Guinea Pig Wheezing, Won't Eat Or Come Out Of Hiding.

[Caitlyn]

I have two Guinea pigs, both males and three years old. Alvin occasionally makes this wheezing noise, usually late at night when everyone is trying to sleep. Sometimes he stops when I put food in his dish. For the past few days, he hasn't been very active and he won't come out of his hiding hut to eat. I have to put his food just outside the hut door, he'll poke his head out just long enough to eat, then goes back inot hiding. I'm not sure what to do. I've had them for two years and they've been fine so far. Oliver isn't active either, and not eating as much. I clean their cage twice a week, they get fresh water everyday, they aren't near any windows or doors. I'm not sure what to do.

 

[TheCavySlave]

I'm tagging in @Adelle, @Wiebke, @furryfriends (TEAS) @pig in the city, hope you find your answer soongood luck xx

 

[Wiebke]

I have two Guinea pigs, both males and three years old. Alvin occasionally makes this wheezing noise, usually late at night when everyone is trying to sleep. Sometimes he stops when I put food in his dish. For the past few days, he hasn't been very active and he won't come out of his hiding hut to eat. I have to put his food just outside the hut door, he'll poke his head out just long enough to eat, then goes back inot hiding. I'm not sure what to do. I've had them for two years and they've been fine so far. Oliver isn't active either, and not eating as much. I clean their cage twice a week, they get fresh water everyday, they aren't near any windows or doors. I'm not sure what to do.

Hi and welcome!

Please have any guinea pig that is not keen on its food seen by a vet promptly! A guinea pig that has lost its appetite is an ill piggy; there is either a pain issue or an inability to process food (overgrown premolars) at the root of it.

Switch from weighing weekly to weighin daily at the same time in the feeding cycle to monitor the food intake; cheap scales from the supermarket are fine. Up to 80% of the daily food intake should be hay, which is often the first food group that is dropped first and that you cannot control. Guinea pigs are grazers, they rely on a steady intake of mainly hay to keep the guts going.
Top your boy up by offering syringe feed and water; in an emergency you can mush up pellets. This illustrated step-by-step guide tells you everything from how to prep a syringe (and where to get one from) to how to hold and feed. It is ABSOLUTELY vital that you make sure that your guinea pig is getting enough fibre until it can be seen by a vet and until it starts eating by itself again with its meds. It does NOT replace a vet visit.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight

For the wheezing, please place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage. However, if it has gone on for a while I doubt that it is an acute respiratory infection, but it should be checked by a vet and if necessary treated. I don't think that it is necessarily the course of him not being well.

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