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Bladder Stones :(

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Does anyone know whether it is best to separate Henry and Ralph whilst Ralph is so lifeless? He's on so much medicine and has runny poos.. Wasn't sure whether it would be best to separate them as their cage is 2 tier? Or whether to let them spend their last days together?
 
I would keep them together if you can. I am not sure how long we are talking though? Is he on pain relief?
 
helen105281 said:
I would keep them together if you can. I am not sure how long we are talking though? Is he on pain relief?
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Yeah I decided to keep them together, Henry has been there for him since he's been back.. He's on buprecare, cisapride and loxicom.

Waiting to hear back from the vets this morning with what's going to happen, she will have his blood test results to see how bad he is and what pain killers he needs to have on his final days :(
 
Very sad news! I hope you don't mind me asking this, but are you planning on waiting for him to pass naturally or will you be having him put to sleep? The ethos for my sanctuary is 'to extend good quality life, but never to prolong death'. This is something I feel very strongly about and having watched my dear friend slowly deteriorate and hear her comment on how the animals are lucky, as they can have their suffering ended, I feel even more strongly about this. It's horrible to be in the situation you are in, and my heart goes out to you xx
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Very sad news! I hope you don't mind me asking this, but are you planning on waiting for him to pass naturally or will you be having him put to sleep? The ethos for my sanctuary is 'to extend good quality life, but never to prolong death'. This is something I feel very strongly about and having watched my dear friend slowly deteriorate and hear her comment on how the animals are lucky, as they can have their suffering ended, I feel even more strongly about this. It's horrible to be in the situation you are in, and my heart goes out to you xx
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I will be having him put to sleep.. I don't want to see him suffer until he passes naturally.. Before I took him to the vets for those few nights he seemed okay and quite like himself, it's only since I picked him up yesterday that he seems so lifeless and not himself, I'm not sure whether this is due to the sedation from the X-ray or just the stress of being at the vets. I was really hoping that when I picked him up that he would be his usual self for his last few days but sadly he's not at all.. The vet rang this morning and said to see if he is any better tomorrow after being at home today and take it from there as to when we have him put to sleep, but if he is still like this tomorrow then I think it would be kindest to do it tomorrow or Saturday as sad as it is :(

Thank you xx
 
helen105281 said:
How is he doing now? did you speak to the vet?
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He is doing really really well, the vet said she is amazed at how well he's doing as she wasn't very optimistic at all.. He is eating and drinking by himself now and has put it on weight. She said if his quality of life is good then there is no reason to put him to sleep, but if he seems to be getting bad or he doesn't have much of a life anymore then that is when to make decisions.

He is a trooper :)
 
I'm glad he's hanging in there! I have a pig who has lived with a bladder stone for years... the surgery isn't performed all that often where I live and it was extremely expensive, so I made the decision to maintain her on treatment (she is on suppressive antibiotics to hold off UTIs) and watch to see if she showed any signs of discomfort- loss of appetite, sitting hunched up, squeaking while peeing, etc. I always figured the day would come when her quality of life would decrease and we would have to make some tough choices... but she is now 5 years old and still doing well! My vet was very impressed with her, he said she must have the heart of a lion in the body of a guinea pig! It makes me so happy to see that, at age five, she has lived a typical guinea pig lifespan doing normal guinea pig things... it's far more than I ever hoped for her when she was first diagnosed. Definitely ask me questions if you have any and hope this helps a bit!
 
Freela said:
I'm glad he's hanging in there! I have a pig who has lived with a bladder stone for years... the surgery isn't performed all that often where I live and it was extremely expensive, so I made the decision to maintain her on treatment (she is on suppressive antibiotics to hold off UTIs) and watch to see if she showed any signs of discomfort- loss of appetite, sitting hunched up, squeaking while peeing, etc. I always figured the day would come when her quality of life would decrease and we would have to make some tough choices... but she is now 5 years old and still doing well! My vet was very impressed with her, he said she must have the heart of a lion in the body of a guinea pig! It makes me so happy to see that, at age five, she has lived a typical guinea pig lifespan doing normal guinea pig things... it's far more than I ever hoped for her when she was first diagnosed. Definitely ask me questions if you have any and hope this helps a bit!
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Aww that's so good! what a brave guinea! When Ralph first got diagnosed they almost said its the operation or getting him put to sleep but I wanted to give him a few days at least to see how he was and had a gut feeling that I shouldn't do it, and now I'm sooo glad that I did because he seems so happy and full of life, I think it was all the stress of staying at the vets that made him so miserable.

What medication is she on now? And how often? And did you/do you give her critical care food?

Ralph is on a few meds at the moment and I'm giving him critical care 3/4 times a day, however he is eating by himself now and doesn't seem in pain at all (no hunching or squeaking whilst peeing/pooping).

