Bladder Stone Removal Surgery

[Pepepig]

It's been a long time since I've been on here, I used to be here under the username 'fritsthegirl' for those of you that have been here for a while. I'm back for some advice.

I've read all the post operative help threads on here, which has been very useful and assured me some.

My rescue boar Pepe went into surgery last Tuesday for removal of a bladder stone. We think he's 4, but he could actually be older and since he's a rescue, we have no way of knowing. I think he might be older, as his recovery has been very slow. I've had a boar go through this surgery before, and within 4 days he was right back to normal. Pepe however, is really taking his time.

Anyways, the surgery went well, but he was not good when we got him home, I wish we had started feeding him critical care right from the day he had the surgery, but he seemed quite interested in fresh food still, and although he was eating very little, he was eating, so we went with it thinking he'd bounce back in a day or two.

Well he didn't really bounce back as fast as we would have liked. He stayed strong though, definitely finding the energy to fight the medications. He's on metacam and Baytril. We thought, as long as he has energy for this, all is good. But I was so worried about him, and had him in a warm cosy bag with a hot water bottle for several hours every day after his surgery. I would have kept him in there all day, but he was always very keen to get back in his hay box with the girls and I didn't want him to get depressed being on his own. He lost 100g of weight between the day of the op and when he was weighed 4 days later.

On Thursday afternoon, two days after surgery he peed a lot of blood. I got such a fright and prepared for the worst. We took him into the vet Friday morning, and they kept him in for the day. They gave him some strong pain relief and a gut stimulant. Apparently, he was fine there, still eating only a little and they stated that the blood in the urine was normal. (They might have told us that blood in the urine was not necessarily a bad sign when we took him home from surgery.) They didn't force feed him, as they said as long as he is eating something, even just a little, it's OK.

So here we are 5 days after surgery, and his appetite has waned even more. We started hand feeding him critical care every 2-3 hours on Friday, as we knew he was weak and we figured there was no hope for him if he didn't have the energy in him to get better.

He doesn't really move unless he has to, and sleeps all day, but I don't think he's in pain. Actually, he's a very lazy boy even when he's fit and healthy, so the sleeping part is probably pretty normal. He's not grinding his teeth, and his body is pretty laid out and relaxed when he's sleeping, he's not hunched and he looks comfortable. Its the lack of interest in fresh food that worries me. He hides his head at all foods now, and seems almost annoyed when I put something nice in front of his nose.

My guess is that the antibiotics are ruining his appetite. All the other signs point towards him recovering, albeit slow, his fir still looks shiny, and his eyes are bright and he has plenty of kick when we're force feeding him. He quite likes the critical care once we get the syringe in his mouth.

The 2 girls that he lives with have been snuggling up beside him to keep him warm, which I think is a good sign too. From experience, when one gin is super ill or dying, the other pigs just ignore them, but this definitely isn't the case with Pepe. Lydia and Red (the two girls he lives with) have both taken turns to sit beside him.

I just wonder is anyone else has been through this, and if you think this is all normal. We've done the best that we can by him, and I hope once he stops with the Baytril, that his healthy appetite will return. It's so weird to see him turning his nose up at anything, as he's normally so super into food.

Here's a pic of him in the hay box with his 2 sisters. He's the black one, and he's such a little darling boy. I just want to make sure what he's going through is normal. He has another vet check up tomorrow afternoon but I find that guinea pig owners know so much and you might be able to rest my mind and tell me that he's recovering normally.

 

[rome_italy]

of course I am not a vet and I cannot help you, but considering your description of Pepe's vital signs and his appetite and every GOOD thing you are noticing about him, I just want to tell you that I had a little daughter (years ago) with bladder troubles who underwent two surgeries into a specialised unit for these issues and what I have seen is that blood after surgery is always a normal event; I remember that little children (also newborns) used to sleep the whole day, that they ate less and lost weight, but what doctors cared of was if they could wee and eat just a little. All children lost weight and left the hospital very weak. Antibiotics were necessary for months and urine analysis had not been normal for long. But all the children recovered although parents were worried and often asked doctors for vitamins and supplements (never prescribed).
I guess it is the same with guinea pigs... and the fact that the other piggies are sniffing something good around him sounds as an optimistic signal.
Anyway, in case of doubt, don't hesitate to call your vet (and also to have a talk with a second doctor)

 

[Guinea Mum]

It's been a long time since I've been on here, I used to be here under the username 'fritsthegirl' for those of you that have been here for a while. I'm back for some advice.

