, then she will have a higher ranking in the relationship and may not appreciate another piggy near by. Keep an eye on them and watch out for bullying - piggy not being allowed to eat, weight loss etc
 
Piggies&buns said:
Was the cage thoroughly cleaned down to remove scents? If she sees the cage as her territory, she may not like another piggy in her space. If she has babies, then she will have a higher ranking in the relationship and may not appreciate another piggy near by. Keep an eye on them and watch out for bullying - piggy not being allowed to eat, weight loss etc
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I cleaned out the cage but only with a disinfectant/deodorising spray and at the moment I'm using special dust free paper granules and I reused some of the unused ones that were in the cage before the clean. I have two food bowls down and was seeing her eating. Usually the mother only chases when she tries to go in the house. I have another shelter for her in the cage but she doesn't use it. I'm keeping an eye on her
 
Ok, it sounds like you have done the right things and that they are just in a period of re-establishing their relationship. It can take a couple of weeks for things to settle, it may be adding to things though that she has babies now. Just keep an eye on it and hopefully it’ll settle down
 
Piggies&buns said:
Ok, it sounds like you have done the right things and that they are just in a period of re-establishing their relationship. It can take a couple of weeks for things to settle, it may be adding to things though that she has babies now. Just keep an eye on it and hopefully it’ll settle down
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Thank you, Starlight is not fighting back so I hope that they can settle down. I just don't want to get rid of either of them because I just got Starlight back after a lot of hassle and Lentil the mother I want to keep aswell. She was always a bit more aggressive than my other piggies but I thought that was because she was pregnant. I'll have to keep watching them unfortunately. I'm just worried now that if I manage to find homes for the babies that it will stay the same. I hope not.
 
If they are compatible in character and like each other then hopefully it’s a temporary blip due to what has happened and they will settle down
How old are the babies and what sex are they?
 
Piggies&buns said:
If they are compatible in character and like each other then hopefully it’s a temporary blip due to what has happened and they will settle down
How old are the babies and what sex are they?
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So the mother I'm not sure of her age, the babies are 4 weeks old and are both girls. I have separated the boys already. Starlight the one I am reintroducing is around 3 months and 1 week old.

My boyfriend has suggested removing the babies for a few hours and just leaving Starlight and the mother Lentil in the cage by themselves to see if they can work things out. Would this be a good idea?
 
Butterfluf said:
So the mother I'm not sure of her age, the babies are 4 weeks old and are both girls. I have separated the boys already. Starlight the one I am reintroducing is around 3 months and 1 week old.

My boyfriend has suggested removing the babies for a few hours and just leaving Starlight and the mother Lentil in the cage by themselves to see if they can work things out. Would this be a good idea?
Click to expand...

Hmmm....I’m not sure id do that - all of them need to get on together. If there is no actual bullying, and this is purely down to the reestablishing their friendship, then things will settle if they want to be together. Actual bonding takes a couple of weeks but as they already know each other, then hopefully they will settle down. As long as there aren’t any alarming signs of problems then I’d leave them to get on with it.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Hmmm....I’m not sure id do that - all of them need to get on together. If there is no actual bullying, and this is purely down to the reestablishing their friendship, then things will settle if they want to be together. Actual bonding takes a couple of weeks but as they already know each other, then hopefully they will settle down. As long as there aren’t any alarming signs of problems then I’d leave them to get on with it.
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I'll leave them for now, the chasing worries me she just stays mostly in one place except when she goes to eat. So I hope that they can get on again like they used to. The mother was always a bit of a pushy pig unfortunately.
 
Butterfluf said:
I'll leave them for now, the chasing worries me she just stays mostly in one place except when she goes to eat. So I hope that they can get on again like they used to. The mother was always a bit of a pushy pig unfortunately.
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Keep us posted on how things go - both the breathing issue and their relationship
 
Hi so as an update, the vet said she had pneumonia. They injected her in the clinic with Fenoflox and have prescribed 4 marbocare tablets that half of one must be crushed up and mixed with water and syringe fed to her every day. She has to be kept separated for now so we have made a make shift box for her to be in for the moment.
 
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