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Piggy Heavy Breathing - Overweight Or Worse?

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rufcjoe87

rufcjoe87

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Bit of a strange one

Arthur, one of my piggies, is about perhaps 1 years old. Yesterday we notices him heavy breathing when he was lying down. Like his entire body was moving. It was the same when stood up. Now he is fine in EVERY other way. Eating, pooping, behavior, absolutely fine. We assume he is perhaps a little over weight. We have been giving him perhaps more veg than we should so he doesn't feel left out while we are fussing over Henry, my poorly piggy with possible UTI.

When we dropped Henry off at vet this morning we mentioned Arthur 'problem' and vet says 'probably an infection give him your left over baytril for a week. If you brought him in i'd just see a puffing piggy and that's all I'd say'

Now that doesn't sit right with me. Arthur is a big piggy and probably a tad overweight. But literally everything about him is fine except this heavy breathing.

Anyone had experience with this. Does it sound like overweight? Or an infection? Or something else? Or am i just being paranoid?!
 
thank you - hope so! also just to make it clear he's fine in all other ways. sometimes he does that coughing thing when he eats too fast and sometimes he does a few like sneeze type things but rarely and has done that since we've had him. He's had no other bad signs just the breathing. Read alot about heart disease etc and scared myself silly with google but he has no other symptoms other than breathing. It was hot yesterday but we kept them both in shade etc. Any light you can shed would be great! :)
 
he might struggle with the heat, even in the shade. when any of mine have done it, it's been in response to discomfort. i also thought heart as a possibilty aswell. perhaps something to do with his airways if he sometimes coughs. it's hard to say.

what a weird response from the vet :blink: is there someone else you can take him to see, just to be on the safe side? :)
 
thanks. yeh i wondered about discomfort as was hot yesterday. the cough/sneeze has always been there and only once every few days or so. the breathing thing started yest, that we noticed, so assuming (hoping)not serious.

re vet yeh i thought that - hes not a cavvy savvy vet. We have one about 45 mins away and I'm tempted to take him there to be honest. rather go there andget the all clear than miss something. wanted to get the consensus off here too but wonder if it's worth a trip. Won't take him to my vet because, as good as he has been, I was a bit miffed at his diagnosis. I thought he'd at least tell us to bring him in but not even that!
 
rufcjoe87 said:
thanks. yeh i wondered about discomfort as was hot yesterday. the cough/sneeze has always been there and only once every few days or so. the breathing thing started yest, that we noticed, so assuming (hoping)not serious.

re vet yeh i thought that - hes not a cavvy savvy vet. We have one about 45 mins away and I'm tempted to take him there to be honest. rather go there andget the all clear than miss something. wanted to get the consensus off here too but wonder if it's worth a trip. Won't take him to my vet because, as good as he has been, I was a bit miffed at his diagnosis. I thought he'd at least tell us to bring him in but not even that!
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the cough/sneeze thing may be his airways but it may be because of fluid aswell. it could well be the heat though. benjie ended up at the vets a while back because of the heat! he's a larger piggy and i think it affected him more than i expected.

i always think better safe than sorry :)
 
yeh Arthur has always been the bigger piggy but we have perhaps been feeding him a little too much so he didn't feel left out - and whan have you ever known a piggy to turn down food!

I agree will see about perhaps getting him checked over by specialist vets if not better later :). thanks for your help. advice always appreciated!
 
I agree with the others that it could be the heat but he needs checking, and the vet needs to check there is no fluid on his chest. A diuretic can be given if there is, but he would need additional fluids while on diuretics. Ask the vet to check his heart too, I have 6 heart pigs and they all struggle a bit more in the heat than my non heart pigs and are susceptible to fluid as part of their condition. Any suspected heart pig should not be put under GA for an xray or placed on their back.
 
helen105281 said:
I agree with the others that it could be the heat but he needs checking, and the vet needs to check there is no fluid on his chest. A diuretic can be given if there is, but he would need additional fluids while on diuretics. Ask the vet to check his heart too, I have 6 heart pigs and they all struggle a bit more in the heat than my non heart pigs and are susceptible to fluid as part of their condition. Any suspected heart pig should not be put under GA for an xray or placed on their back.
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thanks for this - i think its probably wise to get him checked. hopefully it's only the heat but better to be safe than sorry. Just to clarify - what do you mean by 'heart pigs'? :)
 
Pigs that have a heart condition which they would require medication for.
 
helen105281 said:
Pigs that have a heart condition which they would require medication for.
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ah i thought so. so it's possible for pics with heart conditions to live with them, perhaps with medication and live happy normal lives then? the problem with googling things like this is everything is worse case scenario! Assuming if you have 6 heart piggies they manage ok etc?
 
