Water bloat, URI, heart pig?

[wenton5]

Hello lovely piggy people. My friend has a pig who has had an xray and a vet visit, she has a URI and soft stool. Xrays showed so much fluid in the body that the vet could not even see the heart but is suspecting heart problems. I am curious,( I did read the heart and bloat section on guinea lynx medical guide), does anyone know what would be the cause of so much fluid?
Thank you for the help.
Lara (aka wenton5) and the gang

[bpatters]

Fluid in the abdomen (ascites) is frequently caused by problems with the liver or ovaries. Heart problems more often result in fluid in the lungs or the tissues (in humans, think swollen legs and feet). There can also be fluid around the heart itself, inside the pericardial sac. Without knowing where the fluid actually is, there's no way to guess at what caused it.

[wenton5]

Thank you bpatters, I will let her know asap. I will give a bit more backround, 3.5 yrs old, adopted, she is unknowingly pregnant, had two healthy sows, her diet is pretty good aside kaytee pellets which I am trying to get my friend to switch to kms. Otherwise pig has a healthy record. She also has urine scalled. She was perscribed baytril, eye drops and furosemide (sp?). Wondering if benebak wud be contraindicative at this point and if she shud hav just a plain nondairy acidophilus. Thanks so much for the help. L

[bpatters]

If she's on an antibiotic she needs a probiotic. Either Bene-Bac or the acidophilus should be ok.

This is a 3.5 year old pig who's pregnant, and who has all this fluid? She needs a really good exotic vet ASAP. Going into labor with excessive fluid from any of those causes could be life-threatening for her. And it's possible that the pregnancy is the cause of the fluid retention.

[wenton5]

Kill me please, sorry, she isn't pregnant anymore, I should be shot for my poor grammer. I was attempting to give some history and confused you by my poor grammer, let me try to fix that post, so sorry no, she is not pregnant, her babies are a year now. She has an excellent exotic vet, but was taken to she emergency vet because the exotic vet was not on yesterday. She will be taken into her exotics when he is in next week. Emergency vet does own a piggy, a vet I saw with my piggy in an emergency before so she is not as good but piggy savvy. You don't think the benebac would irritate her gi trak? Thank you

[bpatters]

No, I think the Bene-Bac would actually make things better. I haven't used it a lot, but mine have never had any ill effects from it, and I haven't read of any GI irritation from it.

[LS in AK]

I second bpatters advice. Bene-Bac is your best friend, especially when piggy is on Baytril. Give it a few hours after the AB. If you have a powder form, you can either sprinkle it on veggies or mix it into a pellet mash.

https://www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html

[wenton5]

Thank you bpatters and LS in AK, I always give my pigs a probiotic when they are taking an antibiotic. Sounds like a good idea here as well with "mommy" (that's my friends guinea pigs name) in this case. I am hoping she will take her back to the vet to do another xray or hopefully a blood test to figure out exactly what is causing the fluid. Like you said bpatters, it sounds like it could be a number of things right now even though the emerg. vet is saying it is heart issues who is to really know that with an xray showing so much fluid that she couldn't even see the heart?
Thank you both so much.
Lara

[bpatters]

Well, it certainly could be the heart, and likely is. If the heart isn't visible, it isn't likely to be ascites, because the fluid would be in the abdomen, not around the heart. Nor is it likely to be water retention in the tissues, because the extremities would probably be swollen. If it were in the lungs, it would be apparent on the x-ray as to where it is.

If I remember correctly, fluid around the heart is called pericardial effusion, and has half a dozen or more causes ranging from viruses to kidney failure to cancer and a bunch in between.

[couchon]

I DON'T think this is what your piggy has, because your issues sound heart-related, but if you are interested in non-heart and non-liver related waterbloat rthat we think is most likely caused by GI issues (although we are not positive), feel free to take a look at my CinnaMoo's thread: viewtopic.php?t=66987&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[wenton5]

Thank you so much bpatters and couchon, this is great help.
More soon when we get more info. I went to go see Mommy Gibbens today, she is awfully swollen, but in good spirits.
xxoo
L

[bpatters]

When is she seeing a vet?