Temporal Deathly Breathing

[Sue_P]

I’ve got a couple of girl rodents now and they’re just under a year old and the pretty one since I’ve had her sometimes sounds like she’s about to die.

Her breathing suddenly comes real loud and kind of raspy but its loud enough to wake me up in another room. She’ll sound like that for several minutes and when I check her out she’ll look ok, upright and alert. Each time she does it, it ends with her coughing something up and then she’s quiet again.

Has anyone experience with this sort of thing? To me it seems like she has some food lodged in her throat somewhere and breathes oddly because of it and then coughs it out of place. Does this happen to other peoples’ rodents?

Last night at 3am she woke me up and was breathing horribly for over 5 minutes but I thought there’s nothing I can do to help. There was no point in catching her as it would only stress her out more so I left her and hoped for the best. Eventually she did a big cough and there was silence again. It’s a bit worrying when it’s happening though.

I know the usual advice you get when you come onto this forum is to take your rodent to the vets immediately but there’s no point, right now she seems fine and isn’t making any noise. She just does it every so often, like once every two weeks or so, and like I say, she’s been doing it since I got her a few months ago.

One thought is that she’s smaller than her sister, could she be a runt of a litter and perhaps not be formed 100%. I wondered if she has an abnormality in her throat or something.

Here’s my new girl rodents BTW.


Biscuit and Bugsy

 

[Claire W]

Your girl piggies are lovely but the breathing is a concern.

It is possible that she could have a heart problem although I have no experience or advise myself so I am tagging @helen105281 who has a lot of experience and advise regarding heart piggies.

In the meantime, here is a link on heart problems. Does any of it sound familiar?http://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

I know that you do not see the point but if your piggy does have a suspected heart problem, she really must see a vet to have a proper diagnosis and treatment.

Of course I could be barking up the wrong tree and your girl may just have an allergy or something but whatever it is, needs to be looked at.

I have a guinea pig myself who does a weird little cough and breathing now and again but she has been checked over by numerous vets and there is nothing medically wrong her. It is just something she was born with but she still had to be checked out to rule things out.

 

[piggyfan]

Sue, you are advised to take a poorly animal to the vet with good reason. This is not normal behaviour and she does need to see a vet to have some tests done. Remember guinea pigs hide any sign of illness so she appears well but she is clearly not.

 

[Stewybus]

Yes, I agree with piggyfan. You need to take her to the vets. It could be a number of things which could need treatment such as antibiotics so the sooner the treatment is started the quicker she'll be back to normal & may stop it developing into something worse.

You need to get her to a guinea pig savvy vet but there doesn't appear to be one in West Yorkshire. You do have 2 good rescues though:- Bramley Animal Rescue & Millhaven Guinea Pig Rescue. You could contact them for advise & they should be able to recommend a local vet. There details are available @ https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-rescue-locator/

 

[sport_billy]

Hi Sue, Welcome back to the forum.

The reason you are advised on the forum to take your pets to the vet is because this is the correct thing to do if you have any health concerns. It could be a number of things such as infection, heart or lungs or it could be something less serious it is impossible to tell without a consult with a veterinarian. Please arrange an appointment.

 

[helen105281]

Thanks for tagging me Claire and welcome back Sue. I did immediately think heart when you said she coughed at the end. Is the breathing a hooting sound? A common symptom of a heart condition is hooting followed by coughing. Other signs are:

Difficulty rousing from sleep or unusually deep sleep
Laboured diagphramatic breathing
Rapid breathing
Nodding in unison with breathing
Cyanosed mouth, nose, tongue, ears and feet (blue)
Repeated upper and lower respiratory infections
Ascites (fluid on the animals sides)
Weight loss
Abdominal bloating

A vet visit is definitely needed, first of all so the vet can listed to her with a stethoscope, and ideally an xray or scan should be carried out. Please note though that any pig suspected of having a heart condition should not be given an anaesthetic. If a heart condition is diagnosed they can be prescribed ACE inhibators and diuretic.

 

[Goth Mummy]

Hi there
Your new piggies are really beautiful. You do need to take her to the vet though. Let us know what it is!

Cassandra

 

[Sue_P]

Hello everybody again.

Thanks for the responses.

@ Claire W - It’s interesting that you’ve got a rodent with the same symptoms and nice to know there’s nowt bad that’s been found at your vet visits. I’m hoping it’s something and nothing with my pretty rodent too.

