Guinea pig suddenly scared of everything - URI?

[coconutnut]

Hello everybody!

I'm worried about our 2.5 year old boar Manteli. We have had him and his brother for almost a year. Yesterday night he became very different from his usual self, it was like he was scared and suspicious of everything in sight. He is a shy boy in general but this was different: he wouldn't leave his favorite nook of their enclosure (about 1.5x2m, housing him and his brother Kookos) and would only move to go eat some hay, taking really long, unsure steps and keeping his body low and hunched down. Then, it was like he saw a ghost and ran straight back to his safe spot, even running into walls for seemingly no reason, sometimes even squealing in fear. He is the dominant one out of the two and we didn't notice any bullying or such from his brother that could've spooked or hurt him like that.

Manteli spent all of last night sitting in a remote corner, I don't know if he slept but if he did, it wasn't in his usual relaxed position. Today, he has been keeping to himself and hasn't been interested in anything. I noticed that he is puffing up his fur but that could be due to him being scared of me as I have to pop my head down and stare at him to even see him in his safe spot. He is eating and drinking but only when offered in front of him. I hand fed him successfully but he wouldn't let me pet him like he usually does. His brother Kookos has started acting similarly, even he wasn't excited about us cleaning the cage and giving new hay like he normally is.

There have been some changes to Manteli's behaviour recently that also make me worry. We noticed him making grunting sounds when eating a few days ago, but only when he is really gobbling his food down. I think he's made this sound before but more so now, it hasn't gotten worse since we noticed it though. There shouldn't be any chronic issue in his heart or lungs as he was cleared by the vet last month when we were there for a dental check.

At the vet, they also noticed early signs of a footpad infection/bumblefoot so maybe that plays a part in this? I don't know how his footpads are doing at the moment, we are supposed to check and clean them today, as well as clip his nails, but don't know how that's going to happen as he doesn't like being picked up even when he is his normal self. He hasn't had any trouble walking before.

I also noticed some discharge in one of his eyes today. It could be the cleaning milk they produce, I didn't get a good look. I'm worried he may have a URI..?

I called the vet just now and they said to monitor him and if it doesn't get better we should book a vet's appointment on Monday or Tuesday, or if his condition deteriorates there is an emergency vet we can go to tomorrow.

One thing that maybe could have caused this is that our neighbours played some loud music yesterday night, which the pigs didn't really seem bothered by at first but this behaviour did start at around the same time as the music. We also noticed that neither of the pigs want to go to the area where they usually eat, maybe this is because it's the same area where Manteli knocked into the walls of the enclosure yesterday, making them shake and clatter. I guess they could also be lethargic today due to not getting a good night's sleep last night...

Thank you for reading through all that. If anyone has any tips or thoughts I would love to hear.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh him every morning. This is to monitor hay intake more closely.
Make sure you put hay in the hide he is spending most time in.
It sounds like it is likely his hay intake has dropped - you say he is only eating if you offer food right in front of him - and you will need to step in with syringe feeding a fibre rich recovery feed if he is unwell and losing weight.
You feed as much as is necessary to keep his weight stable each day.

Lethargy isn’t caused by not getting sleep. Piggies don’t sleep at night, they sleep little and often at all times.
Lethargy is caused by illness and reduction in hay intake.

Please do see a vet about this and particularly if he is losing weight

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Regarding the fluid in his eye, what colour is it? If it is white then it will be cleaning fluid. Clear indicates an eye irritation.

Are you ensuring his bedding is kept dry given he has potential bumblefoot? It would be advised to use additional pee pads so they can be removed a few times a day.

I hope he is ok

 

[Piggies&buns]

To add, puffing up hair can also be due to pain

 

[coconutnut]

Please switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh him every morning. This is to monitor hay intake more closely.
Make sure you put hay in the hide he is spending most time in.
It sounds like it is likely his hay intake has dropped - you say he is only eating if you offer food right in front of him - and you will need to step in with syringe feeding a fibre rich recovery feed if he is unwell and losing weight.
You feed as much as is necessary to keep his weight stable each day.

Lethargy isn’t caused by not getting sleep. Piggies don’t sleep at night, they sleep little and often at all times.
Lethargy is caused by illness and reduction in hay intake.

Please do see a vet about this and particularly if he is losing weight

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Regarding the fluid in his eye, what colour is it? If it is white then it will be cleaning fluid. Clear indicates an eye irritation.

Are you ensuring his bedding is kept dry given he has potential bumblefoot? It would be advised to use additional pee pads so they can be removed a few times a day.

I hope he is ok

Thank you for the quick response!

I went and checked on him, he was sleeping calmly this time and woke up to eat hay. He is eating a good amount of it from the pile I put in front of his hidey, and has been going for about 10 minutes. He isn't drinking water on his own, though, but did drink a few times when I put the bottle in front of him. I hung the bottle closer to him but he would have to leave his hidey in order to drink from it independently.

I also took a look at his eye. I'm not sure it's discharge after all, or maybe he scraped it away, but if it's discharge it's definitely clear. He has small black stripes right under his eye that look a bit like discharge. It could be that I mistook that for discharge at a glance but I will keep an eye on it.

I noticed he was grunting once or twice while eating. I think he was puffed up, too.

We have not weighed him but we know his recent weight from the vet's. We do have a scale so we'll have to try and get him on that today. Hopefully his hay intake hasn't dropped tremendously since he has been eating, just not from the usual place.

About the sleeping and lethargy, I should've worded it better. I thought that maybe him and his brother are tired today as Manteli was acting weird yesterday and perhaps stressing his brother out. Today they have both been sleeping calmly but they still definitely seem lethargic on top of that, especially Manteli. But you're right, this can't be just put down to tiredness.

