• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Please Help - Urinary Blood and Clots

M

mikkysaur

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 1, 2019
Messages
20
Reaction score
31
Points
175
Hi everyone, I’d appreciate any advice for my beloved 7 year old girl Oreo. She has a known bladder stone and occasionally urinates blood but I’ve never seen it bright red like this or sprayed throughout the cage. There’s also a blood clot and her weight dropped from 919 to 874 in one day and I’m so worried about her.

I have a vet appointment scheduled but I’m going to call tomorrow to get it moved up ASAP. In the meantime is there any advice you can give or questions I should ask the vet?

Currently Oreo is taking
0.15 ml potassium citrate twice a day
0.5 ml meloxicam once a day
I’m giving her critical care with the oxbow urinary/joint support treats mixed in because they have glucosamine, and I’m also mixing in HealthyGut probiotics from Chewy

I see her eating hay and sometimes pellets. I tried giving her veggies for lunch and she wasn’t interested. I feel so helpless and hate knowing she’s in pain. Thank you for any help

Images here because I don’t know how to embed
IMG 1098 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1441 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1443 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1444 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1446 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1447 hosted at ImgBB
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1441.webp
    IMG_1441.webp
    75.4 KB · Views: 2
  • IMG_1443.webp
    IMG_1443.webp
    58.6 KB · Views: 2
  • IMG_1444.webp
    IMG_1444.webp
    15.9 KB · Views: 2
  • IMG_1446.webp
    IMG_1446.webp
    46 KB · Views: 2
  • IMG_1447.webp
    IMG_1447.webp
    96.6 KB · Views: 2
mikkysaur said:
Hi everyone, I’d appreciate any advice for my beloved 7 year old girl Oreo. She has a known bladder stone and occasionally urinates blood but I’ve never seen it bright red like this or sprayed throughout the cage. There’s also a blood clot and her weight dropped from 919 to 874 in one day and I’m so worried about her.

I have a vet appointment scheduled but I’m going to call tomorrow to get it moved up ASAP. In the meantime is there any advice you can give or questions I should ask the vet?

Currently Oreo is taking
0.15 ml potassium citrate twice a day
0.5 ml meloxicam once a day
I’m giving her critical care with the oxbow urinary/joint support treats mixed in because they have glucosamine, and I’m also mixing in HealthyGut probiotics from Chewy

I see her eating hay and sometimes pellets. I tried giving her veggies for lunch and she wasn’t interested. I feel so helpless and hate knowing she’s in pain. Thank you for any help

Images here because I don’t know how to embed
IMG 1098 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1441 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1443 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1444 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1446 hosted at ImgBB
IMG 1447 hosted at ImgBB
Click to expand...

Hi

HUGS

I am so very sorry.

This does sound very worrying indeed and needs an urgent vet examination. Please try to get her seen as soon as possible as an emergency; one possibility could be that the stone has moved and could be blocking the urethra. There are however other possible causes; including that the bleeding could be coming from the reproductive rather than the urinary tract.
Try to give the vet clinic a call as soon as they open tomorrow morning or - if you have them in Denmark - contact an out-of-hours veterinary clinic now.

Here is the link to our one stop emergency and bridging care advice collection, in which we have included links to all necessary information and how-to guides.
Please step in with feeding and watering support. There should be a link on how to improvise.
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed for your little one.
 
Thank you so much everyone, your support means the world to me

Last night I took her to an emergency exotic vet. We did a blood test, urinalysis, and X-rays. She now has two bladder stones instead of one, and the original one is a bit bigger. No blockage but very high white blood cell count due to infection, and mild anemia from the blood loss.

They gave her fluids, pain/nausea injection, and we added gabapentin and SMZ antibiotics to her medications. This is just a bandage for the next 2 weeks to try and fight off the infection, and once she’s doing better we can consider surgery

Since last night she has been very lethargic and just faces a corner in the cage. She was moving around and eating/drinking a little, but not as much as I’d like to see her back to normal. She is still peeing blood, and her poops are less mushy

I feel guilty that I’m not doing enough. I’m so scared to put her through surgery, but now I feel like because I delayed it she’s suffering even more
 
mikkysaur said:
Thank you so much everyone, your support means the world to me

Last night I took her to an emergency exotic vet. We did a blood test, urinalysis, and X-rays. She now has two bladder stones instead of one, and the original one is a bit bigger. No blockage but very high white blood cell count due to infection, and mild anemia from the blood loss.

