Noisy breathing

[Tuftyhuns]

Hi all,

My Guinea has developed this strange breathing, it sounds as if she is sort of snoring when she breathes like she has a cold/congested? It’s really on and off she’s not doing it constantly.
She’s absolutely fine in herself being the greedy girl she always is!
I’ve taken her to the vets twice now over the past 3 days and they said it “might” be a cold, gave her drugs and that was about it. I’m going to change vet practise because I don’t feel like they know what they’re doing with guineas unfortunately but just wondering if anyone knows what this could be?
I’m going to try and register her with another vet and fingers crossed get a second opinion.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Guinea pigs don’t get colds. They get bacterial respiratory infections which if diagnosed require antibiotics.
What drugs did they give?

It wouod be a good idea for you to switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh her daily each morning. The need to breathe comes first and if she is struggling to breathe, they can then reduce their hay intake and that means you’d need to be prepared to step in with syringe feeding.

 

[Tuftyhuns]

Guinea pigs don’t get colds. They get bacterial respiratory infections which if diagnosed require antibiotics.
What drugs did they give?

It wouod be a good idea for you to switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh her daily each morning. The need to breathe comes first and if she is struggling to breathe, they can then reduce their hay intake and that means you’d need to be prepared to step in with syringe feeding.

The vet never said what drugs she gave, as I say, it was a pretty poor experience and I’m in the process now of registering her with a different vets. She’s eating hay and everything else as normal. Weight is maintained she’s a big girl 1.2kg and still the same weight roundabout everyday.

Happy to syringe feed her if it comes to that.

 

[Piggies&buns]

The vet never said what drugs she gave, as I say, it was a pretty poor experience and I’m in the process now of registering her with a different vets. She’s eating hay and everything else as normal. Weight is maintained she’s a big girl 1.2kg and still the same weight roundabout everyday.

Happy to syringe feed her if it comes to that.

Yes it does sound like it was if they didn’t even tell you what they gave her! Definitely a good idea to find a new vet.
I’m assuming then that it was a one off injection(?) that she gave there and then and never have you anything to bring home and continue giving. To treat a confirmed URI, then it’s a course of daily oral antibiotics for a good 7-10 days.

I hope you can get her seen by another vet and get that second opinion.
Keep us posted

 

[Tuftyhuns]

Yes it does sound like it was if they didn’t even tell you what they gave her! Definitely a good idea to find a new vet.
I’m assuming then that it was a one off injection(?) that she gave there and then and never have you anything to bring home and continue giving. To treat a confirmed URI, then it’s a course of daily oral antibiotics for good a 7-10 days.

I hope you can get her seen by another vet and get that second opinion.
Keep us posted

She gave 2 jabs to her but it’s not made any difference to her breathing.. didn’t give any further medicine.
I’ve had a Guinea pig previously and she was given oral medicine for her a Uri and she was completely off her food and generally unwell.

Thank you, me too

 

[Piggies&buns]

She gave 2 jabs to her but it’s not made any difference to her breathing.. didn’t give any further medicine.
I’ve had a Guinea pig previously and she was given oral medicine for her a Uri and she was completely off her food and generally unwell.

Thank you, me too

I’m sorry to hear that.
Antibiotics can affect their gut (it kills off the good gut bacteria as well as the bad illness causing bacteria) and can affect their appetite - some are worse for it than others.
When a piggy is on a course of antibiotics it can be advisable to give probiotics as this can help settle their gut. Poops soaked in water made from the very fresh poops of a healthy companion and then syringing the water to a piggy on antibiotics can directly replace the gut flora and help kick start the system.

 

[Tuftyhuns]

I’m sorry to hear that.
Antibiotics can affect their gut (it kills off the good gut bacteria as well as the bad illness causing bacteria) and can affect their appetite - some are worse for it than others.
When a piggy is on a course of antibiotics it can be advisable to give probiotics as this can help settle their gut. Poops soaked in water made from the very fresh poops of a healthy companion and then syringing the water to a piggy on antibiotics can directly replace the gut flora and help kick start the system.

There’s a video of her just now eating but you can hear the breathing a little on there a crackling sound - won’t let me upload it for some reason

 

[Piggies&buns]

There’s a video of her just now eating but you can hear the breathing a little on there a crackling sound - won’t let me upload it for some reason

We can’t host video directly on the forum so you need to upload it to YouTube first and then post a link to it here

 

[PigglePuggle]

There are several different antibiotics a vet can prescribe, which will work depends on what type of bacteria are causing the infection. A good vet will usually take a swab to send to the lab for tests if the first antibiotic they try (usually baytril, the safest and most commonly used antibiotic for guinea pigs) doesnt resolve things. The vet should of course always tell you what medicine is being given- and a 10-day course of oral medicine is more common.
Best of luck with the new vet x

 

[Tuftyhuns]

We can’t host video directly on the forum so you need to upload it to YouTube first and then post a link to it here

3 February 2023