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Post Op Bladder Stone Removal

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Amysmom

Amysmom

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Billy had bladder stones removed from his bulbourethral glands 48 hours ago and we are concerned about his lack of appitite and interest in general. Is it normal for a guinea pig to look as though they are still getting over the anaesthetic after this period of time?

We have been syringing him critical care with some vegetable baby food occasionally and he's getting more stubborn about the syringe, he now hangs his head right down and we have to hold it up and force the food in which he dribbles out occasionally. He has been having gut stimulant which doesn't seem to do anything, we have offered him everything he likes but he's just not interested in anything.

He is on antibiotics and Metacam.

We are aware that it is critical for a guinea pig after an operation after the first few days but we are worried that he's appitite isn't picking up and he still seems so tired.
 
I think he needs to see the vet again. Other things you can do to help his appetite is give him probiotics which must be given at least 90 minutes after his antiobiotics. I find Fibreplex is a very good thing to give post-op too which helps them with their appetite. Check also that he's warm & give him a heat pad if you think he isn't x
 
I have found they sometimes need larger doses of pain relief post op than anticipated so it might be worth checking that with the vet.

If you think how you'd feel after a major op then it's understandable that it takes a few days to feel better. Feeding is crucial though to keep the guts going and nutrition is vital for healing. Keep persevering and get as much into him as you can.
 
Thank you.
We have seven guinea pigs so we know all the usual stuff etc but we haven't had a piggy that's had an op so we don't really know how long it should take to get his appitite back.

Good news though!
We took him back to the vets because we were worried that his testicles looking so swollen and his eyes were looking more sunken but she said his inscision is longer that it normally would be from a bladder stone op due to the unusual place the stones were found so its bruised and swollen there, poor guy. The vet gave him some fluids under his skin and he's now looking brighter and is attempting to eat hay and some cucumber which is great to see. Fingers crossed he's on the right path now.
 
Amysmom said:
Billy had bladder stones removed from his bulbourethral glands 48 hours ago and we are concerned about his lack of appitite and interest in general. Is it normal for a guinea pig to look as though they are still getting over the anaesthetic after this period of time?

We have been syringing him critical care with some vegetable baby food occasionally and he's getting more stubborn about the syringe, he now hangs his head right down and we have to hold it up and force the food in which he dribbles out occasionally. He has been having gut stimulant which doesn't seem to do anything, we have offered him everything he likes but he's just not interested in anything.

He is on antibiotics and Metacam.

We are aware that it is critical for a guinea pig after an operation after the first few days but we are worried that he's appitite isn't picking up and he still seems so tired.
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Good that you have had him seen promptly and that he is picking up. Please keep on topping him up with recovery food. How much metacam (cat or dog?) is he getting? You can usually go higher for a very short period in an emergency/post-op.
I would also recommend to give him "poo soup" made from soaking healthy pellets from another piggy in a bit water; then syringing the water. Extra probiotics also help to support the digestion in the wake of all the operation drugs and the antibiotic.

Please always contact your vet or an out-of-hours service asap in a case like yours. Lack of appetite is not a good sign, but apathy in the wake of an operation is a very worrying development and constitutes an emergency!

All the best for a good recovery from now on!
 
Get well soon Billy! Hope he improves with each day, very worrying watching them struggle:( x
 
We are very fortunate to have a good guinea pig savy vet and she's been great in keeping the cost down for us, she didnt charge us the full price for his operation thank goodness. We are ringing our vet with an update on Billy Monday morning and we can be seen anytime if we are concerned.

She said it was very unusual to find stones in the bulbourethral glands and had never seen it before. Billy has never been a chubby healthy boy with a normal Piggys appitite so we knew it wasn't going to be easy but he's starting to nibble at some veg and he's taking the syringe better, it has been very stressful.
 
Billy is on 0.5mg of Metacam once a day. On the first morning after his op we were concerned because he was moaning but once he had his dose he was fine.
 
Amysmom said:
Billy is on 0.5mg of Metacam once a day. On the first morning after his op we were concerned because he was moaning but once he had his dose he was fine.
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I would recommend to split the dose into two, as guinea pigs have a very fast metabolism, but it is about as high as you'd like to go with his weight. It is great that he is starting to pick up. The recovery is likely going to be two steps forward and one back, but as long as the general direction is right, then you are fine.
 
I second what Wiebke has just said - my boar Bumble has had 2 operations for bladder stones within a few weeks of each other - one stone could only be picked up on a CT scan as it was on top of the penis bone and was tiny - keep him warm ( i had the central heating on 24/7 ) and gave Bumble 0.3ml metacam twice a day - the vet was also happy to let me have vetagesic and emiprid for a few days for extra pain relief and gut stimulation.
 
