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Nose bleeds

Snowflake

Snowflake

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 1, 2021
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Location
Bedfordshire
Hi, last night my boys nose had been bleeding. Blood everywhere in cage.we think some hard Timothy hay had poked him up the nose. This am it bled again. Took him to emergency vets at 8am and she agreed the hay must have caused blood vessel to break. His eating fine. His got metacam for inflammation. His chest and mouth is fine. Vet said the grunting noise his making is because his nose is clotting up. Only makes a noise when eating. Has anyone experienced this before with hard stems of hay? His on meadow hay now.
 
Snowflake said:
Hi, last night my boys nose had been bleeding. Blood everywhere in cage.we think some hard Timothy hay had poked him up the nose. This am it bled again. Took him to emergency vets at 8am and she agreed the hay must have caused blood vessel to break. His eating fine. His got metacam for inflammation. His chest and mouth is fine. Vet said the grunting noise his making is because his nose is clotting up. Only makes a noise when eating. Has anyone experienced this before with hard stems of hay? His on meadow hay now.
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Hi!

This kind of accident can occasionally happen if you use hard hay. Guinea pig airways are very small and they are not good mouth breathers, either, so every little obstruction like the little swelling around the scratch wound your boy has now is bound to be very audible. Good that you have had him checked!

If you are concerned, then please switch to soft timothy hay; the hard version does cause eye pokes and scratches regularly. Our other members can give you recommendations where to best source it.
 
Ahh thank you very much. I get my hay from hay box company. I’ve got him back on meadow hay. And will order some very soft Timothy hay in future. It hasn’t bled anymore since the early hours of this am. And his on metacam. The other thing was when it happened last night and this am his brother was petrified to go near him. Is this because he knew he was not well and could smell blood? They are ok now and his brother has been cleaning him.
 
His been ok all today. But tonight it’s bled a tiny bit tonight. But has stopped. Could he have aggravated it by sneezing or moving his his nose around whilst eating hay? His not grunting anymore.
 
This happened to Peanut a few years ago, really scared me finding him and the cage covered in blood. As with yout boy the vet thought it was a poke injury. It bled again a tiny bit a few times over the next 3 weeks and then no more. The blood vessel will be weak for a while as it heals so a head shake or knock can start the bleeding up again. I saw Peanut knock his nose on the side of the cage during a popcorn session with in seconds he was slightly bleeding again.
If he gets another heavy bleed or you are worried about him in any way I would take him back to the vet.
 
piggieminder said:
This happened to Peanut a few years ago, really scared me finding him and the cage covered in blood. As with yout boy the vet thought it was a poke injury. It bled again a tiny bit a few times over the next 3 weeks and then no more. The blood vessel will be weak for a while as it heals so a head shake or knock can start the bleeding up again. I saw Peanut knock his nose on the side of the cage during a popcorn session with in seconds he was slightly bleeding again.
If he gets another heavy bleed or you are worried about him in any way I would take him back to the vet.
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Thank you for your reply. It happened again on the Friday night three times within half an hour. So my vet told me to bring him in. At 7pm they sedated him and flushed out his nose and out came a thin soft piece of hay the size from the tip of our finger nail to the knuckle. That explains the sneezing and the bleeding bless him. I’ve also put them now on fleece. As they were on shavings. They are a worry bless them.xx
 
Does it happen to humans because it happen to me just like your guinea pig ,I'm sure my nosebleeds are to do with my heamglobin ! But not sure now I read this
 
Snowflake said:
Thank you for your reply. It happened again on the Friday night three times within half an hour. So my vet told me to bring him in. At 7pm they sedated him and flushed out his nose and out came a thin soft piece of hay the size from the tip of our finger nail to the knuckle. That explains the sneezing and the bleeding bless him. I’ve also put them now on fleece. As they were on shavings. They are a worry bless them.xx
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Glad you were able to find out what was going on and it was removed, poor lad! Hope he’s enjoying his fleecy bedding and no more nose bleeds :)
 
@Snowflake I'm glad they found it and sorted him out poor boy.

@jayne yes it can hapen with humans, if you get a broken blood vessel in your nose due to a trauma it can bleed on and off while it heals, especially if you sneeze hard or knock your nose. When my daughter was 4 she started having nose bleeds which happened now and again for over a year, then suddenly stopped. If it happens a lot or the bleeding is heavy please see your GP you need to find out why this is happening.
 
Yes so am I. What I would like to know is how can a piece of hay cause 3 days of bleeding? Is it because the hay could have caused a cut due to moving and rubbing in the nose? They love the fleece bedding now.xx
 
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