Respiratory Distress

Question
I have a male guinea pig that is just over a year old.  A couple of months ago he started "wheezing".  It was not bad and I just had just been changing between different beddings, so I went back to the original bedding that he was in before the wheezing started.  The wheezing never stopped and has slowly gotten worse.  He has a very noisy, rattling sound with inhale and exhale and it sounds like it is all nasal.  When you listen to his lungs it is difficult to hear any other sounds as this sound is loud and diffuse.  For the last month it has gotten severe enough that I have been concerned about him.  He has been to the vet three times.  The first vet did a culture of nasal secretions and got nothing abnormal.  The second vet did an xray and diagnosed him with pneumonia.  He has been given antibiotics, steroids and antibiotics again.  He is currently into his third consecutive week of baytril and doxycycline and seems to be getting even worse. In the last twenty four hours he has been doing something with his mouth that is new, like he is licking his lips, and then this morning as I was holding him he appeared to struggle for air and started bobbing his head.  This only lasted for about 5 seconds and then he went back to his noisy, rattling wheezing.  I would appreciate any information that you can give regarding what might be wrong with this guyas this regime is not working.  Thank you.

Answer
This is a tough one. I think first I would stop the antibiotics. If he's getting worse it's obvious they're not helping and may lead to a secondary infection. Steroids are intended for short term use in animals and usually in humans except for certain chronic illnesses.

If he hadn't been examined by the vet I would wonder if he has some sort of deviated septum as humans can get that causes it to be difficult to breath from the nose. I once had a young pig brought to me by a little girl and her mom with something coming out of her nose. At first glance it appeared to be a piece of hay or ? When I attempted to pull it with a pair of tweezers I found it was rock hard. Definitely not hay.

They took the pig to the vet and it turned out to be a TOOTH. For whatever reason one of the top teeth had turned inward and grew out the nasal cavity. The vet took the pig to surgery and pulled the tooth. It never returned to it's oddball growth, and she did get a proper replacement that grew where it should have been in the first place.

Presumably your vet looked up the nose to be sure there is no obstruction. The head bobbing you described was different than the normal head bucking response they do when you stroke the top of the head? It honestly sounds to me like it's more nasal than lungs. My first reaction is allergies. I'm wondering if that's what the lip licking behavior is about. Dogs get allergies and lick their feet. People get runny/itchy eyes and noses. Cavies?  I don't know.

I can tell you of my 68 pigs any one of them will sound wheezy if you put their chest to your ear. That's just a normal sound from a guinea pig. But an xray should have been diagnostic for pneumonia, or was it?

Steroids should have lessened the wheezing if it were allergies but you said it did not. Are you able to try some kind of shredded paper bedding rather than shavings? I know you already tried changing bedding and this is just a shot in the dark. You Does anyone in the household smoke? That could present a problem as well. Try relocating the cage on the chance that he's reacting to something environmental. Make sure whatever space he's in has good ventitation but without a draft.

Other than stopping ALL the medication I can't come up with anything better. The continual use of antibiotics may do nothing more than lower his immunity, and as you said he's getting worse not better. I wish I had something more to offer but this one is a brain stumper for me too.