Billy is looking brighter this morning thank goodness and his appitite seems to be picking up. He looked very poorly last night and had sunken eyes so we syringed him more water than we had been doing and they look brighter this today. He's been eating veg and hay for the first time since his op so hopefully things are on the up.

We wish the vet had stressed about how much water to give him, they only stressed how important he critical care was but he was obviously clearly dehydrating and we don't think the water the vet put under his skin yesterday did much. My daughter gave him loads of water last night and it quite probably saved his life because he looked so poorly.
 
Glad things were looking up and hope it continues to do so. It can be a long road. We had a good 4-5 days of intensively nursing Stru after his op, he was really poorly. each pig is different in how they bounce back but you are doing all the right stuff so fingers crossed he's felling more perky soon. x
 
Billy is doing great! When I went to his cage this morning he was so excited to see me and desperate for food-he actually enjoyed the syringe instead of turning away and he ate a pile of veggies which was fantastic to see, he's also been munching on hay a lot today. We are still syringing him water though because we haven't seen him at the bottle or the bowl we have put in and we dont want him to get de hydrated again.

We took him in to see Rosie who performed his op and she was over the moon with him, he was really inquisitive in the vets room-he's such a cheeky boy!

We now have to consider castration because Rosie is concerned that because the stones were found in such an unusual place they could form again and that is something we are really worried about. We were considering castration before this happened anyway because he has fought with 2 males and drawn blood so it would be lovely to give him a wife, he deserves it after all he's been through and because he's not yet two we don't want him to be a lone piggy all his life.
 
Oh bless, he ahs been through it all hasn't he? I am so glad to hear that he's feeling more sprightly :)
 
Billy continues to do well but we are worried about why his eyes are still slightly sunken-is it dehydration? We are still syringing him water and critical care but have cut the amount down. Should we be worried about his eyes being slightly sunken?

We have an appt to see the vet again tomorrow.
 
Feeling devastated
Billy passed away last night after going downhill early evening. His eyes became more and more sunken despite keeping the syringing going since his op a week ago. His stitches were dissolving and all looked good there but he still wasn't drinking independently and he had gone off his veggies again. He was so well Mon/Tues so it was a shock to see this happen but there was nothing more we could do. My daughter Amy said that when she tried to syringe him at 4.00 am it was all tricking out of his mouth and he couldn't hold his head up. I noticed yesterday afternoon that he kept going lethargic, I guess it was all too much for him. We had an appt to see the vet for a check up today.

Billy was the only P@H pig we ever bought and he was always small and never had a good appitite so I'm guessing there was something more going on. The vet said his stones were in a very unusual place. He had a strange, funny little personality too-was he interbred? Who knows. He also fought with 2 males so lived alone inside but the plan was to have him castrated and extend the girls C&C so he could live with them. Poor Billy he wasn't even 2.

RIP Billy-I hope you have all the friends you so craved and lots of lovely green grass to munch. We loved you and your cheeky badger face very much
 
helen105281 said:
I'm so sorry. Sweet dreams Billy. Hope you and Amy are ok.
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Thank you.
It's tough when you think your getting there and this suddenly happens. He was such a character and we will miss him a lot. I sat in front of his cage everyday crocheting and he was so sociable, always up at the bars after attention

Our vet has offered to performed an autopsy free of charge but we aren't sure about it. What if it shows nothing? Then we will blame ourselves thinking we didn't syringe him enough.
 
I would go for it, I would be surprised if it was the syringe feeding, especially as he had been doing well. I think your feelings about some underlying problem are most likely correct.
 
Oh no! So very sorry you lost him:(. I would go for the free postmortem offer. If anything unusual shows up your vet will have gained more valuable knowledge if faced with a similar case in the future, and that will be of benfit to other guinea pigs in the future.
 
We decided we would regret it if we didn't take the offer of a free autopsy so we've left Billy at the vets and I have to ring later on. I really hope it shows up something obvious as to why he died.
 
I am so sorry. You did all you could with extra fluids, critical care plus veg that should have been enough to keep him dehydrated. I am so sorry for you and Amy. Huge hugs x
 
We spent an hour talking to the vet last night about Billy's autopsy. She said there wasn't anything obvious that could have caused him to die, his tummy was full of food which made me feel so sad. His poops never changed despite the op and meds so I know we did well with the syringe feeding. We have come to the condlusion that it was delayed shock, that it was all too much for him bless him.

Can't get his cheeky face out of my mind and I'm so happy we have lots of videos and pictures of him which makes me smile. There's a huge gap where his cage was and I can't bear to look but my girls are in there so I guess I will get used to it in time.
 
Am glad they were able to put your mind at rest with the syringe feeding.

When you are ready you could put a tribute in the Rainbow Bridge section, Billy sounded a wonderful pig.
 
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