• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

1cm bladder stone diagnosed in 3 year old sow

Dilly's Piggies

Dilly's Piggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 27, 2016
Messages
834
Reaction score
657
Points
525
Location
Lincolnshire UK
My sow Paisley has been having bladder troubles for the past 2 months, it started with visible blood in the urine and crying when peeing and pooping. She went through a 6 week course of sulfatrim which unfortunately did nothing, but now I know why. She had an ultrasound today that revealed quite a large nasty looking stone.

She's now on metacam for a week and will most likely go for surgery next week, with the stone being so large there is no other option. I am extremely worried because Paisley has lost a lot of weight (200g) from this so I have to bulk her up a bit as fast as possible, she's young-ish and otherwise healthy, I hope she will survive such a high risk operation.

Now regarding diet, I am going to need to make changes for her lifelong due to this even though from day one she has been fed the recommended diet, I'm very serious about my piggies and did all the research beforehand, I knew they needed timothy pellets and hay, low calcium vegetables etc, so it sucks that she still got a stone even with my prevention.

I did however switch their pellets 6 months ago from oxbow cavy cuisine to science selective grain free, I heard grain free was better and they're also timothy based, but I wonder if the stone has something to do with that since oxbow uses calcium iodate and science selective still uses calcium carbonate which is what 90% of stones in guinea pigs are made of. Is it worth switching her back to oxbow? Pellet free would be ideal but as my guinea pigs are indoors and don't get much vitamin D or grass, I can't do that.

And also with vegetables, she currently gets round lettuce, celery, cucumber, green beans, bell pepper and carrot on a daily basis, already very low calcium. Are there any changes I can make to this? She also gets two supplements daily - ProC Professional, which is a pre & probiotic containing extra vitamins and minerals, and also SAR X electrolyte solution made by Sherwood pet health, both concentrated and syringed, never mixed in their water bottles. Alongside she gets 15ml of SAR X Plus recovery syringe food, also made by Sherwood, to help with weight gain. As for hay she only gets oxbow western timothy hay. Their water is brita filtered, I do not give them treats of any kind either.

Any other tips to help her pre-surgery, post-surgery and other stone prevention suggestions? I've never had piggies with stones but I hear it's quite common. Thanks in advance!
 
I am certainly not an expert (I am sure one will be along shortly though), but wanted to offer some support and encouragement.
We had a similar issue with Ruby earlier this year, and despite already having a fairly low calcium diet, she suddenly became extermly ill with severe bladder sludge.
She required emergency surgery immediately, and it took her weeks to recover.

I checked what I could do to improve things for her long term, and although I definitely made a few adjustments to their diet, I will be honest and say it sounds like you are already doing pretty much everything possible.
It took me a while before I finally accepted that some piggies are just more prone to these issues then others.
It is probably in part due to genetics which are beyond our control (and not something we could ever prove), but despite the text book care some piggies will still develop these problems, whilst others who receive sub standard care will remain healthy and robust.

You are doing a wonderful job for your girl, and are clearly very knowledgeable of the issues she is facing.
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
My sow Paisley has been having bladder troubles for the past 2 months, it started with visible blood in the urine and crying when peeing and pooping. She went through a 6 week course of sulfatrim which unfortunately did nothing, but now I know why. She had an ultrasound today that revealed quite a large nasty looking stone.

She's now on metacam for a week and will most likely go for surgery next week, with the stone being so large there is no other option. I am extremely worried because Paisley has lost a lot of weight (200g) from this so I have to bulk her up a bit as fast as possible, she's young-ish and otherwise healthy, I hope she will survive such a high risk operation.

Now regarding diet, I am going to need to make changes for her lifelong due to this even though from day one she has been fed the recommended diet, I'm very serious about my piggies and did all the research beforehand, I knew they needed timothy pellets and hay, low calcium vegetables etc, so it sucks that she still got a stone even with my prevention.

I did however switch their pellets 6 months ago from oxbow cavy cuisine to science selective grain free, I heard grain free was better and they're also timothy based, but I wonder if the stone has something to do with that since oxbow uses calcium iodate and science selective still uses calcium carbonate which is what 90% of stones in guinea pigs are made of. Is it worth switching her back to oxbow? Pellet free would be ideal but as my guinea pigs are indoors and don't get much vitamin D or grass, I can't do that.

And also with vegetables, she currently gets round lettuce, celery, cucumber, green beans, bell pepper and carrot on a daily basis, already very low calcium. Are there any changes I can make to this? She also gets two supplements daily - ProC Professional, which is a pre & probiotic containing extra vitamins and minerals, and also SAR X electrolyte solution made by Sherwood pet health, both concentrated and syringed, never mixed in their water bottles. Alongside she gets 15ml of SAR X Plus recovery syringe food, also made by Sherwood, to help with weight gain. As for hay she only gets oxbow western timothy hay. Their water is brita filtered, I do not give them treats of any kind either.

