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Bladder Stone Removal And Cystotomy - Violet's Story

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emilyrose1239

emilyrose1239

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Hi all,

Just wanted to share with you my experiences over the past week, just in case anyone has similar issues and it might help. Obviously I am not qualified in any way to give out medical advice, but I wanted to document my story!

This is Violet - I rescued her just over a year ago with her sister Primrose, and we think she is around 2 years old now.

2014-05-08 20.33.36.webp

During the week 15th September, I noticed that she wasn't her usual self, she was more subdued than normal. Still eating and drinking fine, but towards the end of the week I was watching her and noticed that she was having trouble pooping and weeing, and she was making little squeaks of pain. Something definitely wasn't right, so I booked her in for an appointment at the vets and took her in on Sunday morning.

The vet was very nice, I explained the problem and he palpated her stomach/bladder, and said that he could feel something there, but in order to find out what it was he would need to do some x-rays. We agreed to this, so she had 3. The x-rays showed not only that she had a bladder stone, she also had cysts on her ovaries. :no: An operation would be required to remove all three. We were determined to do all we could for her, but I was very worried.

We went away with some pain relief, and the assurance that a vet would call me asap to schedule an op.

We got her in on Thursday, and it took two vets to remove both cysts and the bladder stone. I am pleased to say the op was a success, she was very stable under the anesthetic and we picked her up on Thursday to take her home.

Thursday night she was very groggy - understandably, and the vet advised us to keep her separated from Primrose for 24 hours. I gave her some critical care that evening. She came home with Baytril, Fibreplex and some other tablets to sprinkle on her food that were to help reduce the inflammation of the bladder.

Friday I was lucky enough to be able to take the day of work to watch her, and in the morning she still seemed very unhappy, and we thought this might be in part due to the separation of the two - Primrose was also very subdued, so we decided the put them together, as I could keep an eye on them both. This definitetly cheered them both up, and after that Violet did amazingly! She was eating at regular intervals throughout the day, with a few poops and wees too. I was feeling relieved.

Saturday morning however, I came down to find a lot of blood in the cage. The vet had told me that her bladder did have a lot of blood in it, and to expect some, but it seems like a huge amount to me. I called the vet straight away, and we got her an appointment for Saturday afternoon. She was due in for a post op check on Sunday so we moved it forward.

We went in, and the vet was very pleased with her progress. She pressed on her bladder, and there was no discomfort. Apparently just before the op even when she was under GA, when the vet pushed on her bladder she flinched and cried out in pain, the poor little thing.

So, she got given the all clear from the vets, hooray!

However, Saturday night she was refusing to eat again - we tried to encourage her, but I gave her critical care again just to give her that boost.

Sunday morning she was much perkier and eating and drinking fine, and again today she is doing very well - almost back to her usual self. She even wheeked yesterday for her veggies! It was so lovely to hear.

I realise I have written an essay! I would like to say thanks to all on the forum - I have the advice invaluable particularly on hand feeding.

Its been a bit of an emotional roller coaster, and I know we're not out of the woods yet, but I am so proud of little Violet, she is such a great pig!

2014-09-26 09.32.35.webp
Here she is the day after her op.

Thanks for reading if you've got this far!
 
@emilyrose1239 Aww, poor little thing. She is gorgeous. I am pleased the Operation was a success and she is recovering well. Continued healing vibes.
 
Poor thing! That was a HUGE operation removing both a stone and ovarian cysts. Glad that she is still with you and will hopefully pull through. Is she fully spayed now or did she just have the cyst removed?

You may find the tips in our hand feeding guide helpful: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-hand-feeding-guide.115359/ Please continue to weigh her daily at the same time to monitor her food intake and if necessary, top her up.

