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Guinea pig continually blowing air out of nose

Jaxsoy

Jaxsoy

New Born Pup
Joined
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I’ve had my piggy for a little over 2 months and ever since I’ve got him he makes this little noise every minute. It sounds like he’s blowing air out of his nose. Is this something to be worried out? He does it a ton. He’s eating and drinking normal and is acting perfectly fine besides this. The place we got him from treated him for a URI so he has been sick before, but like I said he’s still his happy little self. Here’s a video of it:
 
It is hard to tell but it sounded like a little sneeze to me.
The occasional one is nothing to worry about, but if he is doing it constantly I would consider taking him for a vet check.
URI's can take a while to be cleared up properly and it is possible that the symptoms from his original one cleared up, treatment stopped, and now it has returned.

What is his weight like?
If you weigh weekly this is usually the best indicator of overall health, as it can be hard to keep an eye on how much each piggy is eating and drinking (assuming he is kept with a friend).
 
I’ve been going through a pretty crazy week with my guinea pig. A few weeks ago he started doing these little sneezes where there were no vocal sounds, just a little puff of air. He’s been doing it every minute so I’m kind of freaking out. We took him to the vet a week ago and she gave him so Baytril. I also recently got him Vitamin C supplements and a probiotic. However, these little sneezes are still just as constant as they were before the Baytril. A couple days ago I called the vet and she said to put him on another 10 days of the Baytril, but I’m just afraid it’s not gonna help. Now, just a few minutes ago, I was feeding him some kale (with some vitamin C supplements on top) and out of nowhere his stomach started making these extremely loud gurgling noises. It did it around 3 times and I haven’t heard anything since, but I’m still really freaked out. He’s so young and has so much more life to live. Other than those things he seems healthy but after losing my 5 year old guinea pig a couple months ago I’m just so scared I’m going to lose another one, and at only 8 months old I just don’t think I could handle it
 
I think if you’re worried then you should take him back to the vet. As far as I know you shouldn’t be able to hear tummy sounds without your ear being up next to them.

with regards the vitamin c supplements, were they suggested by the vet?
 
Siikibam said:
I think if you’re worried then you should take him back to the vet. As far as I know you shouldn’t be able to hear tummy sounds without your ear being up next to them.

with regards the vitamin c supplements, were they suggested by the vet?
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Yes she said that they might help. I haven’t heard anymore noises yet so I’m hoping it was just an isolated incident. I’m just really frustrated the little sneezes aren’t going away. From what I’ve read and from what the vet said it’s either a URI or allergies (or in a very serious case pneumonia, but she said his lungs sounded ok) but I’ve tried changing his hay, keeping the cage extra clean, putting him in a steamy room for a bit, giving him Baytril in case it’s a URI, and nothing is helping. I just don’t get it
 
I don’t know I’m afraid. You’ll have to check back a lot later once someone more knowledgable has answered.
 
Siikibam said:
I don’t know I’m afraid. You’ll have to check back a lot later once someone more knowledgable has answered.
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Ok that’s fine, and do you know if I can merge threads? I posted one about a week ago that has the video of his little sneeze and that might help, I just forgot to add on to it
 
Yes. Find the other thread, report your first post and ask the admin to merge.
 
Wiebke said:
Have you checked your hay and any other potential irritants in your home - including your own skin perfumed skin care products and air fresheners etc? Many piggies are sensitive to hay dust and pollen.

The quality between dust extracted hay can vary a lot. Paper bedding is non-allergic.
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)
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I use Oxbow hay. Originally I had their mix of orchard grass and western Timothy hay which my pigs seemed to love, but then I tried just their western Timothy hay which they still like. I guess I can try a new brand, but I’ve heard that Oxbow is pretty good about not having dust in their hay. I don’t have any air fresheners around him and I don’t use perfume, so I don’t know what else it could be :/
 
It’s been about 15 days of him being on Baytril with no progress. He’s still sneezing a ton, and he has dried up snot on his nose. I’ve been checking his weight and it’s fine. He still has a good appetite and runs around, but I know how good they can be at hiding illnesses. If it is in fact allergies, would there be dried up snot on his nose, or does that only happen with infections? I’m also wondering if I should go back to the vet now or just finish the treatment (there’s still 5 days left). I just feel like it’s doing absolutely nothing. I’ll also say when he’s breathing I can kind of hear the air coming out of his nose sometimes. I’m sure that’s not a great sign either
 
I’d say that if the baytril is not having any effect at all after this amount of then, then it would be worth having a chat with the vet
 
Here’s another video of him. You can kind of see the snot on his nose and his little sneezes
 
Definitely worth ringing the vets again if this isn't getting any better. Perhaps he was treated with baytril for his original URI and the bacteria has become resistant. He might respond better to a different type of antibiotic.
 
Sorry to hear you boy is unwell, poor soul. If I were you I’d ask for a different antibiotic to try & see if that works, please keep us posted on him ❤️ X
 
We took him to the vet a couple days ago and she gave us a list of things to do to help. She said to try to temporarily change their bedding to paper towel and actively clean any soiled ones in order to try to keep the smell of urine out. She also said to buy an air purifier. She then prescribed Chloramphenicol and Benadryl. We have done all the things she said and have been giving him Benadryl and STILL there has not been any progress. We pick up the Chloramphenicol tomorrow, but if that doesn’t work I seriously don’t know what to do. It’s getting really expensive and we can’t just keep taking him to the vet every single week if we’re not even making any progress. I just really wish there was an easier way to figure out what the issue is
 
I can not for the life of me get him to take his Chloramphenicol. I’ve tried a lot of techniques and even had 3 people holding him at once but he’s just so good at wriggling away. I’m getting really frustrated because 1ml 3 times a day is a lot for a piggy that doesn’t want to take it and I really don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s banana flavored so I don’t get why he wouldn’t like it because he loves bananas. I also feel like he’s starting to not like me because of this. Now when he sees me he probably associates me with holding him down and trying to force feed him
 
Also the syringes they gave me are terrible. They won’t push out the medicine until you push too hard and it’s shoots the stuff across the entire room. I just have no idea what I’m going to do. This stuff was $60 too...
 
Siikibam said:
What syringes did they give you? If I remember correctly, here they recommend a 1ml syringe with the tip cut off...
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
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It’s an orange 1 ml syringe, and I cut the tip off earlier but that didn’t do anything because the hole still ends up being the same size. I’m gonna have to hault the treatment anyways since I’ll be gone for a couple of days and fortunately he still seems pretty much normal besides the sneezing. I pretty much wasted about a days worth of treatment since I couldn’t get it into his mouth and then the whole dose just shot out of it. He did get a little in him yesterday but it was only 1 ml. I’m really hoping it’s just allergies and the Chloramphenicol isn’t even necessary
 
Is there no one who can give him the meds while you’re away? I wouldn’t stop.
 
Siikibam said:
Is there no one who can give him the meds while you’re away? I wouldn’t stop.
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I have someone that can feed him but he hates actually holding them, and if I can’t get my pig to take the medicine there’s no way he’d be able to. I’ve been checking his weight and everything is normal so I’m not too worried. I’m just concerned that when we get back it will still be a big struggle
 
Also I still would say I have about 9 days worth of treatment left so it’s not like I’ll be stopping right in the middle of it. I know it’s not ideal that I have to wait a couple more days but as I said he seems fine besides the sneezes, and it’s been going on for a while so not like it just popped up
 
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