I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to absolutly everyone who posts info and comes here for their questions and answers. It really does pay off to ask dumb questions. Last year I started coming here for general info, moved onto problems with abscesses after a neuter, mites, lice, pregnancy, and now just this week, I have used people's experiences to save my piggie Butters.
Butters has developed a heart condition and with the help of everyone's posts on Lasix and Enacard, and symptoms, etc. He is now getting the proper meds and my vet's full attention. There was no "whoo-hooing" but only a recent battle with a recurring URI and labored breathing. I read posts from "Pinta...heart problem question" from the medical forum. I printed the whole thing off and took notes and brought it all with me to the vets. I knew exactly what was going on and all the vocabulary he was using. Made me sound like I was smart. LOL!!! Luckily, even before the visit I still had some lasix left over from Butter's last URI and started him on it right away. I knew enough to know that even a couple days could have made the difference if it was his heart. Vet couldn't hear a murmur, and no gurgles of fluid in the lungs but the x-ray showed that Butters had fluid around the lungs and his windpipe was being pushed up towards his spine and very narrow. He could only assume it was an enlarged heart coupled with the extra fluid. Butters is now on Lasix and Enacard in pill form (it's the easiest thing) and is hopping all over his cage checking on all his 5 girlfriends.
So THANK YOU, KarasKavies, melcvt00, Lynx, pinta, Josephine, and Cara. I'll let everyone know how he's doing over the next 2 weeks and then after he goes back for his checkup then.
Thanks!!
Guinea Lynx saves GP's lives....countless times
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
So happy to hear your pig has benefited from others advice and experience!
I notice the heart information is all spread out. If you feel like it, you would be welcome to put together what you found out from reading here and your personal experiences with your pig (including dosages, etc.) for the reference forum. If you want to, let me know and I'll set it up so you can post there.
I notice the heart information is all spread out. If you feel like it, you would be welcome to put together what you found out from reading here and your personal experiences with your pig (including dosages, etc.) for the reference forum. If you want to, let me know and I'll set it up so you can post there.
Awwwwww you have a pig named Butters. That's so cute! I'm glad he's doing well.
OMG squeaker13, your avatar looks like Fiver!
Ok, he doesn't quite look Fiver-ish in that pic, in fact, he looks terrified..
But Chary, doesnt that piggie look like Fivie?
Ok, he doesn't quite look Fiver-ish in that pic, in fact, he looks terrified..
But Chary, doesnt that piggie look like Fivie?
That avatar is good ol' Butters himself. He was such a bastard when we brought him home. He didn't trust anyone, chattered his teeth and bit me all the time. Now, after he's been fixed and given 5 girls to play with he's a lot nicer. I was just checking on him, and he's inhaling food. I know the meds don't make that drastic of a change immediately but he just looks relaxed and very happy.
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KarasKavies
- For the love of my girls!
squeaker13... I am SO glad all of the information from Tubbit helped you and Butters! Yes, the meds CAN act that quickly! I'm sure Butters feels much better. Tubbit responded very quickly. You'd never know anything was wrong with her. Again, I am so happy that another pig benefitted form all the knowledge on this board.
Lynx, that thread is actually pretty darn comprehensive as far as heart issues go. Is there a way to put the thread in the reference forum? Or maybe a link to it? I can't think of much that is not covered there as far as heart goes.
Lynx, that thread is actually pretty darn comprehensive as far as heart issues go. Is there a way to put the thread in the reference forum? Or maybe a link to it? I can't think of much that is not covered there as far as heart goes.
I agree, that thread was all I needed. although to make it easier at the vet's office I had to take notes from it and condense it to the nitty gritty details so I didn't have 14 pages to go through. I can email the sheet I made up, maybe that would help.
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
I would be thrilled if one of you would extract the meat of it and put it in chronological order, perhaps listing symptoms and treatment first with your individual story in the main body.
I don't want to put a dauntingly long thread in the reference forum -- people have a hard time wading through it. A condensed version with a link would be great though.
I don't want to put a dauntingly long thread in the reference forum -- people have a hard time wading through it. A condensed version with a link would be great though.
Here's the nitty gritty of what I picked up from the thread. If you have any suggestions, let's add to it. More info the better.
Symptoms
Recent/Frequent diagonosis of URI
Lungs sound OK, but breathing hard
Noisy breathing (fluid in lungs)
Droopy lids (pea eye)
Pododermatitis (swollen limbs)
Enlarged heart on x-ray
Difficulty moving around
Weight loss
Murmur
Lips turn blue if turned on backside
Rule out Tumors, use EKG???, Bloodwork, BP measure?
Treatments Treat aggressively Pigs with weak hearts are prone to more infections due to a stressed immune system.
Lasix (Furosemide) 2-5 mg/kg orally every 12 hours
Can slowly up dose by going 2x day, takes a week to see how it is working, and work back to a min. maint. Dose
Solution 10 mg/ml, 0.06cc every 12 hrs Large doses of Lasix may need a hydration subcue treatment
Is this hard on kidneys?
Use of Enacard at same time of Lasix requires an immediate reduction of 25-50% of dosage, blood pressure may become too low
Enacard (enalapril) affects a few other hormones and enzymes of blood vessels
ACE inhibitors Enacard/Fortekor Angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (stop an enzyme from converting to a potent blood vessel constrictor). Relaxes blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, generally relieves signs of heart failure.
load reducing
Fortekor Canadian version Latest generation of ACE inhibitors, earlier ones were associated with kidney failure, but Fortekor does not seem to do this, however, this drug has not been studied in guinea pigs.
