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Please help advice!

brookeh2662

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello! I am looking for advice. I have 3 piggies bonded - Murphy, Gracie and Poppy. Poppy has a history of having bladder stones and she currently has them and is on medications. She doesn’t usually pee blood as one of her symptoms and no one has been acting off lately. Gracie has a tumor on her thyroid which we are thinking is hyperthyroidism. Murphy is all good. I woke up this morning to a horrifying scene of so much blood! I sent these to my exotic vet and she agrees it’s a lot of blood. We are thinking that it’s definitely poppy because of the stones. I have a stone removal surgery for her on Tuesday. My vet said she recommends probably spaying her as well because the blood might indicate a uterine infection. Does anyone have experience with this? I need advice. Is it too far to just spay her without knowing exactly that it’s that or should I just do both at the same time? I am also short on money right now and they are quoting me around $1,000 for both of those procedures to be done together. I’ve heard spays are risky so I want to be sure I’m doing the right thing for my baby. She is about to be 3 years old. Thank you in advance for any and all advice!
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Oh no that must have been very upsetting for you please take a deep breath. How are you guineas now?
Do you have any idea who the blood came from? I am sure an expert will be along soon to advise. Do you have a 24 hour vet?
 
Hi

I am very sorry for your distress but all we can tell you is to please contact your vet because we cannot tell you where the blood is coming from - sheer blood in sows is more likely to come from the reproductive tract (ovarian cyst or womb) than the urinary but it all depends on the case. It however a sign that something more serious is going on.

I wish I could help you more.
 
I contacted my vet - she was the one who said we could just go ahead and spay poppy as well. If it were you, would you risk it and spay her?
 
Hi

I am very sorry for your distress but all we can tell you is to please contact your vet because we cannot tell you where the blood is coming from - sheer blood in sows is more likely to come from the reproductive tract (ovarian cyst or womb) than the urinary but it all depends on the case. It however a sign that something more serious is going on.

I wish I could help you more.
Also - is blood common in males?
 
I contacted my vet - she was the one who said we could just go ahead and spay poppy as well. If it were you, would you risk it and spay her?

HUGS

That's a really difficult one to call, and - unfortunately for you, we cannot make that decision for you; only you can do that. However, before you make any decisions you need to clearly know for sure which piggy the blood is from. If needed, isolate them for a day, so you hopefully get that sorted as your first priority. Your piggies' bond will survive that.

However, recurring bleeding from the same guinea pig is worrying. If it was from the urinary tract, it would be more likely mixed with urine. Because a larger, rough stone is very painful when it scrapes its way down the urethra, removing the insulating glucosamine layer that prevents stinging pee from coming into direct contact with raw tissue, it is usually very painful and your piggy would clearly look off - at least in my very own experience. The pain in the bladder or urethra is unmistakeable.

The bloody area is clearly not from your classic urine infection (bacterial or sterile), as that would be porphyrin (dark red) coloured pee drops and puddles.
Your vet should have been able to feel a stone if they palpated (felt for) the bladder. If the bladder is soft and large, then it is healthy. It sounds rather like your vet has been able to exclude the urinary tract as the source of the blood.

Bleeding from from the reproductive tract of a boar is very rare - it means an injury to the penis or something sharp stuck in the penis pouch, and that is rather easy to check and feel.

As to the operation dilemma: any diagnostics are going to add a few hundred of dollars more to the bill but you are entitled to ask for further examinations.
A spay is a major operation that may or may not come off; it depends on the operating vet, the post-op recovery team and the reaction to GA. Personally, I have had several successful spays (including emergency ones for a womb grossly gone wrong and one to prevent a nasty feeling cyst from going cancerous, apart from the usual fast growing huge cysts) but I have access to a very good operating vet who I fully trust.

However, you have to weigh that up against the possibility of the bleeding coming from a cancerous ovarian cyst or the womb going wrong - both with usually fatal consequences if it was that. Pyometra (infection of the womb lining) is fatal in the advanced stages but it could also be cancer in the womb causing the bleeding.
We have seen several cases of cancerous cysts or a cancerous womb in sows of 2-3 years onwards. They have ended with a death not long after as cancer in guinea pigs is currnetly not treatable.
Pyometra can be cured with an antibiotic in the early stages. :(

It is one of these 'between a rock and a hard stone' decisions that we all dread because there is no peep into the future for the outcome, so it is very much a leap of faith in the dark whether you want to risk a make-or-break operation or prefer to just let her go on and then have your piggy euthanised when they start going downhill and are clearly in pain.

