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respiratory illness?

LilyandNugget

LilyandNugget

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Nov 26, 2021
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Malaysia,Selangor
I'm not sure if I'm overreacting, but I think that Lily has a respiratory infection. I heard Lily cough once yesterday. Then today, she coughed once again. then abt a few hours later, i hear her sneeze. i googled up symptoms of respiratory problems and two of them are coughing and sneezing. it might just be the hay. i rlly want to go to a vet to get it checked out, but the problem is, that I'm on holiday in Langkawi for another week. and it takes one boat ride and a 6-7 hour drive to where i live. i rlly hop its just the hay.
 
It’s hard to know. Does she seem fine with eating, drinking, pooing and other general behaviour. If so I may be wrong but if she’s only coughed twice and sneezed once it’s probably just dust from hay or/and pellets. But if it happens a lot more frequently then I would get her checked out by a vet.
 
A cough or sneeze once or twice day is not hugely concerning in terms of it being a URI. Hay dust, dry air etc can cause them to cough or sneeze, they can cough is they eat too fast.

Do see a vet when you get back if symptoms persist or sooner if your piggies become unwell.

New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
 
LilyandNugget said:
I'm not sure if I'm overreacting, but I think that Lily has a respiratory infection. I heard Lily cough once yesterday. Then today, she coughed once again. then abt a few hours later, i hear her sneeze. i googled up symptoms of respiratory problems and two of them are coughing and sneezing. it might just be the hay. i rlly want to go to a vet to get it checked out, but the problem is, that I'm on holiday in Langkawi for another week. and it takes one boat ride and a 6-7 hour drive to where i live. i rlly hop its just the hay.
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Hi!

Please book a vet appointment for as soon as you come home now and keep an eye on your girls. Two coughs and a sneeze don't constitute a respiratory infection. Piggies sneeze several times a day when piggy washing themselves to clear out their nose.

Coughing is much more often connected to greedy eating; see whether your piggy is coughing during or after a meal.
Keep in mind that a respiratory infection (URI) in guinea pigs is bacterial and not viral (unlike a human cold). This means that while symptoms can be shared, they can differ. Frequent several times an hour for hours on end coughing (i.e. neither greedy eating air swallowing nor a one-off coughing fit to get something out that has gone down the wrong way) in a URI is never a symptom that appears at the onset of it but is one of a well developed untreated/undertreated URI.

I hope that this helps you? Please do not hover over your piggies and let it spoil your holiday. If one of them suddenly really looks ill, goes off food and develops raspy or crackly breathing (which is the real telling symptom for a URI), then please see a vet sooner but otherwise they can wait. ;)
 
thank you all so much for your advice. No... her overall behavior is fine. Her beans are normal. I will book an appointment with their vet as soon as i come back home Again, thank you all so much
 
I’m back from my holiday. My parents had to extend the stay because of the flooding in Malaysia. Lily and Nugget’s behaviour are fine in general and I haven’t heard them coughing for the rest of the holiday. They recognise their old cage and their beans are normal. Is a vet appointment still needed?
 
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