Hello.
I am very new to this site, though I have looked at some earlier posts for reference when finding out the best solutions to some difficult situations I've had with guinea pigs in the past. We have two guinea pigs currently. Both boars; one older and one younger. The older one is about 3 years old, and have had some problems with urination (kidney stones), defecation (impaction) and fatty eye. But overall he's always been a happy, healthy piggy. However, lately he's been wheezing a lot, and his breathing seems somewhat erratic. It started a little more than a week ago, but he's had this behaviour before. Multiple times in fact. Though it always disappeared quite quickly. Symptoms are: difficulty inhaling and sometimes exhaling in a sneeze-like manner (no visible discharge from nose). Despite this, he's moving around a lot, eats regularly and with good appetite.
We have tried ruling out what the cause of this might be. Switched bedding brand and hay, if simply an allergic reaction. We clean their cage thoroughly once every week, and remove wet bedding and trampled hay every day. The reason why we think it might be an allergy is because of the fact that only the older one seems affected by it. The younger one have had no changes in behaviour whatsoever.
I read that when a guinea pig is sick it causes them a lot of stress, so you should avoid picking them up too often and hold it as little as possible. While this may be true, the only way I've ever gotten around the firework-celebrating-period problem every new year (which always gets them really shook up), is by cuddling up with them in my bed underneath my thick bed sheets; trying to muffle the loud noises outside the windows. So, during that time, I really couldn't come up with a better solution. Also, if he has a cold - shouldn't warmth be a major healing factor? Our home is not the warmest, but definitely not colder than guinea pigs are known to handle.
Taking him to a vet is not something we can do. Not because of economical limits, but because we've tried that multiple times before with earlier generations and it had such a negative impact on them. They get stressed really easily. One time, we took a boar to the vet to give him a simple checkup. He died a few days later at home. We couldn't know why, other than the fact we were unlucky. As far as I can tell, they aren't used to this completely different environment, with lots of people around, different lights, sounds and smells.
We also cannot change the bedding or hay again simply because of the fact that there is only one available brand due to lack of import from other countries. With Covid still keeping people and the country on edge we're not sure when we'll get at chance at changing the bedding again, if that would even have any effect.
What do you people think? Does it sound like a respiratory infection, a virus, or an allergy? I'm just not sure what actions to take. Thanks in advance.
/Al
I am very new to this site, though I have looked at some earlier posts for reference when finding out the best solutions to some difficult situations I've had with guinea pigs in the past. We have two guinea pigs currently. Both boars; one older and one younger. The older one is about 3 years old, and have had some problems with urination (kidney stones), defecation (impaction) and fatty eye. But overall he's always been a happy, healthy piggy. However, lately he's been wheezing a lot, and his breathing seems somewhat erratic. It started a little more than a week ago, but he's had this behaviour before. Multiple times in fact. Though it always disappeared quite quickly. Symptoms are: difficulty inhaling and sometimes exhaling in a sneeze-like manner (no visible discharge from nose). Despite this, he's moving around a lot, eats regularly and with good appetite.
We have tried ruling out what the cause of this might be. Switched bedding brand and hay, if simply an allergic reaction. We clean their cage thoroughly once every week, and remove wet bedding and trampled hay every day. The reason why we think it might be an allergy is because of the fact that only the older one seems affected by it. The younger one have had no changes in behaviour whatsoever.
I read that when a guinea pig is sick it causes them a lot of stress, so you should avoid picking them up too often and hold it as little as possible. While this may be true, the only way I've ever gotten around the firework-celebrating-period problem every new year (which always gets them really shook up), is by cuddling up with them in my bed underneath my thick bed sheets; trying to muffle the loud noises outside the windows. So, during that time, I really couldn't come up with a better solution. Also, if he has a cold - shouldn't warmth be a major healing factor? Our home is not the warmest, but definitely not colder than guinea pigs are known to handle.
Taking him to a vet is not something we can do. Not because of economical limits, but because we've tried that multiple times before with earlier generations and it had such a negative impact on them. They get stressed really easily. One time, we took a boar to the vet to give him a simple checkup. He died a few days later at home. We couldn't know why, other than the fact we were unlucky. As far as I can tell, they aren't used to this completely different environment, with lots of people around, different lights, sounds and smells.
We also cannot change the bedding or hay again simply because of the fact that there is only one available brand due to lack of import from other countries. With Covid still keeping people and the country on edge we're not sure when we'll get at chance at changing the bedding again, if that would even have any effect.
What do you people think? Does it sound like a respiratory infection, a virus, or an allergy? I'm just not sure what actions to take. Thanks in advance.
/Al
And
Hope he is better in no time x
