My guinea pig isnt acting Right

Question
I have a what I think to be a male guinea pig that my mom purchased for my 5 year old son about 3 1/2 weeks ago. About 6 hours ago I went into his room to get his(sons) clothes out and noticed that Bear (guinea pig) wasn't moving around like he usually does when I come in. He usually makes crazy noise hops around and usually bedding flies. He was breathing kind of heavy and just staying in one place with his nose in the corner. I am not sure what is wrong with him and I tried to call one of the after hours vets and they want my info and a credit card to talk to me. Do you happen to know what might be wrong with him.

Answer
Hi Sunne,

Bear's usual behaviour sounds both normal and very good; the jumping around and excited noises are called popcorning, and a guinea pig does this when he's happy, so that's good news!

Heavy breathing is of course, not a good sign. If you've changed Bear's bedding recently it could be an allergy; in which case, switch back to the old kind. I don't know where you are, but in the UK we have a special bedding called Megazorb that is good for piggies with allergies. Otherwise newspaper, covered by white paper, with a thick layer of dust-extracted wood shavings is what most owners use.

Get Bear out of his cage and have a good examine; does he seem to have anything stuck in his nose or throat? If so, this could be causing the problem, and removing it should fix the problem.

Otherwise, I think he needs a trip to the vet. Make him an appointment at a specialist small animal or exotic pet vet and they should be more helpful and charge less than a general vet.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Jenny.