@ Stewybus – I don’t wanna contact Milhaven Rescue cos Joanne don’t like me, hence why I thought a rodent forum would be a good place to gain info from as everyone owns rodents here. Sharing experience is good and I didn’t know if rodent coughing is common or weird breathing is relatively common too. Joanne uses Kingsway Vets but I don’t like them, they once gave me my rabbit back after an op and he hadn’t come round from the aneasthetic properly, he kept flopping over and couldn’t stand up for an hour or so at home and had to be force fed after cos he wasn’t eating and given gut stimulating drugs. It was all rather traumatic for him. Plus a vet mishandled him once and he bit his lip in the sruggle and there was a cut and blood on his beautiful white mouth. I was mortified.

@ Sport_Billy – Doubt it’s an infection as she’s been the same ever since I got her and it hasn't really gotten worse.

@ Helen – Gee whizz, it’s a bummer to hear hooting followed by a cough is a common heart condition symptom. Hope it’s just co-incidence. I never see the pretty one asleep so she can’t sleep deeply or not be aroused. Her head doesn’t nod with breathing. Not sure about rapid breathing, I’m not an expert in how fast they’re supposed to breathe but when she’s sounding noisy she doesn’t look to be in any distress. She’s been gaining weight nicely, she’s still growing. She’s always been about 100g or so lighter than her sister but at the last weigh-in she was catching up a bit. Her appetite is always good. I must say she is less active than the ugly one. The ugly one is bold and brave and has always been forever under my feet and the pretty one is far more timid and hides away but when I first got them they did used to run around the pen like it was a race circuit together but nowadays it’s mainly the ugly one that does all the torpedo-ing around. She joins in sometimes but I just figured they have different personalities and perhaps the pretty one is bored of running around now that’s she’s almost an adult. They do slow down once they’re older. It is interesting though, perhaps it is a factor that I hadn’t considered. I’ve no idea if she’s bloated or has fluid in her sides, I’m no vet. I’ll double check for blue looking parts of her body later although I was claw cutting yesterday and my mum and I were inspecting her pink pale feet, I didn’t see any blue tinge. Mind you her symptoms may not be that advanced to show things like that maybe.

If it’s a heart condition, is it likely to get worse if its not treated whilst symptoms are mild? Plus if it’s a heart condition do heart conditions always get worse or do they stay the same? What’s a rodent’s life expectancy with a heart condition?


PS. My beautiful hairy rodent snuffed it a while back. https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/my-new-rodent-walking-wig.101620/page-2#post-1413302

It was tragic, I’d only had him a few months. He was adorable and funny.

These girl rodents are my Walking Wig replacements.

 

[Wiebke]

Your girls are both beautiful agoutis, just different! I am sure that you are still missing your boy very much.

Untreated heart conditions can mean a much shortened life span. It is important to have it checked out by a vet; the alternative could be a very low level respiratory problem, which could rear its ugly head at any time and kill. Heart meds like frusemide don't cost much and can improve the quality of life noticeably (like liveliness and energy levels).

 

[helen105281]

Exactly what Wiebke has said. You really do need to get this checked out. She may not have all of the symptoms at this stage.

All pigs are pretty by the way but in their own unique ways.

 

[Sue_P]

So how much does frusemide cost and how long does each bottle last for? Is it an oral liquid medication? How often does it need to be taken?

Just out of curiosity, why do rodents with heart problems suddenly get breathing problems? What brings it on? & why does the breathing go back to normal after a cough?

 

[Sara412]

My Rex Brodie, coughs, but its been put down to him eating to fast -(and talking with his mouth full!)

 

[Claire W]

I just want to stress that although Erika does sometimes have similar symptoms to your girl, she still needed to be checked out so that a URI and / or heart problem could be ruled out.

Like humans, animals with heart conditions also have breathing problems as the heart isn't working as it should and it is the heart that controls our cardiovascular system which includes the way we breath.

 

[Wiebke]

You need to get a proper diagnosis first, so you know whether you are dealing with a respiratory tract problem or a heart problem. That can only a vet do. On the forum, we can suggest what to ask your vet to look at or consider, but we cannot give you a firm diagnosis without having seen the piggy and we do not support home treating on spec without a professional diagnosis.

 

[helen105281]

I am not sure about the technicalities of what causes it but as Claire says it would be because their heart is not working properly and they maybe have fluid build up.