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Poor Crunchie Is Ill Again

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Yes, I do believe the teeth are a very significant issue now. They won't resolve just because she starts eating better. They will need keeping on top of for a while, as once these issues develop, then it isn't a quick fix to get things back to normal.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Yes, I do believe the teeth are a very significant issue now. They won't resolve just because she starts eating better. They will need keeping on top of for a while, as once these issues develop, then it isn't a quick fix to get things back to normal.
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Shes having them burred on monday as i know they wont just "go away".. But shes already perking up and eating more with treatment for her bladder- surely if her teeth where the primary issue, this wouldnt be the case? I'm not disagreeing with you, just trying to make sense of it all. How often does this type of issue go on for, and how regular do "teeth tidy ups" need to be? Is there not something that causes this initially?
 
I'm going to discuss this with my vets on monday @furryfriends (TEAS) , will offer them the details of the Cat and Rabbit clinic too and maybe they could advise them. Thank you x
 
I would say that almost all dental issues are secondary. That is why most of them improve quickly with regular dental work, as well as dealing with the primary course. What I am trying to say is, you need to deal with both, which is exactly what your vet is doing by burring the spurs on Monday. I just want you to be prepared for the dental issues to take a while to resolve and not think that it's a hopeless situation if they continue to spur for a while. I have a piggy here who had severe spurring (on all four arcades) when he first arrived, but with regular dental work the spurring has almost resolved in 3/4's of his mouth and is improving all the time.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
I would say that almost all dental issues are secondary. That is why most of them improve quickly with regular dental work, as well as dealing with the primary course. What I am trying to say is, you need to deal with both, which is exactly what your vet is doing by burring the spurs on Monday. I just want you to be prepared for the dental issues to take a while to resolve and not think that it's a hopeless situation if they continue to spur for a while. I have a piggy here who had severe spurring (on all four arcades) when he first arrived, but with regular dental work the spurring has almost resolved in 3/4's of his mouth and is improving all the time.
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Thank you, really appreciate the info xx
 
Wow you are so amazing!
I'm thinking of Crunchie but also of you, go you, you are so knowlagable and sounds like you're coping amazingly despite the circumstances.
Crunchie is so lucky to have you as her human!
 
Crunchie is particularly bright today, shouting for her veggies and making a mess of her clean cage this morning. She is now on an extremely strict diet of various types of pure timothy hay available 24/7 obviously, but no pellets (supplementing 25mg vit c 2x daily) and IC veggies. She is also on barley water and cranberry extract. I bought oxbow western timothy for the first time (how expensive is that stuff! £70 for a sack?!) and she has been eating that very well. She maintained her weight over night with no syringe feeds. Went to weigh her earlier before her tea time syringe feed and shes broke the kilo mark! Hopefully we are on the right path. Will keep on with syringe feeds for now as, I'm sure she doesnt need it anymore, but shes having a sedation and dental tomorrow so I'm expecting her to go back a bit on the appetite front.

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Beautiful Crunchie :wub:
And you're amazing Adelle, I'm really glad things are looking better. Hope tomorrow's dental goes really well x
 
Crunchies urine culture is back- there is no bacterial infection, but alot of calcium oxalate crystals. These are whats causing the thickened bladder lining and damage. The vet has advised i continue with the IC veggies and timothy hay only, and keeping her off pellets for good. She hopes this and the metacam will be enough to help her bladder calm down, and we will sort her teeth out on monday now we know exactly whats going on. If she doesnt start eating fully on her own once her mouth has settled down from her dental, and cant cope with having less metacam (currently on double dose) the vet wants to open her up and flush her bladder completely. This obviously means a full anaesthetic and a big operation.. For a 5 year old sow :-( if it comes to it, i will obviously try. But if more crystals form and cause more damage after an initial flushing, i dont think id put her through it again- when would enough be enough?

Does anyone have any experience of this or can tag someone who does?

Thank you
 
I can't help with any advice @Adelle, just wanted to wish you all the best and I hope Crunchie gets better.
Did you know that you can get Oxbow Western Timothy hay from Fetch.co.uk? It comes in three sizes, the largest 2.5 kg for £20.99.
They have one-hour delivery slots and can deliver next day too.
 
