• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Is My Piggies Loosing His Voice?

Status
Not open for further replies.
bumbling-bambi

bumbling-bambi

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
79
Reaction score
64
Points
190
Location
Hampshire UK
So I've noticed one of my boars (Womble) has a slightly raspy sounding wheek when he knows food could be about!
He's a good healthy weight (I'm checking regularly as they grow anyway) is eating fine and seems totally normal but he just seems to loose his voice for a couple of wheeks and then he's as loud as ever?
Ive never encountered this before and i was wondering if anyone else had?
Ive checked him for a runny nose and he's ok, his eyes and ears are clear and healthy looking as well so I'm not 100% sure if it warrants a vet trip or not... They are due to go for a check up soon but if needs be i can just bring that forward to check he's ok.
I'm a little worried about it but the fact he seems otherwise healthy to me is a good sign. I know that out of instinct they will try to hide any illness they might have but I'm not sure.
They are on dust extracted (heavily dust extracted!) wood shavings which has never caused a problem before but I'm thinking maybe any left over dust from their hay or something might be irritating him?

Any advice would be fab!
Here he is down below enjoying his hay - for whatever reason he likes to wear it while he eats it :')
15027781_1234671553222395_7365406994070878210_n.webp
 
He is absolutely gorgeous. If you are worried I would bring the vet visit forward, it's probably nothing but better to be safe than sorry.
 
piggieminder said:
He is absolutely gorgeous. If you are worried I would bring the vet visit forward, it's probably nothing but better to be safe than sorry.
Click to expand...

I thought so but i wasn't sure if it was worth it! I'm at uni so we are on a tight budget over here and although we would never let them go without what they need the more money we can save the more nice things we can get them! But your probably right - just bring forward the appointment and hope he's just being difficult xD
 
I know how hard it is when you are on a tight budget. Just felt that if you were going to take him soon anyway it made sense to bring the appointment forward. The other way I look at vet visits is that if there's something wrong and you catch it early it hopefully will be easier and cheaper to treat. Also if you leave it heading up to Christmas and you get an emergency that involves out of hours vets you may not get the vet of your choice and the cost starts to spiral. If you are worrying it's not helping you either and hopefully a vet visit will put your mind at rest. I worried about Spike (avatar piggie) when he went very quiet one weekend, took him to the vet to be told he was probably the healthiest guinea pig she'd ever seen. It cost me £30 but I stoped worrying about him.
 
Spike is gorgeous! But yeah I totally get what you mean - They are going to my mums for Christmas this year as its our turn to go to my boyfriends parents this year! (fondly known as the grand tour!) so hopefully it will all be ok! Although i trust my mum to give them any meds they might need and take good care of them i'd rather her not have to worry about it! Plus i'd feel terrible leaving them if they are poorly! I'll see if i can get them an appointment this week (our piggier vet is brilliant and therefore in popular demand!) but at least then they can both go get a full check up before they go on their little christmas holiday with their friend (my mums cat!). They seem to love her cat and the cat sleeps next to them and will pull her bed over to the cage and try and stuff it through the bars for them - its really funny really! She isn't a normal cat by any means xD
 
If it's a change from his usual wheeking then I probably would bring forward the appointment. But there are pigs who are just like that.

I had a pig called Spencer. I didn't adopt him until he was 5 but I took him in for a friend. He had a broken wheeker his whole life and would huff at you instead of making a noise.
 
Jaycey said:
If it's a change from his usual wheeking then I probably would bring forward the appointment. But there are pigs who are just like that.

I had a pig called Spencer. I didn't adopt him until he was 5 but I took him in for a friend. He had a broken wheeker his whole life and would huff at you instead of making a noise.
Click to expand...

This is my problem haha - I'm not 100% sure how long its been happening! he's a fairly quiet pig really the only time he ever makes any noise is when he hears th veg draw in the fridge open xD its hard to tell as Phillip (my other boar) is almost deafening! I think i'll still go get him checked out just to be on the safe side but he is quite the mystery xD
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top