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Hooting, snotty noses...there is no relief...end of the road..

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Napalm

After coming back from the vets the boys were fine for a week. Eating, popcorning, running around. I persisted but the vet said there was nothing wrong with Houdini despite me stressing the hooting noise. He can go hours and days without making the hooting noise and seeing as he wasn't hooting at the vets I was told that he just needed a spur removed from his teeth and thats all. And at first he seemed fine, then the hooting started again yesterday and then around midday the boys both had runny noses which seemed to clear up by themselves after an hour... I know everyone here is thinking the obvious about taking them to the vets but it's more complicated than that. I can't find a job, not even Macdonalds/KFC/Burger King wants to hire me, can't get government support and live with my mother, I recently turned 19 and the only way I'm going to get money and time soon is when university starts in July and I'll be entiteled to Student Allowance. My mother refuses to take the guinea pigs to the vets even though she is the one who let me have the guinea pigs in the first place, so while it's her responsibility to step in and take them to the vets, she refuses puts me through a huge load of abuse if I so much as ask her, and the last time she took them she put me through absoloute hell. The last time I took the boys to the vets I had to ask my boyfriends parents to pay and it was a once off only, so I've run out of options. I know that my boys are sick no matter what the vet says, but even if I had money I still would be nowhere as the vet would say they are fine! And that is the only exotics vet where I live, so I don't have a choice. It just all seems hopeless and seeing my boys suffer is driving me insane and making me so desperate.

Today I was so desperate to get Houdini help that I thought about calling the ACS (a Brisbane run cavy charity that accepts ill and unwanted guinea pigs) and surrendering the boys to them much as it hurts me so much to even think this, I feel like if I give the boys up for adoption atleast they will get a chance at life by seeing a different specialist vet. I've completely run out of solutions now, there is no one else I can ask for money and if it's a URI my time is running out. I love my boys so much, as much as a mother can love her children but I find myself unable to provide medical attention for them. I've been in tears about this all day, and just writing this now my eyes are filling with more tears that I didn't think were possible after how much I've cried. I feel like if I keep them at home I'm ruining their chance at surviving and that giving them to the ACS is the only way I will be able to make sure they get medical treatment. And at the same time I can't imagine my life without them in it, they are my pride and joy, seeing them happy makes me happy. I really don't know what to do anymore...
 
I am going through something similar with the noises. Gertie is grunting. She's not off her food. She is still being a little . But that awful noise.

I don't know what to make of it. mallethead
 
Napalm said:
After coming back from the vets the boys were fine for a week. Eating, popcorning, running around. I persisted but the vet said there was nothing wrong with Houdini despite me stressing the hooting noise. He can go hours and days without making the hooting noise and seeing as he wasn't hooting at the vets I was told that he just needed a spur removed from his teeth and thats all. And at first he seemed fine, then the hooting started again yesterday and then around midday the boys both had runny noses which seemed to clear up by themselves after an hour... I know everyone here is thinking the obvious about taking them to the vets but it's more complicated than that. I can't find a job, not even Macdonalds/KFC/Burger King wants to hire me, can't get government support and live with my mother, I recently turned 19 and the only way I'm going to get money and time soon is when university starts in July and I'll be entiteled to Student Allowance. My mother refuses to take the guinea pigs to the vets even though she is the one who let me have the guinea pigs in the first place, so while it's her responsibility to step in and take them to the vets, she refuses puts me through a huge load of abuse if I so much as ask her, and the last time she took them she put me through absoloute hell. The last time I took the boys to the vets I had to ask my boyfriends parents to pay and it was a once off only, so I've run out of options. I know that my boys are sick no matter what the vet says, but even if I had money I still would be nowhere as the vet would say they are fine! And that is the only exotics vet where I live, so I don't have a choice. It just all seems hopeless and seeing my boys suffer is driving me insane and making me so desperate.

