hooting?

[cosmonaaut]

hello! i have a 5 month old guinea pig, and recently i've noticed that usually in the early morning, she starts making a sort of "hooting". now i've read it's normal every once in a while, but it's becoming almost a twice-weekly thing where i'll wake up and hear it.
today it happened and she had to cough quite loudly to get rid of it. usually she only sneezes but this has me worried.
she's otherwise acting normal, still drinking and eating like she always does, still stealing food from the other girls. any ideas while i wait to get her a vet appointment?

 

[Wiebke]

hello! i have a 5 month old guinea pig, and recently i've noticed that usually in the early morning, she starts making a sort of "hooting". now i've read it's normal every once in a while, but it's becoming almost a twice-weekly thing where i'll wake up and hear it.
today it happened and she had to cough quite loudly to get rid of it. usually she only sneezes but this has me worried.
she's otherwise acting normal, still drinking and eating like she always does, still stealing food from the other girls. any ideas while i wait to get her a vet appointment?

Hi and welcome

It is good that you have your piggy checked. Is she your only piggy or does she have a companion?

I would strongly recommend to change the hay brand as the quality of dust extraction can vary a lot. She may be sleeping snuggled up in it overnight. Also check your room for possible irritants.
Irritants to Avoid Around Guinea Pigs

Please keep in mind that pet shop babies come suddenly from a comparatively sterile background into the complexity of a human pet home. Many react with mild breathing problems while they gradually adapt. It is however important to make sure that you are not dealing with a respiratory problem.
Hooting in connection with heart problems is rather unlikely; you generally want to see other indicators for heart problems and you are not mentioning any of them, so I would not get to hung up on that.

PS: Could you please add your country and state/province or UK county to location in your account details instead of your place name (accessed by clicking on your username on the top bar). We are a UK based forum with members and enquiries from literally all over the world. It would help us a lot more in placing you when tailoring our advice as climate, general background, vet and rescue access, medications and product brand names can vary quite a lot between countries but will have to be taken into consideration when personalising an answer. Being able to roughly place you with just a quick glance to the left does help if you kept it a bit more general for people outside of your country (whichever that is). Thank you.

 

[cosmonaaut]

she has two companions! i've been considering changing the hay brand (if you could possibly recommend any), since it does seem to be a little dusty. one of the other pigs does sneeze a lot and she spends a good amount of time burrowing in it, but she doesn't hoot.
thank you for the reassurances! a lot of the stuff i've found that brings up hooting seems to amp up the possibility of heart problems more often than not, though i am still taking her to check for possible respiratory issues.

referring to where i got her: i adopted her from a rescue, and the lady that was fostering had a fairly standard cage with fleece bedding, so she most likely had at least a few weeks to get adjusted to home living.

 

[Wiebke]

she has two companions! i've been considering changing the hay brand (if you could possibly recommend any), since it does seem to be a little dusty. one of the other pigs does sneeze a lot and she spends a good amount of time burrowing in it, but she doesn't hoot.
thank you for the reassurances! a lot of the stuff i've found that brings up hooting seems to amp up the possibility of heart problems more often than not, though i am still taking her to check for possible respiratory issues.

referring to where i got her: i adopted her from a rescue, and the lady that was fostering had a fairly standard cage with fleece bedding, so she most likely had at least a few weeks to get adjusted to home living.

Here is our detailed hay guide, which you may find helpful and interesting: A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)