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Kidney / bladder stones

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Claire W

Claire W

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I'm thinking about Connie and wondering if she does have stones. Are the signs that she is showing a sign of stones? How would a vet know if she had stones and what would he do to get rid of them? Sorry for all these questions but I'm just so stressed over it all :(
 
My vet was able to detect a stone as he could feel it. He confirmed this with an xray though. If the stone is in the bladder it can be removed fairly easily. However, I once had a piggy who had a stone in the ureter (tube from kidney to bladder) and sadly I lost him. Simon, my vet, did say he thought the only way to remove a stone from there would be to try and push it through into the bladder and then to open up the bladder and remove it from there. I gave him permission to try the procedure after Ginger's death, in the hope that it would help another piggy in the future, but unfortunately he said he couldn't move it along the tube.

Try not to worry too much at this stage. I would talk to your vet and see what they think.
 
I asked the vet on Saturday about another antibiotic and he said that the one she is on is the recommended one for her weight :( Do you think it sounds like a bladder stone or infection?
 
It's more likely to be in infection, but if she isn't improving on the baytril then I think a change of antibiotic could be worth it. One of our piggies was on septrin and made some improvement but the infection wasn't completely clearing, so a change to baytril did the trick that time. If there is no improvement then I think an x ray could be worth considering.
 
Thank you so much for all your help Debbie. The vet said that the very very last resort after everything else would be to open her up to see what 's happening but we really do not want it to come to this.
 
A stone will show clearly on an x ray. Simon was showing me an x ray of a piggy with a stone when I was there last week. It was an absolutely huge stone. He said in many ways its better when they are big like that because it doesnt get trapped in the tiny tubes.
 
kidney/bladder stones

Hi Claire, sorry to here that you are worried about connie, that you think it may be stones. I myself am going through the same thing with my girl Pinkie. To cut a long story short she had all the symptoms, wet bottom, stale very white wee and her vulva area is swollen. The vet confirmed by xray that it was a stone in her urethra. She gave me some muscle relaxant and said try and massage it out. Tried this for a week now and the stone has moved to the end, however i still can't get it to come out. Got to ring the vet in the morning, i think she is going to put her under anestetic and try to remove it. I think to put your mind at rest i would take connie for an xray. I will let you know how we get on. Poor girl has been through a lot in past two months, she had to have ovarian cysts remove in october, now this!
Take care hope all is well. Sharon
 
I had a sow who had three bladder stones and the vet detected them by feel. He did not have to do an xray. The only symptom I noticed was the blood in the urine. She was operated on and the stones were successfully removed. I think cutting her open to see what is going is a bit extreme. Surely an xray would confirm stones. I don't the harm of changing the antibiotic especially if she is not responding to the baytril. I hope Connie is feeling better soon xx
 
Yes I would agree opening her up to check is definitely extreme and not necessary. Stones do show up very well on an x ray, so if there is no improvement after she has finished the course of antibiotics. then I would say an x ray should be the next step.
 
Hi Claire, sorry to hear that Connie has an infection and/or possibly a stone.

If she does have a stone, it can be easily treated without surgery due to sows being able to pass them. keep up with the antibiotics, is she on baytril? Septrin is normally better for urinary infections and its easier on there little stomachs :) Good luck when you go back to the vets :)

At the moment one of my sows is having treatment due to an infection,she had an x-ray and it thankfully showed no stones but lots of sludge and grit, she has had her kidney/bladder flushed out at the CCT, and is now home after 2 weeks of intensive treatment, and has to go back to the CCT in 4/5 weeks for another flush, i have noticed a big improvement in her already. This is my 3rd pig in as many months to go down with infections, so ive changed their diet to a low calcium diet, cutting down on carrot, parsley, cabbage, kale etc and ive put them all on bottled water which is better than tap water.

Tanya x
 
Connie update

I managed to get 2 samples from Connie yesterday and a fresh one today. When I got home from work, the wee had turned redish again in the fridge :(
I took her back to the vets tonight and he has felt her tummy again and can definatly not feel anything and she didn't even flinch. He tested all 3 of her samples and couldn't detect any blood. Last week, the blood went of the scale when he tested it. I asked him why it had turned a pinkish colour and he thinks that she could just have too much protein or something in her body. He also said that if there is any blood in her wee, it is now not much at all. When she wee's on a towel, we have also noticed that the redish colour is much fainter than it was before. It is a mystery but he says that he isn't too concerned at the minute. He has given me a pot and suggests that I get another urine sample from Connie over the week as he would like to send it off to the lab to be tested properly to see if there is too much protein or something else. He has advised me to keep her on the baytril until the bottle finishes incase there is an infection still there. I do not have to take her back again unless she changes or I am concerned. It is just strange as nothing seems to be wrong with her apart from the wee. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the sample as Connie needs to do a big big wee when I can witness it, collect it and get it to the vets :o
 
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