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Sick Dry Nose?: Is She Sick?

CC Cookie Dough

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I recently got a new female guinea pig. Her name is Hazelnut ("Hazel" for short). She is about 7 months old (it is hard to tell her exact age because she had two owners before me :( ) and she is an American Crested.

Today when clipping Hazel's nails I noticed something on her nose. It seemed like there were two scratch marks on her pink nostril (her right nostril). I didn't know if she had scratched her own nose because it was bothering her, or if she had gotten scratched by the cat who used to live with her in her previous home. I also thought it might have been dry skin. I don't think it looks like discharge at all, but I suppose that is a possibility.

Here are pictures of her nose:

image1.jpgimage2.jpg

What do you guys think it looks like? Do you think this indicates sickness or do you think she's okay/healthy?
 

CC Cookie Dough

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Apparently my boyfriend thinks that this might be discharge rather than scratches. It's so small that it's hard for me to tell.
 

bpatters

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I think I wouldn't worry at all about it unless some other symptom develops.
 

CC Cookie Dough

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At what point should you be worried about sneezing or coughing?

She (Hazelnut/"Hazel") doesn't sneeze very often over the course of an entire day. I would say (at the absolute most) she does this 3 times a day. And when she does this, it doesn't sound like bad sneezes. More like she's just blowing out air (it doesn't sound like a super phlegmy, sick sneeze, in other words). I have also noticed that my original guinea pig (Cookie Dough) seems to sneeze maybe once a day, and does the same kind of light, airy sneeze. So I am worried that my new guinea pig (Hazel) might have given Cookie Dough an infection. However, like I said, the sneezing is infrequent and does not sound aggravated. Also, she could be sneezing because of the bedding in her temporary quarantine cage. I remember that until I switched to fleece Cookie Dough would sneeze more often.

The other issue I have noticed is some coughing coming from Hazel (Cookie Dough does not have this symptom, thank goodness). Hazel has made some quiet coughs a few times when she's eating, but this sounded exactly like when Cookie Dough eats and swallows something slightly wrong so she coughs to clear her throat. I remember being worried the first time I heard Cookie Dough make this noise, and I had looked it up and they said it was normal. Hazel has coughed like this maybe 3 times so far (since Saturday afternoon). Unfortunately yesterday I heard a cough that seemed worse and more aggravated than the others had been. I was worried about her, but she didn't seem bothered by it. What also worried me more is that she was in her igloo when she made this noise and not by her food dish (so it was hard to tell if it happened randomly or from illness, or if she had eaten something too quickly).
 

bpatters

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An occasional sneeze is nothing to worried about. Neither is making a sound while eating.

A single symptom is not the sign of an illness. If something seems a little off, pay close attention. If the pig starts sneezing a dozen times a day instead of two or three, something may be going wrong. If she's sneezing snot out of her nose. get her to the vet.

Pigs don't generally cough when they're ill. It's much more likely to be something they ate.
 
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