Bladder issues

[jenny2025]

Hello

My 5 and a half year old male guinea pig has longstanding bladder issues. He was seen by a specialist in April who did an xray, ultra sound and urine sample and diagnosed bladder crystels. He said that a diuretic wouldn't be suitable for the type of crystels he has and I should continue to feed a low calcium diet, continue to encourage lots of fluids and to give metacam when showing signs of pain. Yesterday I noticed he had starting weeing blood. Sometimes it's pink urine other times you can see its bright red blood. I've booked him back in with the specialist vet on Monday morning (first appointment they had) He is continuing to eat, move around his cage, and I've been giving him metacam.

I know we could now be potentially looking at a bladder stone and this may now require surgery. Is there anything additional I should also be offering to prevent recurrence? I've read about the use of glucosamine?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear that.

I will add our pees and stone guide below to help further.
Glucosamine can help protect the bladder but it won’t prevent stones reoccurring. Stones come down to a mixture of diet and genetic predisposition and or course it’s only diet that you can control.

Let us know how you get on at the vet

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

 

[jenny2025]

Thank you very much for your message and the helpful advice.
Ozzy was seen by the specialist who did another urine sample said crystels were present and prescribed bendroflumethiazide and told me to continue with the metacam. Follow up in 2 weeks. He did OK for a few days but I started noticing he was becoming more lethargic than usual for example laying down to eat, and soaking in his own urine. Then he just stopped peeing and his poo was getting stuck coming out. I started syringe feeding and called the emergency vet. The vet said his body is shutting down and when he expressed the bladder he could feel a 'large mass' which he said would be inoperable even if he was in a fit state for surgery (which he wasn't) and unfortunately the decision was made that he was suffering and with no chance of recovery that euthanasia was the best option for him.

It's been very difficult as I keep thinking if anything could have been differently. He had had a xray and ultrasound 3 months ago which showed no stones present. And on examination at the vets only a few days prior there wasn't any mass mentioned.

I will definitely start using the glucosamine as a prevention method for my other piggies. Do you recommend the oxbox urinary tabs or are they only to be used with piggies with known urinary issues?

Thanks. Rip Ozzy

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this and sorry for your loss

Glucosamine isn’t a prevention for stones or crystals. It just helps strengthen the natural glucosamine layer in the bladder.
The oxbow products, to my knowledge, are pretty low in glucosamine anyway. I would not use them as they won’t prevent anything.
If you have piggies with bladder issues then I would recommend switching to piggie parcels urinary support pellets as they contain glucosamine.
Piggie parcels is a company run by a member of this forum

Diet is the only thing you can control when it comes to the formation of stones but it’s not a total answer as there is the genetic element that we cannot control.

 

[Wheekallweek]

Aw poor Ozzie, bladder stones are horrible.

We always use bottles water as we live in a hard water area, our tap water has a lot of minerals in it.

Tesco ashbeck water is the best one, so may we worth a try for your other piggies.

RIP little Ozzie, over the Rainbow Bridge