Huxley is a pet kune kune pig that arrived at RRAEH in December of last year for cluster seizures. Sadly, due to the weather at the time, his family could not get home to him and he ran out of water. For pigs, having a constant good source of water is very important as they can easily develop salt toxicity from water deprivation. This causes cerebral edema (swelling of the brain). It’s in turn extremely important to rehydrate them very slowly as sudden free access to a water source will exacerbate their symptoms. Seizure activity can be a clinical symptom of this illness among other signs like head pressing, sudden blindness/deafness, etc.
Though dogs and cats make up about 95% of our patients, we will always do our best to help any pet in need. Luckily, that night we had 2 vets on staff that had some large animal knowledge! We ultimately hospitalized Huxley on IV fluids to correct his electrolytes and rehydrate him; he was also started on anticonvulsant medications. After about a day and a half in hospital, he was able to go home with oral medications. Though Huxley was not our typical patient, we very much enjoyed being able to treat him and see him make improvements (even if we may have joked about our treatment area smelling like a farm J). He really was the best patient!!
Huxley’s human says that he is doing amazing and is now off all meds and is seizure free! He absolutely loves food, so much so that their fridge has to have a lock on it. He knows how to ‘sit’ and ‘sit pretty’ for treats; he loves music and wags his tail when listening to it. He would also rather cuddle inside with his human and dog siblings than be outside!
“I’m sooo grateful to all of you guys for making my baby better and for easing my mind the whole time he was away from me.”
