Timothy is a 9 month old american short hair. He has always been active and alert, but has generally failed to thrive. His maximum weight was 710g. A week ago he dropped to 610g, I began aggressively handfeeding, giving SQ fluids and took him to the vet.
Nothing remarkable was found on his physical exam except that his mucous membranes were a bit pale. The x-rays showed nothing abnormal except some gas in the intestines.
Blood collection did not go well, we were only able to collect enough blood to run a few tests. Timothy's blood pressure seemed to be quite low, his veins collapsed easily. We couldn't even collect blood from a nail that was cut too short. His BUN was normal, ALT was over 3x the normal limit (163, upper normal is 50). The lab was not able to interpret the smear we sent them, so we have no idea what his cbc is like.
His u/s showed a small liver relative to the comparison pig, but nothing else abnormal. His cardiac u/s was normal.
We checked his teeth thoroughly under anesthesia and everything look normal. No spurs, misalignments or overgrown teeth. He chews normally, has no drooling, and does not drop food.
I have been able to maintain him at 600-610 g with CC and fluids, but I have no idea what my next step should be. I would like to collect more blood, but I don't know if it's possible to collect enough for a full panel. I had the best tech and the best doctors trying to pull blood.
Any ideas would be appreciated. The only idea I have is to attempt to get more blood and maybe get a cysto urine sample. I feel like I must be missing something major, but I have no idea what.
Timothy - weight loss
"ALT was over 3x the normal limit (163, upper normal is 50). "
That is one value that can go up a good deal with stress, but still that seems really high.
If you believe in herbal treatments, burdock tincture, and milk thistle, as well as dandelion roots and leaves are all helpful for liver function.
But I agree with Mum, it sounds like he may be a heart pig. A heart not functioning well is going to eventually compromise the other major systems, like liver and kidney, etc.
I'd rule that heart issue out, as well as do the herbal treatments right away, if this were my pig.
That is one value that can go up a good deal with stress, but still that seems really high.
If you believe in herbal treatments, burdock tincture, and milk thistle, as well as dandelion roots and leaves are all helpful for liver function.
But I agree with Mum, it sounds like he may be a heart pig. A heart not functioning well is going to eventually compromise the other major systems, like liver and kidney, etc.
I'd rule that heart issue out, as well as do the herbal treatments right away, if this were my pig.
We have an x-ray of his chest, no fluid and the heart looks like a normal size. Of course, we're basing that on comparison to my known heart pig, and my suspected heart pig. My vet posted the x-rays on VIN and hasn't received much response.
I think I'll push for trying him on heart meds, I don't think it could hurt at this point in time. The ALT values worry me, because Mo (known heart pig) had increased ALT due to heart failure. I worry that the liver values may be off due to anorexia and we still need to look for another cause.
Milk thistle! I was trying to remember what herbal remedy worked for the liver. The only bonus to this is that now I get to go to the cool organic market.
I think I'll push for trying him on heart meds, I don't think it could hurt at this point in time. The ALT values worry me, because Mo (known heart pig) had increased ALT due to heart failure. I worry that the liver values may be off due to anorexia and we still need to look for another cause.
Milk thistle! I was trying to remember what herbal remedy worked for the liver. The only bonus to this is that now I get to go to the cool organic market.
Well, since I never updated this we'll start with a brief recap. For some reason Timothy just turned a corner and began to put on a lot of weight. I had done the force feeding, SQ fluids, and milk thistle for a week when he began to eat voraciously and gain weight. His cardiac ultrasound was completely normal so my vets didn't want to prescribe heart meds, and I didn't push the issue once he was recovering. Once he had improved a little we managed to get bloodwork, and all values were within normal limits.
Now Timothy is a nice solid 1070g with a great coat. He eats like a pig and runs laps around the cage. However, in the past week I've noticed that he has coughed a few times. It has always been when he's eating, especially when it's veggie time. No change in appetite, appearance, poops, or demeanor.