They gave her fluids, pain/nausea injection, and we added gabapentin and SMZ antibiotics to her medications. This is just a bandage for the next 2 weeks to try and fight off the infection, and once she’s doing better we can consider surgery

Since last night she has been very lethargic and just faces a corner in the cage. She was moving around and eating/drinking a little, but not as much as I’d like to see her back to normal. She is still peeing blood, and her poops are less mushy

I feel guilty that I’m not doing enough. I’m so scared to put her through surgery, but now I feel like because I delayed it she’s suffering even more
Click to expand...

HUGS

I am very sorry that there is another stone but relieved that is not a separate health issue needing extra treatment.

Please give the meds time to kick in and build up. Especially antibiotics takes about 5 days before they are at optimal strength and then gradually wane in the 5 days after they have been stopped. The same goes for aneamia - the body needs a bit of time to replace those lost blood cells.

Oreo will hopefully be a bit brighter again with every passing day. SMZ (sulfamethoxazole) is the name for one of the two active substances in bactrim/septrin, if that helps you. It is the antibiotic that is most used for the urinary tract.

Please step in with feeding and watering support. That is where you can right now make a positive difference and help Oreo feel better sooner.
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support Levels

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

The good news is that bladder stone ops in sows have generally got a better recovery rate than boars; in sows it depends on how much the bladder has been damaged and how well that heals off. I've had quite a few piggies with bladder stones at some point when my diet was just out of the sweet spot - which can affect piggies that are too high or too low in the phosphorus : calcium : potassium balance.

Perhaps you may want to start a thread in our diet section and review your diet with some of our more experienced members in this area. There are so many locally different factors, starting with which country you are in, from water hardness to pellet brands to veg and forage, including any treats, which often get overlooked. That is another area where you may be able to make a difference, even if you need to only make a comparatively small tweak.
Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones


Please take a deep breath and try not yo beat yourself up about everything.
Life is not a nicely signposted motorway/highway. It's a winding country road you have to navigate without a map and with many way posts missing or leaving you puzzled as to which way they actually point to.
Experience in life comes from bumps, and it is mostly about not repeating the same mistake all over and learning how to get up again and go on after hitting a bump - and working out what lesson you can take from it. Life is not about never putting a foot wrong; it is about learning get up and go on because that is where you grow and become a stronger person as an adult as you go through life. ;)

I am rooting for Oreo and wish her all the best in getting well enough for her operation.
 
Wiebke said:
HUGS

I am very sorry that there is another stone but relieved that is not a separate health issue needing extra treatment.

Please give the meds time to kick in and build up. Especially antibiotics takes about 5 days before they are at optimal strength and then gradually wane in the 5 days after they have been stopped. The same goes for aneamia - the body needs a bit of time to replace those lost blood cells.

Oreo will hopefully be a bit brighter again with every passing day. SMZ (sulfamethoxazole) is the name for one of the two active substances in bactrim/septrin, if that helps you. It is the antibiotic that is most used for the urinary tract.

Please step in with feeding and watering support. That is where you can right now make a positive difference and help Oreo feel better sooner.
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support Levels

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

The good news is that bladder stone ops in sows have generally got a better recovery rate than boars; in sows it depends on how much the bladder has been damaged and how well that heals off. I've had quite a few piggies with bladder stones at some point when my diet was just out of the sweet spot - which can affect piggies that are too high or too low in the phosphorus : calcium : potassium balance.

Perhaps you may want to start a thread in our diet section and review your diet with some of our more experienced members in this area. There are so many locally different factors, starting with which country you are in, from water hardness to pellet brands to veg and forage, including any treats, which often get overlooked. That is another area where you may be able to make a difference, even if you need to only make a comparatively small tweak.
Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones


Please take a deep breath and try not yo beat yourself up about everything.
Life is not a nicely signposted motorway/highway. It's a winding country road you have to navigate without a map and with many wayposts missing or leaving you puzzled as to which way they actually point to.
Experience in life comes from bumps, and it is mostly about not repeating the same mistake all over and learning how to get up again and go on after hitting a bump - and working out what lesson you can take from it. Life is not about never putting a foot wrong; it is about learning to get up and go on because that is where you grow and become a stronger person as an adult as you go through life. ;)

I am rooting for Oreo and wish her all the best in getting well enough for her operation.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your kindness and reassurance, I appreciate you immensely ❤️
 
Wiebke said:
How is your girl doing now?
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks so much for asking and keeping Oreo in your thoughts. Oreo is doing well now and eating, moving, gaining weight, and there's no more blood in her pee. She still postures up and squeaks sometimes when she urinates. I'm really grappling with whether or not to go through with surgery since she's already 7 years old, but we're going to two different vets today and tomorrow to get their opinions. To be honest I’m really scared at the thought of putting Oreo through surgery
 
mikkysaur said:
Hi, thanks so much for asking and keeping Oreo in your thoughts. Oreo is doing well now and eating, moving, gaining weight, and there's no more blood in her pee. She still postures up and squeaks sometimes when she urinates. I'm really grappling with whether or not to go through with surgery since she's already 7 years old, but we're going to two different vets today and tomorrow to get their opinions. To be honest I’m really scared at the thought of putting Oreo through surgery
Click to expand...

