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New Guinea Pigs sneezing

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Trina.Hyde

Trina.Hyde

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Hey :)
I have just bought two new guinea pigs today from pets at home, I have left them in their new hutch for around 4 hours, and just went to check on them, ive handled them both for a short while, and i noticed one of them sneezing about twice, and also heard it sneeze earlier on when i first put them in. Neither of them have any signs of discharge

The bedding I have used is a sawdust/woodchip base, and hay as was recommended in store, would straw be a better substrate to use?
 
Hi Trina
Welcome to the forum

You will find that most people prefer not to use wood shavings (even though thats what PAH recommend) because of the risk or respiratory infections.

Fleece or vet bed is usually a safe bet, there are some very good threads on here if you search under "bedding". Lots of ways to bed them down without using shavings. Straw is too hard and can cause eye injury.

I would keep an eye on the little one though, and signs of discharge and I would take it straight to a cavy savvy vet. It could just be that its allergic to the shavings, but best to be safe than sorry.
 
I landed myself four babies not too long ago and they had been kept on sawdust but they still sneezed for days after I had put them on vetbed/fleeces. They all had watery eyes too which I thought may have been the sawdust irritating them.
Within a week, they weren't sneezing and their eyes were perfectly normal but still took them for a full vet health check - one had suffered a hay poke injury which luckily did not require treatment.
Keep a close eye on them and if they need medical treatment, think the shop will pay for the costs.
Good luck and hope your babies prove to be fit and well :)p
Try fleece bedding, straw is a no go as it can cause nasty injuries.
Read up as much info about their care or there are many people on here who can help with any worries you have:
http://www.guinealynx.info/
 
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I know my guinea pigs sneeze once in a while but thats because they push their heads into the hayrack and some tickles their noses haha. Mine are housed with pine shavings and they absolutely love the bedding. I like them because it doesn't matt up Oreo's hair. As well, its so easy to clean as well. But that's my opinion. When using wood shavings, NEVER USE CEDAR, USE STRAIGHT PINE.
 
Thank you all for your advise. I didnt really like the sawdust bedding myself, but wanted to get something they were use to, so I will let them settle in for a few days then change their bedding.

There is definately no discharge, but i will keep a very close eye on them both.

Thanks again :)
 
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