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guinea pig bleeding out of both nostrils

VenusSky

VenusSky

New Born Pup
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About 20 minutes ago, I heard raspy noises coming from the room where our guinea pigs live. I went in to find one of my guinea pigs bleeding quite heavily out of both his nostrils. He was struggling to breathe so I quickly wiped the blood of his nose and the nosebleed stopped within 5 minutes. He didn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort so I put him back in the cage after and will call the vets shortly, but I keep worrying about what it could be and I'm just praying that he doesn't have a tumor.
He's nearly 5 now, so he is quite an old guinea pig but in himself he is fine and has been eating and drinking as usual.
Any advice would be appreciated thank you!
 
Sorry to hear this. Hopefully the bleeding has now stopped but yes, best bet is getting him checked out by the vet. Best wishes and let us know how you get on.
 
VenusSky said:
About 20 minutes ago, I heard raspy noises coming from the room where our guinea pigs live. I went in to find one of my guinea pigs bleeding quite heavily out of both his nostrils. He was struggling to breathe so I quickly wiped the blood of his nose and the nosebleed stopped within 5 minutes. He didn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort so I put him back in the cage after and will call the vets shortly, but I keep worrying about what it could be and I'm just praying that he doesn't have a tumor.
He's nearly 5 now, so he is quite an old guinea pig but in himself he is fine and has been eating and drinking as usual.
Any advice would be appreciated thank you!
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Hi

Please contact a vet asap. Heavy bleeding from both nostrils counts as an emergency.
List Of Life And Death Out-of-hours Emergencies

Whatever your fears (and I know how bad they can be from having had to deal with a comparable situation with my Carwyn), please focus on your boy's welfare and needs before your own concerns; that way, you do not fail him and you do not have to deal with a major guilt complex down the line. You may not be able to be strong for yourself but you can always find the strength for somebody you love deeply when they need it. ;)

Fingers very firmly crossed.
 
Thank you for all the kind comments, I really appreciate them.
I took my guinea pig to the vets about an hour ago and they couldn't find anything wrong with him. Checked his heartbeat and ruled out pneumonia which is good. They also gave me so anti-inflammatory medicine as his nose had swelled up, probably due to the nosebleed earlier. I was told to keep an close eye on him for a week, and take him back if any other symptoms occur.
I'm just so worried about him and I'm really scared he has a brain tumor. I've been googling a lot and haven't seen many positive experiences as most guinea pigs seem to go downhill after a nosebleed in both nostrils, although it is the only symptom he has and seems fine in himself, running around, eating and drinking as usual whereas I think with a tumor the symptoms hide for a while but all appear very suddenly, and logically he should have been tired and lethargic sometime after the nosebleed if it was to be a tumor. I do have health anxiety and overthink things a lot so I don't think this week is going to be an easy one for me but I'll try my best not to think about it too much :)
 
Glad to hear they found nothing. Hopefully it was just a scratch in the nose from hay or something.

Please try and stay away from Google. It’s a bottomless pit and can (I think) make you see things that aren’t there. Hope he is all much better soon.
 
VenusSky said:
Thank you for all the kind comments, I really appreciate them.
I took my guinea pig to the vets about an hour ago and they couldn't find anything wrong with him. Checked his heartbeat and ruled out pneumonia which is good. They also gave me so anti-inflammatory medicine as his nose had swelled up, probably due to the nosebleed earlier. I was told to keep an close eye on him for a week, and take him back if any other symptoms occur.
I'm just so worried about him and I'm really scared he has a brain tumor. I've been googling a lot and haven't seen many positive experiences as most guinea pigs seem to go downhill after a nosebleed in both nostrils, although it is the only symptom he has and seems fine in himself, running around, eating and drinking as usual whereas I think with a tumor the symptoms hide for a while but all appear very suddenly, and logically he should have been tired and lethargic sometime after the nosebleed if it was to be a tumor. I do have health anxiety and overthink things a lot so I don't think this week is going to be an easy one for me but I'll try my best not to think about it too much :)
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Glad that it wasn't the worst possible news and that you didn't have to make any decisions there and then. Brain tumours are pretty rare - some years, we do not get any case and never more than 1-3 at the worst. Most nose bleeds have other causes although some of them can be rather weird in their own right and not be instantly obvious.

Just keep an eye on your boy for the time being. What you can do is to plan a little enrichment activity for every day. Guinea pigs don't have a concept for an average life span (which your boy has now reached, by the way); they measure their lives in happy todays.
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

If you give your piggies plenty of those you are not failing them in any way, however long or short a life. Whenever the end comes and whichever form, you are never ready and it is always too soon. But you can create a precious cache of memories that you can warm the fingers of your soul on in later years whenever you are in a dark place. Take a picture so you'll have lots of priceless memories that will stay with you all your life as a tangible reminder of the love and happiness you have shared and the time you have not wasted away on your own fears. I always turn back the life clock of one of my own piggies to zero after a major scare and see every day more as the blessing that it is, whether that is just days, weeks, months or - in one case - 5 1/2 years of being a husboar and group leader to up to 13 sows after nearly dying from some more unusual post-neutering op complications...
You can fill a moment in time with a life time's worth of love but the more you can use your time together consciously and constructively, the more you are not just doing for your piggies but also for yourself and for your own happiness an mental health.

Please try not to hover and search for every little sign of deterioration all the time. Whatever happens is out of your own control and will happen - or not - anyway. Make sure that you use what you have in your control to best advantage. You can never choose when and which way the end comes; by far not all ends are nice ones. All you can ever do is to make your piggies' lives good ones and to minimise any suffering at the sharp end.
Caring for Older Piggies and Facing the End - A practical and supportive information collection

All my Carwyn ever showed was one bloody sneeze (one nostril only and gone within an hour) two months before starting to suddenly haemorrhage heavily down the nose and the throat one late evening. He'd not been looking quite well for 2-3 years prior but his symptoms were so vague that the vet couldn't find what was wrong with him. I had to rush him to the vets for an emergency pts.
Since I have been able to give him 3 1/2 years of total happiness and an enduring love affair with his baby wifelet after three years as a neglect breeder's boar in a one foot square empty box (Carwyn quite literally didn't know how to run when he came here), I was able to find comfort in having given him more happy days than he had sad ones and the happy life that sadly neither his dad or brothers were able to live for long but that he made up for all of them.

HUGS
 
Glad to hear there's nothing majorly obvious. We had a piggy at the rescue once who had nose bleeds, although not too much at a time, and not always from both nostrils. She had high blood pressure which was causing the bleeds!
 
Glad the vet found nothing obviously wrong. One of my past pigs, Linney, used to get nosebleeds off and on starting around age 5.5 or so. She saw the vet but they couldn't find an obvious cause. Most were both nostrils, some were real gushers. She had them on and off for the rest of her life- she passed at 6 years 3 months, not obviously related to the nosebleeds though. Hope it's a one-time thing!
 
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