7 years is a grand old age; it is the upper end of the average lifespan for our mass produced pet piggies (whether they end up in rescue or not).

Personally, I have drawn the line at 6 years for any major operations for mine as the risk-benefit ratio is getting a bit unfavourable for the fast rising cost for my own liking (seeing the number of piggies I have) but I know of 7 year old piggies who have come through surgery.
 
Wiebke said:
7 years is a grand old age; it is the upper end of the average lifespan for our mass produced pet piggies (whether they end up in rescue or not).

Personally, I have drawn the line at 6 years for any major operations for mine as the risk-benefit ratio is getting a bit unfavourable for the fast rising cost for my own liking (seeing the number of piggies I have) but I know of 7 year old piggies who have come through surgery.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this reassurance, I feel like most posts I see online are about 6 year old piggies recovering from surgery. Maybe I’m just getting hung up on the extra year and trying to tell myself that an operation at 7 years old is not a death sentence for my baby. I really appreciate it
 
I have no advice really but I will keep you both in my prayers and thoughts and hope that the vets can provide you with an idea of what they think is best medically however I also think that provided pain can be managed sometimes we need to follow our hearts too 🙏💕
 
mikkysaur said:
Thanks for this reassurance, I feel like most posts I see online are about 6 year old piggies recovering from surgery. Maybe I’m just getting hung up on the extra year and trying to tell myself that an operation at 7 years old is not a death sentence for my baby. I really appreciate it
Click to expand...

You have to brace yourself that the operation may not come off. The risks are over 50% but they are not 100% fatality. Please also listen to your vets, as it how they are feeling about it. A failed operation is always hard on the operating team as well.
 
I think I would tend not to have an operation done on a 7yo. Tho some 7yo guineas may be fitter and younger-seeming than others.
I'm sorry, what a decision to have to make.
 
I think it depends on the extent of pain he is in and how healthy he is. If he is already very underweight and the stone has damaged his health, it might be kinder to euthanase him if pain meds are no longer controlling the pain. If you think he will fight, you could operate, but he is a very old piggy 😔 It is a very difficult question. Are you set up for after care after the op? There is also the financial issue as sadly he might not survive after what is probably quite an expensive treatment. He might only live for a few months after the operation 😔 The decision is one only you can make. It is a very difficult decision. Sending wishes for strength and comfort 🙏 ❤️
 
Hi

I am very sorry.

Your boy is at the upper end of the average life span so it is a very tough decision whether you want to put him through an operation that could easily turn into a very expensive and stressful way of euthanasia, especially if he makes it through the operation but not through the post-op period because of complications. When it goes haywire, it can become a real nightmare and the opposite of the happy longer life you want to give your beloved piggy.

Or would you rather let him live out his life - not knowing there are other options - and call it a day when the pain gets too big and he loses his zest of life.

The questions you have to ask yourself in this guide explore the issues connected but also your own motivations and fears about which you have to be honest about.
I would strongly recommend to click on this link; even more so if you have mental health issues and really struggle with losing a beloved pet, seeing that this is not your first thread about the same issue: Operation, Terminal Care or Euthanasia? - Helpful Questions to Ask Ahead or in Hindsight

You will also do well to heed any advice from your own vet. If you ask politely, they will tell you their estimate of a success rate and their personal opinion and not necessarily what you want to hear. But it may be to the better of your piggy.

I am merging your threads on the same issue. You won't get any different answers the more often you ask, unfortunately - none of us can peek into the future and sadly none of us can predict which way you can keep your piggy with you for longer. It's all boiling down to either a big gamble or a safe but smaller gain. But which way the dice fall for you is out of all of our knowledge or control. Unfortunately, we can also not relieve you of your owner's responsibility of being the only one who can make that decision and has to bear the full brunt of the risk.
We do appreciate your dilemma very much as many of us long term owners have had to face the same struggle but this is as far as we can take our help and this is the edge to which we can take our answers.

If you really struggle and are resident in the UK, you are welcome to ring the free pet bereavement line of the Blue Cross Animal Charity, which is staffed by trained volunteers during weekdays or consider contacting mental health support.

We can only give you community support on here but we are neither a veterinary nor a trained mental health place and cannot help you with acute trained crisis support.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top