The guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), a hystricomorphic mammal raised by the inhabitants of southern Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia, is a food of high nutritional, cultural and spiritual value in the Andean countries. Considering that there is no information on the characterization of respiratory pathologies in the guinea pig destined for human consumption in Colombia, the objective of the study was to characterize lesions and pneumonic patterns in the respiratory system. A cross-sectional observational study was carried out in guinea pigs (n = 270) of three weeks of age from 71 guinea pig farms distributed in 14 villages of the municipality of Pasto. In the animals included in the study, lesions in the nasal cavity and respiratory tract were evidenced in a percentage of less than 5%. In the pulmonary functional parenchyma, lesions were observed in 73.3% of the animals. Lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia was the most common finding − 36.6% (n = 99), followed by lymphohistiocytic interstitial pneumonia − 21.4% (n = 58) and multifocal granulomatous pneumonia − 3.7% (n = 10). Animals with concurrence of two morphological patterns of lesion in the same tissue were identified. No bronchointerstitial pneumonic patterns were found. It is concluded that respiratory alterations have a high occurrence (more than 70%) in the guinea pig population in the municipality of Pasto, Colombia. It is evident that most of the pneumonic patterns have a systemic entrance, which highlights the need to carry out new studies to have a more detailed understanding of the etiologies causing pneumonia in guinea pigs.
