So I am the owner of 2 almost 5 year old male guinea pigs, one who's had a few illnesses and the other who gd been the picture of health, however the latter is currently ill with bladder stones or a UTI, I wanted a bit of advice because I don't really know what to do. He was off his food and quite depressed so we got him checked out, he lost lots of weight and was on metacam and baytril, he then out weight back on but started getting blood in his urine, so I took him back to the vet and he is currently on metacam and sulphanilamide (I think that's what it is) he hasn't had an X-ray for kidney stones because I am unsure wether I would want to operate on him, but also don't want him to be in pain, if anyone has any advice on what to do? It would be greatly appreciated!
Hi and welcome
Has your boy had an x-ray to see whether he has got a bladder or urethral stone? Unless you have confirmation on what is really going on, you cannot make an informed decision. Stones unfortunately don't go away on their own. It depends on how piggy savvy/ experienced with small furries ops your vet is as well as where any potential stone sits.
Please start syringe feeding and watering your boy to keep his weight up as much as possible in the meantime. Our syringe feeding guide contains tips on what you can do with what you have at home or easily available in an emergency until you can order stuff; the guide also contains information on recovery foods and probiotics.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Please make sure that you:
- filter any water irrespective of living in a hard or soft water area; this can really make a difference in the formation of stones.
- adjust the diet to a balanced low calcium diet. The sample dish (minus the lettuce) is a good example for a daily bladder piggy diet.
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet
- Cut down on pellets and switch to low or no added calcium pellets.
- in the case of a stone, support the natural glucosamine coating of the irritated bladder walls with vegetarian glucosamine or a glucosamine based food supplement like cystease or cystophan.
I have had sows of mine of a similar age successfully operated for bladder stones, so it is possible. However, as stated previously, it depends with boars where a stone sits (they have a longer urethra with an awkward inglenook) and how good your vet is.
Here are our post-op care tips:
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Recommended UK vets:
Guinea Pig Vet Locator
Recommended vets in some other countries:
Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List
Since we have members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can help you more effienctly. Click on your username on the top, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear underneath your username in every post you make and allows us to tailor any advice to what is available and relevant where you are straight away. Thank you!
