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Suzy went limp for a few seconds

Hope4gem

Hope4gem

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Our piggy Suzy was in the cage and we picked her up to move her since we were cleaning the cage. When we picked her up, her head flopped onto our hand and she seemed limp for a few seconds...almost like she passed out. We put her back down. She laid there for a few seconds and then got up and walked away. She has never done this before. She doesn't have any health issues that we know of. She's eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping normally. Her weight is good. She's just about a year old. One of her cagemates, Lilly, died about two weeks ago, but as far as we know nothing that Lilly had was contagious. We will be keeping a close eye on Suzy, but any advice would be appreciated. We'll call thw vet in the morning.
 
I can't give you any health advice but just wanted to offer my support. Poor Suzy and poor you that sounds scary. It's good that she is acting normally now. I hope it was a one off and she is okay. A vet check sounds like a good idea, if nothing is found to be wrong it will at least put your mind at rest.
 
piggieminder said:
I can't give you any health advice but just wanted to offer my support. Poor Suzy and poor you that sounds scary. It's good that she is acting normally now. I hope it was a one off and she is okay. A vet check sounds like a good idea, if nothing is found to be wrong it will at least put your mind at rest.
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Thank you very much. We really appreciate your kind words.
 
I don't know if this is the same phenomenon, but I had a bit of similar case with Odi in May.
It was during morning veggie feeding, everypig a excited as always. I was just giving a piece of bell pepper to one of the girls when I saw Odi laying on his side without moving. It seem to last for a long time but it couldn't have been longer than a few seconds. And in the next moment he was up again, started to eat, moved around normally. As if nothing had happened. And nothing like that since. He even had a small operation a few weeks ago. No problem at all.
But of course I don't know if it was the first symptome of something bigger.
 
Hope4gem said:
Our piggy Suzy was in the cage and we picked her up to move her since we were cleaning the cage. When we picked her up, her head flopped onto our hand and she seemed limp for a few seconds...almost like she passed out. We put her back down. She laid there for a few seconds and then got up and walked away. She has never done this before. She doesn't have any health issues that we know of. She's eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping normally. Her weight is good. She's just about a year old. One of her cagemates, Lilly, died about two weeks ago, but as far as we know nothing that Lilly had was contagious. We will be keeping a close eye on Suzy, but any advice would be appreciated. We'll call thw vet in the morning.
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That sounds scary. I have heard that they can “play dead” if they are scared. Maybe she thought she was going to be attacked by a predator? Hope she doesn’t do it again. But keep an eye on her for a bit.
 
Thank you for the support everyone. I really appreciate it! Just got up for the day and checked on Suzy and she appears fine, acting normally. We'll call the vet this morning and schedule an appointment just in case, but hopefully this was just a fluke and won't happen again.
 
Hope4gem said:
Thank you for the support everyone. I really appreciate it! Just got up for the day and checked on Suzy and she appears fine, acting normally. We'll call the vet this morning and schedule an appointment just in case, but hopefully this was just a fluke and won't happen again.
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Good that you have her checked. Quite a few of these things seem to be thankfully one-off mystery episodes that leave you puzzled and worried but nothing comes off them. If there are repeats, then of course they should be checked out by a vet.
 
Wiebke said:
Good that you have her checked. Quite a few of these things seem to be thankfully one-off mystery episodes that leave you puzzled and worried but nothing comes off them. If there are repeats, then of course they should be checked out by a vet.
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Thank you @Wiebke
 
The soonest the vet can see Suzy is 12-23. We'll keep a close eye on her till then and if she needs to be seen sooner we'll use the emergency vet.
 
Suzy is at the vet now. So far, they're not sure what it is. They're going to do xrays now before I leave. Then I'll take her home. They'll do bloodwork next week. The tests may give us a cause or they may not, but I think it's worth trying to figure out. The vet agrees that it does sound like fainting. Just not sure of the cause. She said various things could cause it like lack of oxygen to the brain as a result of heart disease or lung disease, a neurological problem, or maybe she's anemic. On physical examination, the only notable thing was that she didn't correct with her left back foot. The vet said it's possible that this is a sign of a neuro issue or could be unrelated - like due to a hip problem or something. I'll update the thread when I have more info.
 
The xrays didn't show anything of concern. Suzy is scheduled for bloodwork on Monday so hopefully we'll know more once the results come back from that. In the meantime, her quality of life is good and she seems happy so I'm focusing on being grateful for that and enjoying each day we have with her.
 
The results of Suzy's bloodwork came back and she appears to have liver disease. The cause is not clear. It may be something remedied with medication (milk thistle to start with) or it could be more of a birth defect situation (shunt). If it's a shunt and it's small she may be able to live with it for a while. If it's large, it will make her symptoms worse and significantly shorten her lifespan. We're doing additional bloodwork, which may have to wait until after the new year depending on the lab, to see if a definitive cause can be determined. I'm really hoping that it's something that the medication can help. I'll update this thread once we have the results of the additional bloodwork.
 
Hope4gem said:
The results of Suzy's bloodwork came back and she appears to have liver disease. The cause is not clear. It may be something remedied with medication (milk thistle to start with) or it could be more of a birth defect situation (shunt). If it's a shunt and it's small she may be able to live with it for a while. If it's large, it will make her symptoms worse and significantly shorten her lifespan. We're doing additional bloodwork, which may have to wait until after the new year depending on the lab, to see if a definitive cause can be determined. I'm really hoping that it's something that the medication can help. I'll update this thread once we have the results of the additional bloodwork.
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Fingers firmly crossed for Suzy!
 
That’s not the news you wanted to hear. I’m so sorry. Fingers crossed she will have a wonderful happy long life ahead of her. ❤️
 
I got the results for the additional bloodwork that Suzy had done. Her liver disease is caused by a shunt which occurred during development in utero. There is an additional med that Suzy can take to help. The pharmacy should have it ready tomorrow. It's hard to guess how much this will negatively impact her life because it depends on the size of the shunt and how she responds to treatment. There is no cure. My vet said that even if you can find a vet who is willing and able to do the surgery it is extremely risky and just not practical. Her liver shunt can cause other health problems and significantly shorten her lifespan. Only time will tell.
 
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