On and off congestion?

[fantomeadhesif]

I have a guinea pig that's about a year old and I've been noticing that he has something that seems like on and off congestion. Every few days he'll have slightly noisy breathing and be sneezing, usually his lungs sound completely clear and there was only one time they didn't. He acts perfectly normal when this happens, and then the next day he'll be back to having no breathing sounds and clear lungs

He isn't kept in a moist area and I do spot cleaning every day, fully clean cage every 2 days. No changes in hay or other food. My other guinea pig doesn't display any of the same symptoms. What could this be? He's been to the vet, they said there's nothing wrong with him but this doesn't really make sense to me

 

[sport_billy]

How long has this been happening? One of our pigs used to react with sneezing to a particular brand of hay. We switched and the issue went away.
If the vet has checked out their breathing etc.. by listening with a stethoscope then that hopefully rules out any sort of infection.
I would think allergy related possibly

 

[piggl]

Sounds like he may have some trouble with irritants. I have a pig with a smaller nasal canal who was very susceptible to getting some dust or sawdust stuck/irritating his noise which would leave him grumbling for a day or two but it would clear up on its own and he acted completely normal during it.
We changed to fleece and now his moments of this is grumbling are very much reduced, to every couple of weeks/months.

What bedding is your piggies on? And is your hay dust extracted.
Realistically you should not be needing to full change the cage every two days, this can increase the amount of scent marking and upset in the cage.

If you have been to the vet and ruled out a URI, or something else, then there is a chance he just gets some stuff stuck in his nose and leaves him making a funny noise. You can use a boiling bowl of water near the cage to try and relieve the symptoms.

 

[fantomeadhesif]

Sounds like he may have some trouble with irritants. I have a pig with a smaller nasal canal who was very susceptible to getting some dust or sawdust stuck/irritating his noise which would leave him grumbling for a day or two but it would clear up on its own and he acted completely normal during it.
We changed to fleece and now his moments of this is grumbling are very much reduced, to every couple of weeks/months.

What bedding is your piggies on? And is your hay dust extracted.
Realistically you should not be needing to full change the cage every two days, this can increase the amount of scent marking and upset in the cage.

If you have been to the vet and ruled out a URI, or something else, then there is a chance he just gets some stuff stuck in his nose and leaves him making a funny noise. You can use a boiling bowl of water near the cage to try and relieve the symptoms.

The bedding is fleece. What do you mean by hay dust being extracted? I haven't heard of that before. And I have to clean it every 2 days because my older guinea pig (5 years old) likes to sleep in his poop and pee. He gets stinky fast and cleaning the cage that often helps. Just cleaning underneath him doesn't work because he sleeps on his sides and needs a full bath

 

[Piggies&buns]

The bedding is fleece. What do you mean by hay dust being extracted? I haven't heard of that before. And I have to clean it every 2 days because my older guinea pig (5 years old) likes to sleep in his poop and pee. He gets stinky fast and cleaning the cage that often helps. Just cleaning underneath him doesn't work because he sleeps on his sides and needs a full bath

If a URI or any other medical issue has been totally ruled out, check for irritants.

Hay dust is the most common one you come up against and often what causes their narrow airways to sound congested or cause hooting when breathing.
In the UK we can buy which is the hay dust extracted - not all of it but most of it - making it much kinder to nasal passages. Oxbow hay is dust extracted and I know that is a commonly used brand in the US.

Check for other irritants and scents in the room also - candles, sprays, perfumes etc.
Also check the detergent you are washing the fleece in. Scent free etc.

Have you tried using smaller pee pads? Little squares of fleece liner (usually around 12 inches by 12 inches) which you put under hides and in high traffic areas so all you need to do is remove those squares each day and not need to clean the entire cage. It might be worth a try if you haven’t already done so - anything to avoid needing to do regular full baths which are not good for piggies.

 

[fantomeadhesif]

If a URI or any other medical issue has been totally ruled out, check for irritants.

Hay dust is the most common one you come up against and often what causes their narrow airways to sound congested or cause hooting when breathing.
In the UK we can buy which is the hay dust extracted - not all of it but most of it - making it much kinder to nasal passages. Oxbow hay is dust extracted and I know that is a commonly used brand in the US.

Check for other irritants and scents in the room also - candles, sprays, perfumes etc.
Also check the detergent you are washing the fleece in. Scent free etc.

Have you tried using smaller pee pads? Little squares of fleece liner (usually around 12 inches by 12 inches) which you put under hides and in high traffic areas so all you need to do is remove those squares each day and not need to clean the entire day. It might be worth a try if you haven’t already done so - anything to avoid needing to do regular full baths which are not good for piggies.

Do you have any brand suggestions for the fleece squares?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Do you have any brand suggestions for the fleece squares?

The third page in this guide is for US sites. As a UK based forum we won’t necessarily know more than these, unless a US based member sees your post and can help.
Members recommended UK and US sites for fleece cage liners and accessories