Question about birth defect possibility

[Little Piglets]

My female "Susie", was acquired around 4 weeks and ended up having a minor your issue that cleared itself following vet's advice of as long as she's eating a lot, and getting plenty of veggies and vit. C, to let it runs it's course unless she stopped eating or started loosing weight as he didn't want to put her on antibiotics at that age given she was eating, etc.

She took a bit to get over all of it (sneezing, sometimes a cough, breathing sounding like a tiny drum diaphragm i.e. like a dog clicker). At the time, I noticed she had trouble wheeking, where instead of a whistle (I've kinda heard a whistle a couple times very early on, but not any more) it just sounded like "air". Unfortunately, this is still the case. She definitely tries though, as I can hear her "air" wheek attempt when she's thinking about treats or begging. However, her little "grunts", while much quieter than my male's, are audible. By grunts, I mean the little "what what what what" sounds they make at times, like holding when they really want to be back in the cage, etc. Sometimes I can clearly hear her "purr" if I start petting the wrong areas of her back or she's tiring of the petting, other times I can't, but can feel her vibrate.

My concern is she might have a birth defect, or some abnormal throat, mouth, etc. issue. While not having an audible "wheek" isn't the end of the road, the other concern is as I enter a couple more pigs down the line for her to have a herd, not being able to "wheek" might cause issues as other pigs won't know if she's sending some kind of warning, etc.? I plan to take both piggies to the vet in a week or so, just for a basic exam that everything is looking OK (vet only charges like $10 for a basic small animal visit). Is there anything they can possibly see via mouth/throat exam?

 

[Freela]

I think it's more likely that having a respiratory bug has stressed her vocal cords (similar to a person having laryngitis.) She may get her 'wheek' back with time or she may not (my pigs tended to lose their upper register of sound with aging and would do the 'silent wheek' without making much noise.) It won't hurt her ability to communicate with other pigs. That loud 'wheek' is more used to signal humans that they are excited and want food than anything else...the communication between guinea pigs is more subtle.

 

[Little Piglets]

OK, time will tell I suppose. I'll still see if the vet has a small scope that can check out her mouth/throat, just in case. She's finally growing a bit, so hopefully it'll return. Was just concerned if they need to let out an "I give up" wheek, or something along those lines, she won't be able to.

My male will wheek out to the female if her cage is out of sight. When I only had him, he'd wheek at me. Now he only seems to wheek if he can't see her. Been trying to teach them "ready to go back" as a cue he/she is going back to it's cage. Sometimes when she's out for lap time, and I say that, he'll wheek out from 10' away, but ONLY when I'm saying that. Kinda neat tbh.

 

[Wiebke]

My female "Susie", was acquired around 4 weeks and ended up having a minor your issue that cleared itself following vet's advice of as long as she's eating a lot, and getting plenty of veggies and vit. C, to let it runs it's course unless she stopped eating or started loosing weight as he didn't want to put her on antibiotics at that age given she was eating, etc.

She took a bit to get over all of it (sneezing, sometimes a cough, breathing sounding like a tiny drum diaphragm i.e. like a dog clicker). At the time, I noticed she had trouble wheeking, where instead of a whistle (I've kinda heard a whistle a couple times very early on, but not any more) it just sounded like "air". Unfortunately, this is still the case. She definitely tries though, as I can hear her "air" wheek attempt when she's thinking about treats or begging. However, her little "grunts", while much quieter than my male's, are audible. By grunts, I mean the little "what what what what" sounds they make at times, like holding when they really want to be back in the cage, etc. Sometimes I can clearly hear her "purr" if I start petting the wrong areas of her back or she's tiring of the petting, other times I can't, but can feel her vibrate.

My concern is she might have a birth defect, or some abnormal throat, mouth, etc. issue. While not having an audible "wheek" isn't the end of the road, the other concern is as I enter a couple more pigs down the line for her to have a herd, not being able to "wheek" might cause issues as other pigs won't know if she's sending some kind of warning, etc.? I plan to take both piggies to the vet in a week or so, just for a basic exam that everything is looking OK (vet only charges like $10 for a basic small animal visit). Is there anything they can possibly see via mouth/throat exam?

It is not a birth defect, but the vocal cords can be affected. sometimes they recover, sometimes you end up with a piggy without a 'big wheek'. it doesn't impede their quality of life.