Healing Vibes For Bracken

I really hope one day we can find out what is causing these blummin stones for sure. Sadly my boar pip had them where they couldnt be operated on.

My guinea pig specialist vet simon did say to me that he thinks feeding nuggets doesnt help. I would love to know if wild guinea pig get stones
 
Skypipdot said:
I really hope one day we can find out what is causing these blummin stones for sure. Sadly my boar pip had them where they couldnt be operated on.

My guinea pig specialist vet simon did say to me that he thinks feeding nuggets doesnt help. I would love to know if wild guinea pig get stones
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We lost Bracken's cage mate aged 10 months last year to stones. The piggies came from the same place and were the same age. My vet says to get stones at these young ages they have an hereditary predisposition through bad breeding. Nuggets don't help, my piggies are on a low calcium diet and have a small amount (10gms ) grain free nuggets a day and filtered water, which makes this even more upsetting as I don't have much room to make changes diet wise. Wild guinea pigs probably do although their genetic make up is different, I beleive it's to do with the high ph of their urine which encourages excess calcium to clump together and form stones. They need to drink often to keep flushing the bladder to stop the stones forming but I don't know how you make a piggy drink if he doesn't want to!
 
Awww well done Bracken :clap: keep it up, speedy recovery from the girls & I.
@piggieminder you're doing a marvellous job, :nod::hug:i'm so glad Bracken seems to be turning a corner.

healing vibes. xx
 
Bracken is home :yahoo:. He is sore from the operation, weeing and pooing and eating and popcorning and just being Bracken,you would never beleive he had a major operation yesterday. Still needs syringe feeding top ups to get his weight back up and lots of meds but it's wonderful to have him home, evenif he does run away and hide everytime he sees me coming now.

Here he is just after we got home giving me his , 'it's all your fault' look.
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piggieminder said:
We lost Bracken's cage mate aged 10 months last year to stones. The piggies came from the same place and were the same age. My vet says to get stones at these young ages they have an hereditary predisposition through bad breeding. Nuggets don't help, my piggies are on a low calcium diet and have a small amount (10gms ) grain free nuggets a day and filtered water, which makes this even more upsetting as I don't have much room to make changes diet wise. Wild guinea pigs probably do although their genetic make up is different, I beleive it's to do with the high ph of their urine which encourages excess calcium to clump together and form stones. They need to drink often to keep flushing the bladder to stop the stones forming but I don't know how you make a piggy drink if he doesn't want to!
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i give cucumber everday thickly sliced and soak all veg under the tap. I also use grain free nuggets and filtered water. I have recently had my sow xrayed for suspected stones but not one in sight nor sludge. But a growth on her bladder wall. The vet doesnt know what it is, but shes seems fine apart from struggling to poo sometimes. Just to add aswell she leaves behind white powder often.
 
It's so wonderful to have him here looking so bright and happy. The vet said a lot of the piggies she does this operation on are back within months if not weeks with stones again. My problem is that I was already doing all the right things diet wise, she said for a bladder like Brackens she expected me to say I fed kale and spinnach.

Not sure what's going on with Spike he's not happy and hates being syringe fed, it's impossible to get a proper feed in him as he fights so hard. Hoping the meds work in the next few days and it was just a tummy upset. He's got a specialist vet appointment booked for Wednesday, which was the next available one, hoping all will be well before then and I can cancel it.
 
Bracken scared us this morning, he started his whoopy breathing which he does from time to time but this was much worse. I nebulised him for 20 mins and as usual it sounded much worse when he came out of the nebuliser. Within a couple of hours the noise had stopped, I gave him another nebulising session this afternoon. Bracken is as bright as a button now and is making Rusty's life difficult by always wanting to be where Rusty want's to be. I was going to take the loft out of the cage as I was worried about Bracken's stitches with him jumping in and out. There was great excitment in their cage this afternoon my OH made a long wooden ramp with is a very shallow incline, Rusty and Bracken went up and down for ages trying it out.
 
Quick update on Bracken and Co
Bracken is lovely and bright eating for himself and grumbling at Rusty. It's begining to look like his gut blockage may have been a seperate issue from the stones. I now have 4 sick piggies. All with gut problems, I feel so bad, what caused this? is it my fault? Poop has been sent off for analyis, the wait begins again! Meds and support feeding are taking at least 2 hours at a time, when I finish it's time to start again. Realised yesterday at 3pm I'd not eaten all day, so I'm eating now while I look at the Forum. Cage cleans next, then meds and feeding again! Vets bills are touching £3,000 and counting - will this ever end?
 
piggieminder said:
Quick update on Bracken and Co
Bracken is lovely and bright eating for himself and grumbling at Rusty. It's begining to look like his gut blockage may have been a seperate issue from the stones. I now have 4 sick piggies. All with gut problems, I feel so bad, what caused this? is it my fault? Poop has been sent off for analyis, the wait begins again! Meds and support feeding are taking at least 2 hours at a time, when I finish it's time to start again. Realised yesterday at 3pm I'd not eaten all day, so I'm eating now while I look at the Forum. Cage cleans next, then meds and feeding again! Vets bills are touching £3,000 and counting - will this ever end?
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I’m sorry you’re going through this, believe me it’s not your fault.Its just very bad luck xx
 