You may also look at using cystease or vegetarian glucosamine as a regular supplement to coat the bladder walls and adjust the diet to a low calcium one (including filtering the water and looking for low calcium pellets).
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/low-calcium-diet-for-bladder-piggies.105930/
 
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Thanks all, it's amazing that she has been through such a massive op but she has recovered so well. I am going to be keeping a very close eye on her, will definitely be weighing her daily to make sure she is doing ok and eating and drinking enough. She is fully spayed now. Thanks for the tips on low calcium diet, this is something I will most certainly be adopting - want to try all I can to stop any re-occurance. Hope she will continue to recover as well as she has so far :)

With regards to the cystease/vegetarian glucosamine - where is the best place to get these?
 
emilyrose1239 said:
Thanks all, it's amazing that she has been through such a massive op but she has recovered so well. I am going to be keeping a very close eye on her, will definitely be weighing her daily to make sure she is doing ok and eating and drinking enough. She is fully spayed now. Thanks for the tips on low calcium diet, this is something I will most certainly be adopting - want to try all I can to stop any re-occurance. Hope she will continue to recover as well as she has so far :)

With regards to the cystease/vegetarian glucosamine - where is the best place to get these?
Click to expand...

You can get cystease online from several providers like animed, hyperdrug, viovet or vetuk. It is a cat food supplement, as they are the other species that also is very prone to bladder problems. You can get vegetarian or vegan glucosamine from a pharmacy or online. A human tablet gives you about 4 piggy doses; I mix a ground up tablet with a small amount of water (dividable by four), keep the mixture in the fridge and shake well before use. Cystease is also mainly glucosamine, by the way.
 
She is a very gorgeous cheeky looking little lady. Glad she is doing well.
 
I obviously spoke too soon - got Violet out last night for her meds and her wound has come open - not sure if she has been nibbling at it - quite possibly. This was at 10pm so called the emergency vets and took her in; it wasn't a simple re-stitch either as something was coming through the wound - but very fortunately it was a bit of tissue, so they managed to open her up, remove that tissue and give everything a flush before stitching her back up again. Was out until 3am but got her back home, and she seemed pretty bright. Ate a little last night and again this morning, and I'm taking her back to our normal hours vet this afternoon for a check.

Any advice on how to stop her from fussing her wound?

:( she is such a fighter.
 
I am very sorry for your problems! :(

Could you put some holes in an old sock to make a little vest? However, piggies are notoriously good at wiggling out of anything, so don't have too high hopes!
 
Hi,

I'm glad your bladder stone surgery and cyst removal went well. My guinea pig a few weeks underwent the exact same thing, but not the cyst removal. What you said was how she was, very groggy and had to keep hand feeding her/syringing water into her after the op. She was on painkiller and antibiotics for a few days after this, which then she went for a visit to see how she is and they were happy for her to be off the medication. Unfortunately, she stopped completely eating and drinking after a week or so, she was also passing very few poo's, we got her seen to the vet straight away which they gave her recovery food, injections to help make her stomach move properly (they suspected gut statsis) and a few injections to hydrate her- a day later she passed away as her body just couldnt take it :( such a shame after all the hard work of making her better from her bladder stone surgery, and then 2 weeks later she passed away. I'm just glad that your pig is managing to cope and I wish all the best for him as even a week or so after an op is still critical in my opinion x
 
Sorry to hear about your loss Guinea_Lover, it is so sad especially if they have managed to get through the big op.

Violet is doing much better today - she went for a check up at the vets yesterday and they were very pleased with her - her wound is loads better (they have glued it now) so hopefully it will start to heal up properly. She is still on antibiotics, and fibreplex at the moment. Her appetite is really good and she seems much like her normal self. I am just taking each day at a time now with her recovery as you just don't know what is going to happen. But so far so good today :)
 
emilyrose1239 said:
Sorry to hear about your loss Guinea_Lover, it is so sad especially if they have managed to get through the big op.

Violet is doing much better today - she went for a check up at the vets yesterday and they were very pleased with her - her wound is loads better (they have glued it now) so hopefully it will start to heal up properly. She is still on antibiotics, and fibreplex at the moment. Her appetite is really good and she seems much like her normal self. I am just taking each day at a time now with her recovery as you just don't know what is going to happen. But so far so good today :)
Click to expand...

That is great to hear! All the best!
 
Violet is still doing great :-) she is back at her pre-op weight and her appetite is back, she has been wheeking at us a lot for food! Hope she continues to do well.
 
Wonderful news! You should be over the worst now; hopefully the rest will go well and she will be as good new once the wound has fully healed!
 
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