This guide here can help you work out where you stand on important aspects that are playing into your decision for yourself:
Operation, Terminal Care or Euthanasia? - Helpful Questions to Ask Ahead or in Hindsight

Tips For Post-operative Care

I wish I could just snap my finger and pull out a safe treatment option but sadly I cannot. It is even more difficult when you feel that you have not enough clear information to base your decision on. :(

My thoughts are with you.
 
HUGS

That's a really difficult one to call, and - unfortunately for you, we cannot make that decision for you; only you can do that. However, before you make any decisions you need to clearly know for sure which piggy the blood is from. If needed, isolate them for a day, so you hopefully get that sorted as your first priority. Your piggies' bond will survive that.

However, recurring bleeding from the same guinea pig is worrying. If it was from the urinary tract, it would be more likely mixed with urine. Because a larger, rough stone is very painful when it scrapes its way down the urethra, removing the insulating glucosamine layer that prevents stinging pee from coming into direct contact with raw tissue, it is usually very painful and your piggy would clearly look off - at least in my very own experience. The pain in the bladder or urethra is unmistakeable.

The bloody area is clearly not from your classic urine infection (bacterial or sterile), as that would be porphyrin (dark red) coloured pee drops and puddles.
Your vet should have been able to feel a stone if they palpated (felt for) the bladder. If the bladder is soft and large, then it is healthy. It sounds rather like your vet has been able to exclude the urinary tract as the source of the blood.

Bleeding from from the reproductive tract of a boar is very rare - it means an injury to the penis or something sharp stuck in the penis pouch, and that is rather easy to check and feel.

As to the operation dilemma: any diagnostics are going to add a few hundred of dollars more to the bill but you are entitled to ask for further examinations.
A spay is a major operation that may or may not come off; it depends on the operating vet, the post-op recovery team and the reaction to GA.
However, you have to weigh that up against the possibility of the bleeding coming from a cancerous ovarian cyst or the womb going wrong - both with usually fatal consequences if it was that. Pyometra (infection of womb lining is fatal in the advanced stages but it could also be cancer in the womb.
We have seen several cases of cancerous cysts in sows of 2 years onwards. They have ended with a death not long after. :(

It is one of these 'between a rock and a hard stone' decisions that we all dread because there is no peep into the future for the outcome, so it is very much a leap of faith in the dark whether you want to risk a make-or-break operation or prefer to just let her go on and then have your piggy euthanised when they start going downhill and are clearly in pain.

This guide here can help you work out where you stand on important aspects that are playing into your decision for yourself:
Operation, Terminal Care or Euthanasia? - Helpful Questions to Ask Ahead or in Hindsight

Tips For Post-operative Care

I wish I could just snap my finger and pull out a safe treatment option but sadly I cannot. It is even more difficult when you feel that you have not enough clear information to base your decision on. :(

My thoughts are with you.
Thank you SO much for this amazing response. If it were your piggy, would you just do a stone removal surgery and then put her on antibiotics after the surgery to see if it goes away? Or do you really think it’s more likely a reproductive problem? I’ve let her go on a few months with stones (taking meds and pain meds), she’s passed some herself. She’s never had this much blood in the months that she’s had these stones which is making me more suspicious for something more serious. Thank you and I’d love your thoughts
 
Thank you SO much for this amazing response. If it were your piggy, would you just do a stone removal surgery and then put her on antibiotics after the surgery to see if it goes away? Or do you really think it’s more likely a reproductive problem? I’ve let her go on a few months with stones (taking meds and pain meds), she’s passed some herself. She’s never had this much blood in the months that she’s had these stones which is making me more suspicious for something more serious. Thank you and I’d love your thoughts

If you think that it is stones or would like to have that excluded, then it is definitely worth an extra x-ray to check the bladder before committing for a full spay. Stones usually show up on an x-ray.

Here is an x-ray picture of my Teggy and her large urethral stone stuck just behind the ring of muscles that regulate the peeing at the anus. There is no other stone in the bladder. Her stone was caused by lack of access to fresh low calcium lettuce and veg during the first Lockdown.
Teggy, urethral stone x-ray 2020.webp

I have had several bladder stone operations (one piggy twice and one who needed an emergency stone op for a very fast growing stone and 6 months later an emergency spay (and bladder flush) when her womb went also wrong. Cariad was only 700g but amazingly she lived for another year to 5 years of age, All of my bladder piggies had a confirmed stone; though. While all my spays had a confirmed womb or cyst issue.
 
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