7squeakers. said:
I can't help with any advice @Adelle, just wanted to wish you all the best and I hope Crunchie gets better.
Did you know that you can get Oxbow Western Timothy hay from Fetch.co.uk? It comes in three sizes, the largest 2.5 kg for £20.99.
They have one-hour delivery slots and can deliver next day too.
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Thank you. I didnt, I'm currently paying £12 for 1.1kg bag x
 
no advice i'm afraid, sorry i have only just seen this thread, but a great big stack of healing vibes for the gorgeous crunchie, fingers & paws all tightly crossed for everything to recover back to normal'ish ASAP
come on Crunchie you can do it :tu:
speedy recovery oh furry one :luv:

ps i agree with @Swissgreys if there is an afterlife i want to come back as one of your guineas :nod: you're doing an amazing job of looking after all your poorly little ones.x
 
GPTV said:
no advice i'm afraid, sorry i have only just seen this thread, but a great big stack of healing vibes for the gorgeous crunchie, fingers & paws all tightly crossed for everything to recover back to normal'ish ASAP
come on Crunchie you can do it :tu:
speedy recovery oh furry one :luv:

ps i agree with @Swissgreys if there is an afterlife i want to come back as one of your guineas :nod: you're doing an amazing job of looking after all your poorly little ones.x
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Thank you! I'm not gonna lie, I'm totally flat out and just want to run away! Shes down in the dumps and getting p***ed off with me, but shes still strong and fighting. Her weight is stable atm and I'm only feeding her around 60-80ml cc a day, so i know shes eating.. But its her poor bladder thats still sore despite double dose metacam. Think we may need to bite the bullet with the bladder flush, but vet wants to do her teeth first and see how we go with no pellet diet and supplements. Thanks for your well wishes!
 
Sending you healing vibes as well. You have such fighting ladies :hug:
 
Crunchie came home at around 8.30 last night. She was sedated for her bloods- they struggled to get any from her jugular but managed a small sample from the saphenous (which is pretty impressive!) Normally the need around 0.5ml but only managed 0.4ml- if it isnt enough to do a full blood panel, they will send it off for the exotics kidney parameter readings only. They then went to do her teeth but she was becoming too awake too quickly, so they had to anaesthetise her (not what i wanted after last time).. Her dental went well, she has some ulceration on her tongue from her spurs which should heal now her teeth have been burred down. It was the same left hand side like last time- odd. They where meant to take a urine sample straight from the bladder to send off now shes off antibiotics, they had her tummy freshly shaved and cleaned.. Then the minute they sedated her, she let go of a huge pee- so that plan was ruined! We're going to just go free catch on that one.

Although i didnt want to go for anaesthesia, crunchie was miles more alert afterwards this time, the vet said this was normally how they should react and not like last time! She was eating hay in her carrier when i picked her up, and ate all her veggies 2 hours later. Were still syringing at the moment, to try n get more weight on her, but I'm being careful not to fill her up too much so she can start eating more hay on her own.

She was very bright this morning and is eating well- maintained her weight overnight with no syringe feeds.

The vet mentioned her abdomen is nice and soft, and her bladder seems comfortable so shes hoping that all the stuff I'm doing at this end (no pellets, hay/IC veg only, cystease,cranberry extract and metacam) are keeping her bladder under control... HOPEFULLY!

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Crunchie is doing well, at the end of tapering off her syringe feeds now, had 10ml 3x today and going for no critical care tomorrow. She was fluctuating between 970g-1000g when on frequent syringe feeds, we are now at the 970g mark when on very little feed but shes holding that weight. All going well, i will try and get her zantac and metacloprimide down to once daily, or off altogether. Lastly will be the metacam.. To try and get down to once a day, where the vet wants her to stay for a while longer due to her bladder issues being so severe. I'm hoping we dont need to go down the route of bladder flushing. She is bright, happy and more like herself now, definately more comfortable too.

Now for a question for @helen105281 @Wiebke @VickiA or anyone that can advise..

With crunchie now being off pellets, and on a strict timothy hay only diet with IC veggies twice daily.. Should i expect her to gain weight?

