Baxter's med thread
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- You can quote me
Phew.
"Or is lotinsen what treats the cause more and lasix treats a symptom?"
Exactly.
Ditto Bugs Mom -- but, especially if you are going to be seeing someone you haven't seen before, if it were me I wouldn't push too hard this first time. If you take Bugs Mom's approach and you see the hair going up on the back of the guy's head, drop back to starting with Lasix initially ... and then plan how you'll work on getting what you really need.
It's "okay" if Lasix is the "only" med ... for a little while. Lasix treats fluid in the lungs and around the heart, and does so very, very well. But why is the fluid there in the first place? Because the heart is not working quite as well as it should. So Lasix will not be the only med the animal should use permanently ... unless the vet just wants to use a permanent "bandaid". Unfortunately, that's exactly what a lot of vets will do. (And ironically, Lasix is somewhat harsher on their systems than benazepril is.)
Benazepril will treat the underlying cause. There is really no standard trial length. Some pigs can take up to a month to show improvement, so I'd use it for 30 days before deciding the pig will receive no benefit from it. However, our heart pigs have responded within days, one within *hours* of her first dose.
You may want to print out the "Request for heart pig stories" thread as well. If the Lasix helps him, the vet may very well say, "see, it helped him, he's okay now." Then you can say "but why does he need it in the first place?" and push for a trial of a relatively benign med.
With any luck at all, Bugs Mom's approach will work from the start.
"Or is lotinsen what treats the cause more and lasix treats a symptom?"
Exactly.
Ditto Bugs Mom -- but, especially if you are going to be seeing someone you haven't seen before, if it were me I wouldn't push too hard this first time. If you take Bugs Mom's approach and you see the hair going up on the back of the guy's head, drop back to starting with Lasix initially ... and then plan how you'll work on getting what you really need.
It's "okay" if Lasix is the "only" med ... for a little while. Lasix treats fluid in the lungs and around the heart, and does so very, very well. But why is the fluid there in the first place? Because the heart is not working quite as well as it should. So Lasix will not be the only med the animal should use permanently ... unless the vet just wants to use a permanent "bandaid". Unfortunately, that's exactly what a lot of vets will do. (And ironically, Lasix is somewhat harsher on their systems than benazepril is.)
Benazepril will treat the underlying cause. There is really no standard trial length. Some pigs can take up to a month to show improvement, so I'd use it for 30 days before deciding the pig will receive no benefit from it. However, our heart pigs have responded within days, one within *hours* of her first dose.
You may want to print out the "Request for heart pig stories" thread as well. If the Lasix helps him, the vet may very well say, "see, it helped him, he's okay now." Then you can say "but why does he need it in the first place?" and push for a trial of a relatively benign med.
With any luck at all, Bugs Mom's approach will work from the start.
Ok, thank you again. This is very helpful. I know SEAVS is respected around here and Stahl and Crum are both on the recommended vets list, so there's that! Hopefully it won't be too hard to get what Baxter needs. Since they understand guinea pigs, my hope is that they know better than to just shoot for a permanent bandaid... but if they do, at least now I'm armed with the information I need!
I will print that thread too, thank you for reminding me!
I will print that thread too, thank you for reminding me!
Well, he's going in tomorrow at noon. He seemed ok this morning. I couldn't get him in with Dr. Stahl or Dr. Crum unless I was willing to leave him there all day, so I have an appointment with their new intern. He's already a veterinarian, but he's pursuing his internship in exotic animal medicine at SEAVS. He worked with exotic animals at a veterinary assistant before vet school. So we'll see. I figure as long as the other vets I trust are available for consult we'll be ok! Since he isn't performing surgery or anything. Makes me nervous but I need to cool it with the anxiety.
Yep, hopefully!
Baxter is down in weight by almost an ounce today, but he is still very much interested in food so right now I'm not going to worry too much since he already has an appointment for tomorrow. I'm going to weigh him twice tomorrow to get an idea of how much he is fluctuating.
Baxter is down in weight by almost an ounce today, but he is still very much interested in food so right now I'm not going to worry too much since he already has an appointment for tomorrow. I'm going to weigh him twice tomorrow to get an idea of how much he is fluctuating.
Well, his heart looks normal! We also did bloodwork and I'll have the first half of the results today (though the vet hasn't called yet), and the other half in 3-4 days.
They said his lungs look a bit more opaque (I think) than normal but that he thinks it's the xray, not Baxter. His heart and lungs both sound fine.
Since Baxter hasn't hooted in a couple of days, is still interested in food, is maintaining his weight, and isn't going downhill in any way that I can see, we're basically in an alert mode to see how things go over the next couple of days. I am going to continue weighing him daily.
They said his lungs look a bit more opaque (I think) than normal but that he thinks it's the xray, not Baxter. His heart and lungs both sound fine.
Since Baxter hasn't hooted in a couple of days, is still interested in food, is maintaining his weight, and isn't going downhill in any way that I can see, we're basically in an alert mode to see how things go over the next couple of days. I am going to continue weighing him daily.