Bladder stones/quality of life

[xToNix]

Hi everyone.

My piggy Leo had an X-ray a few months ago due to blood in his urine. He had an X-ray once before which didn’t show anything however the second time the xray showed a bladder stone which was removed. At the weekend I noticed blood in his urine again. I’ve been giving him metacam and as has happened previously, the blood stopped. However this morning the blood is back and is worse. I’ve got in touch with the vets and was asked to email the info as they don’t have any appointments in the next few days which I’ve done. But my question is where do I draw the line? The last surgery cost me over £1,000 and while money will never be an object it’s obviously a lot if this is going to happen every few months and I don’t want to put him through such an ordeal every time either. It’s so upsetting as apart from the blood he’s absolutely fine in himself and putting him to sleep just seems like a waste of his life. Obviously he could have an X-ray this time and it not show anything again I just don’t know what to do for the best and I would really appreciate advice from anyone else who’s been through the same. Thank you.

 

[Siikibam]

@Wiebke @Piggies&buns @PigglePuggle

 

[xToNix]

Just an update. I’ve had a consultation with the vet over the phone. She’s going to put up some more metacam and an antibiotic for now as the X-ray can’t be done until Tuesday. She said possible stone or UTI. The bleeding has gone down again so for the latter. I’m going to get some more potassium citrate too.

 

[xToNix]

Another update. I gave Leo his Baytril and Metacam this evening and put some potassium citrate in his water. Since then the bleeding has started to get worse again he’s absolutely fine in himself. This is breaking my heart he was fed the same as my other 3 and touch wood they’ve never had this issue. It’s not fair on him

 

[Freela]

One of my pigs had a bladder stone that never seemed to bother her (she certainly never acted uncomfortable, and I had seen her reaction to being uncomfortable with a bad dental abscess.) She had recurrent UTIs but otherwise ate, ran around, peed without pain, etc. Because the surgery is not performed a lot where I live and is really expensive and high-risk, we treated her recurrent UTIs with chronic prophylactic antibiotics and just watched for quality of life... she actually went her whole life without showing any real discomfort from her bladder. I know it's not the standard treatment in the UK where guinea pig surgeries are a lot more common and routine, but it does give some hope that a bladder pig can live a pretty normal life. Hopefully it will just be a UTI... the fact that he doesn't appear to be uncomfortable is good. Hope you get some reassurance from the vet.

 

[xToNix]

One of my pigs had a bladder stone that never seemed to bother her (she certainly never acted uncomfortable, and I had seen her reaction to being uncomfortable with a bad dental abscess.) She had recurrent UTIs but otherwise ate, ran around, peed without pain, etc. Because the surgery is not performed a lot where I live and is really expensive and high-risk, we treated her recurrent UTIs with chronic prophylactic antibiotics and just watched for quality of life... she actually went her whole life without showing any real discomfort from her bladder. I know it's not the standard treatment in the UK where guinea pig surgeries are a lot more common and routine, but it does give some hope that a bladder pig can live a pretty normal life. Hopefully it will just be a UTI... the fact that he doesn't appear to be uncomfortable is good. Hope you get some reassurance from the vet.

Thank you so much for replying. He does stay quite still when peeing so I think there’s a little discomfort but he’s definitely not squeaking yet. Maybe it’s the prey animal instinct IDK. I’ve just been down to check on him and he still seems ok in himself. He took some food off me so that’s good. Just gotta take it one day at a time until Tuesday thank you again for sharing your experience.