I've read all the post operative help threads on here, which has been very useful and assured me some.

My rescue boar Pepe went into surgery last Tuesday for removal of a bladder stone. We think he's 4, but he could actually be older and since he's a rescue, we have no way of knowing. I think he might be older, as his recovery has been very slow. I've had a boar go through this surgery before, and within 4 days he was right back to normal. Pepe however, is really taking his time.

Anyways, the surgery went well, but he was not good when we got him home, I wish we had started feeding him critical care right from the day he had the surgery, but he seemed quite interested in fresh food still, and although he was eating very little, he was eating, so we went with it thinking he'd bounce back in a day or two.

Well he didn't really bounce back as fast as we would have liked. He stayed strong though, definitely finding the energy to fight the medications. He's on metacam and Baytril. We thought, as long as he has energy for this, all is good. But I was so worried about him, and had him in a warm cosy bag with a hot water bottle for several hours every day after his surgery. I would have kept him in there all day, but he was always very keen to get back in his hay box with the girls and I didn't want him to get depressed being on his own. He lost 100g of weight between the day of the op and when he was weighed 4 days later.

On Thursday afternoon, two days after surgery he peed a lot of blood. I got such a fright and prepared for the worst. We took him into the vet Friday morning, and they kept him in for the day. They gave him some strong pain relief and a gut stimulant. Apparently, he was fine there, still eating only a little and they stated that the blood in the urine was normal. (They might have told us that blood in the urine was not necessarily a bad sign when we took him home from surgery.) They didn't force feed him, as they said as long as he is eating something, even just a little, it's OK.

So here we are 5 days after surgery, and his appetite has waned even more. We started hand feeding him critical care every 2-3 hours on Friday, as we knew he was weak and we figured there was no hope for him if he didn't have the energy in him to get better.

He doesn't really move unless he has to, and sleeps all day, but I don't think he's in pain. Actually, he's a very lazy boy even when he's fit and healthy, so the sleeping part is probably pretty normal. He's not grinding his teeth, and his body is pretty laid out and relaxed when he's sleeping, he's not hunched and he looks comfortable. Its the lack of interest in fresh food that worries me. He hides his head at all foods now, and seems almost annoyed when I put something nice in front of his nose.

My guess is that the antibiotics are ruining his appetite. All the other signs point towards him recovering, albeit slow, his fir still looks shiny, and his eyes are bright and he has plenty of kick when we're force feeding him. He quite likes the critical care once we get the syringe in his mouth.

The 2 girls that he lives with have been snuggling up beside him to keep him warm, which I think is a good sign too. From experience, when one gin is super ill or dying, the other pigs just ignore them, but this definitely isn't the case with Pepe. Lydia and Red (the two girls he lives with) have both taken turns to sit beside him.

I just wonder is anyone else has been through this, and if you think this is all normal. We've done the best that we can by him, and I hope once he stops with the Baytril, that his healthy appetite will return. It's so weird to see him turning his nose up at anything, as he's normally so super into food.

Here's a pic of him in the hay box with his 2 sisters. He's the black one, and he's such a little darling boy. I just want to make sure what he's going through is normal. He has another vet check up tomorrow afternoon but I find that guinea pig owners know so much and you might be able to rest my mind and tell me that he's recovering normally.

View attachment 63829

I don't have any experience like yours, but I want you to know I read your post and you seem to be doing an amazing job with him. I wish him a full and healthy recovery.