Today I was so desperate to get Houdini help that I thought about calling the ACS (a Brisbane run cavy charity that accepts ill and unwanted guinea pigs) and surrendering the boys to them much as it hurts me so much to even think this, I feel like if I give the boys up for adoption atleast they will get a chance at life by seeing a different specialist vet. I've completely run out of solutions now, there is no one else I can ask for money and if it's a URI my time is running out. I love my boys so much, as much as a mother can love her children but I find myself unable to provide medical attention for them. I've been in tears about this all day, and just writing this now my eyes are filling with more tears that I didn't think were possible after how much I've cried. I feel like if I keep them at home I'm ruining their chance at surviving and that giving them to the ACS is the only way I will be able to make sure they get medical treatment. And at the same time I can't imagine my life without them in it, they are my pride and joy, seeing them happy makes me happy. I really don't know what to do anymore...
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I'd call Jess at the ACS and ask her advice, tell what's been happening.
She is a little difficult to get as she's very busy, you could always send her an email also......she replies within a day :)
She maybe able to suggest some options for you :)
Keep your chin up i do hope it all turns out ok for you and the little darling boys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
could they be allergic to something in your house? if they are fine at the vets and only start showing signs at home, id be inclined to take a good look at their 'surroundings', clear everything out of their room, try a different sort of bedding, if that made no difference try a different hay, different floor covering. do you /your mom use any sort of cleaning products in the room the piggys are in?


and also id just like to give my view on something here. please do not take this the wrong way or think I'm being cruel/heartless, but if you cannot afford vet bills, you shouldnt really be keeping pets (this is not just aimed at you but ANY person who takes on animals they cannot really afford). what would happen if something serious came up (infection, broken leg,heart/lung problems, kidney stones, mites/parasites/fungal infections/tooth problems etc and piggy need a lot of medication/vet visits? how would you cope?
do you get ANY income at all? could you not start putting away a bit of money a week for any future vet visits that may be needed?
 
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whether or not your mum 'let' you have them, or even bought them for you, they are now your pets and you need a plan for future problems.

(sorry tried to edit this in to the above post but apparantly i was over my 5 mins :))
 
I had an income from the government when I got the boys (because I was in school at the time I got money) and I had set aside $1000 for vets for my boys and my kitten. That money is long gone now...the only money I get now is bus money to hand out resumes...

I've looked at all of their surroundings because I suspected it could be an allergy related thing, but the boys are never near any sort of chemicals or sprays ever and their bedding is always fleece/soft padded and lined fabrics with newspaper underneath. For some reason the hooting happens wherever they go, different rooms of the house, outside in the fresh air...pretty much anywhere but at the vets!

ps,
Cavy2009; yes the sound really is so awful, it stresses me out to no end and then like magic it seems to be gone...is that how it is for you too?
 
They eat a variety of fancy letuces, cucumber peels, tomato heads, carrots, capsicum, guinea pig mix with pellets and hay and fresh grass. I've been feeding the boys this for the last two years and they've been fine, the hoot hoot has only come up in the last month :(
 
hmmm, I'm trying to think of all possibilities.
has your mom changed washing powder in the past month? different brand? or same brand different 'fragrance'?
could be in the fleece and one your clothes, hence why they wheeze.hoot when inside (fleece) and when you carry them outside (its on your clothes?)
 
Mmmm I have washed the fleece with washing powder, but only the same sort as always. And like I said, it happens on every surface..whether I put them on leather or wood or a different soft fabric, grass...still the same :( And yet it only happens for 30 minute intervals and then it stops completely either for hours or a whole day...ugh! I'm starting to really worry though because even though he's eating fine, he's very lethargic and his coat is looking very rough all of a sudden :(

Thank you for your time btw :)
 
no problem!
I'm really racking my brains to think what it could be...... is it both of them doing it or just the one piggy?
 
Houdini is the only one hooting, but he's always been the weakest one of my two boys. My other piggy, Picasso, is usually the last one to show any symptoms of being sick, but he did have a runny nose yesterday too. So far he hasn't been hooting...but both boys are starting to develope a rough coat which is usually a sign of illness :(
 
I read on Google it could be a URI or the start of a heart condition. I would get help from ACS if I was you. Maybe if you explain your situation to them, they can do something to help.

Either way, the sooner it is looked at the better because piggies go down hill fast. :(

Good luck x
 
I do sympathise with the situation, and I know your love your boys, there is no doubting that. But it worries me that even if you get to the bottom of this current hooting problem, you could be faced with a situation between now and July whereby you're unable to get them the treatment they need. Maybe you'll be lucky - I really hope you are - but without any backup at all, no support at all from your mother, it's a very difficult position to be in. If you had the backup it'd be much easier to work through the difficult patch.

Ok, onto the medical issues now...does the hooting occur at a particular time of day or only in warmer/colder weather? Central heating on at all?
 
If your gp is making a hooting noise, take him to the vet and if you can afford ask them for an X ray. Quite often it could be the sign of a not so rare desease named heart failure- lung and heart cavity filled with water. It could be treated but you need to act when is still early.
Look for signs of heavy breathing, discharge from the eyes, maybe loss of apetite.
 
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