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Aspiration

Little Ones

Little Ones

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One of our piggies, BB, is currently on loxicom and cystophan for his interstitial cystitis. He is on 1ml of loxicom and seems to have aspirated some of it. He coughed three times about 15-30 seconds afterwards and currently now has crackly breathing - this happened about 5 minutes ago.
What should I do now? Does he need a vet ASAP? If the noise clears, does he need the vet or is it a case of just monitoring? I’m just not sure what to do in this situation.
 
I’m sorry your piggy is worrying you. I have no experience with aspiration but wanted to offer support. I would get him an appointment tomorrow morning. But if he appears to be going downhill tonight then you would need the emergency vet. Hopefully he will be okay.
 
I've had something similar happen when syringe feeding and I spent the whole night shaking in my boots because that last bit of food wouldn't have made the difference anyway but actually the next morning everyone was breathing fine. See how he goes over the next hour? I don't think the vet can actually hoover liquid out of the lungs - I think it's more in case infection then develops afterward. Poor BB - so he gets IC does he? I remember the thread from when you first got him. How old is he now and does he have any history of previous URI?

1ml is a pretty big volume even if they like it - is it 0.5mg/ml? would they consider giving you the dog version so you could drop the volume? But perhaps it's already the stronger version...
 
I can’t offer advice but it’s lovely to see you back @Little Ones I hope BB is ok and hasn’t aspirated any meds. Wheezy chest and heavy breathing can be the first sign though
 
Siikibam said:
I’m sorry your piggy is worrying you. I have no experience with aspiration but wanted to offer support. I would get him an appointment tomorrow morning. But if he appears to be going downhill tonight then you would need the emergency vet. Hopefully he will be okay.
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Thank you for the support!

Free Ranger said:
I've had something similar happen when syringe feeding and I spent the whole night shaking in my boots because that last bit of food wouldn't have made the difference anyway but actually the next morning everyone was breathing fine. See how he goes over the next hour? I don't think the vet can actually hoover liquid out of the lungs - I think it's more in case infection then develops afterward. Poor BB - so he gets IC does he? I remember the thread from when you first got him. How old is he now and does he have any history of previous URI?

1ml is a pretty big volume even if they like it - is it 0.5mg/ml? would they consider giving you the dog version so you could drop the volume? But perhaps it's already the stronger version...
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He’s since had a few more coughs, his breathing is still crackly but much less intense and not constant so that’s a good sign!
Yep, he’s had a few IC flare ups, we’d pretty much only had his last flare up controlled about a week or two and then the heatwave came and we had to move the cages downstairs since the upstairs was unbearably hot and it sent both BB and our other IC pig off again. They’re both easily stressed out. BB is almost 3, in November (still a way off) we’ll have had him 2 years! He’s never had a URI, just IC.
The loxicom is the dog loxicom, the dosage is high but unfortunately it doesn’t cut through his pain. The combination of gabapentin and loxicom tends to work best but we have no gabapentin left right now.

Bill & Ted said:
I can’t offer advice but it’s lovely to see you back @Little Ones I hope BB is ok and hasn’t aspirated any meds. Wheezy chest and heavy breathing can be the first sign though
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It’s nice to see you, too! I hope you’ve been well :)
We’re pretty certain he’s aspirated meds since he was fine before and it came on pretty soon afterwards. The worst of it seems to be over, I hope anyway, but I’ll monitor him closely. Doesn’t look like I’ll be getting much sleep tonight! Just hoping he’ll be okay :(
 
After chatting to the emergency vet on the phone, they don’t think it’s an emergency as he’s still eating and if I brought him in, it would essentially be a general check up as there’s nothing they could do as of right now. He’s coughed a few more times and cleared up a lot of the noise, there’s still crackling though. In the morning, we’ll call our regular vet and let them know the situation and get more advice
 
