Heart Pigs, Guinea Pigs & Heart Problems
"Heart disease in guinea pigs has become more and more common, but unfortunately it is not readily addressed in many text books." - William V. Ridgeway, Jr., D.V.M.
I really wanted to write about this to encourage anyone who suspects they may have a heart pig to get them checked out as soon as possible and DO NOT let them be sedated for x-rays or any other situation where treatment can be carried out while the pig is awake.
Rosie came down with symptoms that led us to believe she may have ovarian cysts. As things progressed though it became clear that Rosie was a heart pig and that even if there were other problems this had to be addressed first. Luckily Rosie is now okay and we have been able to treat those cysts too, but only after an emergency visit finally got her the drugs for her heart that she needed. If you suspect your pig may have heart troubles I urge you to get them checked out as soon as possible and that if they need medication to get them on it as soon as possible if not sooner.
When pigs die suddenly, maybe with what looks like no warning, often heart problems are the real cause. I urge every piggie owner to read over the symptoms and as ever, to make sure you have a real cavy savvy vet that will give correct medicines and who you can trust. Heart conditions are simply something that cannot wait!
Heart Pig Signs:
Diagnostic tools include x-rays but as was the case with Rosie, sometimes these come back looking completely normal. The best way to diagnose or rule out heart problems with guinea pigs is to trial the heart medications. A period of at least 2 weeks is usually recommended, as most pigs do respond to treatment within a month. If heart problems are not the issue, being on the drugs for this small amount of time will do no harm.
The main difficulty arises in getting a vet to give you the heart medicines. Here in the UK, no medicines are actually approved for use with guinea pigs at all, and vets are of course almost always reluctant to listen to "some website" when in fact, Guinea Lynx is the best resource for guinea pigs in the world precisely because it isn't just "some website"! It is made up of rescuers, vet techs and owners who have had a lot of experience with ill guinea pigs and treatments, and who use the site to pool their knowledge.
It is imperative that you do not let your vet bully you out of getting these medicines, see a new vet if you must! I have seen too many pigs suffer or die because they have not got the meds they need fast enough. I waited too long a year ago and almost paid a terrible price.
It is imperative that you do not put off going to the vets if you feel something is not right. Remember that as prey animals guinea pigs are masterful at disguising the true extent of their discomfort, and many of us could never forgive ourselves if our delaying treatment had a costly mistake. Just this June, I put off a vet visit, and once more I almost paid the awful price.
Early Signs.
When our story starts, in June 2007, Rosie was presenting some classic ovarian cyst symptoms. Aside from these she had also lost 2oz in weight (this amount means go on alert). We booked her in for an x-ray and ultrasound to look for cysts in her ovaries, and in the short time we waited I realised that Rosie was a hooting pig. As I thought back, I realised that Rosie had four of the heart pig symptoms:
Heart Pig Symptoms:
By this time Rosie had lost 3oz in just 15 days and I was incredibly worried. We started hand feeding her Critical Care and were advised by Guinea Lynx members not to let our vet sedate Rosie at all for the x-ray (sedation is standard practise in the UK). When our appointment came up I asked the vet to pay close attention to her heart and lungs during the x-ray and to please not sedate her - the vet said she would do her best, and I, not sure enough of myself yet, left it at that.
A Turn for the Worse.
Both the ultrasound and x-rays came back clear, there was apparently nothing wrong with Rosie. We were given some Baytril (an antibiotic) and Metacam (a painkiller) to see if that helped any, and she had taken blood to be sent off for analysis. Rosie had been sedated for her x-ray. We picked her up at 6.30pm having been under the impression we'd be able to pick her up sooner as her x-ray was scheduled for early afternoon. It turned out, Rosie still hadn't fully awakened from the sedation and she looked in a poor way.
By 9:30pm she was still unable to move at all. She refused hay and vegetables and relied more than ever on the Critical Care which was now up to the full dosing and we had to start syringe feeding her water as well as she wasn't drinking by herself.
