Guinea pig had bladder op today and vets keep delaying when I can pick her up and I’m getting worried :(

[Bill & Ted]

Sending hugs, so sorry to read this. Hope the meds keep her pain free

 

[Wiebke]

Thought I’d give an update here on Poppy.

She responded well to the operation (after a rough couple of days) and had a very happy few weeks with Rosie. We transitioned her to a low calcium diet (it wasnt too many tweaks really, filtered her water, switched pellets, cut out parsley, rest of what we fed and the amount is fine).

But this last week we saw blood in her urine again, she has been the vets and they did a scan and found a stone again.

Vet has prescribed antibiotics and metacam, and basically said she how she goes, they don’t recommend operating on her again.

I feel at a loss, she doesn’t seem in any pain, no wincing/squeaking yet, just some blood in her urine for now. She is so active and happy, eating etc.

Vet pretty much said if she takes a turn for the worse it would be best to put her down.

I’m not sure if there is anything else I can do for her to at least make her have the most comfortable time?

Is there a possibility she would pass it? Or is that false hope?

Thanks

Hi

I am very sorry. The calcium absorption process is pretty complex and quite a lot can go wrong. Usually you need more than one contributing factor - a genetic disposition, something going suddenly wrong, not being a good natural drinker (not much you can do about that; over-hydration can kill) and a dietary imbalance. But diet with filtered/bottled low calcium water and reduced pellets is pretty much our only way to try to and prevent the build-up of stones. If something has flipped with the absorption process, then another stone can build up rather quickly again.

Please don't count on her passing the stone; it depends on the size and the strength of pees. A urethral stone that descends down to the muscular ring that regulates urination is a little bit easier to get out and can - if still small enough - sometimes be manipulated out. A large stone can however pose a risk when it blocks the urine flow. The latter is less common in sows with their a little wider and straighter urethra compares to boars but is not unheard of.

However, you can give her extra glucosamine to replenish the natural glucosamine coating of walls of the urinary tract which gets scratched with every pee. It takes a few weeks to build up but helps with the bladder walls and the comfort and may reduce the bleeding a bit.

We recommend using Feliway cat bladder capsules for comparative ease of application. Mix the pwodery contents of each capsule with 2 ml of water until absorbed. You can either give 1 ml twice daily or 2 ml every 24 hours. Keep in th fridge and shake before use again. Glucosamine is not classed as a medication but as a food supplement so it is not prescribed by vets. The capsules are widely available online or likely from a pet shop, too.
In your case, you can start with giving one capsule roughly every 12 hours for the first few days so it will hopefully kick in a bit more strongly.

What you can also do especially at this time of year - if you have access to dog pee free unsprayed grass - to feed plenty of it provided that her gut microbiome is already used to grass. Otherwise you will have to introduce it carefully starting with a little and upping the amount each time over the course of several days in order to avoid diarrhoea or potentially fatal bloating from an unprepared digestive system. You need to give the specialist digestive bacteria that deal with the processing of fresh grass time up their numbers. Rich growing fresh grass, which counts half as hay and half as veg will hopefully stimulate stronger urination.
Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time

All the best.

PS: These are the pictures my vet sent me from Teggy's urethral stone removal. The stone was about as large as could get down without blocking the urethra and rather tricky to get out. We had worries over her just leaking urine instead of peeing. Thankfully, she did make a full recovery and lived for another 1 1/2 years. The stone was unfortunately the result of fresh food shortages at the start of the pandemic - with 27 piggies and limited shop access due to me needing to shield my hub it was a major challenge...

 

[PoppyPickle]

Thanks everyone for your well wishes, and thank you for the information Wiebke, I’ll get on the glucosamine asap. Her last stone was adhered to her bladder wall so I suspect her bladder has been through a lot, so anything to soothe it I definitely will try! I just want to make her as comfortable as we possibly can for how ever long before it’s too much.

Currently she is still really active, happy and being her little cheeky sassy self, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong if it wasn’t for the blood. I release that might not be the case for long though and have come to accept it. I’m just focusing on making her life as pain free as we can until we have to make the call.

Thanks again everyone, this forum really helps to talk through your feeling and help process the situation.

 

[Wheekallweek]

I hope things work out well for her and for you. Bladder stones are just awful