Enacard 1/8 - 1/4 mg SID-EOD (Every 24-48 hrs)
Using Enacard you can keep the dosage of Lasix lower
Yearly blood panels? Cardiac enzymes, cancer markers
One person's medication perscription
Enalapril 20mg+Oraplus 7.5 mls+Orasweet 0.5mls ( 2.5 mg/ml)
Give 0.1 ml orally once to twice daily for heart 1200gram GP
Butters (1250 gram pig) is on a 1/4 pill of enalpril every other day + 1/2 pill (12.5mg tablet) of Lasix everyday for 2 weeks, then he is getting a check up.
Symptoms
Recent/Frequent diagonosis of URI
Lungs sound OK, but breathing hard
Noisy breathing (fluid in lungs)
Droopy lids (pea eye)
Pododermatitis (swollen limbs)
Enlarged heart on x-ray
Difficulty moving around
Weight loss
Murmur
Lips turn blue if turned on backside
Rule out Tumors, use EKG???, Bloodwork, BP measure?
Treatments Treat aggressively Pigs with weak hearts are prone to more infections due to a stressed immune system.
Lasix (Furosemide) 2-5 mg/kg orally every 12 hours
Can slowly up dose by going 2x day, takes a week to see how it is working, and work back to a min. maint. Dose
Solution 10 mg/ml, 0.06cc every 12 hrs Large doses of Lasix may need a hydration subcue treatment
Is this hard on kidneys?
Use of Enacard at same time of Lasix requires an immediate reduction of 25-50% of dosage, blood pressure may become too low
Enacard (enalapril) affects a few other hormones and enzymes of blood vessels
ACE inhibitors Enacard/Fortekor Angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (stop an enzyme from converting to a potent blood vessel constrictor). Relaxes blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, generally relieves signs of heart failure.
load reducing
Fortekor Canadian version Latest generation of ACE inhibitors, earlier ones were associated with kidney failure, but Fortekor does not seem to do this, however, this drug has not been studied in guinea pigs.
Enacard 1/8 - 1/4 mg SID-EOD (Every 24-48 hrs)
Using Enacard you can keep the dosage of Lasix lower
Yearly blood panels? Cardiac enzymes, cancer markers
One person's medication perscription
Enalapril 20mg+Oraplus 7.5 mls+Orasweet 0.5mls ( 2.5 mg/ml)
Give 0.1 ml orally once to twice daily for heart 1200gram GP
Butters (1250 gram pig) is on a 1/4 pill of enalpril every other day + 1/2 pill (12.5mg tablet) of Lasix everyday for 2 weeks, then he is getting a check up.
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Thanks for putting down these notes. Which symptoms did your pig display and when? Did your vet do an xray to determine fluid around organs? Add a bit more about your personal experience and diagnosis (I see you wrote down treatments). Then I can reorganize it slightly. Hopefully we will get some more feedback from Kara and Cara.
Add labored breathing as a sign. That was Zipper's only symptom. (I see that you have lungs sound ok but breathing hard. I'd just switch it for blockheads like me!)
Also Zipper didn't have trouble moving around but she was inactive, she was choosing to either move or breath.
I wouldn't say droopy lids, I would just put pea eye. But something to the effect that because the pig has pea eye doesn't mean it's heart disease. Sherman has serious pea eye and his ticker is fine.
We started at a high dose of Lasix to be aggressive and then worked down to a maintaince dose. I would take out the slowly up the dose by 2x a day. That doesn't make sense to me. Start with a high dose, especially if it's serious and then back down. Lasix is hard on the kidneys, do a bloodpanel every 6 months to check kidney function.
"Use of Enacard at same time of Lasix requires an immediate reduction of 25-50% of dosage, blood pressure may become too low." Please explain this statement. I know that Enalapril can lower blood pressure but myvet never said anything about 25-50% reduction of the dosage while on Lasix.
It must be stated that each guinea pig is different and the severity of their heart disease is different. Zipper's current medication dosages are 0.1 cc's enalapril twice daily and 0.15 of lasix twice daily. I've recently started giving the enalapril twice daily and this week I've even been giving her an extra 0.05 of enalapril b/c she's have a harder time breathing right now. This happens every so often. I don't up the lasix though as that removes fluid from her lungs. Upping the enalapril helps greatly. Zipper wouldn't make it if her enelapril was every other day.
It looks good, sqeauker13.
Also Zipper didn't have trouble moving around but she was inactive, she was choosing to either move or breath.
I wouldn't say droopy lids, I would just put pea eye. But something to the effect that because the pig has pea eye doesn't mean it's heart disease. Sherman has serious pea eye and his ticker is fine.
We started at a high dose of Lasix to be aggressive and then worked down to a maintaince dose. I would take out the slowly up the dose by 2x a day. That doesn't make sense to me. Start with a high dose, especially if it's serious and then back down. Lasix is hard on the kidneys, do a bloodpanel every 6 months to check kidney function.
"Use of Enacard at same time of Lasix requires an immediate reduction of 25-50% of dosage, blood pressure may become too low." Please explain this statement. I know that Enalapril can lower blood pressure but myvet never said anything about 25-50% reduction of the dosage while on Lasix.
It must be stated that each guinea pig is different and the severity of their heart disease is different. Zipper's current medication dosages are 0.1 cc's enalapril twice daily and 0.15 of lasix twice daily. I've recently started giving the enalapril twice daily and this week I've even been giving her an extra 0.05 of enalapril b/c she's have a harder time breathing right now. This happens every so often. I don't up the lasix though as that removes fluid from her lungs. Upping the enalapril helps greatly. Zipper wouldn't make it if her enelapril was every other day.
It looks good, sqeauker13.
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