 

[lauraboara]

I have had this experience and a couple of older boys have taken longer to recover after similar ops. The slower recovery has tended to be linked to more damage to the bladder wall because of where the stone was.
They do need a lot of pain killer / anti-inflammatory to deal with post op like this - how much metacam is he on? I have also backed up metacam with Tramadol if needed but obviously your vet would need to advise.
Would your vet consider Septrin rather than Baytril - considered less harsh on their guts and also better for bladder related infection. Presuming this is precautionary post op anti-biotic so short course?
Can you supplement his gut flora with a probiotic like Pro C or pooh soup from a healthy pig? That might help his appetite.
Another thing that may help is glucosamine - the idea is that it helps line the bladder and makes bladder pigs more comfortable. I get veggie glucosamine from Holland and Barrett but there are others.
Extra fluid helps, I syringe (carefully) cooled camomile tea - seems to go down better than water but syringe feed is also mainly fluid so that is good to keep him going.
I am very much hoping that your pig keeps recovering it just might take a while but you have some little positive signs! If he doesn't rally, it might be worth testing kidney function ( blood test) but that is for another day. Good luck for your check up.
@pig in the city has also had post op slow recovery in bladder pigs so just tagging her in case I have missed something and @Jaycey has had a boy with 2 stone ops!

 

[Pepepig]

of course I am not a vet and I cannot help you, but considering your description of Pepe's vital signs and his appetite and every GOOD thing you are noticing about him, I just want to tell you that I had a little daughter (years ago) with bladder troubles who underwent two surgeries into a specialised unit for these issues and what I have seen is that blood after surgery is always a normal event; I remember that little children (also newborns) used to sleep the whole day, that they ate less and lost weight, but what doctors cared of was if they could wee and eat just a little. All children lost weight and left the hospital very weak. Antibiotics were necessary for months and urine analysis had not been normal for long. But all the children recovered although parents were worried and often asked doctors for vitamins and supplements (never prescribed).
I guess it is the same with guinea pigs... and the fact that the other piggies are sniffing something good around him sounds as an optimistic signal.
Anyway, in case of doubt, don't hesitate to call your vet (and also to have a talk with a second doctor)

Thanks so much for your reply. I can't imagine what this must be like to go through with a child. In fact, during this care of him I have often given thought to parents with critically ill children. I am truly in awe of their strength and resilience because I know a little bit now about how steresful and consuming it is.

 

[Pepepig]

I have had this experience and a couple of older boys have taken longer to recover after similar ops. The slower recovery has tended to be linked to more damage to the bladder wall because of where the stone was.
They do need a lot of pain killer / anti-inflammatory to deal with post op like this - how much metacam is he on? I have also backed up metacam with Tramadol if needed but obviously your vet would need to advise.
Would your vet consider Septrin rather than Baytril - considered less harsh on their guts and also better for bladder related infection. Presuming this is precautionary post op anti-biotic so short course?
Can you supplement his gut flora with a probiotic like Pro C or pooh soup from a healthy pig? That might help his appetite.
Another thing that may help is glucosamine - the idea is that it helps line the bladder and makes bladder pigs more comfortable. I get veggie glucosamine from Holland and Barrett but there are others.
Extra fluid helps, I syringe (carefully) cooled camomile tea - seems to go down better than water but syringe feed is also mainly fluid so that is good to keep him going.
I am very much hoping that your pig keeps recovering it just might take a while but you have some little positive signs! If he doesn't rally, it might be worth testing kidney function ( blood test) but that is for another day. Good luck for your check up.
@pig in the city has also had post op slow recovery in bladder pigs so just tagging her in case I have missed something and @Jaycey has had a boy with 2 stone ops!

Hi, thank you so much for your reply. It is likely there was some bladder damage from the stone and the vet said there was some calcification in the urethra too. Perhaps this wasn't such an issue in the last boar, which is why he recovered fairly quickly. I dare say you're right to think this existing damage has added complication to his recovery time. He was put on Baytril when we brought him in to the vet last Friday. That was 3 days before his op, so he's been on it for 9 days now. When we first brought him to the vet, it was because he was peeing some blood, not much, just a little. I will definitely ask about alternative antibiotics tomorrow, but I really hope they will say he can stop taking the meds in the next day or two. I have considered taking the girls poos to help his gut after reading that on this forum, but so far he's been passing stools quite normally, they're just a bit thinner in shape than usual. He's just had a few mouthfuls of grass and another 3 ml of critical care with his metacam. He's definitely perking up, and after his meal was sitting at the opening that usually leads to the upper deck of his 'ranch', we closed it off after his op, as we didnt want him jumping around. He was sitting there probably wondering why that had been closed off. He hasn't been very interested in his surroundings up until now, so we opened it again and that seemed to make him happy. I think he's on the mend. I might make up his next food fill with camomile, that's a really good idea. He is on .6ml of Metacam, and .5ml of Baytril.