Heart Pig Symptoms:
It took her two days to start moving around by herself. She was now on the full round the clock Critical Care feedings (15cc every 4 hours, including through the night). The blood tests came back and showed no abnormalities. From here on out our vet repeatedly suggested that Rosie was overweight and that we should be reducing pellets - never mind the fact that we were having to hand feed to prevent rapid weight loss!
We now knew enough that we wanted to try heart medication. Our vet initially agreed to look into this, to contact specialists at the Edinburgh Veterinary College. From this point on the legwork was all down to us and the helpful people at Guinea Lynx. We found out the UK brands of Lotensin and Lasix - Fortekor and Furosemide. The former is to treat the heart condition, the latter to reduce fluid around the heart and lungs which at this point we didn't think we needed given the x-ray results. We kept pressing our vet and she kept telling us that she was waiting to hear back, and in the meantime we should be trying to get Rosie to lose weight. Which I strongly disagreed with given her condition. Our vet still wouldn't play ball!
A Scare!
On the 20th of July at night Rosie was struggling to breathe. Her lungs were crackling so loudly you could hear them outside the room. We rushed her to see the emergency vet where she was diagnosed with fluid in the lungs and a heart murmur. This vet listened to all we had to say, looked at the bit of paper where I'd hurriedly scribbled down the names of the two heart meds and their doses as recommended by Guinea Lynx and immediately got them for us and converted the dosages where needed. I was so relieved I would have cried were it not for the worry for Rosie and the complete ANGER at both the vet who had put off this treatment and myself for not pushing harder.
Result!
Back home it took just twenty minutes for the Furosemide to clear up her breathing. The day after that night and her first dose of Fortekor she greeted us with zoomies around her pen! She was so much happier and within a week we could really see the difference. Within two weeks she was back in with the rest of the herd, popcorning and wheeking away at the top of her lungs.
Rosie started on 0.5mg of Fortekor/Lotensin twice daily and 6mg of Furosemide/Lasix twice daily. After three days we increased to the full 1mg of Fortekor/Lotensin twice daily, and over time we reduced the Furosemide/Lasix as much as we could which turned out to be 4mg twice daily.
Here We Go Again.
All was absolutely fine until this June (2008) when I sensed something was not right with Rosie. She had gained weight and was now heavier than she had ever been before, tipping the scales at just over 3lb - a far a far cry from her healthy weight of 2lb 12-13oz. Rosie has always had a tendency to put weight on when she is unwell (observed through our battle with her ovarian cysts) and this dramatic weight gain together with her being slightly more sleepy and slightly grumpy had me worried.
I started to look into a different heart med, one called Vetmedin (also known as Pimobendan). Vetmedin is in a different class of heart drugs than Fortekor/Lotensin, and the two can be used in conjunction with each other. There is a great reference page written about Vetmedin on Guinea Lynx: Pimobendan (Vetmedin) use in heart disease/Cardiac drugs
We were all set to head off to see our slightly further away but far more cavy savvy vet, when in the space of a week and a half, Rosie made a complete U-turn! Her weight came right back down, she had renewed energy, and was burbling her way about as normal. I decided that I wouldn't put her through the stress of a train journey at the moment as she was fine. Does this sound familiar?! Once again, TREATMENT WAS DELAYED! I am kicking myself :/
On July 26th I went through in the morning to see my girls, and I could hear Rosie from across the room. She was hooting, and her sides were going in and out like bellows as she tried to breathe :/ She had not hooted once since she had been on her heart meds. I panicked and rushed Rosie through to my partner to hold her while I made up her heart meds - which were not overdue. They seemed to make no difference and Rosie's breathing got worse, now she was wheezing, there was a whistle to her breath, and we could hear the crackle of her lungs.
While Jon phoned the vets, I gave Rosie an additional 2mg of Furosemide/Lasix. Her normal dose now is 4mg so this additional dose brought her up to the maximum dose, the one she started on a year ago. To my ever lasting relief, Rosie breathing calmed down and she stopped hooting within half an hour of this extra dose. Within the hour she looked completely back to normal, and was happy in her pen.
