Poppy the Piggy- Heart Condition, Benazepril Dosage, Critical Care Supplement

skuchi

Post   » Tue Jul 23, 2019 11:58 pm


Hello!

We have a senior pig, Poppy, she's 6 years old. We took her to the vet because she's losing quite a bit of weight. She has a heart murmur, they checked her kidneys and they are functioning normally. The vet put her on Benazepril for her heart but the dose seems very low. It's compounded at 2mg/ml and she's supposed to get .02ml (yes, .02 not .2) once a day. That puts her at roughly .04mg of Benazepril daily? From everything we've read that seems to be quite low.

She's still eating with gusto when it comes to fresh veggies but pellets and hay have slowed down, so we started supplementing with 2-3 feedings of Critical Care a day. She'll only eat about a generous 1/4 tsp (measured dry before mixing with water) per feeding willingly (she eats it right off the spoon) before she seems full. Is that enough? Weight seems to have stabilized but she's not gaining. Hard to say since we've only been giving her the extra CC for about a week now.

Thanks in advance for information from the piggy parents who have had experience with this!

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:20 am


What is her current weight?

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:13 am



skuchi

Post   » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:29 am


sef1268 wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:20 am What is her current weight?
She is currently about 630 grams.

@pigjes Thank you for the link. I found this link at the bottom of one of the threads and it was helpful. Again, there is the .5cc of 2mg/ml solution dose. This is the kind of thing I'm reading over and over again that make me think the dosage our vet prescribed may be far too low.
https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34346

skuchi

Post   » Sat Aug 03, 2019 12:58 pm


Update on Poppy and Questions About Weight:

In February she weighed 784 grams at the beginning of the month, at the end she weighed around 735 and has been in a steady decline since then. Currently she's hovering around 600-620, some days she's closer to 640-650 (we generally try to weigh her at the same time and before she eats). The weight loss has slowed, possibly even plateaued, but she's still so thin! She's not eating much of her pellets or hay on her own, especially with the addition of the CC. She eats her veggies fine and a generous 1/2 tsp of CC twice a day. She eats 1/4 tsp willingly off a spoon, after that we generally have to force feed her the other 1/4 tsp. Our vet, as good as she's been, has not been very helpful when it comes to offering info on what to do other than medicine. She didn't say anything about the weight loss, we've undertaken all of this on our own. Poppy's still taking .05mg of Benazepril daily and no other meds.

Any suggestions from the forum? Her loss of and inability to gain weight concerns us. Been raised with many animals but guinea pigs are not ones I am familiar with so we are trying to figure it out as we go along.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Aug 03, 2019 4:45 pm


Just as an FYI, senior pigs tend to lose a little, plateau for a while, lose a little more, plateau, etc. And it is VERY difficult to get a senior pig to gain weight.

I'd just continue feeding the CC, maybe add another kind of hay to see if she likes it better, and maybe sprinkle a few rolled oats over her veggies.

skuchi

Post   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 1:16 pm


Thank you, bpatters! Is it ok to mix in a little alfalfa hay at this point? Not as a steady diet, but from time to time? We've tried various types and brands of timothy and orchard and they nibbled at them a little or snubbed them entirely. The hay they have now has been their enthusiastic favorite, until recently, and they usually mow through a healthy sized box a day. Now they just pull it out and seem to enjoy sitting in it, they nibble a bit but don't eat much. :(

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 1:38 pm


I wouldn't give a senior pig alfalfa hay. They're prone to bladder stones anyway since they get less exercise as they get older, and you surely don't want to encourage that problem.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 5:01 pm


What brand of timothy hay are you buying?

skuchi

Post   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:17 pm


bpatters, thank you for the input! No alfalfa for our senior ladies then. I ordered some meadow hay from oxbow to see if a change of feed might entice them.


sef1268 wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 5:01 pm What brand of timothy hay are you buying?
We have purchased several brands over the years including bales from the local feed store, oxbow, and a few reputable growers (like Small Pet Select) off the internet. Which ones exactly I don't recall, I would have to look up records. We're all allergic to it though, and our girls prefer the orchard grass by leaps and bounds so we haven't bought timothy in awhile.

skuchi

Post   » Tue Aug 27, 2019 11:40 am


Hello again fellow pig parents!

Poppy is going into the vet today because she's acting lethargic, seems to be breathing faster than usual, and is just generally not acting herself. She's still eating veggies, but otherwise just kind of wants to sit and sleep. She has a heart murmur so we don't want to take chances. Is there anything you would suggest we have the vet do to check her heart further? She's not had an x-ray or sonograph, just blood tests for liver & kidney function. Are x-rays or sonographs useful in seeing what's going on with her heart?

Has anyone had problems with lethargy with their piggies on Benazepril? I know it can lower blood pressure and we raised her dosage from .05 to .07 just a few days ago because it's not having the diuretic effect the vet wanted to see, I'm wondering if that might be part of the problem?

She and Bella are still not eating hay as they used too but the rate has picked up a bit since we changed to the Oxbow botanicals and oat hay. They love those two.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Aug 27, 2019 11:45 am


An x-ray can show an enlarged heart and/or fluid around the heart, but nothing internal to the heart itself.

Anything that lowers blood pressure can cause lethargy, and I think there are other diuretics that don't have the same effect. How is the diuretic effect being measured?

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