Guinea Pig is coughing

Question
My daughter's guinea pig began coughing today or during the night.  I am new to caring for a guinea pig.  Please, tell me: Why might she be coughing? What do I watch for to know it is an acute situation that is serious and needs medical intervention? How can I support her to heal? and What should I know to promote health and healing?  I would like to know how to prevent this in the future, Thank you for your time.

Answer
Sometimes a guinea pig will make a sound that sounds very much like a cough, but is actually like a reverse sneeze as dogs will do. They sound almost like their gagging, but it's a benign noise that is not dangerous.  I have 65 pigs and hear this all the time. The ones to worry about are those who are making no noise, but are suddenly listless.

Guinea pigs cannot vomit and don't typically get a true cough when they are ill. A respiratory infection manifests itself by wheezing and not a cough. You may see a runny nose and some drainage from the eyes. They generally don't show much sign of illness until it's too late. Being prey animals nature has hard wired them to hold back any evidence of weakness or illness until they cannot go anymore.

It's difficult to an untrained ear to hear the difference by holding the pig up to your ear. Most of them make what appears to be a wheezing sound when listened to that way. But that's a normal thing. When they have a respiratory infection you can see visible signs of labored breathing.

The biggest and best indicator of a pig's health is their appetite. When a pig is not feeling well the first thing they do is stop eating. If she's eating and drinking, not losing weight or flesh (feeling bony across the back) this noise you're hearing may not be anything to worry about at all.

You don't say how old she is or how long you've had her. Being new to guinea pigs tends to make us a little jumpy with every little thing. That's perfectly normal. As far as preventing it in the future, there may be nothing you can do, especially if this is just part of their behavior. If you are still worried that there may be something wrong the best thing to do is take her to your vet for a quick check.

There is a website built by what used to be described as the "guru of guinea pigs" Peter Gurney. He began writing books about his herd that he had for many years. He wrote in layman's terms and language and gave information to so many people that walked them through the life and issues of cavies.

Just google PeterGurney.com and you should be able to open it right up.  Being from the UK his descriptions and terms are sometimes different from ours in the US, but the language is still very clear to understand.

I hope this helps you a bit.