So sorry for all you’re going through.
It really does all happen at once.
Your piggies are very lucky to receive the love and care you are giving them
 
We have Giardia and worms, and though not good I am going to do this :yahoo:. At least now I know what the problem is and why these piggies are all losing weight and acting lethargic. Picking up meds tomorrow and then the big wash begins! Very hot wash everything throw all wood out and F10 all plastic and break the news to OH his new ramp has got to go!
 
piggieminder said:
We have Giardia and worms, and though not good I am going to do this :yahoo:. At least now I know what the problem is and why these piggies are all losing weight and acting lethargic. Picking up meds tomorrow and then the big wash begins! Very hot wash everything throw all wood out and F10 all plastic and break the news to OH his new ramp has got to go!
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Is that what came back from the poop analysis? I've not heard of Giardia before, what is it and how come all your piggies have gone down with it? Hope you can geton top of it quickly, healing vibes to all your piggies! :luv:
 
Yep it's come back from the poop analysis.
It's a parasite probably from hedgehogs, the boys can no longer go out on the lawn or have the grass from the garden. This is a right pain as Bracken is going to be very limited in what veg he can eat and my lot are on a mainly grass/hay diet.
 
Aw that's a shame for them. Could you maybe fence off a section of the garden with chicken wire so that hedgehogs etc can't get in, and use that for your pigs?
 
Giardia is a parasite that wild and/or domestic animals can transmit (plus humans can catch it) It can lay dormant in soil and contaminate drinking water. When I was hiking in USA many years ago we were advised not to drink any water unless it had been boiled. I think there was antibiotics that treat it quickly, but as it can lie dormant in soils you a right to think it unwise for piggies to graze on the grass. It gets I to soil by animal poos, even mouse dropping! Very difficult to notice on your lawn, maybe you can grow some grass in a container for your piggies. I have hedgehogs in my garden, we have encouraged them over the years, we have one in a hedgehog box in the back garden at the moment, but really it’s not just hedgehogs. Any animal is a potential source including your neighborhood cat population. Not sure if birds transmit it, probably?

So sorry for you and your piggies. Mine go out on the lawn most days and it is a worry
 
We are going to fence the grass in for next year so the hedgehogs can't get on it. We are convinced the hedgehogs are the problem as my neighbour told me yesterday one of them is ill and has been leaving runny poo in his garden, also the type of worm they have is typical to hedgehogs (sorry can't remember the name she said, I was too shocked). The vet also said Bracken could have had the parasites and worms since he came from the breeders, they would have laid dormant until he became ill with his stones when his imune system could no longer suppress them, he then passed them on to the others. At least I know now why I have sick piggies and can try to do something about it, the rounds of gut meds, pain killers and recovery food have been exhausting but hopefully the end is in sight. This whole episode has at least convinced me piggies are not for me and these will be my last, you think you have the diet and lifestyle right and you still get stones and sick piggies and complete heartache not to mention being almost bankrupt.
 
piggieminder said:
We are going to fence the grass in for next year so the hedgehogs can't get on it. We are convinced the hedgehogs are the problem as my neighbour told me yesterday one of them is ill and has been leaving runny poo in his garden, also the type of worm they have is typical to hedgehogs (sorry can't remember the name she said, I was too shocked). The vet also said Bracken could have had the parasites and worms since he came from the breeders, they would have laid dormant until he became ill with his stones when his imune system could no longer suppress them, he then passed them on to the others. At least I know now why I have sick piggies and can try to do something about it, the rounds of gut meds, pain killers and recovery food have been exhausting but hopefully the end is in sight. This whole episode has at least convinced me piggies are not for me and these will be my last, you think you have the diet and lifestyle right and you still get stones and sick piggies and complete heartache not to mention being almost bankrupt.
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I was feeling the same way as you. So so sorry all this has happened to you. It’s really soul destroying isn’t it. We think we are doing everything right and they still get ill. Wishing them a speedy recovery and hope you start to recover from the shock of it all too. X


I also did start to think these boys will be my last. However after one little piggy kiss from Mario and a super crazy popcorning wheeking mad fit from Peanut when I changed his cosy bed. And I’m afraid I caved in, (no willpower) I’m well and truly bitten by the piggie bug. They may get ill and all sorts of diseases but at the end of the day so can us humans despite all the healthy choices we may make so I suppose it’s just nature.
 
At the moment it's the washing that's getting to me, why have I got so much fleece? I'm washing it all at 90 doing the oldest tattiest stuff first as I think I will bin it as I go rather than wash a lot of it again. At least it's not raining. I'm doing a complete cage change for each cage at 90, I've got all the spare grids soaking in the bath in disenfectant so I can make clean cages, I've disenfected a set of plastic pigloos so I can burn the wooden ones. And so it goes on. I have to concentrate on one step at a time or I'll get overwhelmed. It doesn't help that I can't find anything on the internet to tell me what to do so am following the ringworm advice until I can speak to the vet. This is going to go on I assume for every cage change for weeks.
 
Oh I’m so sorry for you, it’s sounds an absolute nightmare. Hope your piggies make a speedy recovery x
 
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