 

[rome_italy]

Thanks so much for your reply. I can't imagine what this must be like to go through with a child. In fact, during this care of him I have often given thought to parents with critically ill children. I am truly in awe of their strength and resilience because I know a little bit now about how steresful and consuming it is.

I guess it is worse with a pet because he is not able to talk and nobody knows whether he is in pain... But those signs you have mentioned of are very important! I am sure that all of this is normal; anyway your pig is not underweight, he has a lot of reserve...
You will spend bad nights, I know...

 

[Pepepig]

I guess it is worse with a pet because he is not able to talk and nobody knows whether he is in pain... But those signs you have mentioned of are very important! I am sure that all of this is normal; anyway your pig is not underweight, he has a lot of reserve...
You will spend bad nights, I know...

LOL, too true, he weighed in at 1200g! We're grateful for that extra he had now. He was a strong and big boy, which is why we agreed to do the surgery. I guess we forgot about his age, but I think he'll be back to normal in a couple of weeks. You just keep doing your best, and that has to be good enough I guess. I certainly don't get the feeling that he's given up, so I won't either.

 

[DM030819]

@Pepepig Handfeeding is the most important thing to the moment. Their guts need to keep moving or they will shut down. You need to weigh him daily at the same time and then syringe feed him enough to keep his weight stable.

When you see the vet tomorrow, or feel free to ring them today, ask for gut stimulant medicine. Once the guy has slowed it can be hard to get it back up to speed by itself so they medicine can help. This could be one reason why he's not eating.

Probiotics are really helpful with antibiotics. If you aren't using them, get some and give them 1.5-2 hours after his antibiotics.

My guess is that the strong pain relief given may have been buprecare (buprenorphine). It's great for pain relief but can sometimes turn a pig very zombie like, very lazy. Uninterested in food, just wanting to laze around.

It can take about 5 days for it to completely clear a system so you just have to fight it with aggressive syringe feeding. When you take him back tomorrow refuse another injection as he won't need as much pain relief.

 

[pig in the city]

I don't really have anything more to add, l agree its probably the antibiotics affecting his appetite, l wonder if he still needs them now? Healthy pooh mixed into his feed , gut stimulants and adequate pain relief should do the trick. Hope he is on the mend soon x

 

[Pepepig]

I don't really have anything more to add, l agree its probably the antibiotics affecting his appetite, l wonder if he still needs them now? Healthy pooh mixed into his feed , gut stimulants and adequate pain relief should do the trick. Hope he is on the mend soon x

Thanks for the comment. I mixed a poo into his feed tonight. He didn't seem to mind and it stands to reason to do that. They usually eat their own, but he can't right now. It was funny though, he was eating someone else's poo. Lol.

 

[Pepepig]

@Pepepig Handfeeding is the most important thing to the moment. Their guts need to keep moving or they will shut down. You need to weigh him daily at the same time and then syringe feed him enough to keep his weight stable.

When you see the vet tomorrow, or feel free to ring them today, ask for gut stimulant medicine. Once the guy has slowed it can be hard to get it back up to speed by itself so they medicine can help. This could be one reason why he's not eating.

Probiotics are really helpful with antibiotics. If you aren't using them, get some and give them 1.5-2 hours after his antibiotics.

My guess is that the strong pain relief given may have been buprecare (buprenorphine). It's great for pain relief but can sometimes turn a pig very zombie like, very lazy. Uninterested in food, just wanting to laze around.

It can take about 5 days for it to completely clear a system so you just have to fight it with aggressive syringe feeding. When you take him back tomorrow refuse another injection as he won't need as much pain relief.

