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Over £900 for abscess removal?

I’m sorry to hear this.

Definitely make sure you are syringe feeding enough critical care to keep her weight stable each day - it’s around 60ml per day. Syringe feed replaces hay intake Where they are not eating enough hay for themselves. Veg and pellets don’t count towards fibre intake and won’t help her maintain her weight (jointly only make 20% of daily food intake).

Please do add the probiotic to syringe feed or to a syringe of water and give it to her directly. Never add anything to drinking water bottles - you can’t control intake and it can aerially stop them drinking entirely.
Make sure you leave 1-2 hours between an antibiotic dose and a probiotic dose ( giving probiotics and antibiotics at the same time can render the probiotic useless)
 
An update: the seroma swelling did eventually go down and the wound did eventually heal (we had to get another round of antibiotics and do saline washes of the wound until it closed - which I feel like we should have been doing in the first place, but anyway). The new problem started about a week before Christmas and that is that she is having pain pooping and weeing. I first noticed she was arching her back a bit weirdly and then a few days into that she started squealing as well. She's still eating and drinking and going up and down her ramp, getting excited for food etc. Not totally herself, but not too bad. But clearly in pain when she's pooping - so we got her cystease after seeing on this group that that is recommended. We bought cystease online and diagnosed her ourself at this point, and carried on with meloxaid we already have because we are totally out of money and the vet prices are insanity. But after all this time she doesn't seem to be improving (not getting worse either, but it can't be a good time). Yesterday we took her to the vet who poked and prodded and said she seems to have pain in her abdomen (because she squeaked when prodded). He said it would be good to do further tests, especially as she still seems unable to gain weight (every weigh in she's lost a little more). He's talking about putting her under and doing a lot of different tests (blood, x-ray, ultrasound.. think he even mentioned CT at one point). The quote was around £900. That's just the tests. To see if it's kidney stones/musculoskeletal/cancer.. etc. Well that's an absurd amount of money that we can't afford. What even happens if it turns out to be cancer? Or musculoskeletal? Kidney stones I think can be removed. Then he started saying we really need to look at her quality of life and if she needs to be put down if we can't afford it, which I think she is nowhere near that stage and didn't really appreciate. So for now, he prescribed us paracetemol to use as well as the meloxaid to see if that helps her, and to continue with the cystease. We give her the cystease by sprinkling the powder onto wet romaine/cucumber - her painful pooping seems to be worse straight after that but I'm thinking that's more the watery veg making her need to poop more (which is painful), rather than the medicine itself? At this point we are going to monitor her, keep giving cystease and pain relief and keep trying to fatten her up. If her pain continues we may have to drive out of town to a cheaper vet to run tests. When she poops she sticks her butt into the air (higher than normal) and squeals, not every time, but a lot of the time. She is still doing lots of poops, mostly of healthy size and consistency so it's not that she isn't pooping, it's just painful for her. I've recently stopped doing the probiotic because I thought it might be giving her boat and squishy poos - the poops have become less squishy since this time so there might be something to that. She was doing squishy for a while and kept stepping in it but that seems to have stopped now. Her latest round of Baytril and the other antibiotic (can't remember the name) ran out a few days ago. The vet didn't prescribe new ones and I'm quite happy to give her a break.

Experience, advice, tips - all appreciated :ple:
 
Oh no I’m sorry she’s poorly again.

I’ve only had one piggy who squeaked when peeing and pooping. He had an ultrasound and diagnosed with a bladder stone. He wasn’t anaesthetised for this procedure. This could be a quick and cheap way of ruling out stones? I hope you can get some answers soon. Sending healing vibes to your piggy and hugs to you.
 
I’m currently at the vets for my piggy who has similar symptoms. He said the first step if to take a sample of her urine for analysis but I’m getting this done in-house, X-ray to rule out stones, consultation fee and dye to check her eye she poked with hay recently will be about £200 in total (just for comparison). I am with an independent vet practice in Scotland.
 
weepweeps said:
Oh no I’m sorry she’s poorly again.

I’ve only had one piggy who squeaked when peeing and pooping. He had an ultrasound and diagnosed with a bladder stone. He wasn’t anaesthetised for this procedure. This could be a quick and cheap way of ruling out stones? I hope you can get some answers soon. Sending healing vibes to your piggy and hugs to you.
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That sounds like a good approach. Thank you for the healing vibes :hug:
What did you have to do about the stone?
thewheakybeans said:
I’m currently at the vets for my piggy who has similar symptoms. He said the first step if to take a sample of her urine for analysis but I’m getting this done in-house, X-ray to rule out stones, consultation fee and dye to check her eye she poked with hay recently will be about £200 in total (just for comparison). I am with an independent vet practice in Scotland.
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Sorry to hear your piggy is also unwell but thank you for sharing. That is a much more reasonable price, and one we could just about manage. Will definitely have to look at finding somewhere cheaper. Obviously they don't love long car journeys but it will be worth it!
 
