New guinea pig parent, is this normal?

[amhmcrm]

Hello everyone.

We are first time Guinea Pig owners and have a pair of females. One of them, in my opinion seems to be breathing usually heavier compared to the other.

I would like to know if this is normal, before I arrange for her to be seen by a vet. She's eating normally and as far as I know toileting okay.

Any advice Great appreciated.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

If you are concerned about breathing then it is considered an emergency and should be seen by a vet immediately, particularly if piggy is rocking while breathing or if the sides are being sucked in (diaphragmatic breathing).

However without context it is very difficult for us to say and we can only ever advise a vet check (which we would recommend for new piggies particularly if from a pet shop or breeder, in any event) ie a scared piggy may well breathe harder so for example if you have just brought them home within the last few minutes then it can be normal until they calm down.

The only way to know whether a piggy is eating enough hay is with the routine weekly weight checks (switching to daily checks if there are health concerns). Hay is the most important part of the food intake but cannot be gauged by eye.

New Owners' Essential Information and Practical Tips Starter Collection

 

[amhmcrm]

Thank you for your reply.

Sorry I did mean to attach a video

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for your reply.

Sorry I did mean to attach a video

Hi

We are independent from (and older) than social media. Since we run entirely by voluntary member donations and do this all for free in our own free time, we don't have our own video upload. You will have to upload any videos on a public setting on a service that doesn't require a membership sign-in (youtube works generally best) and then copy it across.

Louder breathing can be from being scared, a sensitivity to hay dust, perfumes/scent sticks or to dry indoors air.
A respiratory tract infection generally manifests as a rasping or crackling sound. Any sustained badly laboured heaving breathing from the sides (diaphragmic breathing) and any clicking sounds from the chest count as an emergency - but please don't get panicked when you see just one side from sleeping piggy moving rather noticeably because of the way they lying on their side pushing the belly upwards.

What you can do is holding your ear against the nose, the throat and the chest. Do it first with the healthy piggy so you know what 'normal' sounds. Anything alarming from the nose is generally just a temporary partial blockage that should resolve itself within a shorter time (often with a good old sneeze). Any crackling and rasping from the throat area indicate a URI (a bacterial respiratory infection that is closer related to a bronchitis than a viral human cold). Any clicking or congestion in the lungs needs to be seen promply because it could be pneumonia. Learn to distinguish what is echoing down into the chest but not sitting in the chest.

We generally recommend a vet check with your new piggies, so you can start your journey hopefully with a clean bill of health, are registered and have less concerns while getting to know your piggies and their individual quirks better. Especially if you suffer from anxiety, learning what is normal and what not can be a bit scary.

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

Irritants to Avoid Around Guinea Pigs

New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In

Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

PS: You may find the link to our New Owners very practical information collection in the previous post helpful and bookmark that. Nearly 20 years of collective forum experience and quite literally tens of thousands of owner questions have gone into our guides, which aim to be as precise and clear as possible and address the most commonly encountered issues that new owners come up against. We cannot always repeat all the helpful advice at length.
Here is the link again: Getting Started - Essential Information for New Owners

All the best.

 

[amhmcrm]

Hi

We are independent from (and older) than social media. Since we run entirely by voluntary member donations and do this all for free in our own free time, we don't have our own video upload. You will have to upload any videos on a public setting on a service that doesn't require a membership sign-in (youtube works generally best) and then copy it across.

Louder breathing can be from being scared, a sensitivity to hay dust, perfumes/scent sticks or to dry indoors air.
A respiratory tract infection generally manifests as a rasping or crackling sound. Any sustained badly laboured heaving breathing from the sides (diaphragmic breathing) and any clicking sounds from the chest count as an emergency - but please don't get panicked when you see just one side from sleeping piggy moving rather noticeably because of the way they lying on their side pushing the belly upwards.

