A few months ago I got my first two guinea pigs. Recently, for about a week, I have been noticing sneezing coming from them which seems to become more frequent as each day passes and i'm freaking out. I've checked them for any other symptoms of a URI, but their eyes are clear, they have no nasal discharge, no crustys around their mouth or eyes, they've been eating and drinking plenty. Today as I was feeding one of them I noticed that she made a strange grunting sound as she ate which really has me worried. I cannot afford to go to the vet so I am wondering: which medicine is best to give them Baytril or Bactrim or Doxycycline, etc? What could these symptoms mean? I want to give them medicine to prevent their symptoms from worsening as i understand that it is easier to prevent illness than to try to treat it once it has gotten out of hand. Please help. Thanks so much.
Hi! Please see a vet and do NOT self-diagnose and treat on spec. Your piggies are the ones that pay the price with their lives if you get it terribly wrong!
Grunting is generally a sign of pain and not of URI, but unless we hear a video we cannot judge whether it is pain grunting, an obstruction in the airways or simply some food gone down the wrong way.
If it was URI, it would have progressed quickly into the more advanced form; if you were worried, you should have seen a vet promptly and reclaimed the cost from your pet shop.
See a vet promptly if the grunting is not just a one-off and you hear it regularly so they can diagnose exactly what it is causing it and give you the appropriate medication. If they decide that it would be wise to treat for URI, then it is an informed decision by a professional after an examination.
Just slapping on some painkiller on the suspicion it could be that won't cure any underlying problem, but will allow it to get much worse before it is finally tackled - and the result will cost you much more than if you had gone to a vet straight away. Home treating without knowledge is in many cases false economy and is leading to more suffering and deaths of pets than all vet mistakes combined!
What I would most strongly recommend is to save up for a vet fund on a weekly basis as an integral part of their maintenance cost so you can see one ASAP whenever needed and be able to afford to see a piggy savvy exotics vets. Vet cost is is making the biggest budget post in any pets lifetime expenses. Don't squander your money on meds you do not need and that can cause your piggies harm; save it up so you have it available for the right diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Even a general vet has trained for years. they have much more biological and medical knowledge than you do to work out where a problem is located and how it needs to be treated. The new generation of vets is much, much better trained; there are thousands of them starting to work across world with every passing year.
Please be aware that no online replace can ever adequately replace a hands-on vet examination. They know how to look out for telltale signs which you will not be able to notice and which skewes any advice we and other places can give. We can help you with advice when to see a vet and what avenues you want to most likely persue with them as well as support you during the prescribed treatment. But we are neither a pharmacy nor a no cost vet clinic.
