How risky is a bladder flush?

[HollysKingdom]

Minx and her bladder problems.

This morning my son discovered that Minx’s bed smelt of fishy pee again. So, this afternoon Minx and I visited another branch of our vet for an ultrasound scan with an exotics vet.

It turns out she has a lot of sludge swirling around in there. The vet says she can sedate her and use a catheter to try and flush it out. There are no stones, she doesn’t need surgery. Also, doesn’t need antibiotics. And the walls of her bladder look ok.

I have no experience of this, and I’m not comfortable with it, so would appreciate advice from any piggies it has helped, please.

The plan the vet and I have agreed for the moment is to give metacam, more wet veg (cucumber), ensure she is drinking plenty and wait a couple of weeks to see if she can pee it out herself.

I hope I’ve made sense here, brain fog is particularly dense today

 

[Claire W]

I am very sorry to hear that Minx has a sludgy bladder Is your vet experienced with doing bladder flushes? If done correctly, it can be very successful however, if done incorrectly, urine can flow back towards the kidneys which can have dire consequences.

My Connie had a bladder flush and sadly for her, the vet did it too harshly and she sadly died a few days later However, this was in 2008 and veterinary medicine for guinea pigs has come on leaps and bounds since then.

I would have an honest chat with your vet and see how confident they are with bladder flush surgery and make any decisions going forward from there

In the meantime, as well as feeding cucumber, you can syringe feed water to help flush out the bladder as much as she will take but no more than around 0.2ml - 0.5ml in one go x

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

Firstly, it depends on how tightly the bladder is packed. A tightly packed bladder requires an operation.

Secondly, it very much depends on your vet and how careful and gentle they are. Bladder flushes can be fatal if too much water is pushed in too strongly and results in backing urine into the kidneys; with fatal resultsabout 7-10 days after the flush. We have sadly seen this a few times in years past on here.

If done correctly, flushes can be life prolonging. My Cariad needed them every few months after her calcium absorption process flipped. I could get her from producing stones within weeks of each other to producing sludge but I could not stop it from forming. That was back in 2012-14.

Cariad lived for about 2 years after her process suddenly flipped and lived to 5 years despite needing regular flushes until she got too frail for them. Ah, yes, and right in the middle of everything she also had an emergency spay in April 2013 when her womb went grossly wrong, which despite her being just 700g, she just sailed through (including yet another flush).
I have however been lucky to have access to a good and very experienced vet.

 

[HollysKingdom]

I am very sorry to hear that Minx has a sludgy bladder Is your vet experienced with doing bladder flushes? If done correctly, it can be very successful however, if done incorrectly, urine can flow back towards the kidneys which can have dire consequences.

My Connie had a bladder flush and sadly for her, the vet did it too harshly and she sadly died a few days later However, this was in 2008 and veterinary medicine for guinea pigs has come on leaps and bounds since then.

I would have an honest chat with your vet and see how confident they are with bladder flush surgery and make any decisions going forward from there

In the meantime, as well as feeding cucumber, you can syringe feed water to help flush out the bladder as much as she will take but no more than around 0.2ml - 0.5ml in one go x

Hi

Firstly, it depends on how tightly the bladder is packed. A tightly packed bladder requires an operation.

Secondly, it very much depends on your vet and how careful and gentle they are. Bladder flushes can be fatal if too much water is pushed in too strongly and results in backing urine into the kidneys; with fatal resultsabout 7-10 days after the flush. We have sadly seen this a few times in years past on here.

If done correctly, flushes can be life prolonging. My Cariad needed them every few months after her calcium absorption process flipped. I could get her from producing stones within weeks of each other to producing sludge but I could not stop it from forming. That was back in 2012-14.

Cariad lived for about 2 years after her process suddenly flipped and lived to 5 years despite needing regular flushes until she got too frail for them. Ah, yes, and right in the middle of everything she also had an emergency spay in April 2013 when her womb went grossly wrong, which despite her being just 700g, she just sailed through (including yet another flush).
I have however been lucky to have access to a good and very experienced vet.

Thank you . I’m so sorry about Connie, even if it was a long time ago.

I think I need to get a list of questions together and ask for a phone call with the vet. She showed me a recording of the ultrasound and the sludge was in motion (so not tightly packed?). She was adamant that Minx doesn’t need surgery and that a bladder flush is low risk. Explained that the issue is getting a catheter small enough for the urethra but big enough for the sludge to pass through. And she has done it before - so I guess the question is “how many and success rate?”, which feels a bit rude.

Its giving me confidence if Cariad had them regularly, thank you

Minx was offended at being syringe-fed water, she does drink well herself though.

Its difficult, I try so hard with their diet. Fiddly creatures, aren’t they?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you . I’m so sorry about Connie, even if it was a long time ago.

I think I need to get a list of questions together and ask for a phone call with the vet. She showed me a recording of the ultrasound and the sludge was in motion (so not tightly packed?). She was adamant that Minx doesn’t need surgery and that a bladder flush is low risk. Explained that the issue is getting a catheter small enough for the urethra but big enough for the sludge to pass through. And she has done it before - so I guess the question is “how many and success rate?”, which feels a bit rude.

Its giving me confidence if Cariad had them regularly, thank you

Minx was offended at being syringe-fed water, she does drink well herself though.

Its difficult, I try so hard with their diet. Fiddly creatures, aren’t they?

Hi

It is never rude asking a vet for their experience and success rate, as long as you do it politely and state that you are worried because you know that if done incorrectly, it can have a fatal outcome.

 

[HollysKingdom]

Hi

It is never rude asking a vet for their experience and success rate, as long as you do it politely and state that you are worried because you know that if done incorrectly, it can have a fatal outcome.

Thank you thats going on my list.

 

[Claire W]

Thank you . I’m so sorry about Connie, even if it was a long time ago.

I think I need to get a list of questions together and ask for a phone call with the vet. She showed me a recording of the ultrasound and the sludge was in motion (so not tightly packed?). She was adamant that Minx doesn’t need surgery and that a bladder flush is low risk. Explained that the issue is getting a catheter small enough for the urethra but big enough for the sludge to pass through. And she has done it before - so I guess the question is “how many and success rate?”, which feels a bit rude.

Its giving me confidence if Cariad had them regularly, thank you

Minx was offended at being syringe-fed water, she does drink well herself though.

Its difficult, I try so hard with their diet. Fiddly creatures, aren’t they?

Thank you. It was very upsetting especially as Connie had been ill for quite some time and I thought we had finally found a cure.

You are well within your rights to ask questions so long as you’re polite and any good vet will welcome them especially with the risks involved x