13 year old heaving

Question
Hello Helen
Yesterday morning our 13 yr old pot bellied pig vomited prior to breakfast.  She ate normally through the day, urinated and defecated, but n the late evening, she heaved as if to vomit, had trouble breathing, choked, and fell onto her side. Today she is  having difficulty breathing (raspy), has heaved a couple of times without actually vomiting and seems restless although wants to eat.  Is it possible to have an xray without anaesthetic?  She gets a rimmadel tablet daily for arthritis and we feed her a 1/4 cup of all bran to keep her regular (works like a charm).

Answer
Vets know the risks and dangers of using anesthesia on older or sick pigs. Your vet will most likely use other methods of diagnosis that do not require anesthesia first. Your vet might not even want to X-ray except as a last resort.

Your vet will check for things like heart failure by listening to the heart beat, congestion by listening to the lungs breathe, and blood tests for possible poisons or infections.

If your pig is cooperative enough and the area the vet wants to x-ray does not require the pig to lay in a strange or awkward position, it might be possible to x-ray without anesthesia. But that is really a question for your vet.