Yes definitely as long as it is diagnosed in time. My oldest heart pig is Star who is 6 and has been on meds for about 3 or 4 years now. They are all on a range of doses with Ellie being on the highest and she tends to be more prone to fluid than the others so needs diuretics every so often too. The medication they are all on is Benazapril. There are other symptoms which I can list here if you need them.
 
helen105281 said:
Yes definitely as long as it is diagnosed in time. My oldest heart pig is Star who is 6 and has been on meds for about 3 or 4 years now. They are all on a range of doses with Ellie being on the highest and she tends to be more prone to fluid than the others so needs diuretics every so often too. The medication they are all on is Benazapril. There are other symptoms which I can list here if you need them.
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oh wow that puts my mind at rest somewhat. I was worried if we get him checked and it's his heart there wouldn't be much to be done for him. He's not very old yet so IF it is his heart it's good to know there are things that can be done.

I will take him to the specialist vet (who is like to know more about this than normal vet) asap - do you think in the meantime it's worth trying antibiotics as other vet suggested?

Yes would love to know further symptoms if thats ok, and you have time thank you :)
 
Yes in case it is an infection.

Other symptoms are:

Failure to gain weight
Recurrent upper or lower respiratory infections
Bumblefoot
Deep sleeping - difficult to rouse from sleep
Nodding when breathing
Rapid or laboured breathing
Blue tinge to the extremities such as the nose, ears, lips
Hooting (like a duck) often followed by a cough
Coughing when eating (though non heart pigs can do this too)
 
helen105281 said:
Yes in case it is an infection.

Other symptoms are:

Failure to gain weight
Recurrent upper or lower respiratory infections
Bumblefoot
Deep sleeping - difficult to rouse from sleep
Nodding when breathing
Rapid or laboured breathing
Blue tinge to the extremities such as the nose, ears, lips
Hooting (like a duck) often followed by a cough
Coughing when eating (though non heart pigs can do this too)
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thank you for that! looking at that list the only things he has are the laboured/rapid breathing (not sure if particularly rapid just very...obvious
he does sometimes cough when eating or get 'heaving hiccups' but not often.

the rest don't appear to apply to him. hopefully its just cause he is a big piggy (he has NO trouble putting on weight lol) and it was hot. will most likely get him checked out anywya but nice to know he's only got one, perhaps two of those symptoms

thanks again! :)
 
rufcjoe87 said:
Bit of a strange one

Arthur, one of my piggies, is about perhaps 1 years old. Yesterday we notices him heavy breathing when he was lying down. Like his entire body was moving. It was the same when stood up. Now he is fine in EVERY other way. Eating, pooping, behavior, absolutely fine. We assume he is perhaps a little over weight. We have been giving him perhaps more veg than we should so he doesn't feel left out while we are fussing over Henry, my poorly piggy with possible UTI.

When we dropped Henry off at vet this morning we mentioned Arthur 'problem' and vet says 'probably an infection give him your left over baytril for a week. If you brought him in i'd just see a puffing piggy and that's all I'd say'

Now that doesn't sit right with me. Arthur is a big piggy and probably a tad overweight. But literally everything about him is fine except this heavy breathing.

Anyone had experience with this. Does it sound like overweight? Or an infection? Or something else? Or am i just being paranoid?!
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It is difficult to judge without seeing the guinea pig. Heavy breathing can be cause by a respiratory infection, fluid build-up in the lung or the chest cavity. If you are worried, I would have his lungs and heart checked. There may be nothing found. Is the breathing issue ongoing or a one-off?
 
