Hooting/honking breathing for a few minutes?

[PigglePuggle]

So with it being another bank holiday weekend, Lady Piggle decided to scare me to death by hooting/honking for a while... then just as I was about to call the vets she stopped and was fine, and zoomed about eating everything in sight!
We've not had a respiratory problem before but I guess/hope if it stopped after a few minutes and she's fine in herself I just keep an eye on her?
She sounded like a duck quacking with a sore throat/ a broken clown car with a dodgy old fashioned horn... but she was still eating all the way through, maybe she just hoovered up some hay too fast? Or should I get her straight to the vet? Piggies love a bank holiday health scare don't they, but I know the vet is open 11-4 tomorrow and 12-3 on monday so I can get her seen if it happens again...

 

[squeaksandcarrots]

Once in a while Penny will make some hooting/wheezing sounds because she got hay dust up her nose. I would just keep an eye on her to see if it continues.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I think this happens if they get a bit of hay stuck in their throat. Bill made that noise once, it went as suddenly as it came. Hope she’s fine now x

 

[piggieminder]

I would keep a close eye on her over the weekend and obviously take to the vet if you are concerned. They do tend to do this is they inhale a bit of something. Caspy does this a lot, he has a damaged respitory tract due to a bad infection he had as a baby so any food/hay/dust that gets inhaled makes him hoot until he does a cough type sound which dislodges it. He scares me everytime, it sounds awful, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

 

[Helen82]

About a month ago, Stanley gave me a similar scare. He was fine earlier in the day but at tea time he started honking away whilst eating his veg. He went on for a few hours like that; even Primrose was looking at him askance as if to say "what new foolishness is this?" I'd resolved to book him in at the vets the next day if he carried on, but by bedtime it had cleared up and he's not done it since. He must have had some hay stuck up his nostril... I don't know whether I'm getting even more anxious as I get older but guinea pigs do seem to be worrisome pets!

 

[Wiebke]

So with it being another bank holiday weekend, Lady Piggle decided to scare me to death by hooting/honking for a while... then just as I was about to call the vets she stopped and was fine, and zoomed about eating everything in sight!
We've not had a respiratory problem before but I guess/hope if it stopped after a few minutes and she's fine in herself I just keep an eye on her?
She sounded like a duck quacking with a sore throat/ a broken clown car with a dodgy old fashioned horn... but she was still eating all the way through, maybe she just hoovered up some hay too fast? Or should I get her straight to the vet? Piggies love a bank holiday health scare don't they, but I know the vet is open 11-4 tomorrow and 12-3 on monday so I can get her seen if it happens again...

Hi!

It sounds like a little obstruction in the nose, which has cleared. Guinea pig airways are very narrow. It also doesn't help that they do not breathe through their mouths. This makes any little obstruction somewhere very audible. Hooting/honking is typical for something small sitting in the nose, and it is generally sneezed out at some point.

You only need to worry if there is persistent crackling and rasping coming from the throat or lung area that is not clearing shortly or if the hooting is a regular event and presenting with other indications for a potential heart problem (with which a piggy has NOT the energy to zoom around); the latter is rare.

 

[Merab]

Merab did that to me one day - I did get her to the vet as I was worried.
I think it was her reaction to having a thermometer shoved up her bum that cleared whatever the obstruction was as she was absolutely fine afterwards.
The vet couldn’t find anything wrong so she’d probably been eating too fast

 

[PigglePuggle]

Thanks for the reassurance everyone, I think Piggle is ok as she's been running up and down the ramp to the hayloft since she went back home after playpen time, possibly the readigrass is to blame as its a fairly new treat for my main herd on playpen days and its smaller and tastier strands than they are used to!
I was a bit worried with Piggle having a mild urinary tract infection 2 weeks ago for Easter, then a slightly sore and yucky grease gland that needed oiling then a bum bath last weekend... but I think she's ok, any more hooting/honking without exciting readigrass and a new haycube to snuffle up all the marigold bits from at double speed and we'll get her to the vet

 

[Freela]

It can just be nasal obstruction, but if it keep on recurring I would get it checked out. My pigs have all intermittently made a raspy/hooty noise, but when Hadley had this happen on and off over several days, she did end up being treated for a respiratory infection, which made it stop. Hope this helps!