Request for ARTHRITIS treatment protocols

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ph08fhf

Post   » Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:13 am


1 - breed, age and sex of pig

Lucy, an english smooth, 6 year old female pig.

2 - brief description of signs leading you to suspect arthritis

Sitting in a hunched position, puffed out coat, not moving as much, weight loss.

3 - diagnostics done and the results

I was concerned that it was something to do with her tumours (see below). The vet manipulated her hind legs and massaged the lumbar spine and found she was in a lot of pain. They took blood for a separate purpose (to check electrolyte levels because she is on hydrochlorothiaside for calcium in the bladder) and found the levels to be within normal levels.

4 - treatment, med and dosage

Metacam dosage was increased from 0.3 x1 a day, to 0.6 x1 a day.
PT was recommended on the hind legs and lumbar spine

5 - results of treatment

I've noticed a different in Lucy; she is 'lying down' (relaxing) more, spends less time hunched and puffed and seems brighter.

6 - other med issues

Lucy has a number of masses (a tumour on the liver, a tumour on the spleen and a mass on the ovaries).
She has some alopecia after a bout of mites in the household.
She has had recurrent bouts of UTI
She has problems with calcium deposits in the urine.

jayjay_luv101

Post   » Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:59 pm


Storm is a year old American Short hair and she is female. Last month I noticed she was hopping and not using her back legs. She was also hiding a lot a laying down more often. We took her to the emergency vet because we were getting worried and it was worsening. The vet did x rays and blood work. We found out she has degenerative bone disease and it affects her knees and ankles in the back legs. It causes arthritis in her legs. We got a second opinion because the first vet made it seem like I would have to put her down soon. The second vet was amazing and gave us a bunch of different treatment options. Currently Storm is on Metacam twice a day .2 in the morning and .2 at night. We're gradually reducing the amount to find a middle ground with her. She also takes a vitamin/mineral supplement like Sherwood's joint and immune support tabs or like Oxbows. It has the same vitamins and mineral as the tabs but in liquid form. She gets .35 of that once a day. Plus we do physical therapy on her feet. Which is just holding her and moving the feet up and down to stretch them. So far she is doing amazing and is moving around more in the cage, eating more and is overall more active. She has a new cage mate who keeps her going.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:45 am


Glad to hear she is doing well. If you could provide the exact name of the liquid vitamin and mineral supplement, that would be great.

cattherabbit

Post   » Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:18 am


1 - breed, age and sex of pig

Wilbur, MN 5+ (adopted as an adult June 2014) American GP

2 - brief description of signs leading you to suspect arthritis

Weight loss, increased respiratory rate/effort, fluffed coat; usually flops on his side to sleep, but started sleeping hunched up sternal

3 - diagnostics done and the results

Initially worried about a recurring URI/heart issue (see his thread). Rads showed busy lungs +/- pulmonary nodule (most likely his soft tissue mass on his shoulder), degenerative disease of his left knee, bloat starting. Lungs clear on auscultation, no murmur. Bloodwork unremarkable.

4 - treatment, med and dosage

Metacam 1.5 mg/mL, 0.13 mL every 24 hours, cisapride 1 mg/mL, 0.5 mL every 12 hours (just dropped to 0.4 mL every 12 hours last week), Oxbow Joint tabs

5 - results of treatment

Gained 50 grams; ideally, I'd like him up 50-100 grams more. More active- less using his Pigloo as a "turtle shell", talking more

6 - other med issues

URI in October 2017- rechecking X-rays and doing an abbreviated chest ultrasound this week to see if lung changes still present
Pea sized mass on right shoulder, subcutaneous soft tissue mass on sternum
Mites prior to adoption

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:31 am


You referenced Wilbur's medical topic. It appears to be this one, so I'll add it here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... =2&t=74997

Good to know he is improving.

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