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Hooting - A Sign Of A Heart Problem?

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Leeni

Leeni

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My late piggie Akka that passed away last December had a curious sound in her repertoire, that sounded much like this
. It lasted for some minutes - max an hour usually in the morning and would usually end with her sneezing. She made this noise every now and then for about a year before her death. She also gradually lost weight for that last year without loosing appetite. She was really active so no signs of fatigue that could indicate heart problems. I took her to vet a few times but nothing was found and since I hadn't thought of a heart disease she was never xrayed. She seemed happy and quite normal apart of loosing the weight. The last month she started to chirp. Finally she just suddenly gave up and stopped eating and moving and, and died the next day though I tried my hardest :(.
I came across this video today and recognized the sound. I googled "guinea pig hooting" and found an article in guinea lynx about heart problems. Do you think a heart condition could have been a reason for her symptoms?
 
I have just listened to Video and that was the exact sound Vader my guinea was making last night and like Akka up until last night he seemed healthy eating running etc and no noise only a small weight loss which I was keeping my eye on - Sadly Vader died in my arms last night the emergency vet could find nothing wrong and thought
the noise was a URI (not Cavy savvy) so like you I now think maybe he did have an underlying problem.
 
The video doesn't work for me?
It says playback on YouTube but doesn't let me click it.
 
Persistent hooting can in some cases indicate a heart problem, but it is more often a stuffy nose or a narrowing of the airways. Heart problems are more often than not difficult to diagnose and by far not all heart issues will react to heart medication; I have been there myself with some potential heart piggies or diagnosed heart rhythm issues piggies.

@Sara412 : Your Vader could have died from URI, acute heart failure, acute gut stasis or something else - each of these three can hit out of the blue and kill within hours. By the time a piggy is very apathetic, your options are extremely limited. :(
I have lost two piggies to acute heart failure (usually noticeable by diaphragmic/heaving breathing) and one nearly to gut stasis once, despite having them all seen by a vet as an emergency within the hour. Other experienced members have lost piggies of theirs to atypical/walking pneumonia, again with pormpt vet care. I am very sure that your vet did a check of the heart and also to the guts before he made his guess.
Any sudden unexplained death leaves you reeling and grasping for explanations of what would have happened, or looking for ways he could have been saved. That is a very normal part of the onset of the grieving process.
Piggies can go downhill so very quickly that there is no time for big tests unless you want to spend a fair amount of money for a post mortem examination.
 
Yes I know grasping at straws! - I believe it must have been his heart as it wasn't a long drawn out shutting down like Brodie- no gasping or running, just one fast twitch and then it was over- I not to have a post mortem- as I wanted to bury him with Brodie today and financially not a lot left in pot after this weeks Vets fees:no:
 
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