I just spent a long time replying to this, but for some reason it didn't post. Thank you for replying though, I forgot what a support this forum is when your piggy is ill. Thankfully the vet agreed to stop all meds when I saw her this afternoon. Pepe was in fine form on the walk to the vet. He was headbutting the cover he had on him, all pissy that he'd been taken out of his comfort zone back into his 'sick' bag. I take this to be a good sign. He was 50g lighter so we'll keep up the hand feeding until he's eating normally.

 

[Pepepig]

Here's a pic of Pepe in the background with Lydia. This is the first time he's been up to the loft for about a week. It's a milestone.

 

[rome_italy]

very good! and reading about eating healthy someone else's poo made me recall of an experimental treatment in use here in Rome, in one of our University hospitals, the one where my daughter is studying Nursing: there is a department where doctors are experimenting this method (of course healthy poo is given as a drug) obtaining excellent results even in sick patients affected by strong bacteria!
And yes, strong antibiotics can kill our energy...

 

[Pepepig]

very good! and reading about eating healthy someone else's poo made me recall of an experimental treatment in use here in Rome, in one of our University hospitals, the one where my daughter is studying Nursing: there is a department where doctors are experimenting this method (of course healthy poo is given as a drug) obtaining excellent results even in sick patients affected by strong bacteria!
And yes, strong antibiotics can kill our energy...

How funny, one of my friends just yesterday told me also about a study he'd read about poo being a medicine for humans, in a totally controlled experiment, it had some evidence that it was effective. Maybe guineas are leagues ahead of us with eating their own poo?

 

[Pepepig]

Well, it's a few days later, and he's still not eating. But he's still with us! I've taken the last couple of days off work and I'm force feeding him every couple of hours. I'm picking up some gut medication for him tomorrow in case he needs that. I spoke to the vet today but she is at a loss too, she said he can't really be in pain as it's 10 days after the op now. I agree, he certainly isn't showing signs of pain, no tooth grinding, and he's pretty relaxed when he sleeps. He's had 10 full days of antibiotics to fight any infection. His pee looks almost clear, just a little evidence of old blood maybe, his poos are very infrequent, small and a little dry. Unless something is seriously wrong internally, he should be recovering. His little sisters are constantly with him, sitting, or sleeping beside him. Usually with a very sick or dying pig, the others ignore him, but this isn't the case with him. I'm going to go with it, and heed the advice given on here and keep force feeding him. I hope the gut meds will see him right tomorrow. Until then, its me, him, and a syringe.

Here's a pic of him this afternoon, snoozing with Lydia, his little 'sister'.

 

[DM030819]

Baytril is notorious for being an appetite suppressor, it can put pigs off their food. Hopefully now that he's finished it then he'll start to show an interest in food in a day or two. Continue with the handfeeding.

Pigs are different to us in how they react to not eating for a while. We can switch back on and get back to eating after a few days of not. Pigs can't. If their digestive system has slowed or stopped they need to have it restarted by us. That's where the gut stimulant and handfeeding comes in. It gets things going again. Once they start to feel like their stomach is empty again they'll eat for themselves.

 

[Pepepig]

Baytril is notorious for being an appetite suppressor, it can put pigs off their food. Hopefully now that he's finished it then he'll start to show an interest in food in a day or two. Continue with the handfeeding.

Pigs are different to us in how they react to not eating for a while. We can switch back on and get back to eating after a few days of not. Pigs can't. If their digestive system has slowed or stopped they need to have it restarted by us. That's where the gut stimulant and handfeeding comes in. It gets things going again. Once they start to feel like their stomach is empty again they'll eat for themselves.

I never knew antibiotics could have such an adverse effect on a gin. Our last pig wasn't given antibiotics for the same operation. Pepe was given something to stimulate his gut 4 or so days ago when he went in for a day of intensive treatment at the vet. I don't think it did much to whet his appetite, nor do I think the vet did anything different to what we would have done for him that day. I don't know exactly what was given, plus he was still on antibiotics then. I have no idea how long these medications last in a pig body. He was still eating a little then, more than he is now.

