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Piggy squealing with hunched back

M

Morecaviesthebetter

Junior Guinea Pig
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Vets are closed and will be until Monday, nearest emergency vet is too far away

Juno, our 3 year old sow is showing signs of pain at random intervals. She will be eating fine, stretching her body without issue and walking, then suddenly her hunches her spine, raising her bottom and squealing quietly. Whites of eyes are visible so I'm certain she's in pain.
I've separated her from her sister (they can see and touch still) and put a white blanket down to monitor peeing and pooping. She is pooping but I don't see any urine yet and am feeling quite confident it is a bladder stone that she is unable to pass.

How can we comfort and treat her from home until we can get her to the vet? I hate seeing her suffer.
 
She is in pain and a stuck bladder stone absolutely is a life or death emergency. I’m afraid there is nothing you can do to treat this and she really needs the emergency vet today.

Please reunite them. It’s important that they are kept together to reduce stress. Monitoring poop is not helpful as it only provides out of date food intake information. Daily weight checks are the only way to gauge food intake. Please step in with those daily weight checks and syringe feeding if needed. However and I’m sorry to say that these things won’t help if there is a stuck stone
 
Piggies&buns said:
She is in pain and a stuck bladder stone absolutely is a life or death emergency. I’m afraid there is nothing you can do to treat this and she really needs the emergency vet today.

Please reunite them. It’s important that they are kept together to reduce stress. Monitoring poop is not helpful as it only provides out of date food intake information. Daily weight checks are the only way to gauge food intake. Please step in with those daily weight checks and syringe feeding if needed. However and I’m sorry to say that these things won’t help if there is a stuck stone
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Does it definitely sound like a bladder stone? I'll go and check again where the emergency vet is and see if we can get a lift there today
 
Piggies&buns said:
She is in pain and a stuck bladder stone absolutely is a life or death emergency. I’m afraid there is nothing you can do to treat this and she really needs the emergency vet today.

Please reunite them. It’s important that they are kept together to reduce stress. Monitoring poop is not helpful as it only provides out of date food intake information. Daily weight checks are the only way to gauge food intake. Please step in with those daily weight checks and syringe feeding if needed. However and I’m sorry to say that these things won’t help if there is a stuck stone
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Okay, we had an online consultation with the emergency vet and they said a bladder stone sounds quite likely, certainly on the list of possibilities. We've been advised to monitor her closely (especially how much she's eating and that no blood appears in her urine) and call back in 2 hours or if it gets worse. From there we will see if we need to take her in to the vets now or if it can wait until our local vets reopens. (Purely because they don't typically handle X rays etc, which I thought was strange but that's that). They said if it comes to it they could potentially do one to check for bladder stones, but to give it a little bit of time for now incase she seems improved (I suppose in the event that it's actually something else, like a muscle injury causing pain when she poops/pees).

I'm not sure it was the best advice we could've recieved but we don't exactly have an exotics vet as an option and this is the best we're getting. We'll take her straight in if she worsens or if she's the same by 5pm
 
Is she peeing at all? I’d be concerned in case it blocks her urethra totally. Sows can sometimes pass small stones themselves 🤞🏻. She definitely needs some pain meds too. Good luck. ❤️
 
weepweeps said:
Is she peeing at all? I’d be concerned in case it blocks her urethra totally. Sows can sometimes pass small stones themselves 🤞🏻. She definitely needs some pain meds too. Good luck. ❤️
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She is passing some urine thankfully, but it seems painful for her
If she's the same or worse by 5pm we will make sure she has pain meds and a trip to the vet today
 
Okay, another update, she's having less frequent episodes, but we're now seeing a lot of pink her urine, we believe it's likely a little blood. We talked to another vet and decided to bite the bullet and take her in for an exam and to get some pain killers (we will take a urine sample if we're able to collect one). I'm not sure they're going to be experts at dealing with guinea pigs, but we at least need pain relief for our girl. We'll probably get her checked out with our vet on Monday, he's wonderful with exotic animals and if she's okay until them he may be better for doing tests.
 
They were relatively happy with her, they did minimal tests, feeling the bladder for inflammation/large stones. They said the urine sample shows a lot of gritty calcium (which we knew when we saw it ourselves) so likelihood is that it's a few small stones rather than big ones, no signs of obstruction.
She has been given a shot of pain relief and anti inflammatory so it can get to work quickly and we're going to monitor her closely, dosing with meloxicam starting tomorrow. If she's still off by Monday we'll book her in with our local vet, and if she is worse tomorrow we will take her back to the emergency centre for x rays etc
 
From my very recent experience (not necessarily the same symptoms I will add) please keep monitoring her. . Hoping the meds work quickly Sending more positive vibes her way x
 
I'm sorry to hear you're guinea pig is suffering, my boar is in a similar situation currently, but unfortunately we don't seem to be getting the adequate veterinary care. His urine is red and he's in a lot of pain but all they've done is put him on antibiotics, and given no pain relief or taken no urine samples. I'm glad to know your piggy has no obstruction, I'm hoping for the same with my Toby. Hope your sow makes a quick recovery🤞😢
 
squeakly said:
I'm sorry to hear you're guinea pig is suffering, my boar is in a similar situation currently, but unfortunately we don't seem to be getting the adequate veterinary care. His urine is red and he's in a lot of pain but all they've done is put him on antibiotics, and given no pain relief or taken no urine samples. I'm glad to know your piggy has no obstruction, I'm hoping for the same with my Toby. Hope your sow makes a quick recovery🤞😢
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He's passing urine so the urethra must not be blocked, not completely anyway, which is good.
Why did they put him on antibiotics, do they suspect a UTI opposed to bladder stones? At the very least he should have pain relief, maybe you could tell them that he's in pain and ask for meloxicam for him, I can't fathom why they'd decline. Any other vets you can try? Exotic vets are best.

Hope your guy makes a swift recovery and feels better asap, our Juno is feeling well rested today which we are relieved for
 
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