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Help! Guinea pig wheezing and has hoop around one eye?

L

Littletinyguineapigs

Junior Guinea Pig
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So my boy’s name is S’mores and I’m thinking he’s around 6. I’ve heard it can be an upper Respiratory illness. He just started today, it’s been going for several hours! It’s really scary because I want what’s best for my pets, and it’s so loud that it makes me want to cry hearing him suffer. I switched his hay to oxbow hay, I was using Kaytee before, but I absolutely do NOT want to switch back, he is eating this hay so well and it’s really good! I switched his pellets to oxbow but I’m doing it slowly so it doesn’t bother him, but I highly doubt that’s the problem. I got him in 2017 from owners that didn’t take very good care of him, his friend died a little after I got them so he’s all alone. He didn’t like Cookie (the one that died) anyway! My family does not have enough money to take him to a vet and I want to know what home remedies I can try? Please answer ASAP!
 
Welcome to the forum.
I am afraid there are absolutely no home remedies you can use. Any respiratory problems need veterinary treatment. Could you ask your vet for a payment plan?
 
Piggies&buns said:
Welcome to the forum.
I am afraid there are absolutely no home remedies you can use. Any respiratory problems need veterinary treatment. Could you ask your vet for a payment plan?
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We are currently slightly struggling with our own bills and there is absolutely no way we can afford vet bills on top of that... I can’t give him up either... There is nothing I can try? I really hate seeing him like this. :(
 
I’ve just seen the video and he really needs to see a vet.
Nobody on this site will ever recommend or condone the use of home remedies. They are at best ineffective at worst can prove fatal as they can prevent a vet from determining the real problem and being able to deal with it and result in the delay of getting proper veterinary care.
Is there another family member who can help with the vet fees?
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’ve just seen the video and he really needs to see a vet.
Nobody on this site will ever recommend or condone the use of home remedies. They are at best ineffective at worst can prove fatal as they can prevent a vet from determining the real problem and being able to deal with it and result in the delay of getting proper veterinary care.
Is there another family member who can help with the vet fees?
Click to expand...
I don’t think so... Is it safe to wait a few days to see if it goes away?
 
The policy of this forum is to recommend vet treatment. As @Piggies&buns has explained there is a valid reason for our approach. Please take your piggy to see a vet.
 
If he has a upper respiratory infection (which only a vet can diagnose) then it won’t just go away. URI’s can be fatal. Prompt treatment can prove the difference.
 
Our vet doesn’t do the payment plan. My Mom says we don’t have any money left on the pet credit card, and if we did we should save it for the dog or cat. I don’t know what to do! 😭
 
I think I have $40 saved up... it’s not too much but I’m painting my Grandma’s bathroom on Saturday for $30, how much would the treatment and such cost? I can ask for the money in advance.
 
Hi!

I am extremely sorry but your boy should see a vet as soon as possible for a respiratory tract infection, which can only be healed by an antibiotic as it is a bacterial infection. An un- or undertreated respiratory infection can kill or permanently damage. :(

Do you mean a ring of yellowish/greenish gunk around the eye? This is typical for a well developed upper respiratory infection.

If you have your boy less than a month (US)/ 2-3 weeks (UK), then you can reclaim the cost from your pet shop as exposure and infection have happened there.

More information on your customer rights and on URI (upper respiratory tract infection) in this guide here: What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)

Here are our bridging care tips. Please note that there are simply there to keep your guinea pig alive as best as you can until you can see a vet and have the appropriate treatment kicking in.
Please also be aware that the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. This means that guinea pigs with URI are at high risk of losing weight very quicky and their guts closing down if they stop eating.
You need to step in with offering syringe feed and water promptly and monitor the weight daily on your kitchen scales. Keep in mind that veg and pellets should only make about 15% of the daily food intake while the mainstay is hay (over 80%), so you can actually miss this totally of you only look at your piggy nibbling on a little bit veg!
If your piggy is suddenly very lethargic, then it needs vet care asap to save its life.
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pig Safely

Please always include saving up for vet fees as part of the weekly living cost for any pet. Vet cost will make the life long largest budget post. Healthy guinea pigs have an average life span of 5-7 years, but they can live longer. They feel and suffer just as much as we or any larger pet.
 
They will eat and drink until its progresses and then they lose interest altogether, then you are in a whole world of trouble, you'll be paying for more meds, syringed feed, possibly overnight care. Can you get the money for the painting in advance, tell your mum you can't have an animal and ignore it being sick, if someone finds out you will have all you're animals taken away possibly
 
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