Request for heart pig stories

Josephine
Little Jo Wheek

Post   » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:45 pm


Just an update: Cyrano went into CHF and died today. Very quick and unexpected. Sometimes that's what happens with heart pigs.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:47 pm


I'm so sorry, Josephine. He was in good and gentle hands.

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mkkayla
Supporter in '14

Post   » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:53 pm


I am so sorry rest well Cyrano

Poor Baby Cuzko
My piggy made me give!

Post   » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:36 pm


Cyrano was lucky you loved and cared for him. I'm sorry for your loss.

What is exactly meant by "hooting"?

pinta

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:45 am


1. Rachel, 5-year-old, 3 pound american sow, unaltered, has had a litter.
2. pea eye developing in one eye, occasional laboured breathing while sleeping and this week during her health check, her mouth colour was mauve instead of a bright happy pink, maybe a little less active than she has been.
3. vet checked her heart rate and it was 220, which is high and agreed her colour was not right especially when compared to accompanying pigs. No other diagnostics done or deemed necessary. Lungs sounded great.
4. vet prescribed 1mg fortekor twice a day.
5. she is just beginning treatment so no results yet.
6. no other health issues, hasn't even had a URI in the time we've had her.

1. Ferdinand - 4 1/2-year-old 1 pound 15 oz. neutered strawberry roan boar
2. Pea eye in both eyes, and recently taking to sleeping very deeply and not waking up easily. Mouth colour good.
3. He was being monitored for heart issues and the last time at the vet clinic nothing beyond Pea Eye was detected. This time the vet detected a split heart beat(?) that apparently can lead to arrhythmia(sp???). No other diagnostics deemed necessary.
4. 1mg Fortekor twice a day.
5. no results yet since he's just started on meds.
6. has an old spine injury that cause him pain when he pees or poops. He sees a physiotherapist for this and gets Rimadyl daily for pain management.

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Sabriel MoonStar

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:58 am


1 - Spinel Sun - Age unknown (suspected to be older) intact male abyruvian
2 - Chronic weight loss, gassy, sleepy all the time, ruled out all other possibilities (stress, ab intolerance, etc)
3 - x-ray and blood work, blood work came back ok, enlarged heart showed up on x-ray
4 - .2 ml of benazepril twice daily
5 - steadily gained weight back, increased appitite, gas went away, energy increased. Now is very vocal in demanding food and attention.
6 - Frequently impacted. Sometimes needs simethicone for the occasional bout of gas but not very often anymore. We keep it handy just in case.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:55 pm


1 - Spot, suspected to be at least 5 or 6 from x-ray (degree of calcification). Came in from shelter with large tumor which was removed. Neuter performed during same surgery.

2 - Rattly breathing before and after surgery was diagnosed as pneumonia and treated with doxy for a total of 3 weeks. Also had peaeye. Would not eat or drink, thought to be caused by combination of surgery, Baytril intolerance, and/or pneumonia.

3 - X-ray taken one week after surgery showed fluid in lungs and very enlarged heart pressing on trachea.

4 - Initially prescribed 0.25 mg enalapril and 1mg lasix twice daily, which was taken for two weeks. Breathing sounds decreased but then returned and x-ray showed lungs were clear of fluid. Vet could hear heart murmer and arrhythmia. At week 4 was prescribed 2mg lasix and 0.75mg benazepril (generic lotensin) twice daily (switch in heart medications was to protect kidney function longterm).

5 - After 3 doses of benazepril breathing sounds cleared, appetite returned and handfeeding was no longer necessary. Blood was also tested and showed all functions were normal. We think the improvement is due to increased dosage of heart medication rather
than switch in type. Plan is to continue same dosage for 1 week and then reduce lasix back to 1mg twice daily since lungs showed no fluid on previous x-ray.

6 - X-rays always showed gas so simethicone is kept at hand. Also given Metacam 0.15 daily in case of angina or arthritis (latter shown on xray).

