Abdominal Breathing/narrowing of trachea in 4 year old

[PingandChipy]

Hi Everyone,

Gosh, I haven’t been on this forum for some time. So grateful for it.
I have a male guinea pig who started having laboured abdominal breathing about a week ago. At first I thought I was imaging it. Anyways, 2 days ago he had an xray which showed his heart is moderately enlarged. But the weird thing is that it also shows his airway is partially collapsed. He just started furosemide yesterday evening to see if that might help with the breathing.

But the xray didn’t show any fluid on his lungs so I’m not sure the medication is going to work. So far I don’t see any improvement.

He is still eating and acting completely normal, rumblestrutting and harassing his girlfriends (don’t worry he is fixed!)

But the Vet has never seen narrowing trachea on a guinea pig like this. She has however seen this with small dogs. Its apparently a congenital thing.

I thought I would reach out and ask if anyone has dealt with this before?

I even thought… asthma? Grasping at straws here. Thank you.

 

[PingandChipy]

Also if you would like I can copy/paste the radiologist report if that would be helpful.

 

[piggieminder]

I am so sorry you and your piggy are going through this. I hope he feels much better soon.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi Everyone,

Gosh, I haven’t been on this forum for some time. So grateful for it.
I have a male guinea pig who started having laboured abdominal breathing about a week ago. At first I thought I was imaging it. Anyways, 2 days ago he had an xray which showed his heart is moderately enlarged. But the weird thing is that it also shows his airway is partially collapsed. He just started furosemide yesterday evening to see if that might help with the breathing.

But the xray didn’t show any fluid on his lungs so I’m not sure the medication is going to work. So far I don’t see any improvement.

He is still eating and acting completely normal, rumblestrutting and harassing his girlfriends (don’t worry he is fixed!)

But the Vet has never seen narrowing trachea on a guinea pig like this. She has however seen this with small dogs. Its apparently a congenital thing.

I thought I would reach out and ask if anyone has dealt with this before?

I even thought… asthma? Grasping at straws here. Thank you.

Hi

I am very sorry about the narrowed windpipe. Sorry, it is something I haven't come across yet but with improving diagnostics more issues are coming to the fore. I have however never heard of asthma in guinea pigs.

Furosemide is still needed. The fluid build-up due to heart insuffiency happens either in the lungs or in the chest or - more rarely - the body cavity but usually only in one of these. However, in your case you definitely do not want to put any further pressure on the respiratory system in whatever way and impede the breathing any further. Very sorry about the collapsed lung.