Should I worry? Lazy "rag doll" pig

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Bugs Mom

Post   » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:11 pm


It works in conjunction with the Benazapril to keep Lady Bug's heart working efficiently. I started using it because of Pinta's experience. Pinta is the one who can explain it better.

Just a question here-do you mean that Poppy is on .5ml Furosemide not 5. ml per day? 5ml is an awfull lot of diuretic. : )

pinta

Post   » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:19 pm


Josephine can explain it - all I know is it works. I think it is explained in the medical guide

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:52 pm



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poppypiggy

Post   » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:15 pm


Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but I have been away for two days. My daughter and husband took good care of Poppy. She has put on a few grams, and I think she wants to be with the other pigs rather than in her own little enclosure.

Bugs Mom, thank you for your concern! Poppy is on 5 mg, or rather one part of a 20 mg pill split in four, morning and evening. My vet checked and rechecked that the dose was right, but your comment made me a bit nervous, so I just looked it up myself. And I found that Dr. Ridgeway use to dose furosemide at 2 – 5 mg/kg orally every 12 hours https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html#ridgeway so I think 5 mg is within the safe limit, even if it is much. By the way - I have not been able to find a way to compound these medicines, so I just grind the furosemide and Fortekor pills in a little glass, dilute in some water and give that to Poppy.

I asked my vet if she knew anything about pimobendan, and she had, but not for piggies, so she promised to look it up before the check up next week.

Thanks for the references, pinta and tracis. I will read the information carefully, and also print it out for my vet.

pinta

Post   » Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:33 pm


If you can get the pill to the right size it's easier to pill them than to give liquids. You can just shove the pill in from the side to the molars or use a tweezer/hemostat. Clean and easy.

For pills that can't be divided into doses easily we use a suspension agent for mixing. Vetmedin mixes best with water.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:14 pm


One of our members used to compound heart meds in a solution called Orasweet (I think). She would put it in the refrigerator. I think there's a link to the post in this one:

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4444

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Bugs Mom

Post   » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:04 pm


My little one is on Pimobendan and has been for quite awhile. It has definitely helped her heart.

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poppypiggy

Post   » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:21 am


Sorry I'm late with an update again, but Poppy has been doing very well. She is now on 1,25 mg Fortekor twice daily, and per pinta’s advice (thank you!) I split a pill in two, and just pop one part in her mouth in the morning, the other part in the evening, telling her they are treats. Poppy munch them every time; so pleased to get something the others don’t!

She also gets Furosemide pills diluted in water, as I can’t find anything similar to Orasweet here. After the last vet visit we are now gradually decreasing the dose, though. At the moment she gets 2 mg every morning, and seems to cope well with that. Next week she will not get any Furosemide, as her heart seems to be working very well on the Fortekor alone. I have to monitor her closely to make sure there is no new build up of fluids, though.

But even if Poppy’s heart is doing it's job, everything still isn't sunshine with her, as she now has started to loose hair on both sides of her belly, and also along her back, and she often sits at the back of the cage and looks uncomfortable. I have treated her for mites, but that didn't help, so at the last vet visit she had an x-ray and an ultra sound examination. Unfortunately it is obvious that she has at least one ovarian cyst that bothers her.

I think we have to do something about this very soon, but I am a bit unsure about what will be the best option. My vet is not very experienced with spaying sows. She has done it before, though, and done other types of surgery on pigs, too. And only lost one; he came fine out of the sedation, but died at home later on, probably because of over heating, she thinks. She tells me she feels confident that she will manage Poppy's spay just fine. She also says she spays cats all the time, and don't thinks the difference between cats and sows are that large when it comes to spaying. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, but would like to hear others opinions on this. Does it sound like she is realistic, or is she over confident?

I have also discussed the possibility of giving Poppy hormone injections in stead of spaying her. Vet was not familiar with that, but said she would investigate and come back to me when she knew more. I have found this link https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10197 , but it is from 2004, so I am sure there is more info about this treatment somewhere. Can anyone point me to it? Or has anybody first hand experience to share?

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Bugs Mom

Post   » Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:04 pm


Just my opinion here but since I also have a heart pig, if it were me I would go with the injections first. Heart pigs often have problems with the sedation process. If the injections didn't work I'd reevaluate at that time.

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Fri Jun 12, 2009 3:21 pm


Sending more good thoughts for Poppy, and I hope she continues to do well!

Here are a few threads that might help:

Trick's girls Rosie and Brie have been receiving hCG injections, and recently Gracie also started receiving injections, too.

Elly's girl, Dilly, had Lupron injections.

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poppypiggy

Post   » Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:53 pm


Thank you so much, Bugs Mum and Tracis!

The more I think of how invasive a spay it to a sow, the less I like the thought that Poppy should go through something like that. She has had enough of pain in her life already. So yes, I will go for the injections first, as you suggest. The links are very helpful, and after reading them I have learned that the hormone treatment is far better than I thought previousely, and I have sent the linkts to my vet. Hopefully she will be convinced after reading them.

Thanks again!

pinta

Post   » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:14 pm


Your vet is being overconfident. Spaying cats and spaying pigs has nothing in common. Because the pig is on her back during the spay there is weight on her heart due to the physiology. It does help if the pig can be placed in a sitting position to take the pressure off the heart. That makes it riskier for heart pigs but sometimes the sitting position doesn't provide enough room to do the surgery. My vet is very experienced and HATES spaying pigs. Because we only spay if we have to due to health, the survival rate has only been 50%. Spaying young, healthy pigs is much safer though there is still a lot of risk - more than with cats. My vet has never lost a cat during a spay and she's been a vet for more than 20 years. I checked with another pig savvy vet in our area and he had the same survival rate as my vet with spaying sows. He also spayed when medically necessary.

We do hormone injections on compromised pigs and have had very good results. Only spay as a last resort.

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