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:38 pm


By the way, I made this a sticky. I may later move it to the reference forum and on request give people access to post if they don't have access in that forum. The reference forum has posting restrictions because new people were forever posting questions in it. Got pretty annoying (it is not designed for discussion).

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murmeli

Post   » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:54 am


1 - Lenni, 6+ year rescue boar, neutered aby.

2 - First nothing obvious stood out of the multiple issues he had. Very skinny (could feel the spine through the thick fur), froglike breathing, exhausted & starved because of a bad ear infection, eyes, teeth & colour fine.

3 - At the vets Xray showed enlarged heart & fluid in the lungs, ECG indicated arrhythmia.

4 - No heart meds were prescribed (at the time we didn't know how), treatment continued on the secondary issues.

5 - Started Bactrim & ointment on the ears & treated other topical issues + lots of vitamin C. The pig perked up considerably & ate like a horse but still there was no weight gain. The stiff joints made him difficult to move & the fluid in the lungs didn't clear up. After a month he had a heart failure, was lethargic & laboured breathing. Brought back to the clinic to be euthanised.

6 - Fungus filled ears, tilted head, bad fur & skin condition, stiff joints, untreated toenails & paws.

pinta

Post   » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:17 pm


1. Ferdinand - 4 1/2-year-old 1 pound 15 oz. neutered strawberry roan boar
2. Pea eye in both eyes, and recently taking to sleeping very deeply and not waking up
easily. Mouth colour good.
3. He was being monitored for heart issues and the last time at the vet clinic nothing
beyond Pea Eye was detected. This time the vet detected a split heart beat(?) that
apparently can lead to arrhythmia(sp???). No other diagnostics deemed necessary.
4. 1mg Fortekor twice a day. Started Jan 3.
5. no results yet since he's just started on meds.
6. has an old spine injury that cause him pain when he pees or poops. He sees a
physiotherapist for this and gets Rimadyl daily for pain management.


Update on Ferdinand. His heart sounds great and the split beat sound is gone after 6 days on fortekor.

1. Gretchen, 2-years-old(born Dec.24,03), sow, skinny, 1 lb, 12 oz.
2. very small weight loss but not enough to really raise alarm bells, decrease of activity level that was out of chracter
3. heart rate taken by stethoscope was well over 300. Comparison skinny(Bliss, already on heart meds) and other comparison pigs had much slower heart rates
4. 1mg fortekor daily
5. no results yet - just started on the med.
6. no other health issues.

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rachelm

Post   » Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:33 am


1) Butterscotch, 2, crested boar, pet shop pig

2) Constant illness ranging from:
regular episodes of malloclusion
arthritis, despite only being young
URIs often
eventually diagnosed by vet as having pneumonia
slight pea eye

3) X-rays showed significant fluid on the lungs but no sign of
an enlarged heart

4) First, Baytril, 0.4ml once a day
Baytril suspended and Flagyl introduced 0.5ml twice a day. This
seemed to temporarily alleviate the symptoms, although they
returned
Flagyl continued and Lasix was eventually prescribed 0.15ml
once a day

5) Butterscotch's rattling and wheezing got worse and he was put
to sleep

-KT-

Post   » Sat Jan 28, 2006 1:10 pm


1. Scruffty - Abyssinian, male, aproximately 2yrs

2. Not as active as the other guinea pigs he was housed with, easy to catch, hold and stayed in lap for long periods of time. He wouldn't popcorn around, and walked everywhere.

3. Vet listened to heart rate, checked mouth, feet, compared to another pig, all seemed fine. Took x-rays and still looked fine.

4. Decided to do a 2 week trial of Fortekor - 1mg/kg a day and observe difference in behavior.

5. After a week and a half, Scruffty is a new pig! He's active, runs around and popcorns with the best of them. Will continue with Fortekor daily.

6. No other health issues.

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