Flat-nosed breeds more prone to respiratory issues?

[Urmel]

We have a Coronet with a very flat nose that has a tendency for breathing issues. His breathing sounds off for a couple of days whenever he is exposed to any kind of dust. He is also more prone to catching respiratory infections, and they tend to be worse than in other piggies. We've learned to manage all this pretty well, but I've been wondering if there is a more general correlation between flat noses and breathing issues. This link is well-documented in cats and dogs, but I could not find any information on guinea pigs. So I am curious - do any of your flat-nosed piggies have similar issues?

Just to clarify, our piggie was rescued after the death of his previous owner, who probably bred Coronets competitively at some point. I am against breeding and it makes me angry that selecting for looks may have caused some of his health issues. If this is a more widespread thing, I think it would be important to warn about this, so it doesn't escalate to a point where anatomy that causes breathing problems becomes a 'normal' feature of a guinea pig breed, like it is for pugs or french bulldogs.

 

[Wiebke]

We have a Coronet with a very flat nose that has a tendency for breathing issues. His breathing sounds off for a couple of days whenever he is exposed to any kind of dust. He is also more prone to catching respiratory infections, and they tend to be worse than in other piggies. We've learned to manage all this pretty well, but I've been wondering if there is a more general correlation between flat noses and breathing issues. This link is well-documented in cats and dogs, but I could not find any information on guinea pigs. So I am curious - do any of your flat-nosed piggies have similar issues?

Just to clarify, our piggie was rescued after the death of his previous owner, who probably bred Coronets competitively at some point. I am against breeding and it makes me angry that selecting for looks may have caused some of his health issues. If this is a more widespread thing, I think it would be important to warn about this, so it doesn't escalate to a point where anatomy that causes breathing problems becomes a 'normal' feature of a breed, like it is for pugs or french bulldogs.

Hi

Since we are a strictly non-breeding forum, this is a question we just haven't got the data base and experience to answer. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a link but it can only be speculative from our perspective.

I am however very sorry. A pair of neglected sows (coming totally matted out of an totally unsuitable rat cage) that I adopted from a rescue had quite obviously started out as breeder perus and had noticeably broader and flatter faces but they were both free of breathing problems, which doesn't help your question, unfortunately.

 

[VickiA]

As Wiebke has said we don’t breed or have breeding experience in this forum so any answer will be anecdotal.
However from my own experience I’ve adopted and fostered many pigs over the years & although a couple have been flat faced and had breathing issues, others have been fine. Similarly I’ve had some pigs with long snouty faces (rather ratty like) and some of those have had respiratory issues but others have been fine. So although there may be a link I don’t think any of us have enough experience to say so with any degree of confidence.

 

[Eriathwen]

There does seem to be a trend suggesting that there is becomming the same issues as other species, although there is no solid scientific research that I know of. We have brachycephalic dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and now syrian hamsters.. true brachy individuals vs just short nosed individuals are probably hard to distinguish as the real issue is internally with the soft tissue. Shorter nosed individuals are not born with less soft tissue in the airways so, this creates obstruction depending on the degree and type of malformation in the rest of the skull.

Not to mention, with less free room, particles trapped by the cilia inside the airways have less chance of escape, which can lead to a build up of irritants. Again, this would be totally down to each individuals internal anatomy.
I have personally had 3 (I think?) Brachycephalic piggies with shortened faces which did cause them breathing issues, and one longer snouted piggy (a lethal white) whose malformed skull caused noisy airways. But equally I've had a few short nosed piggies with absolutely no issues breathing at all.
I also have a long nosed little man currently who carries mycoplasma, which can run rife in poor breeding set ups with bad hygiene and over crowding.

In short.. its very difficult if not impossible to just look at a piggy and decide their breathing issues are due to snout length, but given the way we have ruined some breeds within other species, it certainly doesn't suprise me that there are also brachy piggies now, especially when "show standard" piggies are called to have a flattened roman nose.

You may wish to purchase a nebuliser for him to use once or twice a week, just to help any irritants trapped within the airways. My current respiratory piggies (I have 3 atm) only need theirs occasionally now, but it was advised by our vet that the use of a nebuliser as routine maintenance would benefit them.

 

[Urmel]

There does seem to be a trend suggesting that there is becomming the same issues as other species, although there is no solid scientific research that I know of. We have brachycephalic dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and now syrian hamsters.. true brachy individuals vs just short nosed individuals are probably hard to distinguish as the real issue is internally with the soft tissue. Shorter nosed individuals are not born with less soft tissue in the airways so, this creates obstruction depending on the degree and type of malformation in the rest of the skull.

