Hello, my boar aged four has started making soft hooting noises when he breathes. It's only for a few breaths and then he's OK again but it's concerning. He's still as lively as ever (he's very hyper and always has been), climbs up on the bars while I prepare his meals and is appetite is excellent as it always has been.
Has anyone any experience of this? I did change his hay brand about a month back and wondered if it might be this but he's only just started with this health concern.
Hi
Hooting is generally from a tiny obstruction in the very small and narrow nasal passages. Since guinea pigs are not much in the way of mouth breathers, this is therefore becoming instantly audible - often in quite alarming ways.
The most common cause for this small temporary obstructions are small particles of hay, dust or pollen. It is not harmful and it is usually sneezed or breathed out again within a few hours. The problem with dust-extracted hay is that there is no regulation about its quality and that it can promote/cause sensitivity issues. The more sterile you keep guinea pig surroundings the more stronger reactions you will cause. Your new hay brand is either less or not dust extracted.
What you also need to understand is that hay is a natural product which can vary quite a bit and which is generally harvested for guinea pigs in the first cut, which can contain seedheads etc. whereas horses need the second cut for their ideal hay.
The symptoms you should be looking out for are:
Check with a vet during regular hours:
- persistent, regular sneezing more than 5 or 6 times an hour and outside a one-off major sneezing fit to get something out that is stuck in the nose or a persistently runny or gunky nose.
- long term persistent breathing noises
These can indicate the onset of a URI (not reliably) or something stuck in the nose.
- crackly or raspy breathing in the throat area are the most common symptoms of a classic URI or of a sensitivity response to hay dust or an other irritant in the room
Irritants to Avoid Around Guinea Pigs
Potential life or death emergency:
- clicking from the chest is an indication of pneumonia or build up of fluid in the chest.
- heaving breathing from the sides (diaphragmic breathing) can come from lungs that are filling up with fluid or more commonly from a straining/failing heart with fluid build up in the chest area or something pushing on the heart (internal growth, extreme bloating etc).
You can use your own ear as a bit of a stethoscope by holding it against the nose, the throat and the chest. Do this first with a healthy piggy to have a comparison as to what normal breathing sounds like. It is by no means perfect but it can help you judge where the problem sits and whether or how soon you need to see a vet.
I hope that this helps you?
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Any direct link of long term hooting with heart problems is one of those conincidental observations that have unfortunately made it into online syllabus of urban myths about 15 years ago but it has never been proven or backed up by research and sadly keeps being handed on by people without personal experience in order to trip up worried owners doing online research.