I'm hoping that Ralph will follow in your piggies foot steps! :) x
 
HenryRalph said:
Aww that's so good! what a brave guinea! When Ralph first got diagnosed they almost said its the operation or getting him put to sleep but I wanted to give him a few days at least to see how he was and had a gut feeling that I shouldn't do it, and now I'm sooo glad that I did because he seems so happy and full of life, I think it was all the stress of staying at the vets that made him so miserable.

What medication is she on now? And how often? And did you/do you give her critical care food?

Ralph is on a few meds at the moment and I'm giving him critical care 3/4 times a day, however he is eating by himself now and doesn't seem in pain at all (no hunching or squeaking whilst peeing/pooping).

I'm hoping that Ralph will follow in your piggies foot steps! :) x
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She is on a constant low dose of Baytril (antibiotic) because the majority of her issues seem to stem from infection. Without antibiotics, she gets chronic UTIs, which make her appear uncomfortable. This keeps the bacterial load under control. We also have the option to put her an an antiinflammatory should she show signs of interstitial cystitis or bladder wall thickening/irritation, but thus far she has been doing fine on the antibiotic. Really, her only symptom has been chronic UTIs which are under control with the meds. She has never been off her food or needed supportive feeding because of her bladder (she has been on Critical Care by syringe due to a huge facial abscess a couple of years ago, but that was an entirely separate problem, and she beat that too because she is such a trooper!) I also had very mixed feelings about treating conservatively, because I've also often heard that the only options are euthanasia or surgical removal, but ultimately I'm very pleased with how things have gone for her. She has never appeared to be in pain (and I know that guinea pigs hide it well, but having seen her with a big facial abscess I could clearly tell that she was not herself and uncomfortable with that. She has never shown those signs from her bladder issues.) I also think that some guinea pigs are just more resilient than others. My vet has said the same... that a lot of guinea pigs don't pull through because they simply don't cope well with any pain or discomfort and refuse to eat and basically shut down physically due to the shock or stress. One of my other pigs, Linney, was a massive wimp when it came to pain- once I rushed her to the vet thinking she had a stroke because she didn't appear able to walk... turned out she had a UTI. Apparently the discomfort was such that she decided she would just lay stretched out, refuse to eat, and roll from side to side! We treated it and she was fine, but it really brought home the difference in pain/illness tolerances between different individuals! My vet recently said that Sundae must have the heart of a much tougher animal in a little tiny body, as she has thrived in spite of a bladder stone and a really nasty abscess in her jaw... she is a tough girl!
 
Freela said:
She is on a constant low dose of Baytril (antibiotic) because the majority of her issues seem to stem from infection. Without antibiotics, she gets chronic UTIs, which make her appear uncomfortable. This keeps the bacterial load under control. We also have the option to put her an an antiinflammatory should she show signs of interstitial cystitis or bladder wall thickening/irritation, but thus far she has been doing fine on the antibiotic. Really, her only symptom has been chronic UTIs which are under control with the meds. She has never been off her food or needed supportive feeding because of her bladder (she has been on Critical Care by syringe due to a huge facial abscess a couple of years ago, but that was an entirely separate problem, and she beat that too because she is such a trooper!) I also had very mixed feelings about treating conservatively, because I've also often heard that the only options are euthanasia or surgical removal, but ultimately I'm very pleased with how things have gone for her. She has never appeared to be in pain (and I know that guinea pigs hide it well, but having seen her with a big facial abscess I could clearly tell that she was not herself and uncomfortable with that. She has never shown those signs from her bladder issues.) I also think that some guinea pigs are just more resilient than others. My vet has said the same... that a lot of guinea pigs don't pull through because they simply don't cope well with any pain or discomfort and refuse to eat and basically shut down physically due to the shock or stress. One of my other pigs, Linney, was a massive wimp when it came to pain- once I rushed her to the vet thinking she had a stroke because she didn't appear able to walk... turned out she had a UTI. Apparently the discomfort was such that she decided she would just lay stretched out, refuse to eat, and roll from side to side! We treated it and she was fine, but it really brought home the difference in pain/illness tolerances between different individuals! My vet recently said that Sundae must have the heart of a much tougher animal in a little tiny body, as she has thrived in spite of a bladder stone and a really nasty abscess in her jaw... she is a tough girl!
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Thank you that is really helpful and interesting! Aww she sounds like such a fighter! :D sundae has inspired me and given me hope with Ralph, when he first came home from the vets I really thought that was it.. But he has been so brave so far and seems happy again, despite the past day or 2 he seems a bit lethargic but I've been talking on another thread that this could be the wrong dosage of buprecare that is making him feel that way.. Much like you've said, I know that it's hard to tell when a guinea is in pain, I can really tell the difference between now and when he has actually been uncomfortable and in pain and compared to that he seems very happy :)

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