What you can do is holding your ear against the nose, the throat and the chest. Do it first with the healthy piggy so you know what 'normal' sounds. Anything alarming from the nose is generally just a temporary partial blockage that should resolve itself within a shorter time (often with a good old sneeze). Any crackling and rasping from the throat area indicate a URI (a bacterial respiratory infection that is closer related to a bronchitis than a viral human cold). Any clicking or congestion in the lungs needs to be seen promply because it could be pneumonia. Learn to distinguish what is echoing down into the chest but not sitting in the chest.

We generally recommend a vet check with your new piggies, so you can start your journey hopefully with a clean bill of health, are registered and have less concerns while getting to know your piggies and their individual quirks better. Especially if you suffer from anxiety, learning what is normal and what not can be a bit scary.

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

Irritants to Avoid Around Guinea Pigs

New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In

Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

PS: You may find the link to our New Owners very practical information collection in the previous post helpful and bookmark that. Nearly 20 years of collective forum experience and quite literally tens of thousands of owner questions have gone into our guides, which aim to be as precise and clear as possible and address the most commonly encountered issues that new owners come up against. We cannot always repeat all the helpful advice at length.
Here is the link again: Getting Started - Essential Information for New Owners

All the best.

 

[amhmcrm]

Thank you so much for your advice. I will definitely have a look at the links you've sent.

Here's video of our girl uploaded to YouTube

3 October 2025

I will make an appointment with the vet hopefully they can see her today.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much for your advice. I will definitely have a look at the links you've sent.

Here's video of our girl uploaded to YouTube

3 October 2025

I will make an appointment with the vet hopefully they can see her today.

Thank you for the video link. Yes, I would recommend to have that checked out if it not just a short one-off.

But what a little cutie!

 

[amhmcrm]

thank you so much to everyone that has replied with help/advice.

She's just been seen by the Vet she has a touch of pneumonia and is now on a course of antibiotics.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I hope she recovers well.

Make sure you switch to daily weight checks while she is unwell. Being unwell (struggling to breathe) and the effect of antibiotics can cause a reduction in hay intake. The weight checks are important so you can monitor that she doesn’t lose weight (if she is young and little it is even more important she doesn’t lose weight as she won’t have the reserves for afford to lose) and enable you to step in with any critical care syringe feeds if necessary.

Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support

 

[amhmcrm]

Thank you. I will be sure to do so.

 

[weepweeps]

Welcome to the forum. I’m sorry your piggy is poorly but I’m sure she will soon be feeling much better.

 

[Wiebke]

thank you so much to everyone that has replied with help/advice.

She's just been seen by the Vet she has a touch of pneumonia and is now on a course of antibiotics.

Good thing you went and had her seen promptly.

Here is our medicating and syringe feeding guide which will hopefully answer all your little questions: All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Please make sure that you weigh her daily first thing in the morning on your kitchen scales since you cannot monitor by eye how much hay she is eating. What antibiotic has she got? It can also impact on the digestive bacteria in the gut. Over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day is hay (grass) fibre. Veg, pellets, forage in any form or treats all together replace the supplementary role of wild forage in the diet guinea pigs evolved on. So seeing her nibble on a little lettuce or coriander leaf can be very misleading - especially in little ones.
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support

How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

I assume that they are safely indoors?

 

[Wheekallweek]

Fingers crossed she's feeling better soon

 

[amhmcrm]

Yes they have a lovely 4x2 cage set up, with fleece liner which we wash in non bio every 3-4 days. 2x hides, plenty of hay which they also like to burrow in. I was giving them a cup each of greens daily as well as a tablespoon of pellets twice a day.

Vet has advised to only give them greens every couple of days.

She has to take 1ml Baytril 2x a day. And to limit handling for a week to help her settle.

They're only 10 weeks old we've had them for 2 weeks.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Why did your vet tell you to only give veg every couple of days?

 

[Wheekallweek]

I would be giving veggies daily, we tend to suggest romaine lettuce, peppers, cucumber and coriander as daily veg, with others added in once or twice a week. It's how piggies get their vitamin C
Then of course a constant supply of fresh hay and a teaspoon of nuggets per pig.

