Wheezing Guinea Pig breathing loudly

[auxioluck]

Hi Everyone,
I'd like to apologize right off the bat for making my first post as a post asking for advice. But I would rather ask here first before going to the vet...

My girlfriend and I just got Guinea Pigs two weeks ago to the day, and so far they have been great. The visibly older one, Buddha, is probably around 6 months old or so. The smaller one, Peanut, is probably around 4 months old.

Just tonight, Buddha started breathing much louder than usual. By that, I mean that before, i couldn't hear his breathing at all, and now I actually can. I tried listening to see if it was a labored breathing or if there was any wheezing, and I didn't hear any distinct whistling or other noise besides him just breathing loudly. I've been keeping in mind that our pigs are just now starting to get comfortable around us, and have subsequently become louder in pretty much EVERY aspect of their behavior, but I just wanted to get some opinions. He hasn't shown any sign of discomfort, he comes out and purrs when we scratch his back, he's eating lots of pellet food and hay as well as drinking normally. Now, he is a VERY picky pig when it comes to the fruits and vegetables we feed them...he rarely eats the veggies we give him outside of a few bites. He always just goes straight to the pellet food (which has bits of dried fruit and veggies in it.) In fact, just a few minutes ago, he was running around, weeking, and popcorning while my girlfriend was vacuuming the cage. I know that pigs are prey animals and will mask how they feel, but I just wanted to get some quick advice.

Maybe to give some pre-emptive answers...we keep the apartment between 75 and 80 degrees, we've closed the air vents above their cage, we keep the ceiling fan off, they are in a C&C cage that's cleaned at least once a day, their fleece is washed with detergent that is non-dye/non-perfume, etc. They get fresh food, hay, and water every day, and the water is filtered.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[pinky]

It sounds like he might have an upper respiratory infection. You shouldn't be able to hear them breathe. URIs are very treatable but guinea pigs can go downhill quickly if they're not given an antibiotic so I'd get him to a vet as soon as possible.

 

[auxioluck]

Thank you for the advice; he's asleep in the cage right now, and now he's not making any noise at all. I guess I'll just see how he's doing tomorrow and go from there.

 

[bpatters]

Welcome to the forum!

If he's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing normally, and there's no discharge coming from his nose and his eyes aren't watering, he may just have gotten a piece of hay stuck in the wrong place, or have inhaled some hay dust. I'd just watch him carefully, and if it doesn't improve in 24 hours, then I'd make a vet appointment.

As far as your "pre-emptive" answers... That's too hot. Pigs originated in the high mountains of Peru, and they do much better when it's cold than they do when it's hot. I keep my house at about 65-68 degrees, run the ceiling fan in the room with them, and have all the air conditioning vents wide open (and I live in southeast Texas, so the AC is almost always on). Pigs are nothing but balls of fat and fur, and they get overheated very easily.

Pellets with dried fruits and veggies generally aren't recommended. The companies can't keep from putting in stuff that piggies really don't need, and most of the pellet mixes contain things with way too much sugar in them. Plain alfalfa pellets are the best at their ages -- Oxbow, (broken link removed) and Sweet Meadow all make very good pellets.

You can teach them to eat veggies by choosing one veggie, dicing it very fine (like a pencil eraser in 8-10 pieces) and putting it on their pellets. They'll get enough by accident to get accustomed to the taste, and then you can feed it in larger pieces and start dicing a new one. Or, if they'll eat any kind of lettuce or leafy vegetable, you can cut another veggie in matchstick-sized slices and roll it up in the lettuce like a cigarette. You'll have to either tie it or handfeed it, but it's a good way to introduce new things.

 

[auxioluck]

Thank you bpatters; seems we were grossly misinformed about the temperatures pigs like. I've reduced the temperature in the apartment and opened the vent up near them. Buddha has gotten up at least once to re-situate himself for sleep, and I still don't hear his breathing. We'll also adjust their pellet food accordingly, and pay more attention to how much sugar is in their food. And we will definitely try dicing up the veggies. We've been noticing both of them eat the veggies more the smaller we chop them, so we will try even smaller. We'll keep an eye and ear on Buddha; he loves to rub his nose around in the pellets and hay, so I'm going to hope he just inhaled some dust. *fingers crossed*

 

[bpatters]

I think a lot of people worry way more about air on the pigs than I do. They definitely don't need cold drafts, as in wintry winds leaking around an old window near their cage. And I wouldn't put a big fan directly on them on high speed.

I just try to make sure some area of the cage has some kind of a roof they can get under if they want. That doesn't usually work too well -- I set the hideys upright, they come along and turn them over. But they usually sleep flat out in the middle of the cage no matter what the season or the room temperature, so I figure they can't be too uncomfortable. And we've never had an inking of an URI, knock on wood.

 

[auxioluck]

I hear you; I've raised dogs my entire life, and learned long ago to not freak out at the first sign of something being wrong.

As an update, Buddha stopped breathing loudly for a bit after he drank some water, then started up again a little weaker...I went on about my evening, and all of sudden my girlfriend and I hear a LOUD sneeze from inside the cage. It was only a single sneeze, nothing since then, and he hasn't breathed loudly since then. I'm going to hope and assume that he got something in his nose and finally cleared it out. He hasn't sneezed since then, and that was about an hour and a half ago.

In our cage, we did clip a big section of fleece to the top of the cage to act as a roof, and they absolutely love it. So much so that they don't even use their igloo anymore. I hope our pigs can get to be like yours and sleep in the middle of the cage, but I know that our relationship with them is still VERY young. Thanks again for the help; I'll keep updating here if something changes.

 

[auxioluck]

I figured I'd just post an update...I think the sneeze blew out whatever was in his throat or nose. It's been three days and he's been just fine. No noise or anything. Thanks everyone for the help.