What this made clear to me though, is that while the extra dose of Furosemide/Lasix helped her breathing, she clearly had fluid problems and this could only be because something was wrong with her heart - that is, her current heart medications were not sufficient.
New Meds.
At the vets we discovered that Rosie did indeed have fluid present in her right lung, and the vet thought that her heart was not as good as it had been. I rather forcefully demanded Vetmedin to be trialled (remembering the trouble we had getting the initial heart meds I was not ready to be put off again!), and after consulting with the senior vet she was happy to agree.
I have spoken on Guinea Lynx with other owners who have used Vetmedin in conjunction with Fortekor/Lotensin, including one person who has a piggie on all them and Furosemide/Lasix. Vetmedin is commonly used with these and because it works in a different way from the Fortekor/Lotensin, drug interactions are not something to be too concerned about.
The New Routine.
I was also recommended by Guinea Lynx members to give Rosie extra fluids because of her being on Furosemide/Lasix full time which can be hard on the kidneys. Often this is done via subcue injections, however because Rosie already has to put up with hormone injections and because I was confident I could get her to take the fluids orally due to her great patience with her medicines and her enjoyment of lap time, I decided to trial her with oral fluids. This has been a great success!
Her fluids are weak diluted cranberry juice in water - the cranberry juice is the 100% concentrate kind you can find in health food shops (normal juice is far too sugary for guinea pig tummies). I also use this weak cranberry water to disguise the taste of her Furosemide/Lasix which we get in the form of the medicine Frusol. Her other medicines are given broken up and hidden in some critical care mixture to disguise the taste. I also give her half an Oxbow Vitamin C tablet daily to help her out.
Very gradually I brought the Furosemide/Lasix dose back down, once the fluid in her lung had been dealt with. She is now back on 4mg twice daily.
So! Rosie is now on:
I give her her cranberry water 3-4 times daily, each time giving her 4cc. It took her a while to get used to it, but now she takes each 4cc serving in less than 20 seconds!
Keeping Fingers Crossed!
Rosie is doing a lot better now. There wasn't the same instantaneous improvement as there was when she first went on her heart meds, but her breathing was completely fine straight away and over the course of a week and a half I noticed a big improvement. She had lots more energy, was very happy, and was back to being her usual perky self.
After a couple of weeks or so the difference was amazing. Rosie now has seemingly even more energy than any of the other girls! The Vetmedin has made an enormous improvement, and the extra fluids have also been crucial to her new state of well being - on a day after she had no fluids she was sluggish, asleep most of the day, and looking very sorry for herself. The very next day, after fluids, she was back to being high energy and happy. I highly recommend that any pig on Furosemide/Lasix get extra fluids!
For those interested, her new monthly medication bill is £45 ($90) - please feel free to share with those that think guinea pigs are "cheap" pets!
References & Resources:
Guinea Lynx :: Heart
Guinea Lynx :: Rosie's thread
Vetmedin/Pimobendan
Fortekor/Lotensin
Furosemide/Lasix
If you have a suspected heart pig please do not hesitate to join the Guinea Lynx forum and post in the Emergency and Medical Forum - that is where the REAL heart pig experts are, and I fully credit them with saving my Rosie's life at least twice now :)
If you are in the UK and need a reference for a vet that treats heart pigs to give to your own vet, please e-mail me and I am more than happy to help! :)
I apologise for the length, but I hope by providing all the info it will help all the heart piggies, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, and their owners out there!
I really wanted to write about this to encourage anyone who suspects they may have a heart pig to get them checked out as soon as possible and DO NOT let them be sedated for x-rays or any other situation where treatment can be carried out while the pig is awake.
Rosie came down with symptoms that led us to believe she may have ovarian cysts. As things progressed though it became clear that Rosie was a heart pig and that even if there were other problems this had to be addressed first. Luckily Rosie is now okay and we have been able to treat those cysts too, but only after an emergency visit finally got her the drugs for her heart that she needed. If you suspect your pig may have heart troubles I urge you to get them checked out as soon as possible and that if they need medication to get them on it as soon as possible if not sooner.