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum.
Hope your piggy recovers quickly now.
Good that you were able to get her seen so promptly.

 

[Wiebke]

Yes they have a lovely 4x2 cage set up, with fleece liner which we wash in non bio every 3-4 days. 2x hides, plenty of hay which they also like to burrow in. I was giving them a cup each of greens daily as well as a tablespoon of pellets twice a day.

Vet has advised to only give them greens every couple of days.

She has to take 1ml Baytril 2x a day. And to limit handling for a week to help her settle.

They're only 10 weeks old we've had them for 2 weeks.

For baytril (which is the worst tasting med you can give to guinea pigs) you first give the baytril (see chapters about cooperative and uncooperative piggies), then you give a little water to rinse the mouth before following it with a favourite treat.

What is the concentration of the baytril since that is a about double a standard dose for an adult piggy and should rather be 0.1 ml for a baby unless it is a lower concentration which we have never come across before?

 

[amhmcrm]

Ah ok good to note... and Sorry it probably is 0.1ml I just said it wrong it's a super small syringe.

 

[Wiebke]

Ah ok good to note... and Sorry it probably is 0.1ml I just said it wrong it's a super small syringe.

Please double-check - it is more likely just one tenth of a tiny syringe for a baby like that. Giving too much could be very problematic.

 

[amhmcrm]

Thank you. It's just me . I'm giving what he physically showed me. It says 10 on one side the syringe I've just assumed it was 1 ml but on the other side it says 0.1ml. on the bottle it does also say 0.1ml x2 daily. So you are right.

 

[amhmcrm]

Why did your vet tell you to only give veg every couple of days?

He said several reasons. One being for Digestive stability as Baytril can upset gut bacteria, and if she has too many greens it may cause diarrhea. Also it will help encourage her to eat a simpler diet which will help her to body focus on recovery.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you. It's just me . I'm giving what he physically showed me. It says 10 on one side the syringe I've just assumed it was 1 ml but on the other side it says 0.1ml. on the bottle it does also say 0.1ml x2 daily. So you are right.

Thank you for confirming the dosage. I didn't want you to lose your little one through accidental overdosage.

We don't want to come across as neither patronising or alarmist but mistakes happen and it can (and has) saved lives; so checking potentially crucial details that could have contributed to the pneumonia or making sure that the medication is roughly in the right area is important.

 

[amhmcrm]

I would be giving veggies daily, we tend to suggest romaine lettuce, peppers, cucumber and coriander as daily veg, with others added in once or twice a week. It's how piggies get their vitamin C
Then of course a constant supply of fresh hay and a teaspoon of nuggets per pig.

They've been having a couple leaves of Romaine Lettuce and a couple slices each Cucumber daily. They didn't seem too keen on the green/yellow peppers. Then as a treat (not daily) we've given a small amount kale/spinach/apple/. They have a tablespoon of nuggets per day (for both not each) and always have plenty of hay. So hopefully we've been doing it right.

 

[amhmcrm]

Thank you for confirming the dosage. I didn't want you to lose your little one through accidental overdosage.

We don't want to come across as neither patronising or alarmist but mistakes happen and it can (and has) saved lives; so checking potentially crucial details that could have contributed to the pneumonia or making sure that the medication is roughly in the right area is important.

Not at all. I'm incredible grateful with how supportive you've been and it's fantastic to have help and advice from experienced guinea pig parents. We obvs want our girls to have a long happy healthy life.

 

[Wheekallweek]

They've been having a couple leaves of Romaine Lettuce and a couple slices each Cucumber daily. They didn't seem too keen on the green/yellow peppers. Then as a treat (not daily) we've given a small amount kale/spinach/apple/. They have a tablespoon of nuggets per day (for both not each) and always have plenty of hay. So hopefully we've been doing it right.

Sounds good to me - keep going with the daily veg

 

[amhmcrm]

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to give an update on Oreo. After finishing her week of Baytril (0.1 ml twice daily), she seemed to be improving for a few days, but sadly she’s now relapsed. Over the last 24 hours she’s been sitting in one spot, not really eating or drinking much.

