Guinea Pig Info
Guinea Pig Info: Common Health Problems
Guinea pigs are more prone to illness as they are extremely fragile. Listed here are some of the most common symptoms your guinea pig may experience.
Discharge of the Nose, sneezing
Sometimes guinea pigs can become allergic to their bedding. Change the bedding and see if that makes a difference for them or remove them completely from the area. Try to avoid using bedding that is dusty as this can irritate them and avoid pine and cedar bedding.
It’s time to get in contact with your Vet if your guinea pig is experiences discharge around the nose and is rubbing his nose excessively.
Coughing
If your guinea pig is has a constant cough it can be serious. If you find that their are coughing and wheezing, or have labored breathing, contact your Vet. It might be a respiratory infection of some sort.
Labored Breathing, or Wheezing of Any Sort
This is often a sign of a respiratory infection, and needs to be treated sooner rather than later. It’s usually because of congestion in the lungs, and can easily become pneumonia if left untreated.
Scratching
Excessive scratching is normally a sign of parasites or a fungal infection.
You can examine your pet for parasites by brushing their hair and examining the skin. Lice are normally small and brown in color. If you find your pet has lice, your Vet will have a medicated shampoo. If you find your pet has parasites, you will need to also clean and disinfect their cage.
Milky-White Urine or Sludge-y Bladder
Normally, the urine a guinea pig produces has a slightly milky color to it, and this is completely normal. However, if your guinea pig has extremely clear/white urine, or his urine is overly sludge-y, this could mean that he has a higher-then-normal calcium level in his diet.
Pink or Red Urine
This is serious. This indicates blood in the urine and is often an indicator of bladder stones. If your guinea pig has blood in his urine, make managements to take him to the Vets as soon as possible.
Diarrhea or Extremely Soft Stool
Within hours of suffering from diarrhea, your guinea pig can die if it persists.
Often times, you’ve simply fed your pet too many wet foods or vegetables in general. If you think its food related you can increase your pets intake of hay, which promotes a good digestive balance.
Hair Loss
There can be many different reasons why your guinea pig is loosing hair, including mites.
If your guinea pig is cut or bitten, the hair will fall out in that area until the skin is completely healed. This is normal.
Massive hair loss across the body can be caused by ringworm, and sometimes ovarian cysts. Unless it’s because of a cut, you should call your vet for advice and care.
Watery Eyes
Watery eyes are often caused by irritants in the eye, like excessive dust or something more. Allergies can also cause this – call your vet and ask for directions on how to rinse the irritants out of the eye.
Sometimes eye sores are caused by cysts on the eyelid that irritate the eyes, and these need to be removed by a trained veterinarian, as they can be painful and serious.
Stiff Joints
Most times, this is caused by scurvy. This is basically a sever lack of Vitamin C, and needs to be treated immediately. Call your vet to schedule an appointment.
Tilting Head
If your piggy is tilting his head to one side, and having issues walking, it’s probably a middle-ear infection.
Get him to the vet as soon as you possibly can, because this can damage his hearing and more. You need to get it treated, and simply not put it off.
Seizures
There are two ‘types’ of seizures. If his head is straight up in the air, without a tilt at all, then he’s probably got mites. Mites burrow under the skin and can sometimes affect the nervous system. Get him to a vet for treatment, and he’ll be just fine.
If your guinea pig is tilting his head to one side or curling his body during the seizure, it can be a huge number of any things. Take your guinea pig to the vet as soon as possible.
Regularly Weighing Your Guinea Pig
Being in the habit of regularly weighing your guinea pig, gives you another indication of your guinea pigs health. As they can get sick quickly, monitoring and tracking their weight, will give you a heads up to intervene.