Advice needed for my girls

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pigsforlife3

Post   » Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:00 pm


Yeah I read that the 120mg ones are ok. What I was trying to say/ask was I will need to go and get another packet (probably the one for kittens) as the one I have for the dogs is to be given for dogs where their weight is between 5-10kgs. Does this not matter?

Sorry for all of the questions, and thankyou for your help.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:07 pm


If you check the link I gave you you'll see that you can use either. You just need to give the right dose in mg. I think, though, it will be easier to measure the kitten one than the dog one!

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pigsforlife3

Post   » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:22 pm


The girls have been fine up until today. As I walked into the games room where their cage is I noticed that Buttercup was wheezing. It was quite hot (28 degrees celcius) as I had been out and did not have the air conditioner on. As far as I can tell it has settled down somewhat now. Any Ideas?

I have also noticed what looks like 2 poops joined together in a line sort of thing. Is this anything to worry about?

Is a vet visit in order?

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:31 am


This is the girl with the history of URIs, right?

Sounds like she needs a vet visit asap and probably some antibiotics.

And - as always - see if you can get your vet to check for heart problems with an xray of the heart and lungs. Or better still a trial of human lotensin.

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pigsforlife3

Post   » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:43 am


Yup this is Buttercup - the one that has been the sickest since I got her. The wheezing has stopped now (although was horribly horribly loud earlier on), so I was wondering if it had something to do with the heat? Or perhaps she does have fluid around her lungs, and as she had spent all night and most of the morning lieing around the fluid built up? Regardless, she will be at the vets at the first available appointment.

Katt suggested something (cant remember it now) but it is the equavalent of ventolin. Do you know the name? I will ask the vet about that and also I will strongly urge her to take a x-ray.

If this does turn out to be an URI, it will be the third one she has had since I got her in May. This leads me to believe that she does have a heart problem, or something more serious.

I will weigh them tonight and see if she has lost weight, but otherwise all 4 girls have appeared normal.

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:08 am


Heat really affected my heart pig. At about 23C she'd start wheezing and drooling. I've never had any pigs start to complain (or look droopy) until temperature it was a lot warmer than that.

I second Mum - get her on some heart meds.

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pigsforlife3

Post   » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:43 pm


Your opinions are all very much appreciated. Do you think that it is possible that as she had been lieing down so much the fluid built up in her lungs thus the wheezing? Apart from yesterday I have only ever heard her wheezing once or twice (when she was otherwise healthy), yesterdays episode scared me as it was so darn loud.

I have called the vet and said that I need to get an appointment asap and that I thought a trial of heart meds were necessary after explaining her condition. I couldnt actually talk to the vet, although the receptionist realised that it was serious and is going to call me back.

I want you to know that I am trying my best and will always do my best. I hold my girls close to my heart and it would be awful if I were to loose them. The fact that Buttercup may be a heart pig is so scary, and I feel so awful as I know that we do not have the best of vets here (and it seems that the exotic vet is all about money). Anyway, enough of me rambling. I will keep you all updated. Your thoughts and opinions are needed and welcomed.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:25 pm


Do you think that it is possible that as she had been lieing down so much the fluid built up in her lungs thus the wheezing?
Yes, that's what happens with heart pigs.

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:07 am


Good thoughts for Buttercup. She is a very lovely girl.

"Katt suggested something (cant remember it now) but it is the equavalent of ventolin"

Could she have been referring to Pimobendan (Vetmedin)?

Webs posted a great cross-reference of US/UK heart medicines, with trade names:
https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... 70#1108670

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pigsforlife3

Post   » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:44 am


No, it started with a B. I will pm her and ask her about it.

I still havent heard from the vet, I am about to try again. The more I think about the more I become convinced it is heart problems. Her symptoms so far
- 2 URIs
- Wheezing
- Quite happly will lie on her back (not sure if this is a symptom or not)

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pigsforlife3

Post   » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:04 am


Well that was an interesting experience!

The vet managed to squish us in last – when she should be packing up – so that was nice of her. We actually saw a different vet this time round and she was far better. We both got along better and I didn’t get the impression that it was all about money like I did with the other vet. She also was much more thorough and didn’t hurry as through.

Now during the consultation Buttercup didn’t show any symptoms, so the vet at this point in time really did not want to do anything. We did discuss a couple of different things though.

Firstly we discussed Buttercups tiny nasal passages (far smaller than your average pig), and that possibly things could get up but not out resulting in infections.

She went on to say that one guinea pig – much like Buttercup – had re-occuring respiratory infections and in the end they took a biopsy of the pigs lungs. They traced it back to the owners not washing the pigs veggies. The pig breathed up the small bugs/micro organisms on the unwashed veggies and this resulted in the re-occuring infections. But as I wash their veggies this was ruled out.

As Buttercups nasal passages are so small we agreed that we needed to keep her environment as clean and dust free as possible. So swapping to towels was a great decision even though a bit of a hassle. I only use vinegar with their towels so the possibility of washing powder/detergent causing problems was ruled out.

We also talked about how pigs have small pockets next to their nasal area and that a possibility as to why she was wheezing yesterday was that a piece of cartilage was covering half of this pocket. I didn’t think this was so as it would mean that she would be wheezing all the time and she currently isn’t.

She also said some pigs are prone to infections and that if Buttercup was to get something wrong she may immediately get a respiratory infection. That doesn’t make sense does it? I will use me as an example. I am prone to sinusitis. So if I get a simple cold it will lead into sinusitis. Last week I had the flu, this week I have sinusitis.

I then brought up that one of my fears was heart problems, and that a possibility is that after lying down the fluid builds up in her lungs resulting in the wheezing. She said that this was a possibility but didn’t really want to put her on anything as she wasn’t presenting any classic symptoms and seemed fine in every other aspect at the moment. She said that this was something to monitor and come back to later on if anything came back.

We then talked about what to do next if either the discharge or the wheezing came back. She said in both instances to bring her straight back. If the discharge came back they would do a swab and find out which exact antibiotic to treat it with. If the wheezing came back then we talked about a couple of different treatments. One being a Ventolin of some sort, she explained the different medicines and stuff they can mix together for each certain pig. The other was a vaporiser – again you put something in it (cant remember what she called it). If neither of these worked then she thought the next step would be to look into heart problems.

She gave Buttercup a thorough look over, and felt everywhere, particularly her ovaries (which Buttercup hated). I chatted to her and found out that she would be working more often now and that I could come back to see her instead of the other Dr if I preferred. I said yes.

Afterwards, as I was waiting for the payment to go through Buttercup decided to show her great disgust at the whole vet appointment and being separated from her sisters (at the vets wish) by peeing on me even though she had a mountain of oxbows hay and wet cos lettuce in her carrier (which I left in the car opting to hold her instead). Yes that’s right. She peed on me and my hands still stink of pig urine even after washing them several times.

My Mum was down, and came with me to the vet. She came down as she needed to get some shoes and this was what we had planned to do. So with pig in hand we went into the shoe shop near the vet. She caused quite a stir and everyone wanted to come up and pet her. Lapping up the attention, she ran around in circles in her cuddle cup! It was hilarious!

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:25 am


I'm glad you had such a helpful visit with the vet.

However, a vaporizer won't do a thing for heart problems. I'm so sorry she dismissed them so readily.

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