Post-upper respiratory infection.

Question
Hello,

I have a young adult male guinea pig named Pickles. Recently I brought home a friend for him because I thought he might be lonely. It all went very well until the two of them developed URIs, and the new baby died of pneumonia. Pickles was on Baytril for a week after I took him for the vet, and all his symptoms cleared up (crusty eyes, runny nose, congestion, wheezy breathing). Now, however, I feel very paranoid about his health and every little thing sends me into panic mode.

For example, today he would not eat either lettuce or dandelion greens, although he usually loves both of those (he did eat grass, however). He's picky in general, but usually he is enthusiastic about his hay and he at least nibbles at his pellets--not today. I haven't seen him drink any water, either. He is usually lethargic during the day, so I can't be sure if his lethargy today is indicative of a problem. However, one thing that is not normal for sure is that he occasionally breathes loudly and rapidly for short periods of time, and sometimes he emits little hiccup-cough sounds. At the moment he seems fine. I'm worried, though. Do you think the URI has come back?

Answer
Hello Inness.
I can tell you something about your paranoia about pickles health, I have it too. Of coarse for my own piggys though. Ever since I was 12 years old and my piggy died in 3 days of ovarian cancer and my other girl, Rhinestone, died of the same thing a few monthes later, I have been put into 'panic mode' everytime something goes wrong with one of the other five girls, and that was 13 years ago. It probably will never go away.
As for Pickles, I do think that everything points to another URI. I am sorry for this, but you must take him to the vet ASAP. I hope this helps.

-Nicole