Wiebke said:
It is difficult to judge without seeing the guinea pig. Heavy breathing can be cause by a respiratory infection, fluid build-up in the lung or the chest cavity. If you are worried, I would have his lungs and heart checked. There may be nothing found. Is the breathing issue ongoing or a one-off?
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It's not ongoing. It's just started in the last day or so . Had no problems previously and all other signs are fine, just yesterday and today with the heavy breathing. Sometimes when I pick him up he perhaps wheezes a little a few times but not every time. This is why I'm baffled. It's just come on and its the only strange thing...
 
rufcjoe87 said:
It's not ongoing. It's just started in the last day or so . Had no problems previously and all other signs are fine, just yesterday and today with the heavy breathing. Sometimes when I pick him up he perhaps wheezes a little a few times but not every time. This is why I'm baffled. It's just come on and its the only strange thing...
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Keep an eye on him and have him checked out if there is a repeat.
Here is a thread that may help you judge and address any weight problems. The hot weather spikes have been harder on overweight piggies as their hearts are under greater stress. https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ng-ideal-weight-overweight-underweight.38805/
 
Wiebke said:
Keep an eye on him and have him checked out if there is a repeat.
Here is a thread that may help you judge and address any weight problems. The hot weather spikes have been harder on overweight piggies as their hearts are under greater stress. https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ng-ideal-weight-overweight-underweight.38805/
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Thank you so much for this That thread is really useful. Think we may have overfed him slightly while looking after Henry and with that and the heat...so we've cut him down a little and trying ti give him more excercise. As you say will keep an eye and if he doesnt get better in a few days, or re-occurs, then I'll take him to vet. Thanks for this. Just got post-op Henry to worry about now lol. I do love the piggies though, worth every second of worry :)
 
Took him to vets today as i thought he may have bloat, his tummy sounded hollow. Vet listened to his chest and says he is a little wheezy but not alarmingly. His guts are fine. Said to give him anti biotics a few days but generally he seems ok. If gets worse bring him back but vet is not worried. He still seems fine bless him. Will keep an eye but mind at rest slightly

Thanks for all help!
 
helen105281 said:
Yes in case it is an infection.

Other symptoms are:

Failure to gain weight
Recurrent upper or lower respiratory infections
Bumblefoot
Deep sleeping - difficult to rouse from sleep
Nodding when breathing
Rapid or laboured breathing
Blue tinge to the extremities such as the nose, ears, lips
Hooting (like a duck) often followed by a cough
Coughing when eating (though non heart pigs can do this too)
Click to expand...

hi @helen105281 - sorry to bug you again but as you have and know heart piggies i thought id run this by you - just a quick update. Arthur is absolutely completely fine in every way but he is still doing this heavy breathing thing. Obviously its more when he lies down but he still does it. It looks alarming but it's absolutely fine. I'm tempted to take him back to the vet but he has no other symptoms from that list. Is it possible it's just how he is, or would you think maybe take him back to a vets to make sure he's ok. Vet didn't find anything alarming last time, he's been like this for a few weeks and, as i say, he's fine in all other ways! I din't want to miss somethin major but also if it's nothing I don't want to worry unnecessarily! :)
 
It could be the weather affecting him, but if his breathing is really laboured then it is best to get him checked and ask the vet to see if there is any fluid on his chest. A conscious xray would help the vet see if there is any fluid or of the heart is enlarged but any pig suspected of having heart issues should ideally not be given a GA for an xray. If there is fluid it will sound like he is under water on the stethoscope.

I think breathing can look worse when they are laying down.
 
helen105281 said:
It could be the weather affecting him, but if his breathing is really laboured then it is best to get him checked and ask the vet to see if there is any fluid on his chest. A conscious xray would help the vet see if there is any fluid or of the heart is enlarged but any pig suspected of having heart issues should ideally not be given a GA for an xray. If there is fluid it will sound like he is under water on the stethoscope.

I think breathing can look worse when they are laying down.
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thanks for that. The vet said "he sounded a little wheezy but nothing to be worried about" under stethoscope. I may take him back and ask for an xray - rather be safe than sorry. Yeh he is a big piggy too - 2.2lb at last weigh so that plus the heat may not help. I'll perhaps keep an eye on him and see what he's like - maybe reduce his food a little too. I'll perhaps take him back to vets just to be safe but my first though was his size + heat is whats doing it. Thanks again :)
 
My Gert was a big pig and she struggled in the heat, as far as I remember she wasn't a heart pig but I have had so many and it was a good few years ago. I think she could possibly have been an undiagnosed one though bless her.
 
helen105281 said:
My Gert was a big pig and she struggled in the heat, as far as I remember she wasn't a heart pig but I have had so many and it was a good few years ago. I think she could possibly have been an undiagnosed one though bless her.
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bless her!

yeh hes a big guy, and with Henry being ill probably twice the size! And with the heat its perhaps just that. I'm a paranoid piggy owner (I tell myself thats a good thing!) But he's absolutely fine otherwise bless him. Maybe just keep an eye - not long of the cooler weather now knowing this country anyway! thanks again very much appreciated :)
 
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