Not to mention, with less free room, particles trapped by the cilia inside the airways have less chance of escape, which can lead to a build up of irritants. Again, this would be totally down to each individuals internal anatomy.
I have personally had 3 (I think?) Brachycephalic piggies with shortened faces which did cause them breathing issues, and one longer snouted piggy (a lethal white) whose malformed skull caused noisy airways. But equally I've had a few short nosed piggies with absolutely no issues breathing at all.
I also have a long nosed little man currently who carries mycoplasma, which can run rife in poor breeding set ups with bad hygiene and over crowding.

In short.. its very difficult if not impossible to just look at a piggy and decide their breathing issues are due to snout length, but given the way we have ruined some breeds within other species, it certainly doesn't suprise me that there are also brachy piggies now, especially when "show standard" piggies are called to have a flattened roman nose.

You may wish to purchase a nebuliser for him to use once or twice a week, just to help any irritants trapped within the airways. My current respiratory piggies (I have 3 atm) only need theirs occasionally now, but it was advised by our vet that the use of a nebuliser as routine maintenance would benefit them.

Our Piggie is actually sitting in the nebuliser box right now, haha. We use it daily whenever there is even the slightest noise in his breathing, it really does wonders for stopping any problems in their tracks!

It's definitely not all short-nosed piggies, we do have another pig with a relatively flat face (maybe not quite as flat as the other one) that's a rescue from the same irresponsible breeder, and he's never had any issues. I don't think we're at a point where this is a consistent issue with any breed yet, but it does seem really plausible that selecting for flat faces is a risk factor for internal issues. It's so infuriating how we've done this to so many pets, we know exactly where it can lead, and yet breeding standards keep encouraging it.

 

[Wiebke]

Our Piggie is actually sitting in the nebuliser box right now, haha. We use it daily whenever there is even the slightest noise in his breathing, it really does wonders for stopping any problems in their tracks!

It's definitely not all short-nosed piggies, we do have another pig with a relatively flat face (maybe not quite as flat as the other one) that's a rescue from the same irresponsible breeder, and he's never had any issues. I don't think we're at a point where this is a consistent issue with any breed yet, but it does seem really plausible that selecting for flat faces is a risk factor for internal issues. It's so infuriating how we've done this to so many pets, we know exactly where it can lead, and yet breeding standards keep encouraging it.

I think we all fully agree on this point on here...

 

[Freela]

There does seem to be a trend suggesting that there is becomming the same issues as other species, although there is no solid scientific research that I know of. We have brachycephalic dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and now syrian hamsters.. true brachy individuals vs just short nosed individuals are probably hard to distinguish as the real issue is internally with the soft tissue. Shorter nosed individuals are not born with less soft tissue in the airways so, this creates obstruction depending on the degree and type of malformation in the rest of the skull.

Not to mention, with less free room, particles trapped by the cilia inside the airways have less chance of escape, which can lead to a build up of irritants. Again, this would be totally down to each individuals internal anatomy.
I have personally had 3 (I think?) Brachycephalic piggies with shortened faces which did cause them breathing issues, and one longer snouted piggy (a lethal white) whose malformed skull caused noisy airways. But equally I've had a few short nosed piggies with absolutely no issues breathing at all.
I also have a long nosed little man currently who carries mycoplasma, which can run rife in poor breeding set ups with bad hygiene and over crowding.

In short.. its very difficult if not impossible to just look at a piggy and decide their breathing issues are due to snout length, but given the way we have ruined some breeds within other species, it certainly doesn't suprise me that there are also brachy piggies now, especially when "show standard" piggies are called to have a flattened roman nose.

You may wish to purchase a nebuliser for him to use once or twice a week, just to help any irritants trapped within the airways. My current respiratory piggies (I have 3 atm) only need theirs occasionally now, but it was advised by our vet that the use of a nebuliser as routine maintenance would benefit them.

Not sure about other species, but in hamsters the bradycephaly is actually caused by hydrocephaly (water on the brain) and it's that pressure that leads to the skull deformities. We had one hamster with a short snoot who we had the vet check for bradycephaly because I was concerned, but there was no bulging of the optic nerves or other signs of hydrocephaly, thankfully, she was just a hammy with a short little snoot!