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Darklis had her x-rays & got through the anaesthetic no problem..now for the results!

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Teejay

Teejay

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Phew, had the call from the vet to say that Darklis is awake after her GA and is fine...alert, well and eating normally. I sent her with a packed lunch of Redigrass, pellets, and a specially-prepared veggie pot of parsley, pepper and baby corn.....so she had all of her favourite things to tempt her!

So, I'm off to see the vet (and collect Darklis) at 5:20pm.....fingers and paws crossed that the vet can come up with some kind of therapy/treatment for my special little girl.

Tracey x
 
Lots of love to Darklis, hope the vet can sort out some treatment for your special girl. Cookie and Treacle send wheeks x x
 
Hope it turns out ok.

Get well soon Darklis from Me, Nibbles and Nutty.

Amy
x
 
Aw, everything crossed here for you and Darklis - time must have dragged for you waiting for her appointment today :(
Hope they can give an explanation and some treatment if necessary to keep her comfy :)
Will keep checking back for any news but no doubt you'll want to spend some time with her for cuddles, I hate being away from my babies ;)
Give her a great big hug from us here x>>
 
Glad to hear she came through it ok. Hopefully they can work out what's going on.

Wheeks from all of us here. x
 
Thanks guys! She's really well, seems none the worse for wear (although she's a bit quieter than normal, but I suppose that's to be expected really).

The x-rays showed bony changes around the pelvis / lower spine area, just where the nerves emerge from the spinal column. The vet said that Darklis is undoubtedly in some degree of pain in that area, but it was hard for her to say just how much pain. We settled on an agreement that it wasn't likely to be intense pain, as Darklis' appetite is as good as the other piggies and her mobility isn't impaired at all.

There are also degenerative changes to her knees (stifles), which were really unusual to see in a piggy of her age (only about 8/9 months). Apparently, that can often be caused by a deficiency in vitamin C, but they could see by inspecting the rest of Darklis' bones (especially her ribs) that this wasn't the case (between the piggies, they eat about £30 of veggies a week, so I should hope they aren't lacking in vitamin C!) It was thought that the knee/stifle problem was caused by her poor posture (probably caused by the long-term low level back/pelvis pain).

So, the treatment is to start her on 0.25mg of Metacam daily, with a view to reducing this to the lowest level possible eventually. I'm to keep an eye on her barbering/fussing with her lower back, and if after about a week, it seems like the Metacam isn't helping her, we'll try another anti-inflammatory (can't remember the name.....something "bepanthen"?).

If that second treatment doesn't work, then the vet said we could go onto opiates.

As I'm typing this, Darklis has her head in the food bowl up to her ears, nomming away on pellets and Redigrass, which is a good sign! I do love my special little girl! x)

Thanks for all the good wishes, Tracey x
 
Oh wow what a lot of news and information you had to take in. Thank goodness your little one is well and eating. That is a great sign. :)
 
I'm glad she got through the x-rays without incident and that you got some information that will help you and your vet to make her as comfortable as she can. She sounds like she's got a good spirit!
 
piggyfan said:
Oh wow what a lot of news and information you had to take in. Thank goodness your little one is well and eating. That is a great sign. :)
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I think that's why I forgot the name of the "bepathen" drug....just information overload, something had to slip out of my head, LOL!

Darklis is well this morning, nomming on her morning veggies like she doesn't have a care in the world.

I have noticed that the other piggies often steal veggies from her mouth, so there is a chance that she's getting less vitC than the other piggies in the herd, so I made sure she had a couple of nice juicy basil leaves and a big slice of crunchy red pepper all to herself this morning :))

I'm happy to hand feed her veggies every day though, just to make sure she gets her fair share, and I think I might get a tub of the Oxbow vitC pellets to feed to her just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for all the good wishes for my special girl!

Tracey x
 
Teejay said:
Gabapentin! That's the one! It just came back to me in a rush...I knew it was in there somewhere! LOL!
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Gabapentin is a good pain modifying drug. We use it at work a lot for people with chronic pain and phantom limb pain. It acts on the brain to reduce pain signals.

It's better not keep using Metacam long term as it's not good for kidneys and tummys but using as little a dose as possible works well. I found all Merry needed was 0.1ml when the max safe dose was 0.3ml. It always best with anti-inflammatoriues to use the lowest effective dose otherwise you are just giving the body more to cope with.

Good luck Darklis.

Kisses and wheeks from the boys. x
 
MerryPip said:
Gabapentin is a good pain modifying drug. We use it at work a lot for people with chronic pain and phantom limb pain. It acts on the brain to reduce pain signals.

It's better not keep using Metacam long term as it's not good for kidneys and tummys but using as little a dose as possible works well. I found all Merry needed was 0.1ml when the max safe dose was 0.3ml. It always best with anti-inflammatoriues to use the lowest effective dose otherwise you are just giving the body more to cope with.

Good luck Darklis.

Kisses and wheeks from the boys. x
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Hi Rach, yes, the vet said that Gabapentin was very good for nerve pain, but she wanted to start Darklis off on Metacam to see how she was with that. I'm hoping that, after this 'loading' stage, we can get down to a very low 'maintenance' dose (like you did with the lovely Merry).

PS - Darklis had her Metacam last night, and she grabbed hold of the syringe and wouldn't let it go like Merry used to...x)

Tracey x
 
Teejay said:
PS - Darklis had her Metacam last night, and she grabbed hold of the syringe and wouldn't let it go like Merry used to...x)

Tracey x
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My frient Linz who's a vet says it's very nummy and thats why piggies like it so much... She suggested I tried a bit of the syringe to prove it!
 
I have reservations about using Metacam long term and Patrick is on Tramadol long term (currently been using for 3 weeks) for chronic pain which he reacts well to so far.

Funnily enough, speaking to a different vet from the one that prescribed Tramadol for my Patrick - I asked wheather he would prescribe Tramadol or Metacam long term and what is better for the Kidneys, he said there is no factual evidence for guinea pigs but in his opinion; if my guinea pig was a Canine he would prescribe Tramadol as he believes it is possibly better on the kidneys. However with guinea pigs it's important to keep the guts moving, tramadol can interfere with the gutmotility and for this reason he would normally use metacam.

Swings in roundabouts, all drugs are going to have some effect on the body.
 
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