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Mollie Has Cystitis

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slight change of plan - she's going to have the middle dose metacam halved initially before being stopped. so extra slowly to make sure she adjusts well. then it will be stopped and she'll be back to 2x a day. then we'll see where we're at then. she's still doing well :)
 
Sounds like things are on the up for her... I do hope so, she's been such a little fighter. xx
 
some exciting news... today is day 10 since mollie did any uncomfortable bladder noises so the spay was definitely needed for her body to better handle the bladder issues. although we won't be rocking the boat yet with reducing bladder meds, i'm still so pleased that she has finally reached her first target :) we're focusing on reducing her metacam, domperidone and feeds first and then once that is done and provided she is staying stable, we can begin to start thinking about reducing her bladder meds aswell.

she's doing very well :)
 
mollie's appetite is well and truly back. to be honest, it's been fine for a few days now but i feel with so many meds, it's better to reduce slowly, even if it means it takes an extra week or so. vet usually does reductions by thirds but did say i could go extra slowly if i felt better doing that, and i do but i also think it suits mollie better to have a gradual adjustment aswell...

... so she's only on half the domperidone now and has only needed one feed a day for the last few days. she's been on half the middle metacam dose for longer than a few days but i feel like it just tops her up a bit through the day.

i really think that from tomorrow she would be fine without that one syringe feed but i'll see how i feel at the time. she's eating huge amounts of hay and the timothy hay pellets from galens garden aswell. so they are making her drink more aswell so she's getting lots of water aswell. veg she is still eating fine like she always was, and i've been letting her have a few vitakraft pellets aswell because she loves them.

i think tomorrow will also be her last day of the half domperidone and then i'll reduce that for the last time before stopping aswell. then we'll see where she's at then.

but i'm so happy with how she is. she's two weeks post op now and apart from that little blip, she really has done extremely well with it all. :)
 
been ages since i updated! mollie has been off everything for a bit now and is doing well. she had a slight weight loss with the change in meds but only 5-10g so even though she is her lowest weight now, it isn't by much and only an issue if it now continues, which so far it hasn't.

she's back to her usual doses of bladder meds like before the spay, however she's not done any uncomfortable noises still, so we are finally able to start reducing them soon, although it will be when we are sure her weight is staying stable for a little bit longer. :)
 
mollie and benjie have been having floor time for the past few hours. the first proper floor time since mollie's spay three weeks ago. the thing is, she appears to be walking a bit strangely... i'm not sure if it's because i only have a fleece blanket down over the laminate floor.. or whether she still has inflammation. i don't think she should still have inflammation though, especially considering she is still on metacam. but now my mind is thinking things like a deficiency because her diet is restricted now since getting her bladder issues.

she's ok in all other ways. any thoughts? i don't want to over-panic because it's not very noticeable, but it is a bit noticeable to me because i know her.. she has very long skinny legs and feet anyway and has always looked a little different to any of my others. a bit frog legged i suppose. i had her vet checked for it a while back and all was ok. but that was before her bladder and cyst issues.

eta: forgot to say aswell - because mollie's nails are black, we trim little and often, but i feel like i leave her nails slightly too long alot of the time for fear of cutting her quick. so this could also account for her odd walking.
 
so mollie was bunny hopping a bit again yesterday aswell during floortime and also back in the cage and was also lifting her back left foot up every so often aswell.

she's been for yet another check-up this morning! so her back left foot, that middle nail i have mentioned previously, is actually a dislocated toe. either an old injury which she may have aggravated recently, or it could actually have happened sometimes recently. it has scar tissue built up and is swollen, however it shouldn't get any worse and should settle back down. so this could explain the dodgy walking. she has always walked a little oddly since we got her and has always been a little bit frog-legged so this might be why! no treatment is needed for it as the vet said they generally cope fine with a dislocated toe. makes me shudder the thought though!

so the other reason for the odd walking might be to do with the fact she has had proper floortime the last couple of days, and this is the first time since her spay. so it could be her muscles adjusting and it could possibly be bladder related because she reacted slightly having her bladder palpated. she also reacted having that toe felt so could be either... it doesn't appear to be anything relating to her spay though.

so she's going to be on the higher metacam dose again now, split over three doses. this will be for a few days just to bring any swelling down from her bladder and her toe. if she doesn't seem to be improving after that then she will be going in for an xray which will check her over. vet said bunny hopping can be related to back issues alot of the time, so the xray will check her back, her bladder, and her toe! basically everything! but hopefully she will improve and not need this.

she had started to slip in weight but is back up again today (still low but ok) so that also ties in with her toe, especially as her weight slipped the last few days although only very slightly.

i did mention her diet but the vet doesn't think this is causing any issues relating to her movement. he said low calcium diets don't generally cause any type of deficiency and actually a diet of hay, grass and mainly lettuces is actually a very healthy diet for a piggy so mollie should have no issues on it. she is having small amounts of other foods though aswell so should be fine.

i think that was everything! i picked up some oxbow timothy hay whilst we were there and mollie and benjie are happily munching away on that at the moment :)

eta: the other thing the vet mentioned for mollie was readi-grass. said she would be fine having some of that aswell.
 