I will change the towel under him. He hasn't been in the same spot for the whole of last night and today, just to be clear, but the towel in his current hidey will be partly wet by now as he has been in there for the better part of the day.

Do you have any ideas as to what could have caused the behaviour from last night? And why is his brother acting similarly now?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Definitely make sure you weigh them both on normal kitchen scales every week (a vet check weight is not regularly enough to be of any use) but switch to daily when you are concerned about them.

The need to drink comes before the need to eat, so if he is eating then he will be drinking. They will not dehydrate themselves on purpose.

We can only speculate which wouldn’t be helpful. Best to always keep a close eye on weight and prepare to see a vet if you are worried.

 

[coconutnut]

Definitely make sure you weigh them both on normal kitchen scales every week (a vet check weight is not regularly enough to be of any use) but switch to daily when you are concerned about them.

The need to drink comes before the need to eat, so if he is eating then he will be drinking. They will not dehydrate themselves on purpose.

We can only speculate which wouldn’t be helpful. Best to always keep a close eye on weight and prepare to see a vet if you are worried.

Yes I will weigh them asap.
Now he is eating again and drank a lot of water when offered. I noticed his breathing was wheezy at times. Seems more and more likely that he is sick. I will update what happens

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes I will weigh them asap.
Now he is eating again and drank a lot of water when offered. I noticed his breathing was wheezy at times. Seems more and more likely that he is sick. I will update what happens

If his breathing is noisy at all, then he needs to see the vet

I hope he is ok

 

[Graid]

It does seem that he's got something wrong- definitely get his breathing listened to by a vet. However, I just want to say that I have in fact had a guinea pig before who became suddenly utterly terrified of her cage in the short term, running around in an absolute panic trying to get out. Unlike your pig, she was actually normally really brave and not scared of anything. She also actually had bumblefoot sometimes.

I wonder if perhaps when a pig has something wrong with them and move in a way that hurts them they might think that it was something in the cage that did it to them, and thus, they panic trying to get away from a place they think is dangerous.

In her case, she calmed down after being taken out of her cage and put in a separate box and when she went back in her cage a few hours later she was alright again.

She had this happen to her I think two times total and always calmed down again afterwards.

 

[weepweeps]

Yes I will weigh them asap.
Now he is eating again and drank a lot of water when offered. I noticed his breathing was wheezy at times. Seems more and more likely that he is sick. I will update what happens

Good luck. I hope he can be seen quickly and whatever is wrong is easily treatable.

 

[coconutnut]

It does seem that he's got something wrong- definitely get his breathing listened to by a vet. However, I just want to say that I have in fact had a guinea pig before who became suddenly utterly terrified of her cage in the short term, running around in an absolute panic trying to get out. Unlike your pig, she was actually normally really brave and not scared of anything. She also actually had bumblefoot sometimes.

I wonder if perhaps when a pig has something wrong with them and move in a way that hurts them they might think that it was something in the cage that did it to them, and thus, they panic trying to get away from a place they think is dangerous.

In her case, she calmed down after being taken out of her cage and put in a separate box and when she went back in her cage a few hours later she was alright again.

She had this happen to her I think two times total and always calmed down again afterwards.

Thank you so much for your input!

After my last entry, we noticed their feet looked swollen and both of them seemed shy, unhappy and unwilling to move, Manteli more so than Kookos. After cutting their nails and weighing them (weight was normal) we decided to take them to the vet. It did seem like they calmed down and became perkier in the travel cage, which is odd because they usually hate it, but makes sense considering what you said.

At the vet, they had their breathing listened to and their paws and overall health looked at. The vet only heard a raspiness in their breath when they started squeaking, no signs of a URI otherwise either as their membranes, nose and eyes looked fine. She recommended steam inhalation if the wheezing problem persists. We had only noticed the wheezing recently when they were eating or sniffing something really hard, and they both did it which made us worry it was something transmitted, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe it is hay dust that they're inhaling (even though our hay isn't especially dusty, just slightly choppy at the bottom of the bag). Their voices have always been slightly raspy when squeaking, too. The vet thinks that the painkiller we'll give them might help with the wheezing.

The vet also noticed they have bumblefoot. Manteli has it worse than Kookos but they'll both have the same care. The vet we went to last month had diagnosed it as well for Manteli but gave him nothing for it. Now, we have Betadine for cleaning the paws and Vetramil ointment for recovery, both 2-3 times per day, and Metacam twice a day for pain relief. They were also given a painkiller shot as well as a vitamin injection. We can get them antibiotics if their condition doesn't improve within a week. The vet also said to make sure Manteli doesn't gain any weight in order to keep the bumblefoot at bay, he is at 1.150 kg with Kookos at 1.095 kg.

We really need to take better care of their enclosure to make sure it's never damp anywhere, so that means switching the pee towels every day (so we will always have one set of towels drying and one in use, and switch them around daily). Up until now, we have replaced them completely once per week and turned them around daily. Now we are also deep cleaning to cage before letting the pigs back in to make sure that no pesky bits of hay are flying around there irritating their airways!

Thanks to everyone for the responses and well-wishes! <3 I feel so relieved and feel that the pigs think so too. They slept peacefully in the carrier, we treated their paws and let them out to their clean home. I will update more if it seems like they are scared of something in the enclosure.

 

[coconutnut]

Good luck. I hope he can be seen quickly and whatever is wrong is easily treatable.

Thank you, he got treated quickly, hoping for a swift recovery <3