Specialist Ill Piggy Abroad

[Domzalm1]

Hi everyone,

I have a bit of a situation and I'm very concerned... so here it is: my mum lives abroad and she has 2 piggies ( or had 2 rather as one did not make it the other one is still fighting). I know noone here is a vet but I'm just so worried he is on so many different meds and without access to Simon it is so difficult to advise. As he is on various meds I just wondered if anyone experienced anything similar. I really want him to live and so does he - he is a little fighter!

Before Easter they (piggies) have slowed down with their hay eating for couple of days and it turned out the hay that my mum was giving them went off ( she always buys the same but this batch must have been a bit damp and when mum smelled inside of the bag it was obvious the hay was off....). Mum took them both to vet and they were given some injection and vet suggested that they have 'food poisoning'. They both had diarrhoea so no green / as they were not eating mum was giving them critical care plus water via syringe. One of the piggies did not survive the other one was not improving but so on the 2nd visit ( another vet) he was kept overnight for a de-tox treatment and was given :
Sulpatrim
0.15 ml metacam ( i thought its a small dose as he is quite big piggy)
boehringer 5% 0.05ml
biotropine 0.1 ml
glucosium 5% 1.25ml

They did some blood tests and his kidneys were not great as he stopped peeing . He was given the following medication ( to take home ) :

lespvet 1ml 2x day
hepadol 0.25ml 2x day
hepargen 0.15ml 2x day
gasprid 0.25ml 2x day
bioprotect 20 drops per day

He goes to vets daily for 25 ml drip of NaCl or Ringer.

He improved massively in terms of eating / peeing / and pooing so all this is ok now - he has got his appetite back and is munching on hay like crazy drinking a lot of water and getting very tiny bits of salad couple of times per day.BUT there is blood in his urine which is extremely worrying. He is having blood tests today and i really do hope they will be able to stop with all the other medication and just give him something to sort out the blood issue.


Please Please can someone advise if you ever had piggy with this many issues. Any advice with the recovery process ? any specific veg/fruits that could help his immune system cope with so many meds? Has anyone ever had piggy on NaCl drip ? I am sooooo worried about him


And yes he will get a new friend as soon as he recovers ( i really hope he will )

Sorry its a long post....

 

[Wiebke]

@Abi_nurse @helen105281 @Jaycey @Freela

Hi! A lot of the stuff is just support/pick-me-up.

Sulphatrim is the new vet version of adult septrin; it is double the strength of pediatric septrin.

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

'NaCl' is just salt (sodium chloride). I'm not an expert, but I suppose it's a bit like a human using Dioralyte to treat diarhoea but without the sugars and other mineral salts in that product. As the pig is not eating veg currently, perhaps the vet thinks he won't be getting sufficient salt otherwise.

I hope your mum's piggie makes a good recovery.

 

[Wiebke]

PS: You can still ring the Cat&Rabbit and enquire about the medication.

 

[Domzalm1]

Thank you i have spoken to them today and will be emailing blood results tomorrow morning when i get this from mum.

 

[Abi_nurse]

There's lots on info and stuff to cover here, the drugs you mums piggie is on are-
- metacam - yes does sound like a very small dose unless the concentration is different to ours
- sulfatrim is the new version is septrin and will help with a urine infection
- biotropin is a growth hormone? I don't understand why it's being used
- glucosium - glucose - only really needed if he's not eating
- lespvet - I cannot find this anywhere so I don't know
- hepadol - multivitamins
- harpargen - is a mucolytic like bisolven and would only be using if worried about respiratory issues
- Gasprid - cisapride for gut stimulation
- bioprotect - another multivitamin

Yes a drip (I don't know how this is being given) is fine if they think he's not eating well, but 25ml isn't much for a piggie but it will help flush his bladder through.

Personally I would look at getting an X-ray to check for urinary stones as this may be the cause of the blood in his urine. If not I would persist in the antibiotics as they will often need a long course of antibiotics to treat a urine infection.

Good luck.

 

[Domzalm1]

Thank you very much. Quick update : Churchie is doing much much better. Blood in his pee pretty much gone. He is keen on food and water so I'm very releived i think the worst is over. Just hope within next week he will be 100% ok. Emailed c&r but no response . As Curchie was getting better i did not chase them. Once again thank you.