Liv
Junior Guinea Pig
Dear fellow piggie lovers,
I just wanted to share this in case it helps someone else's pig. I lost my beautiful baby Boh two nights ago following emergency surgery for a bladder stone that got stuck in his urethra. He was only 2 years old.
Boh had a history of bladder issues: he had recurring bloody urine. He was a happy, healthy pig but from time to time would leave little spots of blood in his urine. He underwent multiple vet visits and ultrasounds (performed by the exotics specialists at Royal Dick's in Edinburgh), and was diagnosed with persistent cystitis. I had read all about bladder sludge and stones and kept asking if it could be that (Boh would often leave visible chalky deposits in his urine) but the vets said the images showed only a small amount of sediment in his bladder, and that it was nothing to worry about. They said I could give him cystease in case it helps.
He was on antibiotics for 7 weeks but the blood soon returned. I was giving Boh supplementary vitamin C, Oxbow bladder support tablets, cranberry extract and cystease to try to help him. Over the last 4 days he visibly declined. He seemed to be straining and quietly squealing while urinating and lost some weight. I put him back on antibiotics and metacam and also looked for a visible obstruction in his penis but found nothing, except that it looked quite purplish, as if the blood flow was restricted. He suddenly got much worse overnight and didn't eat much breakfast so I immediately took him to my closest vet (I had moved to Oxford in the meantime). They did an x-ray from a dorsal view (I asked that he not be sedated if it can be avoided) which didn't show any stones. They then did another ultrasound which showed a faint "growth-like" mass in his bladder. They said operating on a guinea pig was beyond their abilities so they referred him to the exotics practice in Chipping Norton. I took him there for the earliest available appointment the next day. They immediately did another ultrasound but using a much finer resolution scanner probe. They asked me to hold Boh in different positions while they scanned him to see if the "growth" moved. We could indeed see it peel away from the bladder wall, change shape and settle again every time I shifted him. The vet said it looks just like calcium sediment. He then palpated Boh's abdomen and felt a lump where the urethra travels down from the bladder. He used the fine probe to move along the urethra - you could clearly see the black open tube (as it should look) until a certain point, when it was suddenly obscured, revealing a clear blockage. They think this didn't show up on the x-ray likely because the pelvis was directly above it, obscuring it from view.
They immediately took him to undergo emergency surgery. They first tried to push the stone back into the bladder (from where it can be removed) which sadly didn't work. They then performed a cystotomy to try to flush the stone out from the other side. This involves opening up the bladder and pushing and flushing from the inside. When they opened him up they found his ureters to be massively distended - a sign that the urine is backing up towards the kidneys, which is bad news.
The surgery took about 2 hours - they were close to giving up when they finally managed to dislodge the stone by passing a cannula next to the stone and then flushed it out through the penis. The surgeon called me as they were waking him up and I was so relieved and hopeful. They said they were going to keep him overnight to make sure he recovers as it was a very big surgery for "such a little man".
Unfortunately I later received a call from the night nurse who said they lost him. He seemed to recover from the anesthetic but then went into cardiac arrest. I was completely devastated. He was such a sweet little pig who loved life and he did not deserve this.
I think he could have been saved if he had received the surgery earlier, when the stone was still in his bladder. I am so disappointed that he didn't receive a correct diagnosis sooner. I spent an absolute fortune on vet bills and it didn't even help him.
Sorry for the long post but I am writing all this as a warning. If you have a piggy with bladder issues (bloody urine, pain when urinating, straining, dribbling urine instead of peeing properly), please immediately have him x-rayed and scanned from multiple angles, and make sure that they scan the urethra and penis (if male) as well as the bladder. I took my baby to the most expensive, competent vets but that is clearly not a guarantee that they will make the right diagnosis. I probably made Boh worse by syringing him water (vet recommendation) to try to flush out his non-existent "infection". The extra water just put more strain on his kidneys.
Hope this helps someone with a "bladder pig". Here is a picture of my beautiful boy when he was still a happy butterball. I am grateful for the time I had with him and for everything he taught me. I wish I could have given him the long, healthy life he deserved.
