Cystotomy and thickened bladder aftercare?

[Eriathwen]

Over the weekend, Leonard became extremely painful and began urinating blood so we got him seen by our vet. A mass could be felt but he was so sore and flinching it was hard to know what exactly it was so we opted for xrays and ultrasound which were done yesterday and they revealed a medium sized bladder stone.

He is booked in for surgery on Friday to remove this. His bladder however is apparently very thickened, inflamed and sore which will make his recovery more difficult apparently. He is already on a reasonable dose of metacam and also gets a small dose of paracetamol twice a day as per our vets reccomendations due to his Osteodystrophy so he will have plenty of pain relief.

My main question is, what can I do at home to help soothe his bladder lining as much as possible? Is there something else I can ask the vet to give him?
Will giving him extra fluids by hand help or hinder? While I assume flushing out the bladder regularly will help I don't want to be stretching the bladder by making it full if that is going to hinder his recovery.
I've got cystease capsules and I assume one of those twice a day for the first week would be a good idea? I've also got the Oxbow Papaya cookie things which contain Bromelain and Papian which is supposed to be good for inflammation so I'm hoping they help a little.

Ultimately, the pain from a thickened bladder is what lead to the E.cuniculi relapse that we lost our beloved Bramble to, having to deal with it post surgery with Leonard scares the hell out of me so I want to be as prepared as possible to what I can do to help.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, poor Leonard x Is there something that they give to cats who have bladder problems. I’m sure someone on the forum mentioned it a while back x

 

[YvonneBlue]

You can give cystease which helps support the lining of the bladder but do check with your vet first. We buy it from Amazon.

We dilute the contents of 1 capsule in 3ml of water and then give this across two doses.

 

[Wiebke]

Over the weekend, Leonard became extremely painful and began urinating blood so we got him seen by our vet. A mass could be felt but he was so sore and flinching it was hard to know what exactly it was so we opted for xrays and ultrasound which were done yesterday and they revealed a medium sized bladder stone.

He is booked in for surgery on Friday to remove this. His bladder however is apparently very thickened, inflamed and sore which will make his recovery more difficult apparently. He is already on a reasonable dose of metacam and also gets a small dose of paracetamol twice a day as per our vets reccomendations due to his Osteodystrophy so he will have plenty of pain relief.

My main question is, what can I do at home to help soothe his bladder lining as much as possible? Is there something else I can ask the vet to give him?
Will giving him extra fluids by hand help or hinder? While I assume flushing out the bladder regularly will help I don't want to be stretching the bladder by making it full if that is going to hinder his recovery.
I've got cystease capsules and I assume one of those twice a day for the first week would be a good idea? I've also got the Oxbow Papaya cookie things which contain Bromelain and Papian which is supposed to be good for inflammation so I'm hoping they help a little.

Ultimately, the pain from a thickened bladder is what lead to the E.cuniculi relapse that we lost our beloved Bramble to, having to deal with it post surgery with Leonard scares the hell out of me so I want to be as prepared as possible to what I can do to help.

Please give the contents of 1 capsule of cystease mixed with 2 ml of water twice daily. Cystease is a glucosamine based cat food supplement (and is not classed as medication) that is widely available online and can be ordered for next day delivery.
Glucosamine is important for irritated/inflamed bladders because it replenishes the battered normal glucosamine lining of the bladder and urinary tract wall.
Normally we recommend the contents of 1 capsule per day, given twice daily for piggies with bladder stones/sludge or sterile IC.

You can safely up the metacam for a 1 kg piggy to up to 0.4 ml dog metacam (1.2 ml cat metacam) twice daily for a short time until post-op recovery has happened. Tramadol is the next stronger analgesic that can be safely given to guinea pigs.

Ultimately it is a matter of getting the stone out, allowing the bladder to settle, life-long glucosamine and long term anti-inflammatories/painkiller to see whether the bladder gradually relaxes again over time.
It depends on how bad the damage to the bladder is and may never happen.
Here are our bladder/cystitis piggy diet tips: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Our post-op care tips: Tips For Post-operative Care

Normally the sheer relief from the removal of the stone from a bladder is pretty instant post-op and piggies recover without any complications. if the stone is sitting in another area, then that is a different story.
In rare cases bladder trauma can happen post-op or passing a stone naturally. Mildly bloody pees and a little bleeding in the day after a bladder op are perfectly normal but contact your vet asap if there is stronger bleeding and if Leonard is suddenly deteriorating or not picking up.
A thickened bladder is an indication that the problem has been going on for quite a long time.

 

[Eriathwen]

Thankyou! We have a huge bottle of the cystease capsules as we already use them for Ebonys IC so luckily we have plenty to go around. We also have plenty metacam as Shelly is also now on it for Osteodystrophy so we can definitely offer him enough of that as necessary. I completely believe this has been a very on going issue, all xrays previously done he's not had his back legs pulled out of the way to fully show the bladder or no stone has shown but the pain for his OD we have been treating has always centred around him urinating so I think there's possibly been a stone that didn't show up which for some reason now has, or he has been producing small ones he has passed before investigation.

Thankyou again for the tips! It's reassuring to know there are things we can do.