Heart Issues Congestive heart failure? Please help, we're so worried

[spudsthepiget]

One of my mom's pigs Peanutbutter has been sickly ever since we got her last month. At first we thought it was a URI and then pneumonia, but after almost a month of antbiotics, there's is no improvement and none of the other pigs have ever gotten sick. A vet said she doesn't move any air in or out of her lungs and we can see her breathing really hard. Her little feet are always cold but never blue, and she's very small and scrawny. She's probably several months old, but our 6 week old piggy weighs more than her and is bigger than her, even though Peanutbutter will eat the whole box of hay in one sitting.

Today at the school my mom works in, a 2 year med student is subbing and mentioned he thinks it's congestive heart failure and that she's suffering and should be put down. We have an appointment tonight for some X-Rays, but he says this won't show up.

We're so worried for Peanutbutter; if anyone has any thoughts, please help us.

 

[bpatters]

Well, second-year med students apparently don't know a lot about guinea pigs. If her heart is enlarged from the CHF, it will show on the x-ray. If her lungs are full of fluid, it will show on the x-ray. Pigs can be successfully treated for heart disease if the heart isn't too damaged to support circulation.

See https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html and https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?p=126906#126906. There are other, newer threads at GL if you want to go search the index or the medical forum over there.

 

[Artista]

Regular vets don't know crap about guinea pigs let alone a med student. Exotic vet is the only way to go, and one who actually treats gps and doesn't just say they do. Vets think since they've seen a handful a year that they are good with exotics.. I've tested their knowledge once I found this forum and I almost laughed at what they say. One said my gp is a peruvian. Look at my profile pic. She is a short hair american..

Hope your gp gets better soon. Best wishes.

 

[spudsthepiget]

Do you guys think she's suffering?

 

[Artista]

Do you guys think she's suffering?

Hard to say. Not feeling good is always suffering to some degree. I would get her to the exotic vet to see what it is. Maybe they can start treatment and gp will start to feel better. You can't really decide on what to do until you have a definitive diagnosis.

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

I had a guinea pig that was in congestive heart failure for nearly five years before she passed of old age. She took medication twice daily and had a good, full, happy life up to the end. I would advise taking Peanutbutter to a cavy savvy vet and checking into heart issues. Print out the heart pages from the Guinea Lynx site and take them with you. Best wishes for Peanutbutter.

 

[Artista]

I had a guinea pig that was in congestive heart failure for nearly five years before she passed of old age. She took medication twice daily and had a good, full, happy life up to the end. I would advise taking Peanutbutter to a cavy savvy vet and checking into heart issues. Print out the heart pages from the Guinea Lynx site and take them with you. Best wishes for Peanutbutter.

Glad to hear meds helped yours live to older age. You can never predict what it is and what will happen so best to get them to a good exotic vet asap.

 

[spudsthepiget]

She has an appointment to get some X-Rays done tonight.

She had been bought from petco and then returned when she wasn't gaining weight and they adopted her out to us. They finally sent a check to reimburse the money we've spent on her vet bills, so that's going to pay for the vet visit tonight.

 

[Artista]

She has an appointment to get some X-Rays done tonight.

She had been bought from petco and then returned when she wasn't gaining weight and they adopted her out to us. They finally sent a check to reimburse the money we've spent on her vet bills, so that's going to pay for the vet visit tonight.

Good luck! Hope all goes well!

 

[spudsthepiget]

The trip to the vet was not quite what I expected. My vet, Dr. Leigh, listened to Peanutbutter breathe and her heartbeat and said she couldn't hear her heart on the right side and couldn't hear her breathe on the left side. She took Peanutbutter back for some X-Rays and called us in to see them. She said Peanutbutter's heart (which is normally in the middle of the chest) was over in the left side of her chest and her left lung was deflated.

She wasn't sure exactly how it happened, but since Peanutbutter is so young, it's most likely a congenital birth defect. There is still some fluid surrounding her heart and lungs, so she gave us Lasix along with another heart medication and to see if it helps. Dr. Leigh said she expects Peanutbutter's life span to be shorter than an average guinea pig's but she's not in pain.

 

[bpatters]

I'm sorry about Peanutbutter. I hope you'll be able to keep her comfortable for a long time.

 

[RandomCavy]

at least she isn't hurting. I hope the medicine helps!

 

[spudsthepiget]

She should be comfortable; she gets lots of love and has a companion named Jellybean that adores her. She's going to get the best for however much time she has <3

 

[Artista]

Glad to hear there's no pain, so just give her more love and attention to give her the best quality of life. Like someone said here, their pig went 5 years on meds so you never know. Just cherish every day as we all should do because you never know even if a pig doesn't look ill when their time is up.

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

Tulip was on heart meds for nearly 5 years. I'm figuring she was close to 6 years old when she passed. Peanutbutter can have a long, happy life. Best wishes.

 

[spudsthepiget]

Thank you, everyone.