I just wanted to share this in case it helps someone else's pig. I lost my beautiful baby Boh two nights ago following emergency surgery for a bladder stone that got stuck in his urethra. He was only 2 years old.
Boh had a history of bladder issues: he had recurring bloody urine. He was a happy, healthy pig but from time to time would leave little spots of blood in his urine. He underwent multiple vet visits and ultrasounds (performed by the exotics specialists at Royal Dick's in Edinburgh), and was diagnosed with persistent cystitis. I had read all about bladder sludge and stones and kept asking if it could be that (Boh would often leave visible chalky deposits in his urine) but the vets said the images showed only a small amount of sediment in his bladder, and that it was nothing to worry about. They said I could give him cystease in case it helps.
He was on antibiotics for 7 weeks but the blood soon returned. I was giving Boh supplementary vitamin C, Oxbow bladder support tablets, cranberry extract and cystease to try to help him. Over the last 4 days he visibly declined. He seemed to be straining and quietly squealing while urinating and lost some weight. I put him back on antibiotics and metacam and also looked for a visible obstruction in his penis but found nothing, except that it looked quite purplish, as if the blood flow was restricted. He suddenly got much worse overnight and didn't eat much breakfast so I immediately took him to my closest vet (I had moved to Oxford in the meantime). They did an x-ray from a dorsal view (I asked that he not be sedated if it can be avoided) which didn't show any stones. They then did another ultrasound which showed a faint "growth-like" mass in his bladder. They said operating on a guinea pig was beyond their abilities so they referred him to the exotics practice in Chipping Norton. I took him there for the earliest available appointment the next day. They immediately did another ultrasound but using a much finer resolution scanner probe. They asked me to hold Boh in different positions while they scanned him to see if the "growth" moved. We could indeed see it peel away from the bladder wall, change shape and settle again every time I shifted him. The vet said it looks just like calcium sediment. He then palpated Boh's abdomen and felt a lump where the urethra travels down from the bladder. He used the fine probe to move along the urethra - you could clearly see the black open tube (as it should look) until a certain point, when it was suddenly obscured, revealing a clear blockage. They think this didn't show up on the x-ray likely because the pelvis was directly above it, obscuring it from view.
They immediately took him to undergo emergency surgery. They first tried to push the stone back into the bladder (from where it can be removed) which sadly didn't work. They then performed a cystotomy to try to flush the stone out from the other side. This involves opening up the bladder and pushing and flushing from the inside. When they opened him up they found his ureters to be massively distended - a sign that the urine is backing up towards the kidneys, which is bad news.
The surgery took about 2 hours - they were close to giving up when they finally managed to dislodge the stone by passing a cannula next to the stone and then flushed it out through the penis. The surgeon called me as they were waking him up and I was so relieved and hopeful. They said they were going to keep him overnight to make sure he recovers as it was a very big surgery for "such a little man".
Unfortunately I later received a call from the night nurse who said they lost him. He seemed to recover from the anesthetic but then went into cardiac arrest. I was completely devastated. He was such a sweet little pig who loved life and he did not deserve this.
I think he could have been saved if he had received the surgery earlier, when the stone was still in his bladder. I am so disappointed that he didn't receive a correct diagnosis sooner. I spent an absolute fortune on vet bills and it didn't even help him.
Sorry for the long post but I am writing all this as a warning. If you have a piggy with bladder issues (bloody urine, pain when urinating, straining, dribbling urine instead of peeing properly), please immediately have him x-rayed and scanned from multiple angles, and make sure that they scan the urethra and penis (if male) as well as the bladder. I took my baby to the most expensive, competent vets but that is clearly not a guarantee that they will make the right diagnosis. I probably made Boh worse by syringing him water (vet recommendation) to try to flush out his non-existent "infection". The extra water just put more strain on his kidneys.
Hope this helps someone with a "bladder pig". Here is a picture of my beautiful boy when he was still a happy butterball. I am grateful for the time I had with him and for everything he taught me. I wish I could have given him the long, healthy life he deserved.