When pigs die suddenly, maybe with what looks like no warning, often heart problems are the real cause. I urge every piggie owner to read over the symptoms and as ever, to make sure you have a real cavy savvy vet that will give correct medicines and who you can trust. Heart conditions are simply something that cannot wait!
Heart Pig Signs:
- An early sign may be loss of energy, a tendency to move less
- Finding it hard to breathe, gasping or shallow breathing too fast
- Cough or wheezing
- May produce a "hooting" sound
- Repeatedly having upper respiratory infections (URIs)
- Reduced activity, lethargy
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Malocclusion
- Ear margins may become necrotic from poor circulation
- Bluish or pale mucous membrane colour, the skin of the lips, nostrils especially (not visible on dark skinned pigs)
- Difficulty coming around after being put under anaesthesia
- Deep sleeping, easy to pick up (does not run away)
- Fluid in the lungs - detected via stethoscope, can also cause crackling breathing
- Enlarged heart on x-ray (an un-enlarged heart does not rule out heart trouble)
Diagnostic tools include x-rays but as was the case with Rosie, sometimes these come back looking completely normal. The best way to diagnose or rule out heart problems with guinea pigs is to trial the heart medications. A period of at least 2 weeks is usually recommended, as most pigs do respond to treatment within a month. If heart problems are not the issue, being on the drugs for this small amount of time will do no harm.
The main difficulty arises in getting a vet to give you the heart medicines. Here in the UK, no medicines are actually approved for use with guinea pigs at all, and vets are of course almost always reluctant to listen to "some website" when in fact, Guinea Lynx is the best resource for guinea pigs in the world precisely because it isn't just "some website"! It is made up of rescuers, vet techs and owners who have had a lot of experience with ill guinea pigs and treatments, and who use the site to pool their knowledge.
It is imperative that you do not let your vet bully you out of getting these medicines, see a new vet if you must! I have seen too many pigs suffer or die because they have not got the meds they need fast enough. I waited too long a year ago and almost paid a terrible price.
It is imperative that you do not put off going to the vets if you feel something is not right. Remember that as prey animals guinea pigs are masterful at disguising the true extent of their discomfort, and many of us could never forgive ourselves if our delaying treatment had a costly mistake. Just this June, I put off a vet visit, and once more I almost paid the awful price.
Early Signs.
When our story starts, in June 2007, Rosie was presenting some classic ovarian cyst symptoms. Aside from these she had also lost 2oz in weight (this amount means go on alert). We booked her in for an x-ray and ultrasound to look for cysts in her ovaries, and in the short time we waited I realised that Rosie was a hooting pig. As I thought back, I realised that Rosie had four of the heart pig symptoms:
Heart Pig Symptoms:
- Early signs may be loss of energy, a tendency to move less
- May produce a "hooting" sound
- Reduced activity, lethargy
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
By this time Rosie had lost 3oz in just 15 days and I was incredibly worried. We started hand feeding her Critical Care and were advised by Guinea Lynx members not to let our vet sedate Rosie at all for the x-ray (sedation is standard practise in the UK). When our appointment came up I asked the vet to pay close attention to her heart and lungs during the x-ray and to please not sedate her - the vet said she would do her best, and I, not sure enough of myself yet, left it at that.
A Turn for the Worse.
Both the ultrasound and x-rays came back clear, there was apparently nothing wrong with Rosie. We were given some Baytril (an antibiotic) and Metacam (a painkiller) to see if that helped any, and she had taken blood to be sent off for analysis. Rosie had been sedated for her x-ray. We picked her up at 6.30pm having been under the impression we'd be able to pick her up sooner as her x-ray was scheduled for early afternoon. It turned out, Rosie still hadn't fully awakened from the sedation and she looked in a poor way.
