Stubborn respiratory issues PLEASE HELP

[ershuker]

Hello,
I have two male 3 year old guinea pigs (based in Essex, England). One of my boys (Colin) has been struggling with a chronic respiratory condition for quite a long time and it just isn’t getting any better, he’s losing weight and I’m concerned that he won’t make it if we don’t get to the bottom of what’s causing this. Please if anyone has any advice I’m willing to try anything!

A brief timeline of events:
- Bought as babies in Feb 2022 (both healthy, Colin was on the smaller side). Both indoor guinea pigs, have never lived outside
- No issues until Jan 23 - Colin started making a hooting type noise, intermittent, maybe occurred once a week
- Took to my local vet in March 23, both pigs treated with co-trimoxazole - didn’t make much difference
- The noise continued intermittently (really quiet and hardly noticeable) but I didn’t take any notice until August 24 where it was everyday, much louder and I could see Colin was struggling
- Took back to the vet and given steroid+saline nebuliser and another course of co-trimoxazole and bisolvan ?inflammatory respiratory disease
- Continued to get worse so I sought opinion from an exotic vet: had blood tests, white cells normal, high basophils, nothing else abnormal. Had x rays: ?element of tracheal collapse but the vet doesn’t think it’s the full story. Had deep nasal swab which grew staph aureus. Given gentamicin nebulisers twice daily for 2 weeks and salbutamol. Seemed to make him worse and very distressed
- Stopped nebulising, now on a two week course of: loxicam (anti-inflammatory 2x daily), doxycycline (oral) 2x daily, corvental (theophylline) 2x daily

It’s not helping :( he is still struggling, has abdominal breathing and nasal flaring and is losing weight. He is still eating and drinking and seems happy (except the respiratory distress!) On auscultation there are no crackles and both vets think it’s upper airway but don’t know the cause. The next step is to be referred to a sub specialist who will suggest a CT scan - however I don’t really see how this will help.

Sorry for the long message! I really hope there’s someone out there who can help!

[Lynx]

I am so sorry Colin is dealing with these problems.

Another avenue is to consider heart issues. Read this page over and see if you are seeing any of the signs:
https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

[Talishan]

Huge ditto to Lynx. This is classic for heart compromise.

See if your vet will agree to research heart compromise in guinea pigs. An X-ray should reveal an enlarged heart if present. Even if not (or if marginal/inconclusive), see if they will consider (or can be talked into) a trial of benazepril to start with, starting at a low dose. The downside is minimal (the literature should show that), and the potential for improvement, in my experience, is enormous.

What you're describing screams heart weakness to me, and the appropriate meds can make the world of difference.

Good luck and very best wishes to Colin and to you.