She’s been back to the vet and has been prescribed:

Baytril 0.2 ml once daily for 2 weeks

Rheumocam 0.7 ml once daily (anti-inflammatory/pain relief)


We’ve separated her from her sister so we can monitor food intake and toileting. Her weight has only gone up a tiny bit in 10 days.

I’m mainly worried about her not eating or drinking on her own. She has hay, pellets, and some romaine lettuce/spinach available. Would you start syringe-feeding at this stage, or wait to see if she picks up with the new meds? Any advice or similar experiences appreciated.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to give an update on Oreo. After finishing her week of Baytril (0.1 ml twice daily), she seemed to be improving for a few days, but sadly she’s now relapsed. Over the last 24 hours she’s been sitting in one spot, not really eating or drinking much.

She’s been back to the vet and has been prescribed:

Baytril 0.2 ml once daily for 2 weeks

Rheumocam 0.7 ml once daily (anti-inflammatory/pain relief)


We’ve separated her from her sister so we can monitor food intake and toileting. Her weight has only gone up a tiny bit in 10 days.

I’m mainly worried about her not eating or drinking on her own. She has hay, pellets, and some romaine lettuce/spinach available. Would you start syringe-feeding at this stage, or wait to see if she picks up with the new meds? Any advice or similar experiences appreciated.

I’m so sorry to hear this

First and very importantly, please reunite her with her sister immediately.
Separating her will not help you monitor her food intake or poop output at all. All separating her will do is cause a lot of stress to them both and stress can compromise her immune system and make recovery harder.

The only way you can monitor her food intake is with the essential daily weight checks. Hay intake cannot be gauged by eye so separating her to monitor what she eats serves no purpose - they can appear to be eating it but it does not mean it’s enough to maintain weight and you would never be able to tell just by watching her.
Any weight loss of 50g or more requires you to step in with syringe feeding and you would not be able to gauge that weight loss by eye either.

The poops she produces only tell you what food she ate 1-2 days ago so is totally out of date information and therefore is in no way useful to you.
As poop output is 1-2 days behind, by the time you see she is popping less, it already means she hasn’t eaten properly for a couple of days and you have then missed your chance for early intervention.

Whether you syringe feeding now depends on what her weight was this morning and what it is tomorrow and the next day etc. If she is stable every morning then she is eating enough. If she loses then she needs to be syringe feeding.
How much she needs to be fed each day also depends on what your daily weight checks tell you

I’ve added guides below to help further

Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Piggies&buns]

The other reason not to separate is that in some cases medical separation can ruin their bond and mean the never go back together again.

Just re-read your post and you say she is siting in one spot and not really eating much.
Although her weight checks are your guide, I would start to offer syringe feeds now even if her weight is not yet dropping because the chances are, if you haven’t been weighing her daily, and she hasn’t been eating properly for 24 hours then you are likely to see weight dropping tomorrow or the day after so it would be good to get ahead of it

 

[amhmcrm]

Thank you so much for your advice

I’ve reunited Oreo with her sister as suggested — sadly there’s still not much change in her mood. She’s still sitting in one spot most of the time. She did make a small attempt to nibble on some greens this morning, but gave up quite quickly.

Her weight this morning is 264g, (she was 272g at the vets yesterday) compared to her sister who’s 345g. I will do daily weigh-ins as you recommended.

I’ve read through the feeding guides but couldn’t find a clear amount on how much a youngster should be fed daily — only that I should give around 0.1–0.3ml at a time. I checked elsewhere and it suggested around 12ml per 100g of body weight per day. Would that sound about right for Oreo?

Also after reading the guides, I'm assuming that I'm okay to use her regular pellets soaked in warm water to make a smooth paste to syringe feed her. Should I give her water too? Should I look at buying something to specifically feed her with or will pellets be fine?

Thank you again for all the support