Loud Coughing....Hairballs?

User avatar
Dobby
I gave what I could!

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:08 am


So, while the conversation has turned to vomiting/surgery here, the general consensus is pigs can´t get hairballs, right?
And he could have been coughing up a bit of the newspaper I didn´t see him swallow?

User avatar
Jill

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:36 am


Sorry Dobby, I didn´t mean to hijack your thread.

pinta

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 10:11 am


The vet said no food after 8:00 and no liquids after midnight.

That´s for cats and dogs who do have a tendency to vomit their stomach contents under anaesthesia. Pigs are not known to vomit up the contents of their stomach while under anaesthesia.

Pigs are herbivores who graze continually. If they go without food for too long their liver starts to shut down/have problems functioning properly. Their digestive system is designed for continual operation. Because it is often a while after surgery before they eat again fasting them puts them at too high a risk for liver problems. I think after 12 hours without food the liver might start to be affected. Not totally sure on the time span though. Blood panels we´ve had done on ill pigs ALWAYS show a compromised liver when their food intake has been reduced.

I suggest you ask your vet to consult with exotic vets or do some research. His directions are WRONG for pigs.

Do horses get fasted before surgery?

User avatar
Jill

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 12:12 pm


Thanks for the info Pinta. I posted my follow up to the abscess thread I started a while back - don´t want to keep taking away from Dobby´s hairball posting.

pinta

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 3:01 pm


Right - hairballs. I have heard reports of them but they arfe so rare as niot to even figuire in any of the med reference books I have.

Stacia´s Dixon had hair compacted in his cheeks and around his molars due to malocclusion. He couldn´t properly grind so hair he groomed ended up trapped in his mouth(my assumption). I´m guessing normally a pig would be able to masticate the hair so it wouldn´t collect in a hairball in the gut. So it would stand to reason a pig with a hairball has some circumstance happening that allows the hairball to occur.

I got nothing to back this up so it IS conjecture on my part, but since hairballs are so rare(and pigs do enough barbering that if they were a threat, we´d be hearing a lot more reports of them)their occurrence is probably a sign that something else is going on.

And pigs can get explosive coughs/chokes - I think Gurney calls them the heaving hiccups - that are very alarming. But they last all of 5 to 10 seconds and then the pig is back to normal.

And pigs can just cough occasionally. Some of ours make a sound like "braaaack".

my2piggies

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 5:14 pm


That 5 - 10 seconds seems like a lifetime when you see if for the first time and don´t know what it is!!

User avatar
Dobby
I gave what I could!

Post   » Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:03 pm


No kidding, my2piggies. It was only a quick burst of coughing, then another shortly after the first, and I´ve heard nothing from him since. It scared the hell out of me because I thought he was choking, but he seemed fine.
All is well in his piggy palace. No newspaper to chew on, as he has a habit of doing, and no coughing.

I an my pigs mom- No trouble. ;) I just wanted an answer to my question. I don´t mind a little hijacking now and then.

Josephine
Little Jo Wheek

Post   » Thu Mar 07, 2002 12:03 am


Are we talking aspiration as in biopsy or as in taking fluids/foreign material into the lungs? It could definitely be applied to both. Aspiration could be taking material into/from a tissue or taking material by way of the trachea into the lungs.

Aspiration is forced in cavies. Operator/human error. Cavies do not vomit, but can aspirate from force-feeding, giving oral meds, or during recovery from a procedure where there is fluid around (dental work? usually). Vomiting deals with material coming from the stomach, but a cat or dog can aspirate vomit during anesthetic recovery. Normally an endotracheal tube is placed in cats and dogs to prevent this, but if the animal vomits post extubation the risk is real.

Aspiration causes pneumonia.

Since cavies do not vomit, there is no logical reason to fast prior to surgery or any other reason. The risk of shutting down the entire GIT is too high and hepatic lipidosis is as irreversible and fatal. Hepatic lipidosis is part of the secondary organ involvement when animals do not eat. Cavies can then catabolize the fat to use that energy, but it causes the irreversible metabolic changes.

I would seriously question any reception/technician staff that recommends fasting a cavy. I would RUN from a vet that told me to fast a cavy!

cea2001

Post   » Thu Mar 07, 2002 5:47 am


Josephine - If cavies do not vomit, is there any other explanation for what I saw my old cavy do? It used to really look like he was being sick. Perhaps it was half-masticated food that he used to spit out?...it´s a long time ago now but I distinctly remember him doing it.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 07, 2002 7:33 am


I think it always possible there are exceptions. Could be something different about your pig´s trachea or something. It does seem extremely uncommon though.

Josephine
Little Jo Wheek

Post   » Thu Mar 07, 2002 11:21 am


It was probably half-masticated food spat out. There are many times I have tried to pill my pigs and got green slime all over my finger. Sometimes they have a mouth full of half-chewed food when I check molars as well.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 07, 2002 11:27 am


So a routine check of the mouth before starting any anesthetic for surgery would be a good idea?

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