Small bladder stones can sometimes be left to come out themselves in sows but there is a risk they could become stuck and block the urethra. That would then be a medical emergency. But with boys it’s not so straightforward so they usually have to have them surgically removed.
 
Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

The above guide may help you @Bristolpiggy . Timmy had similar symptoms to your girl when pooping. After xrays to rule out bladder sludge or stones Sonya at Highcroft decided to treat as cystitis with Metacam and Cystease for 2 weeks to see if he improved. He has improved although the xray showed slight arthritis in his spine so he is now on Metacam for life.
 
piggieminder said:
Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

The above guide may help you @Bristolpiggy . Timmy had similar symptoms to your girl when pooping. After xrays to rule out bladder sludge or stones Sonya at Highcroft decided to treat as cystitis with Metacam and Cystease for 2 weeks to see if he improved. He has improved although the xray showed slight arthritis in his spine so he is now on Metacam for life.
Click to expand...
Thank you.

In that thread it says this:

"Pain in the kidney or in surrounding organs often results in a quite distinctive rounded hunchback posture.

If it is combined with weight loss, then a vet trip may be necessary. Kidney infections are treatable with antibiotics."

She has the rounded hunchback posture AND the weightloss. I had mentioned the posture to the vet (and they know about the weightloss) but they vet didn't mention kidney infection. It sounds like that could be what it is though?

Isn't taking a lot of medications something that stresses the kidneys? Baring in mind she's been on antibiotics, painkillers, and probiotics, couldn't this have stressed them? I've been with her all day today and she hasn't squealed once actually, so maybe the problem is sorting itself out *praying* but I don't know.
 
Bristolpiggy said:
Thank you.

In that thread it says this:

"Pain in the kidney or in surrounding organs often results in a quite distinctive rounded hunchback posture.

If it is combined with weight loss, then a vet trip may be necessary. Kidney infections are treatable with antibiotics."

She has the rounded hunchback posture AND the weightloss. I had mentioned the posture to the vet (and they know about the weightloss) but they vet didn't mention kidney infection. It sounds like that could be what it is though?

Isn't taking a lot of medications something that stresses the kidneys? Baring in mind she's been on antibiotics, painkillers, and probiotics, couldn't this have stressed them? I've been with her all day today and she hasn't squealed once actually, so maybe the problem is sorting itself out *praying* but I don't know.
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That is something you would need to discuss with your vet, it could be an infection or a stone/sludge anywhere in the urinary tract not necessarily the kidney, you can often smell an infection. Without further tests it would be impossible to know what's going on. Generally short term meds during an illness wouldn't be expected to damage the kidneys. Guinea pigs metabolise faster than other species so even long term Metacam which can cause problems in cats and dogs is normally fine in piggys. Pain anywhere in the body can cause weight loss, they don't feel like eating as much as usual. Timmy lost 150gm in weight, he had a painful irritated bladder and has a painful spine due to arthritis resulting in hunching.
Your girl has had Baytril antibiotics are a known appetite suppressant they can also cause soft poop. The probiotics help with rebalancing the good bacteria in the gut that ABs kill off. When mine have been on Baytril I continue with probiotics for at least a week after.
I send your girl healing vibes, with my fingers crossed it is something like cystitis and the Cystease will help coat the sore bladder.
 
Thanks all. I've not noticed any sludgey wee. I think we'll keep monitoring and giving the painkillers and cystease. Will try the probiotic again but maybe a lesser amount and see - we were never really given an amount to give her, just told 'a sprinkle' but I feel a sprinkle as an amount is quite subjective! Her poops are a little inconsistent - sometimes they come out looking like very normal guinea pig poos and other times they are small and stubby. If no improvement over the next week, will try to find an independent vet. Thanks again!
 
I don’t know which vet you go to but there are 2 rescues in the Bristol area, Bristol Rabbit Rescue and Friends and also Little Wheekers Avonmouth.

It might be worth calling them and asking which vet they use.
 
