Female Guinea Pig after Bladder Stone Surgery - Post Operation Questions

[Skoppa]

Hello!

My guinea pig just got a bladder stone removed yesterday with a surgery. She ate allot when she came home but didn't drink any water by her self. I gave her some water through a syringe, but it took some time and she did not want very much of it. She has been kinda drowsy, or her eyes look a bit tired and cloudy, and since last evening after all the eating she has just stayed inside her hut. She still hasn't got a full control of her after legs - they are a bit "wobbly", but they have improved since she came home yesterday. She has pooped some normal looking poops but they have not been many (maybe 20-25). Today when I am writing this, it has been about 21-22 hours since she had her surgery.

My questions are:

1. Is it normal that her pee is kinda "pinkish/light red" after this surgery? (I have white soft towels under her that I change every 3-5 hours)

2. She has had this "crackling" breathing sound since last evening, is that something I should be worried about and call the vet for immediately?

3. I was given Metacam 1,5 mg/ml for pain and swelling that she is suppose to have once a day, a dose of 0,3 ml. Is that enough for her?


Also I was given the antibiotics Eusaprim 8mg/ml + 40 mg/ml to give her 2x per day (0,4 ml each time) along with some probiotics for her tummy (that she certainly doesn't like).

I wanna do everything I can to help her get back to feeling like her self- determined cheerful very much talking piggie! She turns three years old next January 2021 and she has never been pregnant, only lives with 2 other female piggies but is now kept separate from them due to the healing process. She has fresh pallets, some fresh vegetables, fresh hay and two full water bottles in her cage.

Just a bit worried for her because she does seem to be in some pain or at least discomfort, and wishes to only stay inside her hut now

 

[Piggies&buns]

It can take them some time to recover from anaesthetic but the crackly breathing concerns me. I would definitely speak to your vet and have her checked over.

 

[Wiebke]

Hello!

My guinea pig just got a bladder stone removed yesterday with a surgery. She ate allot when she came home but didn't drink any water by her self. I gave her some water through a syringe, but it took some time and she did not want very much of it. She has been kinda drowsy, or her eyes look a bit tired and cloudy, and since last evening after all the eating she has just stayed inside her hut. She still hasn't got a full control of her after legs - they are a bit "wobbly", but they have improved since she came home yesterday. She has pooped some normal looking poops but they have not been many (maybe 20-25). Today when I am writing this, it has been about 21-22 hours since she had her surgery.

My questions are:

1. Is it normal that her pee is kinda "pinkish/light red" after this surgery? (I have white soft towels under her that I change every 3-5 hours)

2. She has had this "crackling" breathing sound since last evening, is that something I should be worried about and call the vet for immediately?

3. I was given Metacam 1,5 mg/ml for pain and swelling that she is suppose to have once a day, a dose of 0,3 ml. Is that enough for her?


Also I was given the antibiotics Eusaprim 8mg/ml + 40 mg/ml to give her 2x per day (0,4 ml each time) along with some probiotics for her tummy (that she certainly doesn't like).

I wanna do everything I can to help her get back to feeling like her self- determined cheerful very much talking piggie! She turns three years old next January 2021 and she has never been pregnant, only lives with 2 other female piggies but is now kept separate from them due to the healing process. She has fresh pallets, some fresh vegetables, fresh hay and two full water bottles in her cage.

Just a bit worried for her because she does seem to be in some pain or at least discomfort, and wishes to only stay inside her hut now

Hi!

Pink urine and crackly breathing are not at all uncommon in the wake of the bladder op. The first is the result from any stone scratches when digging crystals out of the bladder walls and the second can be a side effect of the GA but should subside again by day 2.

The day after the operation is often the worst as the operation cocktail is gradually being worked out and the body is very sore and churned up. From about day 3 onward, the healing process gets fully underway. The good news about bladder stone ops is that they tend to heal pretty straight forward without complications; your antibiotic is less likely to cause loss of appetite.

Eusaprim is a European brand name for bactrim/septrin/sulfatrim if you are looking for more information. It is the antibiotic considered best for urinary tract issues. The dosage sounds OK to me.

Can you check whether the metacam is for cats or dogs? Dog metacam is three times stronger but both can be used for guinea pigs. In either case, the metacam dosage is on the low to very low side. In any case, you can safely give that dosage twice a day because of the faster metabolism that guinea pigs have. You can give up to 1.2 ml cat or 0.4 ml dog metacam twice daily in a pinch to a 1 kg piggy; the discomfort will hopefully subside within a couple of days.

I would put your girl back with your mates as much as possible; the companionship keeps the stress level down. You can feed her separately if necessary and top up with support feed if she is losing weight (weigh daily at the same time instead of the life-long once weekly weigh-in).

Our post-op care guide will hopefully answer most of your questions, including companionship issues: Tips For Post-operative Care

You may want to review your diet. Please keep in mind that most of the calcium comes with the water and in the pellets; which many people are not aware of. Filtering your water and reducing your pellets to 1 tablespoon (1 ml) per piggy per day are most important measures to takes when dealing with bladder piggies; in fact, we are recommending to do this for all piggies.
You can find our general diet recommendations and a chapter with extra tweaks for guinea pigs with urinary tract problems in our diet guide link: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

What you can also do to ease the discomfort in the scratched and battered bladder walls is to give additional glucosamine. This is classed as a food supplement and not as a medication. The walls of the urinary tract have a coating of glucosamine to prevent corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue. When a stone is banged around in the bladder everytime a piggy pees, you can imagine how painful it is when urine gets into the scratches! Please be aware that like and dietary changes, this takes time to build up and work through (usually several weeks) so don't expect any immediate effect - but both measures are important for the medium and longer term.
We generally recommend a cat food bladder supplement in capsule form, which you should find fairly easily available online; it is easiest to give as you just have to mix the contents of 1 capsule with 2 ml water, wait until it is absorbed and then syringe either 1 ml twice daily or 2 ml once daily. You can use supermarket tablets for humans but they require grinding down and then mixing with as many ml of water as there are dosages in a tablet - and you cannot use whole one as the mix will go off after a day or two. But it is doable if you struggle to access capsules for cats.

I hope that this helps you?