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Guinea pigs health

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jingyd
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Jingyd

Today I was at a farm park and we held some guineas and they did a talk about them. We recently bought 3 and are smitten:-) I want more;-)

The man doing the talk said they can get ill with bronchitis and pneumonia, is this rare? I am worried now about them getting cold outside, lol! I had bronchitis last year and it was nasty;-)
 
I used to keep four guineapigs outside, and i lost two to pneumonia even though they were out of the wind, and covered at night. I wouldnt ever keep guineapigs outside now after experiencing having them inside. So to answer your question, yes, they can catch pneumonia for sure, but I'm not sure about bronchitis. Maybe someone else can help you with that one. Sorry.
 
They can get chest infections... some of ours have had the odd chest rattle but nothing too serious, but they are kept indoors.. if you keep them outside make sure they have lots of warm bedding and a heat pad for colder nights, and move them into a shed or indoors if you can in winter.
 
They can get URI's indoors as well. What does them in is the change in temperature bringing them in then putting them back outside. I have 8 in a shed with my rabbit Tika who free ranges in the day time. I have an allergy to pet dander so can't have them all in at once but have 2 in as my daughters enjoy them during the evening before bed time. My other rabbit Harvey lives in a Lavander Lodge in winter he will be brought in and hopefully Tika will be with him by then bonding is going slowly with the two of them. :)
 
Isn't pnuemonia really the same thing as URI?

I have mine outside and they have never got anything like that.
One of them got URI when she was in a heated shed.
Then again could of been the bedding or hay that triggered if off.
 
THanks for all your help.

I have decided to keep mine indoors, the damp cannot be good for them at the moment and they seem happier indoors.

My Q is if a guinea gets ill with pneumonia or something like that can it be passed onto humans? sounds like a daft Q but I have 3 young children in the house who get ill enough as it is, lol!
 
No I don't think anything can be passed between humans and piggies except ringworm.
 
Thanks,

How would you know then if a piggy had worms/ringworm? I'm not clued up on piggy health, lol!
 
and is it easy to treat? worried now about my children handling them and what if I ever missed they had ringworm.

Is ringworm rare?
 
ringworms and piggies

hoping this link help answer some questions you have about ringworm
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=2494 as i child i had guinea pigs and i had ringworm but the piggies never, i have also had piggies for over 10 years as an adult and never come across ringworm in piggies but as i am in oz conditions might be different in the UK or where you live. as long as you and the children wash you hands after handling the piggies things should be find!:rose:rose:rose
 
I've seen other fungal infections in piggies but never ringworm. It does happen, though. Never heard of an instance where it's passed from a pig to a human.
 
I thought I remember someone mentioning ringworm before on the forum - sorry half asleep again.")
 
I found the quote about someone catching ringworm from their piggie. That's where I heard about it.


Snowy probably will get it if she hasn't alreasy. Ringworm is a fungal infection and make sure you wash your hands after treating them and make sure your daughter doesn't touch the piggies and children are more prone to it. Its not very pleasant, I caught it off one of my piggies when I was 9 as I didn;t know what it was and touched it before telling my mom . . . it was itchy lol
 
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