Help! Swollen Nose & Weight Loss

[Haley0489]

Milo's fine, but Norbert still hooting. They both finished their round of antibiotics. I don't know what else to do :(

[frashy]

Hmm..well, I would definaly see if he has a heart problem, like you were saying. I'm not too sure myself what else could be causing the hooting. Poor Norbie

[PIGGYMAMMA495]

So am I understanding this correctly, if a guinea pig has a puffed up coat they have a URI? I thought they can get puffy anytime. So my two aby girls are puffy, not acting unusual so should I still take them to the vet and tell him that on here it says a puffy coat means URI? Im just not sure if I read it right or what? Thanks for the information.

[frashy]

Not in all cases does it mean the pig has URI, but it is known a pig will puff up their coat while eating veggies. It would be different if your pigs were in the corner, not active, not eating, with a puffed up coat then yes I would bring them to the vet ASAP.

I'm not sure if you are thinking puffed up as being cause you have aby pigs, so their hair goes in all directions, but Haley actually had another thread about her piggie with a puffed up coat, and on it there is a link to a picture that shows Norbie all puffed up.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...d-up-coat.html
(beware, it will be extremely cute!)

[Haley0489]

He's going back to the vet at 2:30, but I'm not sure if anything new will come out of it. I might ask for Bactrim or some other URI antibiotic to see if that does anything, as I haven't heard a lot about Sulfatrim so maybe it was ineffective? He still has no other symptoms other than the hooting and a sneeze now and again.

Puffed up coats! I love it when they puff up! They're just so fat and cuddly, lol. Mine do it when they're eating, cold and Milo does it when he's asleep in his hammock. If they were puffed up in the corner like Frashy said, I'd be concerned. Several people in the thread posted, seem to think puffiness can be a sign of content-ness; just depends on what they're doing/how they're acting when they do it.

[Haley0489]

Back on Sulfatrim for 10 days, we're looking into possible heart problems.

[Haley0489]

I thought I was in the clear for a while there. The first week back on antibiotics I heard no hooting, but of course once I said aloud that it was gone it reared it's ugly head. My dogs have an appt. with the vet this Saturday where I'll be telling him about the hooting and suggest he do some more research before I come in again.

Oh, and Milo's starting hooting again. Surely I don't have two heart pigs? -sigh- Who knows. I'm so worried, and so tired, and tired of worrying. My dad still thinks the hoot is "nothing" and my vet said it might be too, but I'm not convinced. I don't think this is a noise that they're "supposed" to be making.

Ugh. -rips out hair- I want to do all I can for them. They're too young to be suffering. I don't know how long they'd last with an untreated heart issue and it makes me sick. I'm trying my best, but I don't know if my best is good enough. I just wish there were more specifically trained exotic vets in the world. I can't make the 3-4 hour treck to Texas for one.

[theresaj]

Hi Haley, hope your boys are going to be okay! <333

[frashy]

Hmm..perhaps its just the Sulfatrim meds that isnt doing anything for them? Hopefully it's that verses heart problems..I wouldnt be convinced that the hooting is nothing either. Were your pigs all from the same litter? It could be possible that they do both have heart problems..did your vet ever do the x-ray?

I just hope they are okay too!

[Haley0489]

I thought about asking for Bactrim next time because I had never heard of Sulfatrim before. We haven't done x-rays yet because he still wanted to treat for a URI to be sure it wasn't that. Other than the early morning/late night hoots they have no other symptoms of a URI. So I'm not sure if I want to try another antibiotic or just move on to heart problems.

As far as the same littler, I'm not sure. They're originally pet store piggies and were all the same age and lived together when I bought them. They might or might not be. Two of them look alike, one doesn't, who knows! It's very possible though, and that would explain two heart pigs.

[salana]

Bactrim=Sulfatrim

[Haley0489]

Ha! Thanks for clearing that up Salana. I had no idea! :">

I've posted my story at GuineaLynx, after some advise and approval I'm hoping to start a trial run of heart meds on Milo. Possibly Norbert too, but I can't tell if he's still hooting or not. Haven't heard him in a while, or maybe I just can't differentiate from the two hooters.