Bristolpiggy said:
An update: the seroma swelling did eventually go down and the wound did eventually heal (we had to get another round of antibiotics and do saline washes of the wound until it closed - which I feel like we should have been doing in the first place, but anyway). The new problem started about a week before Christmas and that is that she is having pain pooping and weeing. I first noticed she was arching her back a bit weirdly and then a few days into that she started squealing as well. She's still eating and drinking and going up and down her ramp, getting excited for food etc. Not totally herself, but not too bad. But clearly in pain when she's pooping - so we got her cystease after seeing on this group that that is recommended. We bought cystease online and diagnosed her ourself at this point, and carried on with meloxaid we already have because we are totally out of money and the vet prices are insanity. But after all this time she doesn't seem to be improving (not getting worse either, but it can't be a good time). Yesterday we took her to the vet who poked and prodded and said she seems to have pain in her abdomen (because she squeaked when prodded). He said it would be good to do further tests, especially as she still seems unable to gain weight (every weigh in she's lost a little more). He's talking about putting her under and doing a lot of different tests (blood, x-ray, ultrasound.. think he even mentioned CT at one point). The quote was around £900. That's just the tests. To see if it's kidney stones/musculoskeletal/cancer.. etc. Well that's an absurd amount of money that we can't afford. What even happens if it turns out to be cancer? Or musculoskeletal? Kidney stones I think can be removed. Then he started saying we really need to look at her quality of life and if she needs to be put down if we can't afford it, which I think she is nowhere near that stage and didn't really appreciate. So for now, he prescribed us paracetemol to use as well as the meloxaid to see if that helps her, and to continue with the cystease. We give her the cystease by sprinkling the powder onto wet romaine/cucumber - her painful pooping seems to be worse straight after that but I'm thinking that's more the watery veg making her need to poop more (which is painful), rather than the medicine itself? At this point we are going to monitor her, keep giving cystease and pain relief and keep trying to fatten her up. If her pain continues we may have to drive out of town to a cheaper vet to run tests. When she poops she sticks her butt into the air (higher than normal) and squeals, not every time, but a lot of the time. She is still doing lots of poops, mostly of healthy size and consistency so it's not that she isn't pooping, it's just painful for her. I've recently stopped doing the probiotic because I thought it might be giving her boat and squishy poos - the poops have become less squishy since this time so there might be something to that. She was doing squishy for a while and kept stepping in it but that seems to have stopped now. Her latest round of Baytril and the other antibiotic (can't remember the name) ran out a few days ago. The vet didn't prescribe new ones and I'm quite happy to give her a break.

Experience, advice, tips - all appreciated :ple:
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Please, please look into visiting Origin in Cardiff, those prices for those tests are excessive. Origin have a very well respected cavvy-savvy vet.
 
Merab said:
I don’t know which vet you go to but there are 2 rescues in the Bristol area, Bristol Rabbit Rescue and Friends and also Little Wheekers Avonmouth.

It might be worth calling them and asking which vet they use.
Click to expand...
Thanks, we did that and they use the vet we are with :-)

The vets aren't bad, just the prices!
 
I really hope that she improves soon.

Vet fees are such a lot these days.
 
Sadly we lost our sweet angel yesterday. I feel awful, not just because she's gone but because we failed her. Obviously we felt very pressured by our vet and like he was being manipulative, so we did have this sense of distrust which made us resistant (as well as the money). I emailed around other vets, including Origin in Cardiff but that was no better (they wanted £210 just for a consultation?!). But then it seemed like she was improving - we were no longer hearing her squeal when pooping/peeing, her posture when pooping was looking more normal, they were coming out mostly a normal shape. We thought phew, maybe she's getting better by herself. Then after a week or so the squeals came back and we were back to square one. We thought let's book her in for an ultrasound first and take it from there, which we did. That was scheduled for Friday but she died yesterday. The day before that she was still mobile going upstairs and downstairs, still squawking at us for food, and still eating. She did seem sad when I took her out for a cuddle in the evening, and her chewing wasn't as fast as normal, but we didn't think she was close to death. Clearly she was because we found her in the morning and we were too late. I wish that we had taken her in as an emergency as soon as we heard her squeal again. It's possible she was in much more pain that we realised. My theory is she had passed one kidney stone and that explains why she improved and then a second one started to break down and brought the symptoms back, but we will never know now. We had been giving her cystease, watery veg, and painkillers during this whole time. I love her so much and I feel terrible. Learn from our mistake and act immediately 💔
 
Oh my dear, I'm so sorry.

Please take comfort, you did everything you could. That's an immense act of love.

She had a few good days, followed by a rapid decline. That means she got some time really enjoying life towards the end, and you got to enjoy that time with her. Still mobile and eating all the way to the end meant she was still Pigging and if they are still Pigging they are happy.

It's hard for us, but so many pigs I've known seem to improve before going downhill so rapidly. It sounds to me like nothing could have been done, even as an emergency intake.

I'm sorry to hear Origin were so expensive, they are supposed to be good but that's disappointingly steep.
 
I’m so sorry for your loss. It sounds like she was enjoying the piggy life and there was little you could’ve done with such a sudden decline in health. Please be compassionate with yourself as you grieve 💖
 
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