guinea pig stuffed up nose

Question
Hi Pat VanAllen, my guinea pig, cookie, has had a stuffed up nose for a few months now. He has a little bit of white runny stuff inside of his nose though. No crusty stuff around his nose. He still eats, popcorns, squeaks, and acts fine in general. I'm just worried because things that I have saw on the internet say that this could be URI. could you please tell me what is wrong with him? I'm worried.

Answer
I would expect that if it were an infection he would not have had it for so long and continued to be otherwise well. The next logical consideration is an allergic reaction to something in his surroundings.

In spite of my many years in medicine I am very hesitant when it comes to getting too aggressive with treatment for animals. Most vets, given the information you've just given me, would jump to the conclusion that he has an upper respiratory infection and would prescribe antibiotics. I disagree.

Not every wheeze, sneeze or snotty nose is an infection. Guinea pigs in particular don't do well with antibiotics. That could be due to the fact that they typically don't show how ill they are until they've already gone too far. What often happens then is the medication does more harm than good.

The biggest and most important clinical sign of a guinea pig's health is the appetite. When they do not feel well they stop eating or drinking. With that in mind I truly feel you don't have a sick pig. A little bit of white runny stuff doesn't mean there's anything that's wrong.

You might try changing his bedding to see if he's reacting to that. If he's in the house with the heater on and it's very warm, which is much the case in the midwest this time of year, he may be reacting to that. When the heater is on the humidity drops and causes issues with humans as well.

Guinea pigs do best in colder areas. If that's not an option and assuming he's in the house you might just try relocating his cage where he's not near a heater vent. But the bottom line is I truly don't think you have anything to worry about, especially since it's gone on this long and he's shown no sign of illness.

I hope that puts you mind at ease a bit.