General Guinea pig choking experience

[Guineapigs32]

I just noticed my guinea pig was making some weird faces and making sounds that I’ve never heard before. I automatically knew she was choking. I layer her on my legs on her back and just pulled out a piece of hay and a piece of carrot from her mouth/throat. She seems alittle stunned now. I hope she is ok. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[bpatters]

Guinea pigs can choke -- they have very tiny throats which can get blocked. I always fed my pigs large chunks of veggies rather than tiny ones on the theory that there were fewer small pieces that could cause problems.

 

[Guineapigs32]

I give them a whole baby carrot.

 

[MerryFriarTuck]

@Guineapigs32 One of my boys did it once--- he was greedily eating some fresh hay when I heard him make the choking noise. He made it about 5 times, but it probably only lasted 20 seconds at the most... nevertheless long enough to scare me! But on the 5th cough he sort of spat out a bit of hay, then calmly sucked it back in his mouth, chewed, and ate it. Then he went and got a drink and was perfectly fine; going straight back to the hay afterwards


@bpatters, are chunks of veggies about half the size of your thumb ok? Like about the size of a quarter or nickel. I give my piggies pieces of bell pepper that size because I read somewhere that too big of pieces of something acidic can give them mouth sores when they gnaw on it.

 

[bpatters]

I think they're fine.

As far as the acidic issue, I fed my pigs huge hunks of bell pepper all their lives, and none ever had a mouth sore. They also got tomatoes every day. When I was a kid, tomatoes had a lot of acid in them, but that's been bred out of them as they developed them to travel long distances. They also bred all the taste out, as far as I'm concerned. But I definitely wouldn't worry about guinea pigs and acid unless you're going to put them on a diet of citrus and cranberries.