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Bilbo-Heart failure :(

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ZaraPiggie6

ZaraPiggie6

Adult Guinea Pig
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Last night when i got home from work and could hear Bilbo heaving and he was freezing. i was convinced he was nearly dead. my first thought was his heart....I rang the vets but no one picked up so i left a voicemail. I didn know what to do so i gave him a dose of Baytril and metacam.

Ths morning he seemed to have perked up ut hadnt toutched his veggies at all. He did however eat some dry food. The vets rang me to brng him in.

she had a good look at him and said it's heart failure and he had fluid on his lungs. He had a frusemide injection and a 24 hour baytril injection. Hes also lost some weight :(

He keeps looking at me wit sad eyes and i feel lost. I feel so sorry for him what a rubbish life hes had. He hasnt even been with me a year. All his life has been spent in a small cage being ignored.

The vet said if he doesnt improove over the weekend i might want to consider having him pts :(

I have some Baytril and frusemide tablets to give him (they had no liquid and we agreed not to wait for it to be ordered in)


:( :( :(
 
I'm so sorry your piggie is very unwell. Hopefully meds will help in the short term, but by the sounds of it hes in the end stages of heart failure.

Just think tho, the wonderful life he has had with you since you have had him, and the amount of fuss you can give him while you still have him at the moment. Lots of treats and cuddles and TLC. He's a very luck pig to have found someone like you, he could have been stuck in a cage all his life an die a horrible death. But instead he found you.

Give him lots of hugs from me. Fingers crossed the meds help him lots. Let us know how you get on. All my girls and boys send kisses yours way.

Hugs to you. Stay strong it will be ok.

x.
 
oh I'm so sorry love, you must be devastated. I had a piggy in heart failure and sadly i lost him, i just wanted to say watch him as much as you can because my baby ended up really gasping for breath and it was horrible to see, luckily my vet is literally round the corner and i rushed him in for him to be pts

I hope it doesnt come to that i really do.

Again I'm sorry, hope Bilbo has a comfortable night x>>
 
I'm so sorry about Bilbo, aww I don't even know what to say really, it must be horrible for you :(
I hope he stays comfortable and maybe the frusimide will get him through? Best wishes xox
 
The vet said it could go either way over the weekend. Luckily I'm off all weekend (only have to go shopping tomorrow) so i can stay with him all weekend.

Ive been to tesco and got him all his favourites. Strawberrys, celery leaves, spincach, cucumber,tomatoe, spring greens. Happy to report hes munching away with gusto and the blue from his lips has almost gone. Little mans a fighter.

worst part is i told the girl i got him off in work what had happened and she couldnt have been ore disinterested if she tried. i dont get it. how can people just discard an animal without any feeling?!
 
also my vets is a £6 taxi ride away so if i need to i can get him there quick. Ive never had an animal put to sleep before.....
 
ZaraPiggie6 said:
The vet said it could go either way over the weekend. Luckily I'm off all weekend (only have to go shopping tomorrow) so i can stay with him all weekend.

Ive been to tesco and got him all his favourites. Strawberrys, celery leaves, spincach, cucumber,tomatoe, spring greens. Happy to report hes munching away with gusto and the blue from his lips has almost gone. Little mans a fighter.

worst part is i told the girl i got him off in work what had happened and she couldnt have been ore disinterested if she tried. i dont get it. how can people just discard an animal without any feeling?!
Click to expand...

Good to hear he is improving!:)

People look at me like I have two heads when I mention my piggies being sick,or if I mention certain things about them!I dont get it.....I hate being told "Its only a guinea pig"!But thats just some people for you!

Best of luck with your piggy!x
 
prepare yourself then love, i wont lie it is heartbreaking, BUT, you have done a wonderful thing for your piggy and if it comes to you having him PTS you will be doing another wonderful thing because you will know when the time is right, and because you love him you will help him and not let him suffer.

Thinking of you tonight x
 
He's doing alot better thanks for asking. He's eaten everything i gave him last night so ive just give him a giant spring green leaf (his fav) which he's eating. the blue has gone from his lips and hes alot warmer. Still feels a bit cold but no were near as much as yesterday.

I wrapped him up last night in a fleece and put him in bed with me to warm him up. We had a chat lol. He talked back to me which he hardly ever does so I'm glad he did. he had a good sleep on my chest all snuggly.

He's due his meddies so gonna go do that.
 
I'm so glad he is doing better, i bet he was saying thank you for everything you are doing for me and keep the treats coming!

Sounds lik ehe is a little fighter, fingers crossed for you both xx
 
he took his meddies no problem. he's a good little boy. he's been on his water bottle to!
 
Had a listen to his chest it sounds much clearer than yesterday and his breathing seems to have improved. Just wondering how many beats per min hs heart should be? The vetsaid yesterday it was doing more than it should but i didnt think to ask what it should be.
 
ZaraPiggie6 said:
Had a listen to his chest it sounds much clearer than yesterday and his breathing seems to have improved. Just wondering how many beats per min hs heart should be? The vetsaid yesterday it was doing more than it should but i didnt think to ask what it should be.
Click to expand...

try looking on guinea lynx website
 
The diuretic will remove the fluid and reduce the strain on his heart. The fact that his lips have lost their blue tinge is a very good sign.

I know the vet said it would be touch and go this weekend, but as he seems greatly improved it could be that this has been caught in the nick of time. Piggies with heart problems can live long and healthy lives provided they are given heart meds. The most common dosage is fortekor 1mg/kg together with furosemide (diruetic) 2mg/kg twice daily. Sometimes you can wean them off the diuretic (but in others you have to vary the dose from time to time to prevent fluid build-up)

At the moment he's on just the diuretic so next week it may well be worth talking to your vet about an appropriate heart med such as fortekor (My heart piggie lived an extra year on her heart meds and it wasn;t her heart that failed when she passed away - it was another underlying condition that flared up when she was found to have a large bladder stone that we couldn;t operate on)

Here's the link to the heart section on guinea lynx - I printed it out and gave it to my vet when I realised I may have a heart pig and once it was confirmed by Xray she had an enlarged heart and fluid issues he was happy to prescribe.

http://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html


Keeping fingers and paws crossed for Bilbo

x
 
Because of his current condition be a bit careful about how you position him to clear it as it may prevent him breathing properly. Don;t lie him directly on his back, see if you can support his back gently against your body in a more or less uright position whilst you do the dirty deed. And if you can;t do it quickly, return him to his normal position after 2-3 minutes, wait 5 minutes and then try again

x
 
aye do it that way anyway I'm so used to doing it i can get it done quick :)
 
He seems to be doing really well today. Just gave him some dandilion leaves which he snatched and legged it lol

Funny when they do that, like your gonna change yur mind and take it back!
 
Great to hear he's doing well and responding to his meds :))
They really do give us a scare at times as I have discovered lately but to see them getting well is worth all of the sleepless nights and anxiety rolleyes
 
Only just caught up on this thread, sorry to hear Bilbo's been going through such a hard time! Sending all my healing vibes, keep getting better Bilbo!
 
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