Guinea pig cough...?

[GinFace]

Rescued female piggie. Around a year old. Living very happily in our kitchen with slighter old piggie husband, bedded on safebed and hay. Fed lots of nice stuff - lettuce, cabbage, carrot, pepper, cucumber, Etc etc. Fresh (good quality) hay every day. Science Selective dry food.

Every now and again she does what I can only describe as a sneeze / cough hybrid. Quite loud and only when she's eating veg. Have heard it three times today. Otherwise she's absolutely fine. Eats like a pig (pun intended), drinks well, loves cuddles, runs around and generally a happy little soul.

I'm concerned as I know piggies are prone to respiratory issues. Do I need to worry about this?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Best thing is to lift her up to your shoulder and listen to her breathing.
Is she raspy or laboured?
Is she starey coated or sitting tucked up?
Are her eyes and nostrils clear, not sunk or weepy.

Most likely if she's healthy and eating she's got dust from the hay irritating her (the end of a bag can be a bit powdery)

My piggie sneezed three times yesterday ( I took it as a slight on my dusting skills)

They are vunerable to respiratory infections as you say, make sure their room temperature doesn't go high/low or low/high

And if you give them fleeces , be careful with detergents , pigs are sensitive.

One of our boars used to get a nasal drip with fresh grass (he was checked by Rodentologist) whether it was cut for him or he was grazing.

His brother sneezed at Readigrass , all my others have been fine.

When I was a child we had a pig who sneezed if we tapped the bridge of her nose ( I have no idea how we found this out though)

[GinFace]

Hello 70 , thank you so much for your response. Brilliant as always.

She is breathing fine, not raspy, very glowing. Demolishing some lettuce as we speak.

They have fleece in their bed in which they sit on the sofa, but it's non bio and TBH washed in frequently. Normal cage is safe bed and hay. Have just opened a new bag so may be powder?

Agains, thanks so much. Will keep a close eye (not hard when they're living in the kitchen!) and take her to a vet if it gets worse.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Anything like sprays or air fresheners been used?
Cleaning products in the kitchen?