Any other tips to help her pre-surgery, post-surgery and other stone prevention suggestions? I've never had piggies with stones but I hear it's quite common. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Hi!

I am very sorry for the stone. Calcium absorption is a complex process, so quite a lot can go wrong. There is also a genetic disposition in play as not all piggies on the same diet necessarily get stones.

If it is any consolation to you, I have had 3 sows with stones that size that have come through their bladder ops well (5 bladder stone ops in all) until I got my diet right - at that time there was a lot of very contradictory and confusing advice around, and before that, there was basically nothing useful at all! :( I haven't had any bladder ops in the last 5 years, so the right diet can really make a difference.

Thankfully in sows a bladder stone op is usually a fairly straight forward operation and the wound is usually healing well and without complications, considering the location. The sooner the stone can come out, the better. The pain is truly excruciating - just the relief of having it out is usually a real boost. The rest is down to your vet and his post-op care team.
Tips For Post-operative Care

If you live in a hard water area, it may be worth switching to low calcium bottled water. @Jaycey , I think you can advise on that?
@Flutterby could help advising you on the pellet front; she is hosting and updating our pellet sheet.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

I would strongly advise to give cystease post-op. It is a cat food supplement (not a medication, but cats are the other pet species prone to bladder problems) that is glucosamine based. it helps to support the natural glucosamine coat of the bladder walls, which have been rathe battered by a stone sloshing around and being sucked into the exit every time your girl is peeing. Give the contents of capsule a day mixed in 1 ml of water.

All the best!
 
Our vet, Simon Maddock, now prescribes 1/8 of a bendrofluazide tablet, per day, for piggies who have had bladder stones removed. It’s been really successful in stopping the recurrence of stones. He also advises to stop pellets completely and to feed porridge oats instead.
 
If it is any consolation to you, I have had 3 sows with stones that size that have come through their bladder ops well (5 bladder stone ops in all) until I got my diet right - at that time there was a lot of very contradictory and confusing advice around, and before that, there was basically nothing useful at all! :( I haven't had any bladder ops in the last 5 years, so the right diet can really make a difference.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this, it really helps my hopes hearing you've had to do this a staggering 5 times and your piggies were alright... Are you able to tell me the exact diet you feed yours? I would really like to know, perhaps I can do the same :)
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Our vet, Simon Maddock, now prescribes 1/8 of a bendrofluazide tablet, per day, for piggies who have had bladder stones removed. It’s been really successful in stopping the recurrence of stones. He also advises to stop pellets completely and to feed porridge oats instead.
Click to expand...
Are there any articles about bendrofluazide for piggies I can read? I've not heard of it before, sounds interesting. Also, you can really feed only porridge oats? Does it give them all the vitamins etc?
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
Thank you for this, it really helps my hopes hearing you've had to do this a staggering 5 times and your piggies were alright... Are you able to tell me the exact diet you feed yours? I would really like to know, perhaps I can do the same :)
Click to expand...

I am feeding basically the sample diet in our diet guide and am going very low on the pellets. If you have continuing issues, I would recommend to use bottled water and ditch pellets altogether; that is where the majority of the calcium in a diet comes froms. Please note that it has taken me about a year between the general change in diet and to clear the last bladder issues/ops; it doesn't necessarily happen overnight; stones that have already formed won't just disappear and a calcium absorption that is unbalanced can take some time to rebalance.

I would recommend to take @furryfriends (TEAS) recommendations to your vet. Anything that can help minimise the risk of a recurrance is a great boon! I often wish for my old piggies I'd known then what I know now, but at least what I have learned the hard way can be used to help other piggies.
 
I'd reccomend Science Selective Grain Free. It is very low in calcium and also the grain free aspect is said to help piggies prone to bladder issues.
 
I filter my guinea pigs water with a jug filter, i also feed thick rings of cucumber every morning and night to help hydrate them.
 
At first I started filtering water using a Brita filter but I kept forgetting to fill it up and I couldn't fit it in the fridge so I started to investigate it. I like in a very hard water area which probably contributed to Anselmo's bladder stone (he was stone free when I lived up North in a soft water area) and the filter wasn't reducing it enough.

So I swapped onto Deesside bottled watee which can be ordered online or found in some Waitross shops or lots of supermarkets in Scotland. Since the swap I've never had sludge issues.

I have noticed since that some supermarket own brand water has low calcium so I now used Morrisons own brand water.

Alot of people use Brita filters and they're fine in areas where the tap water isn't too hard and you have space to accommodate the jug.