It must be heart, right? I'll be taking him in to the vet and pushing for heart meds, regardless of x-ray and u/s findings. I feel dumb for not having pushed in the first place, but everything resolved and there were no physical findings. If I can't get the vet to cooperate I'll head off to a different one. If I can get over my terror of the highways down here I can drive to Pinta's vet in a somewhat reasonable amount of time.
Now Timothy is a nice solid 1070g with a great coat. He eats like a pig and runs laps around the cage. However, in the past week I've noticed that he has coughed a few times. It has always been when he's eating, especially when it's veggie time. No change in appetite, appearance, poops, or demeanor.
It must be heart, right? I'll be taking him in to the vet and pushing for heart meds, regardless of x-ray and u/s findings. I feel dumb for not having pushed in the first place, but everything resolved and there were no physical findings. If I can't get the vet to cooperate I'll head off to a different one. If I can get over my terror of the highways down here I can drive to Pinta's vet in a somewhat reasonable amount of time.
I really should start updating things more frequently, it would save me searching through my copies of the records.
This is driving me crazy. My access to a car disappeared soon after my last post. I'm stuck with transit at the moment and my vet is the only real option. It's about 45 minutes to get to my vet and he's in the same city as me. I feel that taking Timothy on sardine like transit for over an hour, in the heat, isn't a good option. I'll do it if I have to but I likely literally have to push and shove people to keep his carrier safe, the buses in Vancouver are generally packed beyond capacity.
My new vet has been fantastic with my other animals and I've been impressed with him overall. In November we did another set of x-rays and another cardiac ultrasound. Nothing on either and I had both reviewed by specialists. So, my vet won't prescribe heart meds in a stable pig, with no findings.
The problem is that Timothy has begun coughing more frequently, I'll hear him cough several times weekly. Always while eating, and always accompanied by a glare at me when I dash over to the cage. He's a rather large pig at the moment at 1.3 kg and is definitely active.
My vet is being remarkably stubborn over this as hes never really treated a guinea pig with heart problems, just rabbits. He was more than willing to refill scripts for my other heart pig but that was just following an established protocol. He looked on VIN in November and didn't find anything he found convincing. His attitude was a bit strange when I mentioned consulting with Pinta's vet.
Does anyone have any citations or conference reports on heart problem in guinea pigs? I just know that it is his heart and I want to deal with it before he's showing more symptoms.
This is driving me crazy. My access to a car disappeared soon after my last post. I'm stuck with transit at the moment and my vet is the only real option. It's about 45 minutes to get to my vet and he's in the same city as me. I feel that taking Timothy on sardine like transit for over an hour, in the heat, isn't a good option. I'll do it if I have to but I likely literally have to push and shove people to keep his carrier safe, the buses in Vancouver are generally packed beyond capacity.
My new vet has been fantastic with my other animals and I've been impressed with him overall. In November we did another set of x-rays and another cardiac ultrasound. Nothing on either and I had both reviewed by specialists. So, my vet won't prescribe heart meds in a stable pig, with no findings.
The problem is that Timothy has begun coughing more frequently, I'll hear him cough several times weekly. Always while eating, and always accompanied by a glare at me when I dash over to the cage. He's a rather large pig at the moment at 1.3 kg and is definitely active.
My vet is being remarkably stubborn over this as hes never really treated a guinea pig with heart problems, just rabbits. He was more than willing to refill scripts for my other heart pig but that was just following an established protocol. He looked on VIN in November and didn't find anything he found convincing. His attitude was a bit strange when I mentioned consulting with Pinta's vet.
Does anyone have any citations or conference reports on heart problem in guinea pigs? I just know that it is his heart and I want to deal with it before he's showing more symptoms.
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Mum
- I GAVE, dammit!
I'm sorry you're running into this.
There's a nice write up on heart treatment at the bottom the heart page along with references:
https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html
There's a nice write up on heart treatment at the bottom the heart page along with references:
https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html
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