Strange Breathing

[piggie96]

Hi, I'm recently a new piggie owner, my three girls are 8 months old, I've just noticed one of my pigs started making a strange noise whilst breathing like a slight wheezing noise, I've youtube some noises and non of them sound similar to the one she is doing it's also not constant and she is doing normal things such as eating drinking sleeping and making other piggie noises, she's always been a very vocal piggie so was just wondering wether it was a different sound I haven't heard them do yet, thank you

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I'm recently a new piggie owner, my three girls are 8 months old, I've just noticed one of my pigs started making a strange noise whilst breathing like a slight wheezing noise, I've youtube some noises and non of them sound similar to the one she is doing it's also not constant and she is doing normal things such as eating drinking sleeping and making other piggie noises, she's always been a very vocal piggie so was just wondering wether it was a different sound I haven't heard them do yet, thank you

Keep an eye on her; hopefully it is going to subside again. Guinea pigs can't breathe through their mouths, so any little obstruction of the airways is very audible. Much of it is harmless and transitory.

See a vet promptly:
- if your piggy is sneezing or coughing incessantly - it can be a pollen allergy or a reaction to very dry/air conditioned air, but it is up to your vet to ensure that there is no URI before investigating other avenues.
- if the breathing is very crackly, raspy or wheezy and not stopping or deteriorating.
- if your piggy is losing its appetite and becoming lethargic (either condition needs to be seen asap).
The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat. That is the reason why loss of appetite is so common in a severe URI. Heaving breathing is an absolute life and death emergency, as is apathy.

What you can do at home until you see a vet: place a bowl of steaming water next to the cage to help ease the breathing.

 

[piggie96]

Thank you you ever so much for the fast reply it seems to have stopped now but I'm going to monitor her for the next couple of days, and make sure it's not a URI, X

 

[Celine298]

My guy gets a little phlegmy sometimes and his breathing can sound a bit wet, it usually only lasts a few minutes/half an hour as he'll eventually cough or sneeze and clear his nose. He's fine and healthy so I'm assuming it's just a little allergy or possibly hay-fever

 

[piggie96]

Yeah she seems fine now, popcorning around her cage, thank you for putting my mind at rest