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  • ONE THREAD per pig please!
    We really want your pig's history all in one place to help you. Please don't start a new thread for a new issue. Just reply to your old one. We can edit the title for you if needed.

Rosie: A Heart Pig

thalestral

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Oct 27, 2006
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746
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
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I wanted to post Rosie's update on this same thread as some of the e-mails I have received about heart pigs have been from people who found out about heart medicines through this very thread :) I'm really glad that Rosie's story has helped other piggies out there!

Over the year since my first post here, Rosie has been on 1.25mg twice daily of Fortekor/Lotensin and 0.5ml twice daily of Furosemide/Lasix. Rosie's healthy weight is 2lb 12-13oz, which fluctuates when she is unwell upwards by a couple of ounces.


Since Rosie was first given those heart meds last July, we have had no problems with her heart at all, with all her medical attention being centred around her ovarian cysts which we are successfully treating with hormone injections.

A month ago, I started to worry about her again. She had gained weight and was now heavier than she had ever been before, tipping the scales at just over 3lb - a far cry from her healthy weight of 2lb 12-13oz. Rosie has always had a tendency to put weight on when she is unwell and this dramatic weight gain together with her being slightly more sleepy and slightly grumpy had me worried.

I started to look into a different heart med, one called Vetmedin (also known as Pimobendan. Vetmedin is in a different class of heart drugs than Fortekor/Lotensin, and the two can be used in conjunction with each other. There is a great reference page written about Vetmedin on Guinea Lynx: Guinea Lynx :: Topic - Pimobendan (Vetmedin) use in heart disease/Cardiac drugs

We were all set to head off to see our slightly further away but far more cavy savvy vet, when in the space of a week and a half, Rosie made a complete U-turn! Her weight came right back down, she had renewed energy, and was burbling her way about as normal. I decided that I wouldn't put her through the stress of a train journey at the moment as she was fine. Does this sound familiar?! Once again, I PUT OFF TREATMENT! I am kicking myself :/

Yesterday, and almost a year to that day last year, I went through in the morning to see my girls, and I could hear Rosie from across the room. She was hooting, and her sides were going in and out like bellows as she tried to breathe :/ She had not hooted since she had been on her heart meds. I panicked and rushed Rosie through to my partner to hold her while I made up her heart meds - which were not overdue. They seemed to make no difference and Rosie's breathing got worse, now she was wheezing, there was a whistle to her breath, and we could hear the crackle of her lungs.

While Jon phoned the vets, I gave Rosie an additional 0.25ml of Furosemide/Lasix. Her normal dose now is 0.5ml so this additional dose brought her up to the maximum dose, the one she started on a year ago. To my ever lasting relief, Rosie breathing calmed down and she stopped hooting within half an hour of this extra dose. Within the hour she looked completely back to normal, and was happy in her pen.

What this made clear to me though, is that while the extra dose of Furosemide/Lasix helped her breathing, she clearly had fluid problems and this could only be because something was wrong with her heart - that is, her current heart medications were not sufficient.

At the vets we discovered that Rosie did indeed have fluid present in her right lung, and the vet thought that her heart was not as good as it had been. I rather forcefully demanded Vetmedin to be trialled (no heart meds are officially okayed for guinea pigs and remembering the trouble we had getting the initial heart meds I was not ready to be put off again!), and after consulting with the senior vet she was happy to agree.

I have spoken on Guinea Lynx with other owners who have used Vetmedin in conjunction with Fortekor/Lotensin, including one person who has a piggie on all them and Furosemide/Lasix. Vetmedin is commonly used with these and because it works in a different way from the Fortekor/Lotensin, drug interactions are not something to be too concerned about.

So! Rosie is now on:

1.25mg of Fortekor/Lotensin twice daily
0.3125mg (1/4 of a 1.25mg tablet) of Vetmedin twice daily
0.75ml of Furosemide/Lasix twice daily

Gradually I will bring the Furosemide/Lasix dose back down after around a week, once the fluid in her lung has been dealt with. Hopefully we will be able to get it back down to 0.5ml.

Rosie seems fine today, her breathing is okay, if anything it seems a bit slower and more in line with the speed of Gracie's breathing (the closest pig in weight).

We are taking things one step at a time, but for now I am relieved that we managed to get the Vetmedin to trial it and that Rosie is comfortable :)

Rosie_03.jpg


For those interested, her new monthly medication bill is £45 ($90) - please feel free to share with those that think guinea pigs are "cheap" pets!
 

Toadies

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Nov 5, 2007
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Joined
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I am SO glad that she is okay. I well know the anxiety that a turn south in their health can bring. I also appreciate the expense of doing the very best that you can. I hope that she continues to do well for a very, very long time. She is darling, by the way.
 
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