Will try keep this as short as possible- I'm an experienced, knowledgeable guinea owner however I am now just at a total loss of how I can help my girl. Any similar experiences/ advice welcome!
Poppet is 4.5 years old, and has a history of bladder sludge / bloody urine flares. These are managed with metacam and septrin during flares, and has a low calcium diet with increased fluids and glucosamine based bladder supplements. She has a teaspoon of ss grain free at bedtime - I free fed until a couple weeks ago due to digestive issues with my other sow, however neither ever gorged on pellets.
In December 2019, poppet was diagnosed with ovarian cysts that caused a bit of a mess in her abdomen. She was spayed, but the ovarian cysts had adhered to her guts. Her caecum ruptured during the spay, and had to be fixed with mesh and have her abdomen flushed to prevent sepsis. Somehow... My little girl survived with round the clock care and had no further complications.
By this point she went from 1050g to 850g- I expected her to gain all her weight back, but she never got higher than 930g. She would sit around 880 during a bladder flare, then would go back up with treatment. Poppet has remained on low dose metacam since this time, as anytime I reduced the dose, she lost weight. I assumed this was due to her bladder flaring.
Fast forward to now- I find a large lump protruding from poppets abdomen during cuddles. Her urine became very bloody and sludgey. She was back on septrin and metacam, the urine began to clear up and she gained weight. Today she had her ultrasound with the specialist sonographer- the lump is in fact ovarian cysts... There has been tissue remnants left due to the fact everything was stuck together with adhesions. This has continued to behave like the ovarys, and she now has a large grape sized cyst.
They scanned her kidneys just for completeness. The left one is fine, but shockingly her right one has been completely destroyed and contains a large stone. They suspect this kidney is non functional.
I am in shock, and my heart's breaking for her. Despite the disaster of events that is going on inside her, poppet is popcorning the days away and is bright as a button.
However, I need to try and take so much care with her remaining healthy kidney and try to prevent it also forming any stones, as this will ultimately end her life. I don't know much this ovarian tissue is impacting her inability to gain back her lost weight post spay, as it will be causing her hormone levels to still be elevated. Normally I'd just have this surgically removed, but i don't want to put her one working kidney through anaesthetic. Kidney removal was mentioned, which I quickly refused- my dainty, shy little girlie would most certainly not cope with that.
She was x-rayed pre spay and had no stones- so it's hard to know wether the kidney or ovarian tissue is more relevant to this. She loses weight when reducing metacam, suggesting she needs this for pain relief. Metacam is contraindicated with kidneys however it is keeping her well and that is my main concern.
Her case has been sent to both Edinburgh and London exotics departments for further advice. I've also contacted a more herbal orientated exotics vet in my area for advice on herbal remedies as far as further stone formation goes. She is a little bomb waiting to go off right now, and I'm scared to do/give her anything without consulting someone knowledgeable.
Poppet was from a hoarding situation, is smaller than average, has taken 4.5 years so stop being feral and has a strange congenital eye issue which causes bone formation- I suspect she is inbred and did expect for her to have complications in life.
I'm pulling out all the stops I can possibly think of at the minute... But I'm hoping anyone with experiences of kidney stones can share .. I've never had a stone piggy, so the fact this is so drastic has been a shock. I don't expect any advice on the ovarian issue, as ovarian cysts in a neutered sow isn't exactly common!
Poppet is 4.5 years old, and has a history of bladder sludge / bloody urine flares. These are managed with metacam and septrin during flares, and has a low calcium diet with increased fluids and glucosamine based bladder supplements. She has a teaspoon of ss grain free at bedtime - I free fed until a couple weeks ago due to digestive issues with my other sow, however neither ever gorged on pellets.
In December 2019, poppet was diagnosed with ovarian cysts that caused a bit of a mess in her abdomen. She was spayed, but the ovarian cysts had adhered to her guts. Her caecum ruptured during the spay, and had to be fixed with mesh and have her abdomen flushed to prevent sepsis. Somehow... My little girl survived with round the clock care and had no further complications.
By this point she went from 1050g to 850g- I expected her to gain all her weight back, but she never got higher than 930g. She would sit around 880 during a bladder flare, then would go back up with treatment. Poppet has remained on low dose metacam since this time, as anytime I reduced the dose, she lost weight. I assumed this was due to her bladder flaring.
Fast forward to now- I find a large lump protruding from poppets abdomen during cuddles. Her urine became very bloody and sludgey. She was back on septrin and metacam, the urine began to clear up and she gained weight. Today she had her ultrasound with the specialist sonographer- the lump is in fact ovarian cysts... There has been tissue remnants left due to the fact everything was stuck together with adhesions. This has continued to behave like the ovarys, and she now has a large grape sized cyst.
They scanned her kidneys just for completeness. The left one is fine, but shockingly her right one has been completely destroyed and contains a large stone. They suspect this kidney is non functional.
I am in shock, and my heart's breaking for her. Despite the disaster of events that is going on inside her, poppet is popcorning the days away and is bright as a button.
However, I need to try and take so much care with her remaining healthy kidney and try to prevent it also forming any stones, as this will ultimately end her life. I don't know much this ovarian tissue is impacting her inability to gain back her lost weight post spay, as it will be causing her hormone levels to still be elevated. Normally I'd just have this surgically removed, but i don't want to put her one working kidney through anaesthetic. Kidney removal was mentioned, which I quickly refused- my dainty, shy little girlie would most certainly not cope with that.
She was x-rayed pre spay and had no stones- so it's hard to know wether the kidney or ovarian tissue is more relevant to this. She loses weight when reducing metacam, suggesting she needs this for pain relief. Metacam is contraindicated with kidneys however it is keeping her well and that is my main concern.
Her case has been sent to both Edinburgh and London exotics departments for further advice. I've also contacted a more herbal orientated exotics vet in my area for advice on herbal remedies as far as further stone formation goes. She is a little bomb waiting to go off right now, and I'm scared to do/give her anything without consulting someone knowledgeable.
Poppet was from a hoarding situation, is smaller than average, has taken 4.5 years so stop being feral and has a strange congenital eye issue which causes bone formation- I suspect she is inbred and did expect for her to have complications in life.
I'm pulling out all the stops I can possibly think of at the minute... But I'm hoping anyone with experiences of kidney stones can share .. I've never had a stone piggy, so the fact this is so drastic has been a shock. I don't expect any advice on the ovarian issue, as ovarian cysts in a neutered sow isn't exactly common!
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Oh God Adelle I am so sorry to read this. I have no advice sorry, Tagging in 
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x