Bleeding from nose and choking

[Rachelmh]

Over the last few weeks, my guinea pig (5 3/4) has been choking when eating. I've tried many different types of food and so far the only thing that seems to work is carrot. This morning, she was choking and there was blood coming from her nose. I took her to the guinea pig specialist vet last week who couldn't find anything wrong with her. Can anyone help please?

 

[VickiA]

Coughing when eating can be a sign of over stuffing the face while guzzling did (one of mine does this) or can indicate dental issues with food catching on teeth. So this may or may not be a problem.
Nose bleeds however definitely need attention. Please arrange to have your piggy seen by the vet again

 

[Wiebke]

Over the last few weeks, my guinea pig (5 3/4) has been choking when eating. I've tried many different types of food and so far the only thing that seems to work is carrot. This morning, she was choking and there was blood coming from her nose. I took her to the guinea pig specialist vet last week who couldn't find anything wrong with her. Can anyone help please?

Hi

Please have her seen by a vet again for a more thorough investigation.

Nose bleeds can have many reasons from the harmless scratch to at the worst teeth growing into it or even a brain tumour that is not causing any other symptoms. They should always be thoroughly investigated; especially repeat ones.

Chocking on food can be from too greedy eating or from swallowing issues (dental issues at the back of the mouth?) but it may have to be taken into consideration with the nose bleeds in case there are bleeds coming down the back of the throat.

We cannot tell you sight unseen what exactly is going on and whether the two things are related or not.

 

[weepweeps]

Good luck I hope it’s something easily treatable

 

[Rachelmh]

Thank you very much all. Its very worrying.

 

[Wheekallweek]

We had a guinea pig in once at the rescue called Mabel who had nose bleeds. It turns out it was high blood pressure!
I would get her seen again with regard to the nose bleeds.
Best of luck

 

[VickiA]

We had a guinea pig in once at the rescue called Mabel who had nose bleeds. It turns out it was high blood pressure!
I would get her seen again with regard to the nose bleeds.
Best of luck

Oh that’s interesting. What did they do about her blood pressure?

 

[Wheekallweek]

Oh that’s interesting. What did they do about her blood pressure?

Honestly nothing! We just had to keep her really calm and chilled out at first to see if we could get away without giving her medication, and they did stop in the end!

Mabel on the right, with her best friend Sooty

 

[Freela]

One of my past pigs had a history of getting nosebleeds in her older age. They were real gushers, very scary. She would have them in clusters (maybe one or two a week for a few weeks, then nothing for a long time, then another series of a couple in a week.) She saw the vet a few times, with them not being able to find anything outwardly wrong. Because she was older at the time and we were told that there was really nothing to be done if she had a tumor in her head, we opted not to do a bunch of expensive imagery. We figured we would just leave her be as long as she had good quality of life. She started having nosebleeds in June and lived a perfectly happy life until January (she was close to 6.5 years or so when she passed.) I do think there was some kind of underlying health problem because she was quite thin in her old, but she was happy and normal for all those months and then passed pretty abruptly from what seemed to be a digestive system blockage.

We really couldn't do much for the nosebleeds except sop up the blood with paper towels and try to keep her calm. They were really messy (she would spray out blood trying to clear her nose) but they also didn't seem to upset her much while they were happening. She would sometimes eat treats right through them.