By 9:30pm she was still unable to move at all. She refused hay and vegetables and relied more than ever on the Critical Care which was now up to the full dosing and we had to start syringe feeding her water as well as she wasn't drinking by herself.
Heart Pig Symptoms:
- Difficulty coming around after being put under anesthesia
- Deep sleeping, easy to pick up (does not run away)
It took her two days to start moving around by herself. She was now on the full round the clock Critical Care feedings (15cc every 4 hours, including through the night). The blood tests came back and showed no abnormalities. From here on out our vet repeatedly suggested that Rosie was overweight and that we should be reducing pellets - never mind the fact that we were having to hand feed to prevent rapid weight loss!
We now knew enough that we wanted to try heart medication. Our vet initially agreed to look into this, to contact specialists at the Edinburgh Veterinary College. From this point on the legwork was all down to us and the helpful people at Guinea Lynx. We found out the UK brands of Lotensin and Lasix - Fortekor and Furosemide. The former is to treat the heart condition, the latter to reduce fluid around the heart and lungs which at this point we didn't think we needed given the x-ray results. We kept pressing our vet and she kept telling us that she was waiting to hear back, and in the meantime we should be trying to get Rosie to lose weight. Which I strongly disagreed with given her condition. Our vet still wouldn't play ball!
A Scare!
On the 20th of July at night Rosie was struggling to breathe. Her lungs were crackling so loudly you could hear them outside the room. We rushed her to see the emergency vet where she was diagnosed with fluid in the lungs and a heart murmur. This vet listened to all we had to say, looked at the bit of paper where I'd hurriedly scribbled down the names of the two heart meds and their doses as recommended by Guinea Lynx and immediately got them for us and converted the dosages where needed. I was so relieved I would have cried were it not for the worry for Rosie and the complete ANGER at both the vet who had put off this treatment and myself for not pushing harder.
Result!
Back home it took just twenty minutes for the Furosemide to clear up her breathing. The day after that night and her first dose of Fortekor she greeted us with zoomies around her pen! She was so much happier and within a week we could really see the difference. Within two weeks she was back in with the rest of the herd, popcorning and wheeking away at the top of her lungs.
Rosie started on 0.5mg of Fortekor/Lotensin twice daily and 6mg of Furosemide/Lasix twice daily. After three days we increased to the full 1mg of Fortekor/Lotensin twice daily, and over time we reduced the Furosemide/Lasix as much as we could which turned out to be 4mg twice daily.
Here We Go Again.
All was absolutely fine until this June (2008) when I sensed something was not right with Rosie. She had gained weight and was now heavier than she had ever been before, tipping the scales at just over 3lb - a far a far cry from her healthy weight of 2lb 12-13oz. Rosie has always had a tendency to put weight on when she is unwell (observed through our battle with her ovarian cysts) and this dramatic weight gain together with her being slightly more sleepy and slightly grumpy had me worried.
I started to look into a different heart med, one called Vetmedin (also known as Pimobendan). Vetmedin is in a different class of heart drugs than Fortekor/Lotensin, and the two can be used in conjunction with each other. There is a great reference page written about Vetmedin on Guinea Lynx: Pimobendan (Vetmedin) use in heart disease/Cardiac drugs
We were all set to head off to see our slightly further away but far more cavy savvy vet, when in the space of a week and a half, Rosie made a complete U-turn! Her weight came right back down, she had renewed energy, and was burbling her way about as normal. I decided that I wouldn't put her through the stress of a train journey at the moment as she was fine. Does this sound familiar?! Once again, TREATMENT WAS DELAYED! I am kicking myself :/
On July 26th I went through in the morning to see my girls, and I could hear Rosie from across the room. She was hooting, and her sides were going in and out like bellows as she tried to breathe :/ She had not hooted once since she had been on her heart meds. I panicked and rushed Rosie through to my partner to hold her while I made up her heart meds - which were not overdue. They seemed to make no difference and Rosie's breathing got worse, now she was wheezing, there was a whistle to her breath, and we could hear the crackle of her lungs.