Before her bladder issues started interfering with her appetite- she weighed 1080g (1100 in her prime younger days).
After her first dental (no treatment for bladder at this point) she weighed 1020g, and this never increased after her dental.
Shes now after her second dental and treatment for the primary issue (bladder, which is more under control now) and stable at 970g, with next to no syringe feeding but also no pellects at all in her diet, just hay n a little veg (vitamin c supplemented).

Does this sound acceptable considering the change in diet? She definately seems more comfortable and more herself, clearing her plate at veggie time. Shes 5 years old so i know that alone makes it less likely for her to regain lost weight. Any advice appreciated!
 
helen105281 said:
Yes I think that sounds acceptable especially with her not having pellets. I think as long as she maintains her weight and doesn't keep dropping then it is all good.
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Thats what I'm thinking. Will see over the next couple days how her weight does with no assisted feeding before i think about reducing metacalm and gut meds. I expect a further small drop once she stabilises without any cc, but if she falls below 950g or keeps dropping over time then it will be time to consider her bladder being flushed. She still has some ulcers on her tongue that need to heal and (hopefully) her bladder to settle further being off the cc (as its pretty much the same as eating pellets ironically!) so will take that into account too. Thanks :-)
 
Sounds like you have her issues managed and she is doing the best she can do! Sounds like a school motto but you know what I mean. Sending vibes and hope her tongue improves a bit more too
 
So just as fudge is having a bad day, crunchie starts peeing blood again. Its just been a huge blow, we are doing literally everything possible and i honestly thought we were getting somewhere.

I'll take her back to see the vet tomorrow- looking like we will need to have her bladder flushed. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of op?
 
No advice, just wanted to send my love x
 
Adelle said:
So just as fudge is having a bad day, crunchie starts peeing blood again. Its just been a huge blow, we are doing literally everything possible and i honestly thought we were getting somewhere.

I'll take her back to see the vet tomorrow- looking like we will need to have her bladder flushed. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of op?
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Oh no hope Fudge will be ok. I've never experienced anything like what your going through. Send love to you both x
 
Adelle said:
So just as fudge is having a bad day, crunchie starts peeing blood again. Its just been a huge blow, we are doing literally everything possible and i honestly thought we were getting somewhere.

I'll take her back to see the vet tomorrow- looking like we will need to have her bladder flushed. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of op?
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Poor Crunchie, I'm sorry Adelle I don't have any experience with bladder flushes. I hope she gets better soon you really are having a tough time of things at the moment.
 
One of my RB piggies Mrs Fudge had her bladder flushed and was back to normal pretty quickly afterwards. She was quite elderly at the time but coped well. She was definitely more comfortable afterwards.
 
Thanks everyone, its just one thing after another. Have a potentially abandoned 17yr old dog in a bad way in a pound in england, a couple of the girls that i had a dog fostering network with are trying to get her out of there and into foster with one of us for vet treatment and and to find a loving home.. Will be making calls tomorrow. Its going to be a busy day thats for sure. Looks like my doctors appointment will be getting cancelled!

And @VickiA thats reassuring. Do u mind if i ask what her bladder issues where, and if she relapsed after this? Crunchie is 5 but reacted to her anaesthetic much better than the time before. Its the major op part of it thats terrifying x
 
So crunchie saw the vet today, although her wees have returned to normal as of this morning! Still blood on dipstick but not actually passing visible blood anymore, which is normally the case inbetween flares anyway. This is the shortest and less extreme flare she has had, so the vet thinks what i am doing is working, as she is still maintaining her weight despite only being on hay and a small amount of veg, and is very bright and comfortable. She is still on double dose metacam however, and we want her on a single dose only (realistically, she'll never be off metacam now.) so iv to continue double dose until friday then drop to a single dose, and back to using double dose during flares. If we find her flares start to affect her appetite and weight again whilst being on single dose, th vet wants to flush her bladder at that point. The second culture results of her urine whilst off antibiotics still shows no bacteria- so it doesnt look like we'll be treating with antibiotics from this point forward (unless there is signs of infection i.e leukocytes). So for now we have a plan.. And I'm focussing on that!
 
Hope everything stays stable just like now from friday on x
 
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