Blockage or URI

[Emmalou46]

Morning everyone

Come down this morning to my piggie making this noise, no snotty nose, but may come later I don’t know? Do you think it could just be a blockage of hay or something or a URI?
Lungs sound clear when I hold him to my ear. It’s more when he’s sniffing rather than breathing if that makes sense.
It’s just typical it’s Saturday or I would have already booked a vets appointment for today.

6 January 2024

Thank you for you help

 

[piggieminder]

I am not able to answer your question but hope your piggy is okay. I am bumping your thread up.

 

[MirabelMaud]

Morning everyone

Come down this morning to my piggie making this noise, no snotty nose, but may come later I don’t know? Do you think it could just be a blockage of hay or something or a URI?
Lungs sound clear when I hold him to my ear. It’s more when he’s sniffing rather than breathing if that makes sense.
It’s just typical it’s Saturday or I would have already booked a vets appointment for today.

6 January 2024

Thank you for you help

I had a similar issue earlier this year. Woke up to pig with noisy breathing but otherwise perky eating etc. couldn't get an appt with my specialist vet for 11 days so had to go to my local vet. To cut a VERY long and expensive story short she was misdiagnosed with an URI put on antibiotics which led to diarrhoea and loss of appetite. By the time I got to see the exotics vet she had had three vet appts including one emergency out of hours ( who didn't even examine her ) and she was really really sick. He found that she had a blocked bladder which he expressed ( she immediately looked better ) stopped all the meds and found a little piece of hay up her nose which he removed. He believes that the hay up the nose was the original issue and everything else was caused by wrong meds and stress. He said if you have a pig who is otherwise well eating pooping and lively etc with noisy breathing it is almost always a foreign body in the nose which they will probably deal with themselves and will not be an infection requiring treatment . I know that we are always told to seek veterinary treatment but my experience is that vets that don't know pigs do more harm than good. My vet has also taught me how to deal with eye poke injuries without the need for vet visit and this has worked EVERY time. I hope this is helpful

 

[Wiebke]

Morning everyone

Come down this morning to my piggie making this noise, no snotty nose, but may come later I don’t know? Do you think it could just be a blockage of hay or something or a URI?
Lungs sound clear when I hold him to my ear. It’s more when he’s sniffing rather than breathing if that makes sense.
It’s just typical it’s Saturday or I would have already booked a vets appointment for today.

6 January 2024

Thank you for you help

Hi

It is more likely to be some obstruction of the nasal tract.

Please see a vet if it doesn't clear within a few hours and see an emergency vet over the weekend if your piggy is losing weight/their appetite and is starting to look unwell or bloated. Raspy or crackly breathing is characteristic for a URI in the throat/bronchia area.

The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat, which is why we recommend to switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily on your kitchen scales first thing in the morning for best day to day comparison as the weight swings around 30-40g over the course of 24 hours. Morning before breakfast is when it is at its lowest.

Please accept that we cannot replace a vet visit and cannot diagnose reliably sight unseen.

Here is our practical emergency care advice and information pack, seeing that we are at the start of a weekend in case you need it (including how to improvise in a pinch): Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

All the best.

 

[MirabelMaud]

Hi

It is more likely to be some obstruction of the nasal tract.

Please see a vet if it doesn't clear within a few hours and see an emergency vet over the weekend if your piggy is losing weight/their appetite and is starting to look unwell or bloated. Raspy or crackly breathing is characteristic for a URI in the throat/bronchia area.

The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat, which is why we recommend to switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily on your kitchen scales first thing in the morning for best day to day comparison as the weight swings around 30-40g over the course of 24 hours. Morning before breakfast is when it is at its lowest.

Please accept that we cannot replace a vet visit and cannot diagnose reliably sight unseen.

Here is our practical emergency care advice and information pack, seeing that we are at the start of a weekend in case you need it (including how to improvise in a pinch): Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

All the best.

Hi there
My vet disagrees: raspy/ crackly breathing is not always a sign of URI IF a pig is otherwise well: eating/ pooping/ maintaining weight then he says it is not a URI .I have had such poor experiences with vets who don't know pigs ( which is most of them) that taking them can cause more harm than good. I ended up with £900 of vet bills over Meredith's last problem and the vets treatment made her much sicker than she would have been if I had kept her at home.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there
My vet disagrees: raspy/ crackly breathing is not always a sign of URI IF a pig is otherwise well: eating/ pooping/ maintaining weight then he says it is not a URI .I have had such poor experiences with vets who don't know pigs ( which is most of them) that taking them can cause more harm than good. I ended up with £900 of vet bills over Meredith's last problem and the vets treatment made her much sicker than she would have been if I had kept her at home.

Any raspy or crackly breathing needs to still be checked because it could be a URI.

I have had major trouble with an older sow suffering from the complications of a not properly healed out URI she sustained earlier in life. Not every crackling or rasping is necessarily a URI but ignoring the symptoms altogether and not seeing vet can also have serious and in some cases life-shortening consequences. It is a balancing act for any vet and any owner - and as owners we do not necessarily have the medical background.

 

[MirabelMaud]

Any raspy or crackly breathing needs to still be checked because it could be a URI.

I have had major trouble with an older sow suffering from the complications of a not properly healed out URI she sustained earlier in life. Not every crackling or rasping is necessarily a URI but ignoring the symptoms altogether and not seeing vet can also have serious and in some cases life-shortening consequences. It is a balancing act for any vet and any owner - and as owners we do not necessarily have the medical background.

I did not ignore symptoms or neglect to seek vet help that's my point. I understand the forum must recommend seeing a vet but the reality is many vets don't know pigs and not everyone has bottomless pockets

 

[Emmalou46]

Thank you so much for your responses, it cleared up within a couple of hours after a big sneeze and never came back so it must have been a bit of hay stuck, they do like to panic me

 

[MirabelMaud]

Thank you so much for your responses, it cleared up within a couple of hours after a big sneeze and never came back so it must have been a bit of hay stuck, they do like to panic me

I am so pleased !