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Readigrass I believe is very high in calcium, so I would definitely avoid it.

Apparently the only low in calcium hay is Timothy. I read that recently on one of the stickies on the forum.
 
flintstones said:
Readigrass I believe is very high in calcium, so I would definitely avoid it.

Apparently the only low in calcium hay is Timothy. I read that recently on one of the stickies on the forum.
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it's confusing because i thought the same thing about the readi-grass and always have from what i've read online, however the vet said it isn't the case with how they use it. so a diet of hay, grass, readi-grass and lettuces/small amounts of leafy greens is actually a very healthy and balanced diet for piggies. i assume things are alot more complex than just good or bad, however science and me do not mix so even if he had gone into more detail, it would probably be wasted on me :)) it does make me wonder though how many things written online just seem to take off and get repeated. and how many are actual correct. and where the info came from in the first place. i might ask him more about it next time. he may have been talking about piggies in general and not mollie specifically, however i got the impression he meant mollie and so did my o/h but we might both be wrong :)) there was so much info to take in because mollie was being checked, and my rabbit bisc was being checked for his issues aswell! benjie just relaxed in the carrier and patiently waited :)) :luv:

and we'll see how miss mollie mops gets on with whatever is making her walk a bit oddly. i'm starting to think she actually likes going to the vets. she certainly seems to be making a habit of it :roll: x
 
12 vets visits we've done since march and 8 have been for mollie. so she must fancy the vet or something :)) seriously though, she's such a tough little one really having all this to deal with lately :luv:

even though the vet told me to stop researching things online .. :)) .. i looked up readigrass and it seems another of those debate things so who knows. i'm not planning to buy any and i've never fed it to any of my lot, but i will definitely ask the vet about it again next time we see him (please not for a while!) and then if he says they can have a bit of it each day or a few times a week or whatever, i might try them with it. if it's ok, it should be a nice addition to their diet and a change for them to have mixed in with their hays (their collection :roll: :)) )
 
To be honest I learnt through feeding it after my pig's had some there Urine would be chalked full of calcium.

I have my own bladder at the moment and despite being on a low calcium fief her Urine is still gritty. She had a stone manipulated out just the other week.

Bladder problems are really difficult to treat. I'm glad Mollie's doing well she's a proper trooper.
 
flintstones said:
To be honest I learnt through feeding it after my pig's had some there Urine would be chalked full of calcium.

I have my own bladder at the moment and despite being on a low calcium fief her Urine is still gritty. She had a stone manipulated out just the other week.

Bladder problems are really difficult to treat. I'm glad Mollie's doing well she's a proper trooper.
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ah ok. maybe it suits some better than others and might not be worth even trying for bladder piggies. they're sensitive enough as it is. i seem to remember buying it once a very long time ago for the rabbits but it seemed too rich for one of them who has a sensitive tummy. he's extremely sensitive though :)
 
flintstones said:
Can I ask what pellets your feeding Mollie - it's something I need to look into.
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well the vet recommended no pellets to start with and then possibly one of the newer concept low calcium ones once symptoms were more under control. so mollie has a very small amount of vitakraft now which seem to suit her very well so far. but something like bunny or vitakraft i'd say were the best options :)
 
I'll need to look into again as that's the only other thing I can change for little Wilma.

I'm also going to try and syringe additional fluids, do you give Mollie any fluids? Is she a big drinker?
 
flintstones said:
I'll need to look into again as that's the only other thing I can change for little Wilma.

I'm also going to try and syringe additional fluids, do you give Mollie any fluids? Is she a big drinker?
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wilma is such a cute name :luv: i do think no pellets is worth giving a go, at least initially to see if it helps. or even a reduction may help. i found the timothy hay 'pellets' from galens garden very useful. mollie felt like she was still getting something and at the same time getting more hay but just in a different form. she was never a massive pellet eater though to be honest so her weight didn't really seem to be affected. she loves the vitakraft now though and i use them more as a treat really. maybe one or two a day at most.

mollie is syringed water during and after her meds so gets fluid that way. she is an ok drinker so gets some that way and her main fresh food veg wise is lettuces which are very useful for bladder piggies and extra fluid. grass is also great because of the moisture content. these are the main ways the vet recommended to us for mollie x
 
i forgot to say - i asked the vet about the calcium salts and IC - so mollie only has inflammation because of the excess calcium salts. so i don't think IC is the correct term for what she has, even though she does have inflammation. so her diet doesn't have to be completely like the IC diet mentioned and she could cope with other foods not on that list, aslong as they are low calcium :)
 
so mollie's bunny hopping has improved so much on this metacam 3x a day higher dose, so obviously it must have been a bit of out of control inflammation. whether it's her toe or her bladder, i'm not sure, but hopefully if she continues this way and stops bunny hopping completely, we can avoid her having to go for another xray.

she's still seems bright and happy within herself so that's all good :)
 
mollie has been off the higher metacam over 3x a day for a few days now and appears to be walking normally so that's good news.

