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hey there again really need some advice i posted here last week about monkey having ulcers on his penis well ive been back and forth to the vets with him as the brown discharge wasnt coming off so he had a mini op saturday and had the penis cleaned he went back tonight again for check up and it seems he is now passing blood too i had noticed it but assumed it was down to cleaning his penis with surolan, monkey is currently taking metacam 0.5mg/ml plus he is now on tribrissen which he had two to take after saturday so sunday and monday and now he has five more, we initially started on baytril but due to the op that stopped saturday. my vet just seems happy to keep trying different things while for us the cost keep rising now i dont want to see monkey suffer but its getting expensive any ideas would be great please.
 
oh gosh, poor Monkey, i havent a clue on advice sorry, but hope he recovers soon, its sounds really sore :{
 
thank you I'm so distressed because i dont know what to do to help him ive made him a small c&c cage to live I'm for the time so i can monitor the blood in the wee, ive got the meds to give him but just wanted som sound advice onkeeping him strong foods to give will he need a warm bed just daft stuff really I'm dead worried :{
 
When the others come on later they will give you good advice i am sure, try not to worry love.

I had a piggy that had a sticky out willy, and i had to constantly pick debris and gunge out of it, and it dragged on the floor when he walked and it was fine, so hopefully it wont be too bad.

Not sure if this link is any help at all:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=46301&highlight=penis
 
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hello thanks for reply weve been through the cleaning and stuff so its not that its in side now but the vet did and ultra sound and couldnt see stones. the little mite is losing weight and ive noticed today grinding his teeth he is not really eating so i made up some of his food today and veg and blended it went down well with all apart from monkey so now it has me thinking can teeth problems cause blood in urine?
 
I have a boar with a similar problem at the moment so you have my sympathies.

Because of all the problems with his winky, it sounds like he has now got a urine infection in his bladder which is painful, smelly and can cause blood in the urine. Your vet has given him metacam for the pain and tribrissen (septrin) anitbiotic for the infection which is good.

However the grinding teeth (particularly when he is trying to wee or poo?) indicates he may still be in a bit of pain , particularly when he wees, and until the antibiotics get to work and dampen down the infection he may have a couple of rough days ahead of him. How much metacam are you giving him in either mls or drops and how much does he weigh? (You state in your earlier post it is 0.5mg/ml so I assume this is the cat metacam?). Depending upon you answer it might be worth ringing your vet and asking for permission to up the dose for a couple of days and this I think is the most important courseof action as reducing the pain will make him feel a lot better.

The pain is stopping him eating and he is losing weight. So the blood in the urine can cause teeth problems rather than the other way round. You do need to syringe feed him to keep his guts going untill he starts to eat again by himself...try and get 120ml of lquid feed down him per day, feeding about 20ml in one sitting (as that is about the average capacity of their stomach)

If there is no improvement after a few days, the vet may need to do a urine analysis and culture to find out if there are any bugs/crystals and maybe try a different antibiotic. If no bugs are found, he will need an Xray to look for stones (edit - see you;ve already had ultrasound and it was clear - however urine infections can cause stone formation so don;t rule this out)


Finally, home products that could help include unsweetened cranberry juice which stops the harmful bacteria from gaining a hold on the bladder lining). Some people use the Ocean spray unsweetened one, I buy cranberry concentrate from Holland and Barret and either mix some into the liquid feed or into the second product "pearl barley gloop" below.

Buy dried pearl barley (usually next to the lentils) and boil it up for approx 45 mins until it is soft and mushy (you;ll need to keep topping up the saucepan with water). When it is soft, make sure you have some remaining water still in the pan and then drain the pearl barley through a sieve, mashing it as you go and catching the sticky watery gloop that comes off it in a bowl as this is what you want. Store in the fridge for no more than 3 days and syringe feed 1.0ml a couple of times a day to your piggie. The pearl barley gloop allegedly contains compounds that help coat the bladder lining and soothe inflammation. I have found this really did help a couple of my pigs with badder stones/urinary infections.

