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Specialist Care For Heart Conditions

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Nessa Elensar

Nessa Elensar

Junior Guinea Pig
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I have 4 piggies- 2 sets of littermates. One of the younger ones has just been diagnosed with an enlarged heart. She is on medication and responding well. I have been hand feeding her veggies so that she gets enough of them- her "siblings" generally gobble their daily salad so quickly that she doesn't get a fair share. Any other tips on what I can do to help her? She is so tiny compared to her real sister and I'm anxious that she put on some weight and feel well enough to better enact with her cagemates. They are kind to her, but not playful as they are with each other.
 
I have heart pigs too, can I ask what medication she is on? and what dose?

How much does she weigh?

You could try taking her out and giving her some critical care either in a bowl or by syringe? or even her own pile of hay or veggies?
 
Right now Pip is on Lasix .0.1mm. I'm having to give her shots of that right now. My scale is broken (I have ordered a me one) but I can tell you that her litter mate Emma weighs over twice what she does.
My vet has another medication coming in Friday that I will start her on that will be oral. I'll let you know about that once I start her on it.
 
That's a diuretic. Did the vet not put her on an ACE inhibitor aswell? such as Fortekor (Benazapril)? Maybe that's the one your vet has ordered, or it may even be Vetmedin, though most vets add that in later in addition to ACE inhibators. Please could you update your location on your profile as it will help me with product names?

I would take her out for supplementary feeding a few times a day. Here is our syringe feeding guide in case. If you feed by syringe take it very slowly as if she is on Lasix she must have fluid build up.

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-syringe-feeding-guide.115359/
 
That's great. I have 7 pigs on Benazepril and they are all doing well on it. You may eventually find you can taper off the Lasix and only give when needed (when there is fluid build up).
 
You could try the house rabbit sociaty foram, they have quite a comprehensive peice on heat conditions
 
Pip is on Lotensin 0.01 every other day. She has an improved alertness and energy level. I am to give her this dosage for 14 days and we will see if she needs an adjustment in he dosage amount.
 
That's brilliant and sounds like it has worked quickly too. Do you know what the dose is in mg? I have not heard of dosing every other day before. I dose twice a day as it wears off due to their fast metabolism.
 
I think she may need an increased dosage. Yesterday was a bad day for her and it was her off day. I gave her another Lasix dose. She also has what appears to be hiccups- jumping up and down, but it isn't popcorning. She's obviously in distress when it happens. Went ahead and gave her another dose of Lotensin last night rather than waiting for this morning.
 
I would speak to your vet about whether she can have the Lotensin twice a day going forwards, though I don't know what dose she is on. I have never heard of it being given every other day, and it is normally important that they don't miss a dose as the heart needs the medication daily to function properly.
 
Last night I could not even feed Pip- and I could tell the situation was dire. There is not an emergency vet anywhere near me, and when I woke this morning she had passed on. Thank you for all your help for my sweet little Pip.
 
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