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Bladder Stones

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Coco&Luna

Coco&Luna

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Stanley was neutered 4 weeks ago tomorrow.
About a week later he was treated for a uri because he has blood in his urine.
I have now noticed he is freezing too pee and closing his eyes. I have found two tiny clots of blood on the fleece with two tiny hard pieces in it about the size of the tip of a pen which I think might be stones. I'll phone the vets tomorrow to book an xray. Is there a connection between bladder stones and neutering?

Thanks guys. X
 
There is no connection between neutering and bladder stones, but it is good that you are planning an x-ray. Hopefully, it is just some sludge that has built up or a bit of irritation as a result of the neutering operation, which can happen.

I would recommend to make sure that he drinks plenty of filtered water and that you switch to a low calcium diet.
You can find tips for that by just sticking to the daily veg in our general diet (so called IS diet) or by looking at this thread here: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/low-calcium-diet-for-bladder-piggies.105930/
The currently best low calcium pellets are bunny (5 pellets a day per piggy). http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/food/guinea_pig/bunny/195679

You may also find that either supplementing the diet with cystease, vegetarian glucosamine or by syringing pearl barley water can help to protect the bladder walls.
 
I have had several occasions where piggies have developed bladder issues post neutering, the vet can't really explain it, just an effect of surgery and maybe swelling or bruising in the general area. In my experience it usually settles with an adequate dose of metacam and sometimes antibiotics. Only once did the piggy develop bladder stones. Hope your boy feels more comfortable soon.
 
These were particularly helpful posts thanks alot guys.
I'll start giving him a split dose of metacam and I've just bought those pellets. I'm gunna buy him vit c when I get home to give him a boost. Is there any particular hay I should use? I'm using burgess fresh forage, and Bob martin meadow hay as bedding with a sprinkle of that dandelion salad on it. I stopped giving him readigrass a few weeks ago.
I'll follow that veg list too.

Do I buy cystease or vegetarian glucosamine from a chemist? How do I dose it?

Thank you both. X
 
Coco&Luna said:
These were particularly helpful posts thanks alot guys.
I'll start giving him a split dose of metacam and I've just bought those pellets. I'm gunna buy him vit c when I get home to give him a boost. Is there any particular hay I should use? I'm using burgess fresh forage, and Bob martin meadow hay as bedding with a sprinkle of that dandelion salad on it. I stopped giving him readigrass a few weeks ago.
I'll follow that veg list too.

Do I buy cystease or vegetarian glucosamine from a chemist? How do I dose it?

Thank you both. X
Click to expand...

Cystease is a bladder coating cat food supplement, which is widely available from online vet product services; the main active ingredient is glucosamine. The dosage depends on the product. I prefer capsules, the contents of which I mix with either 1 or 2 ml of water (shake well before use) and then syringe 0.5 - 1 ml of the mix (i.e. half a capsule at a time). This gives you the best possibility of achieving a reliable dosage.
Human vegetarian glucosamine you get online or at Boots. You will need about 1/4 of a human tablet. Again, grinding and dissolving in 2 ml of water makes it easier to dose.

Hopefully, things will settle down again. Timothy and meadow/orchard hay are both fine. Timothy is little bit lower in calcium, but it is rougher in texture, so it is a bit more likely to cause eye pokes.
 
Thank you, while I'm here, can I ask why pellets should be limited? I've never done this and my pigs don't over eat or become overweight. What are the reasons for only giving 30g per day?
 
Thanks :)

I kept him on white towels last night. This is what it looks like. What do you think?
IMG_20150521_134453.webp IMG_20150521_134514.webp IMG_20150521_134504.webp IMG_20150521_134453.webp
 
Haha. Yeah, he's had a 2 tiny blood spots a few days ago, but I decided to put him in the shop cage for a night to see what happened on white towels....but its orange per yeah. It's gotten darker as it dried. I thought that was dehydration so I've just given him like a quarter of a cucumber. Oooh guinea pigs will be the bloody death of me! Haha
 
So @Wiebke is that normal? None of my other pigs have had peeps that dried orange. And because of the blood the other day I'm like a meerkat on high alert. Lol
 
Coco&Luna said:
So @Wiebke is that normal? None of my other pigs have had peeps that dried orange. And because of the blood the other day I'm like a meerkat on high alert. Lol
Click to expand...

You can always have the urine checked by your vet. Intense discolouration is either caused by veg or a build-up of bacteria in the bladder that is normally kept in check by a fully working immune system. You cannot completely exclude that the urine may contain small traces of blood, but not enough to either manifest as dots in the middle or as a red ring around the urine patch.
 
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