Longer term: When you say he had an op, I'm assuming they knocked him out/sedated him and just thoroughy cleaned and inspected his bits....rather than any actual surgery? If that is the case, then when he has stabilised/got rid of the infection, you need to keep an eye on his winky and if he is one of those pigs who is prone to stinky willy problems then in future cleaning with a cotton wool ball soaked in dilute 2% hibiscrub (2ml in 100ml), drying gently followed by a thin application of sudocream (thanks suzygpr for that tip) can help prevent it ulcerating again.You should only need to do this once or twice a week and he may become able to keep himself clean after a bit.

HTH
x
 
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hello thank you for reply that some really good advice we started monkey on the hibiscrub but when that wasnt clearing it soon enough they gave us surolan to us 3 drops twice a day and wiping with wet cotton wool. i was up at 2.45am this morning feeding him cucumber and some lettuce leaves he wont eat much so i thought cucumber atleast he will be getting liquid then this morning i mash up some oats and veggies and his feed to syringe feed him which he isnt pleased with but I'm just besides my self with worry what i dont understand is why the vet didnt do the x ray yesterday surely if it is stones why havent they just kept him in i feel like its a ticking time bomb. I'm not sure what too do :...
 
hello thank you for reply that some really good advice we started monkey on the hibiscrub but when that wasnt clearing it soon enough they gave us surolan to us 3 drops twice a day and wiping with wet cotton wool. i was up at 2.45am this morning feeding him cucumber and some lettuce leaves he wont eat much so i thought cucumber atleast he will be getting liquid then this morning i mash up some oats and veggies and his feed to syringe feed him which he isnt pleased with but I'm just besides my self with worry what i dont understand is why the vet didnt do the x ray yesterday surely if it is stones why havent they just kept him in i feel like its a ticking time bomb. I'm not sure what too do :...

I know you;re worried, but the best thing you can do to help your piggie at the moment is reply to the questions I posed above:
How much does your piggie weigh?
How much metacam are you giving him and can you confirm it is cat (0.5mg/ml) rather than dog (15mg/ml) strength?


You say that the vet has already done an ultrasound to rule out stones and didn;t find anything so to then do an Xray as well at this time would not achieve anything useful except subject your piggie to unnecessary stress and lighten your purse. The fact they chose to do an utrasound (which would also pick up tissue problems where an Xray wouldn;t) instead of an Xray is a good indicator that your vet knows what they are doing.

I only mentioned stones because there is evidence that they MIGHT form sometime (possibly years) in the future as the RESULT of a previous bacterial infection but this might not happen at all...so please stop panicking that your piggie has stones.

At the moment your vet is choosing to treat for an infection and having done the ultrasound and not found anything to explain the current symtpoms, then that is the logical thing to do. Even if stones had been found, they would not keep your piggie in unless they needed to do an urgent op and that would depend upon whereabouts the stone(s) were located in the urinary system

As to the syringe feeding, if his diet does not normally contain oats then introducing it now may actually discourage him from eating as piggies are notoroiusly picky about their food and piggies in pain are even more picky. Just use his current pellets softened in water and see if he will eat them off a spoon..you can also liquidise vegies into the mix. If he needs actual syringe feeding then it's easier to use either Oxbow Critical Care or Supreme Recovery. Cucumber is good for poorly piggies and fresh Grass and dandelions are also a good bet.

HTH
x
 
thanks again for reply monkey is back at the vets his listless behavoiur today is not normal so now they are doing an xray i dont understand the logic to do it this way round but the vet is cashing in because weve spent £175 pounds in the last three weeks and i was told told today the op to remove stones will be £150 and that dosent include meds etc. I'm so upset i dont know what to do the money weve spent so far isnt a problem but we dont have a further £150 this month if he needs the op it shouldnt be about money but we cannot magic ir from nowwhere, what annpys me about the vet i see is these test could have been done three weeks ago rather than charging us for different things each time. and poor monkey is so lovely I'm so upset :...
 
monkey had his xray and has a 5mm stone the op to remove it is £150 and my partner has said no he will not pay that much as he has spent quite abit already what do i do now
 
I'm sorry to hear Monkey has been found to have a stone, but at least you now know what you are dealing with.

