New baby guinea pig making weird breathing noises?

[Chloeroe5117]

Hi guys! I am a very new guinea pig owner. I got two baby guinea pigs from a pet store about three weeks ago. I immediately noticed one of them was sneezing a lot and making these weird breathing noises. We took it back to the pet store to get it checked out because their policy is to pay for any medical help your pet needs if it becomes sick in the first two weeks. The vet there said it had an upper respiratory infection so they kept it for a week to treat it with antibiotics. I just got it back yesterday and it doesn't sneeze anymore but it's still making these weird breathing noises. She is making them a lot more often than she did before. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not. She acts completely normal and very happy in every other aspect. She is gaining weight, eats lots of food and water. I feel like if it was a big deal the vet would've said something. I wasn't able to directly talk to the vet before because the petstore does that. I assumed the breathing noises were apart of the symptoms of the respiratory infection but apparently not. I'm starting to wonder if maybe she just does it when she is excited or something. Is this something I should be concerned about? Also, I wanted to clarify, the breathing noises don't sound like gasping or raspy but they are very loud and distinct. I have never heard a guinea pig make that sound before.

 

[Willow1825]

I've got little experience with guinea pigs but I know they can hide if they're in pain very well.

If she gets any worse I would certainly take her to a vet straight away.

But some guinea pigs do make unique noises. One of my boys makes a sound somewhere between teeth chattering and purring (pretty weird combo). He does it when he's content (I think).

Or it might be an after effect of the problem.

To be honest I'm just guessing, most of the people on this forum are from the uk so once they're up you'll have proper advice.

I hope your piggy is well though!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please do take your piggy back to a vet. Any noises with breathing needs to be checked out. Piggies are vocal, but making their normal sounds of contentment or excitement, is not necessarily the same thing as ‘weird breathing sounds’.
I’d suggest a vet of your choosing so you can get some proper advice and have a good discussion with the vet.

What did the shop actually tell you regarding the treatment she received? Did they tell you what medication she was treated with?

I don’t know what the shops policy is, but she could have stayed at home with you and her companion and you could have administered the medication yourself - it’s normally a twice daily oral antibiotic. You can then keep receipts and vet bills and reclaim the cost from the pet shop.
Treatment for a URI is often a 10 day course of antibiotics. If she was only given a weeks worth it may simply have not been a long enough course to deal with the problem.

New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

 

[tabelmabel]

I'd definitely agree that your piggy needs to be seen by the vet again to check if the chest infection has cleared.

I have a baby piggy too and had her at the vet as she had some very strange clicky breathing. Very hard to describe but it was like something clicking. Like your pig, she was acting normally in other respects.

Turned out she had some hay stuck up her nose and also an allergy to sawdust. So, in her case, a change of bedding was required and she seems ok now.


I just wanted to add my story to reassure you there can be other reasons for noisy breathing. However, only a vet is qualified to say with certainty what is going on with your piggy. And with a prior diagnosis of uri, it is essential to get this looked at again.