• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Guinea Pig Thick Breathing?

Kymaero

New Born Pup
Joined
Mar 7, 2020
Messages
12
Reaction score
5
Points
155
Location
Seoul, South Korea
When I got home today, I noticed that one of my guinea pigs is breathing, for lack of a better word, a bit thickly. He hasn't made any other strange noises that I've heard.

I checked his eyes and nose, nothing seems strange, and he's energetic and eating etc, but he sounds like this (Youtube video of him breathing):

Should I be concerned? The vet that I usually use is closed for the day, and doesn't open for another two days, so I don't know where I'd take him...
(I'm in South Korea, and there are limited exotic vets.)
 
I would keep an eye on him until you can get him to a vet, if he's eating and pooping he should be fine, but I would definitely get him checked out.
 
Sorry, I can't access your video.

However, if you are worried, please contact your vet clinic and ask whether they may want to see the video and make a decision as to whether an appointment should be made or not.
 
Ok I found a vet that was open later today and took him in. The vet said it was smth like pneumonia (he only spoke Korean, this is how my husband translated it). He gave us meds to give twice a day, and liquid to put in a humidifier near their cage for 20 minutes every day. We're supposed to go back in a week to check up again and get more meds if necessary. I'm a little worried about syringe feeding, since this guy's cagemate is very greedy and it can be hard to separate them, but I'll try my best.
 
Can you tell us what medicine they gave you? I’ll link to syringe feeding guide below.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
You could also feed him off a spoon. If using the syringe just don’t let the other piggy get any. You may have to take the piggy out the cage for it.
 
Can you tell us what medicine they gave you? I’ll link to syringe feeding guide below.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
You could also feed him off a spoon. If using the syringe just don’t let the other piggy get any. You may have to take the piggy out the cage for it.

I don't know exactly what they gave me, which is common in human medicine here as well - they give you packets and tell you to take twice a day, and that's mostly it (humans can check the script they take to the pharmacy, if they want, but I was in a tizzy and we were at the vet for what felt like quite a while, until their closing hours, so I didn't think to ask exactly what we were getting). I know that one med is an antibiotic, and the other is a probiotic (probiotic taken first, antibiotic 15 minutes later). Not sure about the humidifier liquid (all three literally say "probiotic, internal medicine, nebulizer solution" when translated).

I got (I'm pretty sure most) of both meds in him this morning, using the techniques from that guide. He ate the probiotic himself, but I had to hold him for the antibiotic (which the vet had warned me was likely to be necessary, as it doesn't taste good). I gave him a couple bites of carrot after each, to push down the meds and reward him (probably won't use carrot every time, but I'll certainly give him something after). I did have to put a quick cage separator up when syringe-feeding, because his cagemate is very active and likely would have gotten in the way (he pulled very hard on the separator, but couldn't get past it - it was 2 grids with a single grid attached on the side for stability. I'd also like to note that I did give him food to distract him, but that didn't hold him the whole time.).

The piggies were fine once reunited after the med feeding, and the sick one seems to be active and eating and drinking normally, as he was before.
 
I would probably take him out rather than separate them within the cage. Good he’s taking his meds like a good boy.
 
:agr:
You’d normally remove piggy and syringe feed them the piggy being held, likely on a table, rather than try to do it with them still in the cage
I hope he gets well soon
 
I gave him the medicine out of the cage this evening, and he took it well. Still eating.
However, we got a humidifier that's way to big to deliver the nebulizing medicine - it won't even turn on with that amount in (40ml, 10ml meds and 30ml water). Going to get something else to try.
 
Back
Top