To be honest you don't have much choice about what action to take - to give your piggy the best chance he needs surgery to remove the stone, at that size he is unlikely to be able to pass it - boys anatomy tends to make passing stones much more difficult than it is for sows. I very much doubt your vet would recommending surgery if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Good luck with your decision, there are many members on the forum who have been in this position and can offer support and advice - I wish Monkey a swift recovery.
 
thank ypu i spoke with the lovely lady at wheek and squeak and she has advised me to go to a cavie special vets orchard vets in romsey basically she has said if we cannot afford the care there she will take him on but that his friend has to go too so I'm might being saying bye to them both so I'm pretty heart broken if this had been order over a week ago it wouldnt be an issues but we dont have over £150 to pay the rest of the bill and that wouldnt have included meds
 
Can you get all his notes & x-rays from the previous vets & give them to her? It would save poor monkey having further x-rays etc.
 
Firstly I'd like to apologise for dismissing your worries in your earlier posts about stones in view of the fact he now appears to have one. Many vets would opt for an xray first...because they are more familiar with interpreting Xrays than utrasound which does require more specialist knowledge and experience (especially with piggies)...however ultrasound in good hands is a much better first choice test to identify not just stones but sludge/thickened bladder lining/possible tumours etc if you know what you are looking for.

I may have misunderstood the sequence/timing of events but i was under the impression he had the utrasound earlier this week and the vet ruled out stones?...yet today an Xray is now showing a 5mm stone. Was it the same vet at the practice you saw?

If that is the case, then it "might" be possible to persuade the vet to credit back the cost of the previous ultrasound and today's consultation fee against the cost of the op on the grounds that had they done the Xray first, the stone would have showed up? You may have to address your concerns to the practice manager rather than the vet themselves.....but if you feel up to ir, it might be worth a phone call before you make a decision about your piggies?

HTH
x
 
thank ypu i spoke with the lovely lady at wheek and squeak and she has advised me to go to a cavie special vets orchard vets in romsey basically she has said if we cannot afford the care there she will take him on but that his friend has to go too so I'm might being saying bye to them both so I'm pretty heart broken if this had been order over a week ago it wouldnt be an issues but we dont have over £150 to pay the rest of the bill and that wouldnt have included meds

Maybe you should have asked the vet how much things were going to cost before going ahead. Sorry, I'm not moaning, just saying. I apologise if i upset you in saying so.

x
 
hello pebble well the vet didnt make a charge for ultrasound yesterday she just charged us for some more meds the tribrissen stuff the vet we see owns the practice and is the only vet that is ever on i explained today about the amounts and she didnt seem fussed and wasnt prepared to give us a lower price which i think is a bit off but what ever i didnt even want to got to her again but my partner was lets go there etc now poor monkey has been through the ringer and may end up in a rescue. devastated i tell you i just hope the cavie specialist vet dosent cost the earth then we may be able to keep him. fingers toes and everything crossed it would be sad to go through all of this to just send him off. :(
 
hi abi i did ask this morning how much it was all going to cost but please bare in mind he has been to the vets six times in the last two weeks god i thought it was three weeks but its two, ranging in price from £16.00 to £60 now I'm not against paying for his care i just think that had she have ordered the test sooner we would only need to be paying for an xray an op and some meds at present we are looking at £322 in total if we go ahead with the op with her but so far we have spent £172.00 that is for hibiscrub baytril tribrissen twice a op for cleaning his penis, metacam and surolan and poor little monkey is not doing great ive been given today by the vet organic baby food to syringe feed him and liquid parrafin to clear the gas he has in his stomach.
 
hi monkey is at the vets today having the op probaley as i type he is with the specialist vet so fingers are crossed he pulls through his weight was pretty good today at 1.31kg which is smaller than he was normal but atleast he wasnt seriously low. i feel so much more positive today


























































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:)p
 
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