in other great amazing news... she is on day 25 now of no uncomfortable noises! but we still need to wait a bit longer before reducing the bladder meds but considering she was struggling to get to 10days clear of uncomfortable noises before the spay, this is just so amazing :)

she's very bright and happy lately and although still on the slim side, she's doing brilliantly. this bladder and then cyst issue has been going on for four months now (got to laugh at my original post about how mild it seemed and that i was hopeful it would clear quickly! lol)
 
3 years bladder issues here lol :D I don't know if this helps but we maintain Petal with 0.1ml Metacam once or twice a day, 0.35ml Potassium Citrate once a day & once a month she has a Cartrophen injection :) My vet is sceptical about Cystease, she says in her experience it doesn't help, but she has had success with Cartrophen injections. I have noticed since we have been giving the Potassium Citrate every day she has had no blood in the urine & seems a lot more comfortable. It is not recommended if the piggy already has formed a bladder stone though. We up her Metacam to twice a day if necessary. Recently she has been getting painful rear legs (Kept nibbling her toes & squealed when I washed her back legs) so upping the dose seems to have helped her hugely. My vet has promised to tell me when she feels the pain is no longer manageable but at the moment Petal is over 5 years old so every day is a bonus :)
 
Poppy'sMum said:
3 years bladder issues here lol :D I don't know if this helps but we maintain Petal with 0.1ml Metacam once or twice a day, 0.35ml Potassium Citrate once a day & once a month she has a Cartrophen injection :) My vet is sceptical about Cystease, she says in her experience it doesn't help, but she has had success with Cartrophen injections. I have noticed since we have been giving the Potassium Citrate every day she has had no blood in the urine & seems a lot more comfortable. It is not recommended if the piggy already has formed a bladder stone though. We up her Metacam to twice a day if necessary. Recently she has been getting painful rear legs (Kept nibbling her toes & squealed when I washed her back legs) so upping the dose seems to have helped her hugely. My vet has promised to tell me when she feels the pain is no longer manageable but at the moment Petal is over 5 years old so every day is a bonus :)
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that's a long time. i feel like we're just starting out with it but at the same time, we're alot further forward than we were and things are beginning to settle down and become gradually more manageable overall.

i'm keeping an eye on her because of that odd walking she had, and the stiffness. i'm not sure yet if it's bladder related but it does make sense. having a dislocated toe thrown into the mix has confused me slightly :))

thanks for the info. :)
 
a little update again - still no uncomfortable noise from mollie. think we're about day 33 now :D she's been in such a good mood today and did a lovely high popcorn after benjie did one :)) :luv: she's been very chatty aswell and she has found a loud wheek when it's veggie time :)) they had some grass today aswell so they loved that :)

it won't be much longer now until we can try reducing her bladder meds (cerenia first) - it's quite scary really thinking about it but i'm really happy with how she's doing :)
 
mollie was chirping again earlier on. not really sure why as she seems bright. last time she did it i did think it might be to do with her illness and that she could feel something inside herself maybe. doesn't seem that way this time, but it's not a sound i like to hear really because it makes me a bit un-nerved.

she did seem a bit spooked at the time but she's been fine since. i got them some oxbow orchard grass the day before yesterday because she loved it when @sport_billy sent us some for eddie last year.. so got them that as a treat and she is obsessed with it! :)) she eats every single scrap of what i put in. :)) benjie loves it aswell but for mollie, it's like a drug! :))
 
Sending your sweet little girl lots of love x

Don't worry about the chirping, I think it tends to be a happy thing if nothing else... I have seen Widget go from eating hay happily to start chirping.. .nothing bad in the lead up to it.

Give her a cuddle for me x
 
sport_billy said:
Sending your sweet little girl lots of love x

Don't worry about the chirping, I think it tends to be a happy thing if nothing else... I have seen Widget go from eating hay happily to start chirping.. .nothing bad in the lead up to it.

Give her a cuddle for me x
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o/h didn't believe me at first that it was mollie! he thought it was a budgie or something on the tv! :))

i'll give her a cuddle from you, thanks :) she's still stuffing her face with orchard grass :)) think i'll be buying it very regularly from now on if she has her way :)) x
 
Mine love orchard grass, always goes down well.

I get freaked out by chirping too, Tim did it for about 10 minutes non stop in the middle of the night a few weeks ago.
 
her bladder meds are still the same for a little while longer just to make extra sure her weight pattern is continuing to go upwards, but she's actually on day 39 now clear of any uncomfortable noises which is amazing. she's just very happy and looks so much healthier. she's a small piggy anyway so she doesn't look underweight really at 895g even though she's still about 100g less than she was. but the lowest she got to was 850g so she's put back on nearly 1/3 of what she lost overall. and it's good that it's a gradual upward trend which hopefully will continue as we go forward. she's just so bright and happy though. and she looks so much better body wise - her condition and her hair. she's got so much more hair on her tummy now aswell. so cute :luv: just really pleased with her :luv:
 
it's an exciting day today because mollie has started her meds reduction! we're going slowly with reduced cerenia now so please wish us luck :)
 
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