guinea pig coughing

[babybop6379]

hiya i know i have posted about this before but we have since took our 17 week old guinea pig to the vet regarding him keep coughing when he drinks and his squeek sounds funny. The vet gave him a thorough check over and there are no other symptoms relating to anything, he said he could have a cleft pallate and that he couldnt get the torch down to see whats going on the only way he would be able to see whats happening is by putting him out and having a look I am rather reluctant to do this as they are rodents and they find it hard to come round and get back to eating after the op. The vet is also reluctant to do this as he is so young. He said I should wait to see if he gets better as he gets older see if he grows out of it. Does anyone have any info regarding cleft pallate or any other problem in thier guinea pigs to shed some light on it for us we would be very greatful. P.s I have changed water bottles countless amount of times and the height at which they are drinking from and i have variated certain things to see if they were the cause but didnt make any difference.. Cheers for any answers xxxx

[dalebillster]

Hi, im 5 years late seeing this post lmao, but just in case its of some use, i have 3 guinea pigs and have exactly the same issue. the coughing noise is incredibly worrying. Only thing i can think of is the water must be going down the wrong hole when they are drinking. Try replacing the water bottles with drinking bowls. They should convert quick enough.