Lightning strikes twice?

[Wiebke]

I've just come back from the vet, because I suspected Llewelyn was coming down with UTI.

The vet took an xray, and there was this round shadow which COULD be a small stone. I have to take him for a sideways xray under sedation (plus operation, if necessary) on Tuesday.

Hopefully, it's only mild UTI. There wasn't any blood in his urine sample and I have never noticed any blood patches or other signs before.

But I'm completelyl shellshocked. I lost Llewelyn's predecessor Minx after an almighty battle with two bladder stone operations and cystitis only 18 months ago. It has taken me nearly a year to recover from that loss, because she was so special to me.

I JUST DON'T WANT TO GO THERE AGAIN!

 

[alcesterpigs]

There is no need for sedation just for an x ray. Why is a lateral x ray necessary?
There can be a stone without blood in the urine, give him plentyof cranberry juice in the meantime.

 

[Wiebke]

They sat him normally on the xray plate for today's xray where this round blob showed up. So they want to have a look from another perspective to see whether it comes up again. If I'm lucky it won't.

I know that you can have stones without blood in the urine - you get that only when it is pressed into the surrounding flesh. I was relieved because some of LLewi's test puddles was quite red and a little bit gritty.

The problem is that it is about my worst nightmare coming out of the closet again!

 

[Farquhar]

So sorry to hear about Llewellyn. One of my piggies has a bladder stone which showed up during an x-ray, but the stone is embedded in the bladder wall and the vet thinks he has had this for years. I didnt opt for surgery due to the piggies age and also because the specialist i saw said the stone had probably been there for years. I find that spinach irritates the stone and avoid this now. Dandelion leaves are apparently good for bladder conditions so if you can get access to any try and give Llewellyn some. Hope the wee man is ok.

 

[Wiebke]

lewelyn is as fine as any man can be who's faced with syringes and oral medicine for obviously the first time in his life. He's not happy with me, but just now, he's busy hoovering up a handful of grass and young dandelions (which are the things that are growng fastest on my tatty lawn at the moment and l leave them there for the pigs.)

Llewi-boy has never shown any signs of discomfort or bleeding; in fact he's been racing up and down the living room with his freshly pedicured feet on Thursday. It was only that I noticed several patches of discoloured hay stalks (bright yellow) when I cleaned the pigs out and saw him arch and squeak a bit when he was peeing on Thursday evening.

As I've started putting them out in the rabbit hatch on my patio for the day and then on the lawn on warm, sunny afternoons, I naturally assumed that he had contracted a bit of UTI, and I wanted to have it sorted before it went full blow over Easter.

The vet wants to have another better look at him and then, if necessary, operate immediately. I have full trust into Carol; she's done a brilliant job on Minx twice. She'll give me a ring after the xray anyway and we can make a decision then.

It's just this same old cycle of worrying and hovering - and this time I know only too well how bad it can become!