Hooting/heart - Is There Any Hope?

[Dilly's Piggies]

*VET BOOKED FOR MONDAY*
I've had an 11 month old sow for almost 5 months now, she was pregnant when I got her, and successfully gave birth to two healthy babies with no issues. The babies are now almost 4 months old, Mum is no longer nursing.

However since giving birth, I noticed she dropped a lot of weight. She went from 1100g, down to 750g, which is a dangerous amount in only 2 weeks post giving birth. She has been fed Oxbow young guinea pig performance, alfalfa king timothy hay, alfalfa king alfalfa hay, a variety of daily vegetables and also porridge oats on the side to add a bit of weight, she has had a good diet since coming to me. She did gain weight and went all the way up to 920g again, which is a good weight for an adult sow, but now she's back down to 850g, she looks and feels way too thin for my liking, and I'm concerned for her. For the past 3 weeks I've heard the classic 'hooting' sounds coming from her, usually relieved by a good sneeze or cough.

One of my old sows had a tumor, went for surgery to remove it, and whilst under she sadly passed away due to an enlarged heart which complicated anesthesia, she was also making hooting sounds before going for surgery, so I assume the heart issues caused the hooting also, as many people have said on here that it's linked.

However my question is, does hooting always mean the pig has heart problems, or are there other conditions that can cause them to make this sound? Piggy is eating fine, she has a great appetite, seems happy, loves to play and popcorn around the cage with her babies, she's up and active most of the time, no other signs of illness besides hooting and weight loss. But I know that pigs are very good at hiding their illness, and heart problems often go unnoticed and the pig can appear healthy, so I'm almost positive it's a heart problem, I just pray there is hope for her, maybe some treatment that can make her more comfortable, it would break my heart to lose her after only having her for such a short time.

 

[Wiebke]

*VET BOOKED FOR MONDAY*
I've had an 11 month old sow for almost 5 months now, she was pregnant when I got her, and successfully gave birth to two healthy babies with no issues. The babies are now almost 4 months old, Mum is no longer nursing.

However since giving birth, I noticed she dropped a lot of weight. She went from 1100g, down to 750g, which is a dangerous amount in only 2 weeks post giving birth. She has been fed Oxbow young guinea pig performance, alfalfa king timothy hay, alfalfa king alfalfa hay, a variety of daily vegetables and also porridge oats on the side to add a bit of weight, she has had a good diet since coming to me. She did gain weight and went all the way up to 920g again, which is a good weight for an adult sow, but now she's back down to 850g, she looks and feels way too thin for my liking, and I'm concerned for her. For the past 3 weeks I've heard the classic 'hooting' sounds coming from her, usually relieved by a good sneeze or cough.

One of my old sows had a tumor, went for surgery to remove it, and whilst under she sadly passed away due to an enlarged heart which complicated anesthesia, she was also making hooting sounds before going for surgery, so I assume the heart issues caused the hooting also, as many people have said on here that it's linked.

However my question is, does hooting always mean the pig has heart problems, or are there other conditions that can cause them to make this sound? Piggy is eating fine, she has a great appetite, seems happy, loves to play and popcorn around the cage with her babies, she's up and active most of the time, no other signs of illness besides hooting and weight loss. But I know that pigs are very good at hiding their illness, and heart problems often go unnoticed and the pig can appear healthy, so I'm almost positive it's a heart problem, I just pray there is hope for her, maybe some treatment that can make her more comfortable, it would break my heart to lose her after only having her for such a short time.

In most cases, hooting is simply caused by a somewhat stuffy nose, and has nothing to do whatsoever with heart problems! For that, you want to see other indicators as well - not that heart problems are always easy to diagnose.
The proven heart piggies I have had so far have never exhibited any of the classic symptoms, whereas the ones that had 3 of them and therefore got a good vet check were found to have something else.

However, in view of your little mum's up and down weight, it is worth having a good general check over to see whether there is something somewhere amiss with her - it may not necessarily be the heart.

 

[helen105281]

Some other symptoms of a heart issue are:

Heavy sleeping - is difficult to rouse them from sleep
Laboured breathing, which can make them look like they are nodding
Rapid breathing
Abdominal bloating - due to them sucking in air
Bumblefoot
Blue tinge to nose and ears
Faliure to gain weight

 

[Adelle]

I agree with the above- its best to have a vet listen to her chest and possibly trialing antibiotics for a URI. This is the usual course of action before investigating a potential heart issue.

Failing any response from that, it then may be time to xray the chest looking for fluid or an enlarged heart.

But ruling out a URI should be the first course of action.

All the best

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

Thank you so much for everyone's responses, it's a bit of a relief that there's a good possibility it could be something less severe than a heart problem, like a stuffy nose! I really hope she is actually fine and she isn't going to leave me for rainbow bridge any time soon... She is back up to 910g tonight after eating her vegetables, so at least I know she's eating well! I'm just eager to get her to the vet to have everything looked at, will take her two monkeys also so they can cause trouble and win everyone's hearts at the vet