While Jon phoned the vets, I gave Rosie an additional 2mg of Furosemide/Lasix. Her normal dose now is 4mg so this additional dose brought her up to the maximum dose, the one she started on a year ago. To my ever lasting relief, Rosie breathing calmed down and she stopped hooting within half an hour of this extra dose. Within the hour she looked completely back to normal, and was happy in her pen.
What this made clear to me though, is that while the extra dose of Furosemide/Lasix helped her breathing, she clearly had fluid problems and this could only be because something was wrong with her heart - that is, her current heart medications were not sufficient.
New Meds.
At the vets we discovered that Rosie did indeed have fluid present in her right lung, and the vet thought that her heart was not as good as it had been. I rather forcefully demanded Vetmedin to be trialled (remembering the trouble we had getting the initial heart meds I was not ready to be put off again!), and after consulting with the senior vet she was happy to agree.
I have spoken on Guinea Lynx with other owners who have used Vetmedin in conjunction with Fortekor/Lotensin, including one person who has a piggie on all them and Furosemide/Lasix. Vetmedin is commonly used with these and because it works in a different way from the Fortekor/Lotensin, drug interactions are not something to be too concerned about.
The New Routine.
I was also recommended by Guinea Lynx members to give Rosie extra fluids because of her being on Furosemide/Lasix full time which can be hard on the kidneys. Often this is done via subcue injections, however because Rosie already has to put up with hormone injections and because I was confident I could get her to take the fluids orally due to her great patience with her medicines and her enjoyment of lap time, I decided to trial her with oral fluids. This has been a great success!
Her fluids are weak diluted cranberry juice in water - the cranberry juice is the 100% concentrate kind you can find in health food shops (normal juice is far too sugary for guinea pig tummies). I also use this weak cranberry water to disguise the taste of her Furosemide/Lasix which we get in the form of the medicine Frusol. Her other medicines are given broken up and hidden in some critical care mixture to disguise the taste. I also give her half an Oxbow Vitamin C tablet daily to help her out.
Very gradually I brought the Furosemide/Lasix dose back down, once the fluid in her lung had been dealt with. She is now back on 4mg twice daily.
So! Rosie is now on:
- 1.25mg of Fortekor/Lotensin twice daily
- 0.3125mg (1/4 of a 1.25mg tablet) of Vetmedin twice daily
- 4mg of Furosemide/Lasix twice daily
- 12-16cc cranberry water daily
I give her her cranberry water 3-4 times daily, each time giving her 4cc. It took her a while to get used to it, but now she takes each 4cc serving in less than 20 seconds!
Keeping Fingers Crossed!
Rosie is doing a lot better now. There wasn't the same instantaneous improvement as there was when she first went on her heart meds, but her breathing was completely fine straight away and over the course of a week and a half I noticed a big improvement. She had lots more energy, was very happy, and was back to being her usual perky self.
After a couple of weeks or so the difference was amazing. Rosie now has seemingly even more energy than any of the other girls! The Vetmedin has made an enormous improvement, and the extra fluids have also been crucial to her new state of well being - on a day after she had no fluids she was sluggish, asleep most of the day, and looking very sorry for herself. The very next day, after fluids, she was back to being high energy and happy. I highly recommend that any pig on Furosemide/Lasix get extra fluids!
For those interested, her new monthly medication bill is £45 ($90) - please feel free to share with those that think guinea pigs are "cheap" pets!
References & Resources:
Guinea Lynx :: Heart
Guinea Lynx :: Rosie's thread
Vetmedin/Pimobendan
Fortekor/Lotensin
Furosemide/Lasix
If you have a suspected heart pig please do not hesitate to join the Guinea Lynx forum and post in the Emergency and Medical Forum - that is where the REAL heart pig experts are, and I fully credit them with saving my Rosie's life at least twice now :)
If you are in the UK and need a reference for a vet that treats heart pigs to give to your own vet, please e-mail me and I am more than happy to help! :)
I apologise for the length, but I hope by providing all the info it will help all the heart piggies, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, and their owners out there!