Free Ranger said:
Does glucosamine help with IC? I know a lot of people recommend Cystease for bladders...
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It does, the cystophan is just another variation of it - does the same job though. It does work, just takes a while to kick in. For the other pig, it sorts him out very easy, but for BB it takes longer and a higher amount before there’s improvement, bless him
 
This morning he seems okay. The crackly breathing has stopped, he’s still eating and drinking and moving around.
As of right now, I’m trying to decide whether to take him to the vet today for peace of mind, however the emergency vet on the phone last night said that they wouldn’t be able to treat him for anything like pneumonia because it wouldn’t have had time to develop and his symptoms didn’t sound severe enough. Because of this, I don’t know if it’d be worth going today and stressing him out further - his IC is really quite bad at the moment. Regardless, we’ll be monitoring him and will take him to the vet as soon as anything looks off, it’s just whether we go today as a precaution
 
Little Ones said:
This morning he seems okay. The crackly breathing has stopped, he’s still eating and drinking and moving around.
As of right now, I’m trying to decide whether to take him to the vet today for peace of mind, however the emergency vet on the phone last night said that they wouldn’t be able to treat him for anything like pneumonia because it wouldn’t have had time to develop and his symptoms didn’t sound severe enough. Because of this, I don’t know if it’d be worth going today and stressing him out further - his IC is really quite bad at the moment. Regardless, we’ll be monitoring him and will take him to the vet as soon as anything looks off, it’s just whether we go today as a precaution
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Aw great news glad he’s ok. Hope the aid calms down soon, poor little man x
 
I'd have made the same decision. You'll know if he starts to look unwell as you're very closely involved with him. My coughing girl was totally fine the next day and has been since. It's tempting to get him in straight away but they have to have something to spot after all! You could sit and count his breaths per minute as his sides go in and out, then do it again in the morning to check it's a similar rate. Be warned about comparing between pigs though - next to my chilled girls nervous George seems to puff like a train as soon as I look at him, but he's managed to make it to 5 and a half!
You've still got tomorrow before it's the weekend.

I'm sorry to hear both your piggies have IC. Did you adopt one with the condition because you have experience of was it just an unfortunate coincidence?
(Obvs fortunate for him, as his owner knows what to look out for though!)
 
Free Ranger said:
I'd have made the same decision. You'll know if he starts to look unwell as you're very closely involved with him. My coughing girl was totally fine the next day and has been since. It's tempting to get him in straight away but they have to have something to spot after all! You could sit and count his breaths per minute as his sides go in and out, then do it again in the morning to check it's a similar rate. Be warned about comparing between pigs though - next to my chilled girls nervous George seems to puff like a train as soon as I look at him, but he's managed to make it to 5 and a half!
You've still got tomorrow before it's the weekend.

I'm sorry to hear both your piggies have IC. Did you adopt one with the condition because you have experience of was it just an unfortunate coincidence?
(Obvs fortunate for him, as his owner knows what to look out for though!)
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Yeah exactly, all is still looking good too which is positive!

Just an unfortunate coincidence, but it didn’t really surprise me honestly as both have a nervous disposition. All our previous older ones have all loved attention and people and haven’t been nervous at all, we have a 7 year old currently who is like that too. The younger ones, however, are just extremely nervous. It’s not that they’re scared, they’ll do zoomies, run over to us demanding veg, give piggy kisses (they’re not lap piggies though), etc, but the moment anything changes or there’s a sense of unfamiliarity, they just revert back to being terrified, using their prey instincts. At the vets, they’re the type of pigs to go completely floppy, in a “play dead” sort of way - they won’t even run back in the carrier when you put them in front of it, you have to physically place them back in. It’s unfortunate for both of them as they don’t deserve it, but it can’t be helped and they’ll probably be like it all their lives. They’re both very different in that way to all the other piggies I’ve had before.
In a way, there’s a positive to both of them having it as if they both start with pain at the same time, I know it’s IC and not a stone or UTI, since they’ve probably got stressed by the same thing.
 
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