Sneezing

[Her Nibship]

This evening at lap time Dougal (rescue piggie been with me for 3 and a half weeks) sneezed about 5 times. He seems absolutely fine otherwise -eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, breathing, behaviour, mouth, nose, ears, eyes all as they have been since I got him. Being a totally paraniod piggie-mum I've gone into a bit of a panic, thinking he might have a URI, but as there are no other symtoms I wonder if there might be another cause. Maybe he just got a bit of dust in his hay? I bed him on Aubiose - does anyone know of this causing any problems? There is one of those gel-type air-fresheners on a shelf about 4 feet above him - its been there for quite a while (probably about 2 weeks) - so I've taken that down in case that might be a culprit. Any thoughts, anyone?

 

[piggyfan]

It could have been a bit of dust that got up his little nose. You did the right thing taking away the air freshener as they are not good for piggies to breathe in.

 

[Her Nibship]

Do you think I should get him in at the vets tomorrow, or am I totally over-reacting?

 

[piggyfan]

I would keep an eye on him and see if it happens again. Quite often piggies can just sneeze due to hay or dust.

 

[Her Nibship]

Thank you. If its something wrong with me I tend to drag my heels getting to the doctors, but with pets they get whisked off before their paws touch the ground! Plus, with being a relative newbie with piggies I'm extra anxious not to miss anything that might be more obvious to a more experienced owner. I'll keep a close eye on him, and if it happens again I'll give the vets a ring. In the morning I'm doing "big piggie clean-out", so I'll be able to do an extra thorough job, although I always clean throughout with veterinary-grade disinfectant and make sure everything has dried off properly. Maybe I'm just faffing...I do hope so!!!

 

[VickiA]

I think if it persists then perhaps you might take him to the vets. But if it's stopped and there are no other symptoms of a URI then it could just have been dust or something scented a setting him off. Watching is always a good idea.

 

[Her Nibship]

I'll be watching him like a hawk, believe me! Our last dog, bless her soul, had a lot of health problems so I think that has made me quite cautious with pets displaying any symptoms as, with her, if there was a 5% chance of it being something minor and a 95% chance of something major...well, you can guess! So I got into the habit of zooming off to the vets at the first hint of a symptom!