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Specialist Doses for heart medication

piggyme234

piggyme234

Adult Guinea Pig
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Yesterday Elizabeth was diagnosed with Dilated Cardio Myopathy after an x-ray to look for bladder stones. It was only by chance that she had this x-ray that it was spotted. She is so far not showing any serious symptoms of heart failure and doesn't have any noticeable oedema. She is 4 so still not really old.
She has been prescribed fortekor and vetmedin but at low doses as the vet hasn't prescribed them to many guineas in the past and wanted to be careful not to give her too much. I thought the doses were quite low for what I had seen other people say their piggies are on. He is trying to contact some other vets today to check the doses. What doses of fortekor and vetmedin have people on here started with in the past?
I have noticed that often people are prescribed fortekor and then only get vetmedin later on. Is there a particular reason for only giving vetmedin when they are getting worse? Should we at least be getting her dose of fortekor stable first or is it fine for her to have both now?
Thanks
 
I think a lot of vets prefer to keep Vetmedin for when the dose of Fortekor cannot be increased any further. It is a few years now since I have had heart pigs but mine were on a range between 1.25mg a day and 1.5mg a day, this dose was then split in 2. They also had diuretics when needed. My vet was guided by a lady I knew at the time who had a lot of experience with heart pigs, but I know some vets may think the dose should be lower. Usually it is best to start on a lower introductory dose and work up to a larger one as needed. I only had one pig on Vetmedin as none of my others needed it and he was only on it briefly as it did not suit him. I know of others who it worked well for though. If Adelle is on at all, she has so much knowledge regarding heart pigs and med doses as she kept her Fudge alive for a good few years on heart meds.
 
My boy was on:

10mg Furosemide (half am, half pm). That's quite a hefty dose though, 5mg is more common
2.5mg Fortekor (half am, half pm)
1.25mg Vetmedin (half am, half pm) This was added in later on after giving the other two a chance to work.
 
Thanks everyone I will get back to the vet and hopefully we can get the dose right for her.
 
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