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Hooting noises

Bayberrybae

New Born Pup
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Jun 25, 2021
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Hi! Sarah here. You may have seen me recently post a thread on my boar who just passed, Ozzy, and his situation. Well, now we're having another one. Up til now this year, I have sadly lost 3 pigs. 2 babies, and my boar I mentioned. Both babies passed due to bad accidents and were not illness-related. Due to these devastating losses, you can imagine we're all trying to take extra care of all our other pigs and prevent any other sicknesses from happening.

That being said, we have four other females. One of our females was a cage mate to one of the babies we recently lost, and was grieving. Late in the night after that baby passed, that same female was understandably upset, and she started hooting quite loudly, but was showing no other signs of any pain or sickness. Since then, she's been hooting more and more. It started as something she did at night, and it has now started to occur in the daytime as well. The only other signs of any sickness, like a URI for example, was that her wheek is now raspy and sometimes doesn't come out at all, and usually when she has one of these hooting fits all she needs to do is have one big cough and the noise stops. I've found shes hooting the most while she's relaxing, lying down, or even eating hay. The reason I'm so concerned is that I know most people relate hooting noises to heart diseases or a URI, and as I previously mentioned, having lost 3 pigs this year has made me quite the overly worried pig parent. I've made an appointment with our vet but it isn't for about 2 weeks, and I just wanted some input on if I should be more worried and get her into an emergency vet sooner, or wait out the 2 weeks.

I know it's not a lot of information to go off of, but at the same time, hooting isn't something to be taken lightly with pigs. Thoughts?
 
I’m sorry for your previous losses. Unfortunately we can’t tell you what could be wrong. Firstly we aren’t qualified vets and it needs a hands-on check by an experienced vet. Could you call them and ask them to contact you in case of any cancellations? Two weeks seems like a way away. And have you changed the hay or anything like that?

I’ll also tag @VickiA @Piggies&buns Hopefully your girl will be seen sooner.
 
I’m sorry for your previous losses. Unfortunately we can’t tell you what could be wrong. Firstly we aren’t qualified vets and it needs a hands-on check by an experienced vet. Could you call them and ask them to contact you in case of any cancellations? Two weeks seems like a way away. And have you changed the hay or anything like that?

I’ll also tag @VickiA @Piggies&buns Hopefully your girl will be seen sooner.
Yeahh I know, just wondering if anyone had some two-cents on the situation.. Haven't changed anything about the hay, bedding, or anything that could be giving her allergies, so that's ruled out
 
You may not have changed hay etc, but as each batch is different you don’t necessarily need to have changed it for it to cause a problem due to dust content. They have narrow airways and any obstruction such as hay dust can make their breathing noisy. But due to how serious a URI can be, its always best to get any breathing issue checked out. I’d personally not want to wait two weeks.
 
Any hooting is an indication of irritation in the upper respiratory tract so the only thing we can really recommend is to take her to a vets to get her chest listened to. In the UK that would warrant a same or next day appointment with the vets so I would ask your vets for an expedited appointment.
 
UPDATE: We got her into the emergency vet (as to not wait the full 2 weeks), and turns out she's got a URI! I kinda figured as much, as the only symptoms she was showing other than her hooting was a coughing noise, but it's so good to have a definitive answer. She's on antibiotics for the next 2 weeks, and hopefully will start to feel better soon. Thank you to those who gave input! :luv:
she started hooting quite loudly, but was showing no other signs of any pain or sickness. Since then, she's been hooting more and more
 
I’m so pleased you managed to get her seen earlier. Hope the antibiotics sort it out.
 
Well done for getting an earlier vets appointment. Hope the antibiotics work quickly for her.
 
Hi Sarah, glad to hear your piggy is feeling better. :) Did the antibiotics work for good?

One of my female piggies is possibly having a similar situation. Ginny has been hooting / wheezing very loudly - especially at night but also in the daytime - but not showing any other signs of illness at all. She hiccoughs (sounds a bit like a sneeze/cough/hiccough) and the hooting then stops. The exotic vet has examined her a few times now and couldn't hear anything on her chest. Without my video evidence of the wheezing he said he wouldn't have suspected anything was wrong! On our first vet visit Ginny was prescribed antihistamine in case it was an allergy (no result). Twice since she has been prescribed antibiotics for a suspected upper respiratory tract infection. The second time it was a bigger dose of antibiotics (Baytril) over 2 weeks. Each time it did stop the hooting for a while.

I finished the second course of antibiotics 2 weeks ago, but now the wheezing noise seems to be returning yet again. I will go back to the vet, but am getting concerned about finding a solution.

I'd be interested to hear if the antibiotics helped in your situation to clear it up 'permanently' or if there was anything else you found worked?

Thanks a lot :) Philippa
 
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