Dilly's Piggies
Teenage Guinea Pig
My 1.5 year old sow Aspen has had on and off breathing issues for almost 1 year now, it started when she was 6 months old. Her breathing gets very loud, snuffly, congested sounding, like she has fluid in the nose, more noticeable when she's eating, it's always cleared with a sneeze and I never see any nasal discharge, she has never had a URI either. I took her to the vet about it and they listened to her heart and lungs, they sounded clear so the vet said it's likely she has allergies. She wasn't prescribed any medication but my question for this is, are there even antihistamines for Guinea Pigs that can help her, if this is actually allergies? She is active, happy, even does tricks, she is however overweight by about 150-200g in my opinion, she's big naturally but has far too much 'flubber' than I'd like, I'm working on getting her weight down but it's harder than it sounds! This is most likely not helping her breathing.
My next question is about my other sow Melody, also 1.5 years old, she is a healthy 1070g and is the heaviest she has ever been, she had some problems with eating and gaining weight when she was young but that is all resolved now, she is doing really well, my most active piggy (and also my favourite, but shh!). Anyway ever since I got her at 6 weeks old she has made this strange clicking sound when she breathes, it sounds like her soft palate is 'clacking' against her tongue and producing this sound, I don't hear it when she's doing piggy stuff in the cage etc but when I hold her, it's like she is trying to talk but can't produce any sound. I also had a vet look at her and he said she seems fine but most likely has a defect/deformity causing this. This doesn't cause her any problems at all with life but after doing some reading I've heard that an enlarged heart can press on the trachea and push it up, which can explain this noise, so I'm concerned for her also. Melody also rarely wheeks and when she does it sounds like she has a sore throat, sometimes even just air comes out, which is very cute but also concerns me lol! Is there any reason you know about that can explain this? Is she just trying to talk or is this an actual breathing issue?
My next question is about my other sow Melody, also 1.5 years old, she is a healthy 1070g and is the heaviest she has ever been, she had some problems with eating and gaining weight when she was young but that is all resolved now, she is doing really well, my most active piggy (and also my favourite, but shh!). Anyway ever since I got her at 6 weeks old she has made this strange clicking sound when she breathes, it sounds like her soft palate is 'clacking' against her tongue and producing this sound, I don't hear it when she's doing piggy stuff in the cage etc but when I hold her, it's like she is trying to talk but can't produce any sound. I also had a vet look at her and he said she seems fine but most likely has a defect/deformity causing this. This doesn't cause her any problems at all with life but after doing some reading I've heard that an enlarged heart can press on the trachea and push it up, which can explain this noise, so I'm concerned for her also. Melody also rarely wheeks and when she does it sounds like she has a sore throat, sometimes even just air comes out, which is very cute but also concerns me lol! Is there any reason you know about that can explain this? Is she just trying to talk or is this an actual breathing issue?
