Cittycat
Junior Guinea Pig
Just here looking to share my guinea pig worries and appeal to your wisdom and experience. 
One of my girls has been hooting on and off for about three weeks now. The start of it all coincided with the opening of a bag of seriously dusty hay, which it turns out may have just been a weird coincidence, but to start with I figured that was the cause of the hooting and she did stop making the noise after maybe an hour or so. It reoccurred a day or two later, but as with the first time, it stopped again not long after starting. This went on for about a week and then - worried I had an infection on my hands and had already waited way too long - I made an appointment at my vets asap. I couldn't see my usual guinea pig savvy vet because I was keen for someone to look at her straight away.
The vet I saw was lovely but admitted cats and dogs are more his thing and I may need to see my normal vet if things didn't clear up. He thought perhaps there was a very slight crackle when listening to her chest (she wasn't hooting during our appointment), and we'd go ahead and treat her for a suspected respiratory infection. She's been on Metacam and Sulfatrim for a couple of weeks now and the hooting is still happening on and off. It hasn't got any worse, but I can't honestly say I've really noticed any improvement either, and she finds taking the medicine extremely stressful. Taking her medicine also sometimes seems to aggravate whatever's causing the hooting. She gets herself so distressed (particularly when being given the Sulfatrim) that I'm worried she hasn't had the full dose, which makes me worry that there is an underlying infection and I'm just not doing a good enough job looking after her to get on top of it.
I should add that she's not off her food (at all!), she's maintaining her weight, she's as bright and lively as ever (she's five years old), if she wasn't hooting on occasion I wouldn't think anything was wrong. Just because I'm watching her so super closely now I do wonder if her breathing is a bit more laboured than my other guinea pig; I seem to be able to see her sides moving more clearly when she breathes than with my other girl (who doesn't even look like she's taking a breath!). I just have this sinking fear it's a heart problem and just wondered if these symptoms ring a bell with anyone here who's been through this before? I will be getting in touch with my regular vet tomorrow to book a follow up appointment. I just wondered if anyone could shed any light on what might be going on because it's really been worrying me for the last few weeks.
TLDR - guinea pig still making intermittent hooting sound after being treated for URI - worried it could be a heart problem?

One of my girls has been hooting on and off for about three weeks now. The start of it all coincided with the opening of a bag of seriously dusty hay, which it turns out may have just been a weird coincidence, but to start with I figured that was the cause of the hooting and she did stop making the noise after maybe an hour or so. It reoccurred a day or two later, but as with the first time, it stopped again not long after starting. This went on for about a week and then - worried I had an infection on my hands and had already waited way too long - I made an appointment at my vets asap. I couldn't see my usual guinea pig savvy vet because I was keen for someone to look at her straight away.
The vet I saw was lovely but admitted cats and dogs are more his thing and I may need to see my normal vet if things didn't clear up. He thought perhaps there was a very slight crackle when listening to her chest (she wasn't hooting during our appointment), and we'd go ahead and treat her for a suspected respiratory infection. She's been on Metacam and Sulfatrim for a couple of weeks now and the hooting is still happening on and off. It hasn't got any worse, but I can't honestly say I've really noticed any improvement either, and she finds taking the medicine extremely stressful. Taking her medicine also sometimes seems to aggravate whatever's causing the hooting. She gets herself so distressed (particularly when being given the Sulfatrim) that I'm worried she hasn't had the full dose, which makes me worry that there is an underlying infection and I'm just not doing a good enough job looking after her to get on top of it.
I should add that she's not off her food (at all!), she's maintaining her weight, she's as bright and lively as ever (she's five years old), if she wasn't hooting on occasion I wouldn't think anything was wrong. Just because I'm watching her so super closely now I do wonder if her breathing is a bit more laboured than my other guinea pig; I seem to be able to see her sides moving more clearly when she breathes than with my other girl (who doesn't even look like she's taking a breath!). I just have this sinking fear it's a heart problem and just wondered if these symptoms ring a bell with anyone here who's been through this before? I will be getting in touch with my regular vet tomorrow to book a follow up appointment. I just wondered if anyone could shed any light on what might be going on because it's really been worrying me for the last few weeks.
TLDR - guinea pig still making intermittent hooting sound after being treated for URI - worried it could be a heart problem?