Sporadic guinea pig hooting sound: vet couldn’t find anything wrong

[chemicplosion]

For the past few months, every so often (usually during the night, and usually very quietly) my skinny pig, Darla, makes these hooting sounds. I was very, very concerned and brought her to the vet. But because it is so sporadic and she wasn’t doing it while she was there they basically told me “they couldn’t find anything wrong” and it’s likely “harmless allergies”. It was so rare over the last few months that I thought it was better. The past few weeks it’s been getting more often and louder. But she does it so inconsistently that I’m scared of being out $300 just for the vet to tell me “idk it’s fine”. Does anyone have any advice? Has anyone had this happen?

Attached is one of her more severe fits that she’s having as I’m holding her right now. I’m really worried and very scared. It doesn’t sound nice at all.

hooting

 

[Truffolo]

My piggy Polo has been making a similar sound for over a year. It intensified and webt on for a few hours, so my exotic vet has been prescribing doxycycline and metacam for him and he has been on them for about four weeks. The sound has gone away, but came back in between courses. He will cough after a while and then it stops, only to start again later. I was concerned that it might be a heart issue, but the antibiotic seems to control it completely, so it is looking like an infection. Several vet exams with different vets found no heart sounds and no lung sounds or in fact any sign of illness. Other than the sounds, he eats well and is an active piggy. They suggested an MRI, but the unit is so far away I'm not sure if we will get there in time. Other imaging techniques aren't that reliable and if it is an infection, could possibly not show up anything very useful. They might be able to see an enlarged heart using imaging, but apparently it's not that easy to see. The doxycycline does seem to be controlling it for now, but what happens when he needs to come off it is hard to know. You could ask your vet if you could try an antibiotic. Some people on the forum has been given a combination of guinea pig safe antibiotics and that stopped the wheezing. It is an awful sound and very worrying. I hope little Daria gets better soon ❤

 

[Truffolo]

If you do go down the antibiotic route, it might be necessary to give piggy a probiotic to replace gut bacteria if the antibx reduce them, but not all guinea pigs go off their food or get soft poop on antibx. It may or may not be necessary to syringe feed and to give poop soup. The guides on the forum describe how to do this, but so far, touch wood we haven't needed to.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Does the noise stop if she sneezes?
When it happens if you hold her to your ear, and you may be able to tell whether the sound is coming from the chest or her nose.
Noises from the nose are generally irritation. Piggies have narrow airways so if there is nothing like hay dust in the airways then it become very audible.
Proper allergies in piggies are rather rare but they can be very sensitive to other irritants.
The general advice is if a sneeze doesn’t clear it or it clears but keeps coming back then to see a vet.
Wheezy noises and particularly from the chest are of concern.
Given it has been going on for quite some time now, we can only advise another vet check. Show them the video as it may help them even if she isn’t making the noise at the time of the appointment

In the meantime, ruling out dusty hay and other irritants such as air fresheners or perfumes, even dry air can cause problematic breathing so checking humidity and adding a humidifier if necessary (can be done by putting a bowl of steaming water next to the cage to see if it helps).

Also ensuring you are keeping up with the routine weight checks (weekly when healthy but daily (each morning) if you have concerns) so you can more closely monitor hay intake and be prepared to step in with syringe feeding if needed

I hope she is ok

Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support Levels

 

[Apples]

One of my sows made the same hooting sounds last spring, also on and off and only early morning. It is different from the "something stuck in their nose" sound in my experience (which is louder) and it just stops (no sneezing or coughing involved). I wouldn't have known had I not slept right beside their cage due to home renovations. It disappeared out of its own after a few weeks, started happening again recently but again disappeared after a few weeks.

I haven't found a cause, as I decided not to take her to the vet for this: she had been through a lot of vet visits already right before this started and nothing was found wrong with her heart or lungs then, she had a very bad reaction to antibiotics in the past (very very rare! But for me a reason not to try antibiotics with her unless absolutely necessary), and she is a happy, active and otherwise healthy guinea pig.
I did read about quite a few piggies that made the same noise, and that most people whose piggy is experiencing this try antibiotics. For some it works, for others it doesn't. It might be something you could ask your vet about.