I'm getting some more gut stimulant tomorrow, which I can administer myself. I really hope this helps him. He's so mad at me making him eat, that he 'bit' me today. When I say bite, he really just touched his top teeth on my hand, he didn't even bite down. Such a sweet, gentle little guy he is. Even when he's mad, he can't be mad. I want him to be back to normal, but I feel like it will take some time and that maybe he might never get back to how he was before. I should celebrate the small things I guess. He did eat one single leaf of parsley today and before he got it in his mouth, he seemed pretty excited about it.

I want him to have quality of life though, and as far as I know right now, he still does have this. But how do you know when to stop with the human intervention? I'm not saying I'm ready to yet, but how long could hand feeding go on for? Does anyone have experience doing this longer than a week for post operative? I think with tooth problems it can go on for months. My sister had a pig who had his teeth filed down and she was hand feeding him for weeks. Contrary to Pepe though, her pig loved the critical care and it kept him going. With Pepe, we're really forcing it, and he hates it!

 

[DM030819]

The gut stimulant should help him feel better. If you can ask the vet to inject the first dose for you, as getting it straight into their system can work wonders.

I've know people who had syringe fed for a pigs whole life, especially if they have missing teeth. I've had a few pigs who have had medicine daily for years and they do get used to it.

If they are bright and happy then it's worth fighting, there's always the chance that they'll get better.

Spending so much time feeding an ill pig helps you make a special bond with them. If it ever came to a point when it's just too much for them you would know. They tell it to you, you can see it in their eyes. They lose their spark.

How is he doing weight wise? Is there any certain veg that he would kill for? If so, try him with a bit of that to see if it rouses any interest.

I hope he feels better soon x

 

[Pepepig]

Double post

 

[Pepepig]

The gut stimulant should help him feel better. If you can ask the vet to inject the first dose for you, as getting it straight into their system can work wonders.

I've know people who had syringe fed for a pigs whole life, especially if they have missing teeth. I've had a few pigs who have had medicine daily for years and they do get used to it.

If they are bright and happy then it's worth fighting, there's always the chance that they'll get better.

Spending so much time feeding an ill pig helps you make a special bond with them. If it ever came to a point when it's just too much for them you would know. They tell it to you, you can see it in their eyes. They lose their spark.

How is he doing weight wise? Is there any certain veg that he would kill for? If so, try him with a bit of that to see if it rouses any interest.

I hope he feels better soon x

That is honestly one of the kindest thing I have ever read. Because you're right, I'm closer to him now, and to me, he still looks bright in the eye. I have said this at least 10 times in as many days, 'Sure, he's knocking at deaths door, but look at his eyes, they look bright!' Thank you, honestly. You guys have helped me get through the dark times with him. When he's well, I'll be sure to make a special pic of him, he's so handsome and actually looks even better now that he's a little lighter. He has enjoyed a bit of peeled broccoli stem tonight. Weirdly, he's enjoying all the things that are bad for guineas with calcium stones. But at this time, I'm going to give him whatever he will eat....

 

[Pepepig]

Oh man, I keep posting, and I'm not sure if it's my connection or this site, but I keep thinking something has posted twice, and/or losing replies.

I haven't weighed him since I was last at the vet, but he had dropped almost 200g in a week. We've been force feeding a lot more since then, but I'll weigh him tomorrow.

You're so right about brightness of the eyes. I think I've said this more than a few times in the last week. 'Yeh sure, he might be knocking at death's door, but look at his eyes, they're still bright!' You do know, when you know your pig.

Thanks for the good advice and words of encouragement.

 

[Pepepig]

His favourites are all the things he's been banned from. After the last pig went through this, we didn't want this to happen again so we've always avoided the high calcium stuff that piggies seem to love....broccoli, dandelions, spinach, parsley. He never gets this normally, but we've been tempting him with all the things he never gets. Tonight he actually ate a tiny piece of peeled broccoli stem. I'm happy to give him whatever he wants for now though, I just want him to eat.

 

[DM030819]

Yeah, you have to weigh up feeding them stuff that they will eat but isn't the best for them, or not giving them what they want.

I have a boar who is currently having weight loss problems. I'm very tempted to buy them some Readigrass. I've avoided it for years as it's high in calcium but I know he'll love it.

