Bladder stones 4.5yo boar

[RachelH]

Hi all,

I am posting because I follow your advice on most things and at the present moment my 4.5yo boar Ralph has confirmed (X-ray below) bladder stones. My vet told me the only option was to do surgery (which I don’t think he is strong enough to survive due to losing his best friend only a few weeks ago and also being an older pig)or to PTS.
I managed to get a second opinion as I was not comfortable putting him to sleep without trying my best and the second vet has suggested trying potassium citrate 75mg twice daily and cranberry supplements to try to break up the calcium. Has anyone had success with this?
He was peeing blood up until a week ago and he is now on Baytril and metacam which has cleared this up and made him much more lively.

Am I grasping at straws here or can I manage this for him through this type of treatment? Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted. Thank you.

 

[dan3008]

I dont know about the dosage. But I've had success with potassium citrate in both cats and humans with bladder stones. So probably worth a try

 

[Siikibam]

I don’t think that stones can be dissolved in piggies. The issue is their getting stuck in a little nook in their ureter. Have you been topping him up with syringe feeds? You need to try and get 60-90ml into him in a 24 hour period. So you have to feed during the night as well. Weigh daily at the same time and if he’s still losing them you have to up the syringe feeding.

 

[RachelH]

I don’t think that stones can be dissolved in piggies. The issue is their getting stuck in a little nook in their ureter. Have you been topping him up with syringe feeds? You need to try and get 60-90ml into him in a 24 hour period. So you have to feed during the night as well. Weigh daily at the same time and if he’s still losing them you have to up the syringe feeding.

Hi thank you for your reply. It’s not really his weight that is the concern more about him being comfortable and happy. He is eating like normal and although he lost some weight when in pain, when he went on the metacam he put it back on.
I really need advice on wether the stones can be managed with without surgery as I’m really scared he wouldn’t survive I feel he is too old to even take the anaesthetic. Obviously if a stone had gotten into his ureter and blocked I would put him straight in for surgery to deal with this as I would have no other option but if I can try to keep the stones at bay ( I’m really sad that you have said they can’t be dissolved- my vet just said it would be worth a try) and him out of pain that is all I want - just to try everything possible that doesn’t mean going under the anaesthetic and knife. Thank you though I will be checking his weight daily.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I agree with @Siikibam. Stones won’t dissolve, surgery is the only option. Unfortunately if the stone moved and it did cause a blockage, you wouldn’t have time to book him in, he would be in a lot of pain, cause issues with urine backing up and potential kidney issues and require immediate emergency surgery. The risk of removing it in that situation would, for me, be worse and I’d rather carry out an elective surgery right now.

We have piggies of that age and older on the forum who have had to have surgery and have been fine. My own old rabbit (7.5 years old) had surgery four weeks ago and was bouncing around after a couple of hours. A lot of it comes down to the overall health of the animal and experience of the vet - if you’ve got those two things, then usually it’s on your side.