I completely stopped feeding Anselmo nuggets after a discussion with my vet. He lost 200g but was a stable 1050g afterwards which was fine for him and helped his arthritis too.

Anselmo was the guinea pig for Cat and Rabbit clinic for Bendrofluazide. I'd spoken to a friend who worked with a zoo vet who had great success with it in many species including rabbits and he wanted to try it on a pig.

So, we trialled it on Anselmo and it worked great.

I've heard of a few others who have tried it and stopped within a week or two. They stop because the pig squeals in pain more or the sludge stains increase greatly.

But you have to ride out this storm with a good pain relief, use Tramadol too if necessary.

The sludge needs to come out and thats what the Bendrofluazide is doing. Very soon Anselmo stopped leaving sludge stains and he did really well.

He had 2 bladder stone surgeries within 9 months of each other before any changes to his diet and after the changes he had 2 years stone free before being euthanised for a completely separate issue.
 
UPDATE: Paisley had her bladder stone removed today! Thankfully she came through fine and is already back with her friends tonight, she is alert, bright and content with everything atm and eating very well, I haven't had to syringe feed her at all. In fact I feel a bit redundant, she doesn't need me lol! Obviously that's a good thing, but I had expected and prepared to be nursing her 24/7 for the next week and not getting any sleep, I am extremely thankful that she is coping so well with such a huge operation.

The vet knows how much I love piggy health related stuff so she saved the stone for me, I'll insert a photo if anyone is interested to see it, turns out it was 1.5cm in length and 0.5cm width, larger than we thought. It was even beginning to calcify down into her urethra, extremely dangerous, we got it out just in time! It did become an emergency situation, I was hoping for more time to get some weight on her but sometimes these things happen.

I thought this was a little ironic - if you look closely at the stone, it's actually the shape of a guinea pig! Trust Paisley to create something like this lol. Bless her, both she and I are so relieved that thing is out and she will be able to urinate without pain within a week or so...

Thank you everyone that shared positive stories of your piggies having their bladder stones removed, I am very glad that Paisley can add to the list of success stories! :)

DSCN3768.webp
 
I also use a brita filter in my kettle aswell as for my pigs, i have noticed that in the 2 years ive had the kettle, no limescale atall has formed, but in our other kettle where i use tap water, it is limescale ridden all over the bottom. So is definitly working 😊

Very pleased for you and your piggy 👍

I thought my almost 3 year old sow had a bladder stone, turns out after an xray it is most probably cystitis. The symptoms match
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
I do use a brita filter but the water is very hard in my area, I may switch to bottled water instead
Click to expand...
Mine too. I have no room for loads of bottle water though. If i run around for my pigs any more, i think il go crazy. I need to take things back to basics as they are becoming more of a project and i forget to just enjoy them. I am thinking of ditching the nuggets
 
So glad to hear Paisley is doing well after her op. Get well soon little one.
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
I do use a brita filter but the water is very hard in my area, I may switch to bottled water instead
Click to expand...

Please just watch out with bottled water - calcium levels in bottled waters vary tremendously (I became aware when a friend had an issue with hypercalcaemia herself and we had to watch out for calcium in everything). Just read and compare labels.

I am so glad your girl is doing well. That is a large stone indeed. She will be feeling sore but hopefully she will soon feel much better.
 
Poor Paisley that's a massive stone for a little piggy, I start to feel mine at 1cm! I am so pleased to hear she is doing well.
I struggled to find a low calcium bottled water (needed for me as well as my piggies), some don't even give the calcium content on the label. I now double filter the water with a Britta filter and am getting no calcium deposits in my kettle, it might be worth a try if you have no luck with bottles.
 
VickiA said:
Please just watch out with bottled water - calcium levels in bottled waters vary tremendously (I became aware when a friend had an issue with hypercalcaemia herself and we had to watch out for calcium in everything). Just read and compare labels.

I am so glad your girl is doing well. That is a large stone indeed. She will be feeling sore but hopefully she will soon feel much better.
Click to expand...

Oh, definitely do this if any of you are thinking of swapping. I was reading all of the bottles in all of the supermarkets when I was looking to swap (like a crazy woman). And the different calcium levels are insane, they vary so much!

Even the so called "low calcium" ones were still close to 100mg.
 
What a stone!
Poor Paisley.
So glad she’s come through her surgery ok and hoping for a full and speedy recovery
 
Panda Pig had a stone that was almost 1cm diameter. He got over the op really well and I switched to a low calcium diet. But he got another one about a year later and the vet said some pigs just do get them no matter what you do. He had a second surgery and got over that really well. The third time though (six months later), he peed a lot of blood and that time he had two stones, one of which seemed to be stuck to the bladder wall. His kidneys were beginning to fail also so we had to pts. But I was amazed at how well he coped with two major surgeries, so were the vets :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top