Grunty/wheezy 'short'-nosed Guineas

[BlueBird]

Hi there,

My guinea pig Belle, gets a wheeze from time to time. I've taken her to the vets many times for this and they listen to her chest only to tell me "she's fine. Don't worry about it. £25 please!".

It's a wheeze that comes and goes. However, when she has particularly bad/loud wheezing fits I can't help but worry and do some research. The most recent vet trip concluded that she might have an allergy to hay (or maybe an asthma type condition) but I'm not convinced. This morning she was wheezing at the veggie bowl - no hay present. It tends to happen when she eats with enthusiasm, i.e. when we're a bit late serving breakfast and it's her favourites or there's a fresh batch of hay or a hay pile and she perhaps scoffs her food.

My most recent foray into the world of veterinary medicine has come across the idea that 'short-nosed' guinea pigs (or 'snub-nosed' as I call them) can be a little wheezy. Belle's a bit of a mongrel; she definitely has a long-haired guinea pig in there somewhere and has the snub-nose that Silkies seem to have. So this seems that it might be a viable cause for the wheeze. It makes sense to me since short-nosed dog breeds like pugs and bulldogs are notorious snorers and wheezers.

Has anyone else found short-nosed guineas are a bit grunty/wheezy?

 

[Kithri]

We've found that one of our pigs, Eleanor, can be a bit grunty. It really alarmed us when we first heard it, but we took her to the vet and we were told she was fine. Indeed, she didn't exhibit any other symptoms and seemed perfectly fine otherwise. We tried different things - making sure there's less hay dust, using a different laundry detergent for the fleece, etc. Maybe she's just short-nosed like yours? We'd like to get an air purifier soon to see if that makes a difference. Her sister doesn't do it at all.

 

[sport_billy]

Awww poor little Belle

We have a piggy that hoots if she eats far to fast... we have learnt to keep an eye on her it normally clears quite quick but i am wary of missing a uri so keep close eye that the noise vanishes as fast as it starts

 

[Hank288]

This is a very interesting topic for me as I have similar issues with my alpaca girl Daisy. She has had a URI in the past but then she really did sound crackly and it was obvious she had a URI, was treated by 2 different vets with success.

Occasionally now she has couple of days every so often where she hoots while she is just sat around and then grunts while she is eating. At first was checked by a vet and vet could find absolutely nothing wrong. For the first few times it really worried me but am getting more used to it just being her. But I always did wonder why. This is some very interesting information.

She would be what I would probably consider a 'short nosed guinea pig'. Never thought it could be the hay causing it. Going to do some research now on short nosed piggies.

This is an example of an alpaca just to confirm that she is what would be called a short nosed. alpaca guinea pig - Google Search

 

[DM030819]

My late pig Anselmo was a grunty pig. But I don't think it's due to them being short nosed. I'm more likely to incline towards poor genetics, or a past issue that has damaged their airways.