You just have to be careful about giving them stuff that they aren't used to. My boy loves grass and I've grown them some. I've had to limit it to a few pieces a day at the moment as it can cause gas/bloat issues. He'd happily eat it all if I let him.

Keep going with the syringe feeding. The goal is to try to maintain their weigh until they can eat enough for themselves.

He sounds like he has lots of fight left in him, and he has a very caring owner who is doing their very best for him. You're a great team, together you'll get him eating properly again.

 

[Pepepig]

I don't know where he's getting his energy from to be honest. He started on the gut meds today, it's called metoclopramide, and he has to take 0.5ml every 6 hours. I gave him his first dose 5 or so hours ago. I weighed him just now and he was 950g. He has lost a lot of weight, he weighed in at 1200g before his op and has lost weight since I last weighed him. It's a worry. I'll try to force him more feed each session. I've been force feeding him during the day for the past 2 days, I really wish I had done this from day one since his operation. Even the vet didn't say we had to force feed until he stopped eating. His appetite went pretty quickly, but he was still nibbling various things. We thought this classified as eating, but I realise now, gins need substance to digest.

My partner gets home soon and Pepe is much better taking the force feeding from him (because he is much better at giving it to him). We'll aim to get another 6ml of critical care into him. I don't even know how many ml's is recommended for him to maintain his weight, but we were obviously not giving even half enough during the first 5 days. We've ramped it up in the last 2 days though, and he probably totals about 20ml per day now. Should it be much more?

 

[DM030819]

@Pepepig Sorry for the slow reply, I was out this morning.

The amount that you need to syringe feed him will depend on how his weight is going. If he's losing weight each time you weigh him then he needs more. If he's maintaining then he's getting the right amount, and once he starts eating more on his own you can reduce it.

Sometimes they'll happily take upto 20ml in one session but sometimes you need to split it over a few sessions. Whatever works best for you and Pepe.

The Metoclopramide should be helping things along. I've used it quite a few times for pigs that aren't eating, and for pigs who have bloat. It'll help get his guts moving properly again. Then, as he won't be feeling as full he should show more of an interest.

Even though he's not eating it still give him plenty of hay, pellets and veg as he would normally have. It might end up having to be thrown away, but having it there might just tempt him. Try getting him out on his own for a little while with some hay, pellets and veg too. Sometimes they'll have a nibble if they out on their own.

How's he feeling today?

 

[Pepepig]

He's still not eating really, he did have the petals off a dandelion flower this morning while I stroked him, just before I fed him and gave him his meds. I do find he is more likely to eat when he is out of the enclosure with the girls. So we always offer him something fresh before we force feed him.

We also mashed some banana and made a sort of smoothie with some watered down pineapple juice. He seemed to like that a lot, and had 8ml of that plus a couple of syringes of critical care. I don't see much improvement in him yet, except for that he seemed to enjoy the mashed banana. Sweet tooth. We'll keep at it, and see how he does throughout the day. He's just snoozing with the girls, doesn't move around much at all.

I'll keep offering his usual stuff for sure, grass, broccoli, and hay which is something he nibbles at on and off. He's peeing and pooing, and his poos look a little better than yesterday, not as dried out. If the medicine is working, it's working very slowly, but maybe this is to be expected.

Thanks for all the sound advice, again!

 

[PAMELAKT]

I had a boy who had bladder stone surgery but he bounced back quickly - I will say tho the stone came back again.

I don't remember him having antibiotic tho, but I can't remember exactly. Tramadol definitely is good... I hate baytrill!

 

[Pepepig]

Yeh, we've been through this with another boar, and he bounced back much, much quicker. He was an older guy too, he almost died coming out of the op, but he didn't get antibiotics before or after. If I had known just how much the antibiotics could affect Pepe, I would have taken the risk and let him try going through the operation without. I really don't agree with giving antibiotics as a preventative and in retrospect he had only a mild indication of infection when we took him in, so he might have been OK. It does look like his gut is kicking back into action, several small little poos coming through. I worry though, because they're dry and he's still not eating. He's peeing normally though, so this at least is working!

 

[DM030819]

Small poos are a good start. At least something is coming through. Keep going!