I guess an URI

Question
I have a guinea pig named Sue and about two weeks ago I bought another guinea pig named Winnie. I only hand Winnie for about a week before she died. I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary she made a weird sound but I thought that it was just her purring or something. Now Sue is making this weird sound and she is coughing (or something) and from reading your articles I guess its an URI and I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow. I want to know if there is anything I can do until then or even what SHOULD i do to keep her alive. I love this pig and I'm so scared I wanted to long to take her to the vet...

Answer
Hello Caorlyn,

It does sound like a URI, and you are right in planning to get her to a vet soon. Until then, make certain she keeps eating. If she stops eating force feed her. Extra vitamin c added to her diet will help and so will acidophilus (a supplement found in the vitamin section of drug stores). Running a vaporizer or taking her into the bathroom with you while you take a hot shower will help clear her nasal passages a bit. Even with treatment things often get worse before better so don't give up on her if she starts to go downhill a bit even after seeing the vet. The most important thing to do for her until her visit is keep her eating. Also, if the weather is cool, make sure she stays warm. Give her extra blankets to snuggle in or even a heating pad under a portion of her cage so she can lay there if she gets too cold. Try to keep things in her world stress free while she's sick to allow for a faster recovery. With patience, hard work, and medication, hopefully she will be her old self again in a couple of weeks. Good luck! You'll both be in my prayers.

-kkat
www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs