Pigmeister
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi, looking for some advice/experiences after our 4yo sow was diagnosed with bladder stones last week.
She has had cystitis since around 1yo so not a massive surprised this has eventually happened.
She has one larger stone and multiple small stones.
We saw the head vet at Holly House exotics so she is in good hands but they did advise we could either treat her with medication as long as she seems comfortable enough; or surgery to remove them but that obviously may not be successful.
I's been 5 days on medication (metacam and paracetamol) now and there is some improvement - but we're not sure what to expect if the medication is working to continue with this option.
She had a couple of days losing weight but has gained a bit overnight (1090g). She had been 1250g, went down to 1060g.
She's still interested in food and still drinking water.
Squeaking while toileting has reduced but not gone away.
She is wetting herself and getting smelly with some redness on her feet.
What would be signals that we could continue just on the medication path - we're aware she won't be fully 100% comfortable. Is it enough she maintains weight and interest in food? If she continues being wet and affecting ehr feet is that a signal this isn't working well enough?
Would appreciate any thoughts / experiences as it's a hard decision. Don't want to put her through surgery unless it's really necessary - or even if we can put it off a while ... but also don't want her to continue being uncomfortable.
She has had cystitis since around 1yo so not a massive surprised this has eventually happened.
She has one larger stone and multiple small stones.
We saw the head vet at Holly House exotics so she is in good hands but they did advise we could either treat her with medication as long as she seems comfortable enough; or surgery to remove them but that obviously may not be successful.
I's been 5 days on medication (metacam and paracetamol) now and there is some improvement - but we're not sure what to expect if the medication is working to continue with this option.
She had a couple of days losing weight but has gained a bit overnight (1090g). She had been 1250g, went down to 1060g.
She's still interested in food and still drinking water.
Squeaking while toileting has reduced but not gone away.
She is wetting herself and getting smelly with some redness on her feet.
What would be signals that we could continue just on the medication path - we're aware she won't be fully 100% comfortable. Is it enough she maintains weight and interest in food? If she continues being wet and affecting ehr feet is that a signal this isn't working well enough?
Would appreciate any thoughts / experiences as it's a hard decision. Don't want to put her through surgery unless it's really necessary - or even if we can put it off a while ... but also don't want her to continue being uncomfortable.
