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Pringle Had A Big Op This Week - Bladder

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lauraboara

lauraboara

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My 5yr old lilac boar Pringle had a major op this week. I haven't posted about it earlier because I was too much on edge that it was going to be bad news but he is hanging on in there!
He had been having pink wees and a course of Septrin and metacam was having no real impact, he started losing weight quickly and so we had him xrayed. This was all over a matter of days so pretty quick. The vet rang me at work - one of those phone calls you dread - big stone in the bladder - could not be treated medically so either expensive operation or PTS. With lots of anxiety I opted to give the op a go - prior to this illness he had been a big, happy boar with plenty to live for but I knew it was risky, especially at 5.

Anyhow, the surgery went well, we have had a ropey few days. Thank goodness we have underfloor heating - I think that has given him more comfort than anything else! He is on tramadol, metacam and Septrin now. A couple of years ago, this kind of post op care would have been v scary for me so I am grateful for some of my previous boys like the lovely Thorn (RIP) who have taught me about sick piggies. I am going to try and get a photo of his wound soon when he can tolerate it, because it is interesting.

And also a big thank you to my usual behind the scenes support - @flintstones, @pig in the city , @Salt n Peppers mum who have been there for the anxious moments. He is not better but he is putting a little bit of weight (hand picked grass is the fav) and he has a lot to get better for....
Would you believe it, he went boar dating only a couple of weeks ago and this is him with his new tiny friend Colin - come on Pringle - we need you to get better to play with Colin!
 
Pringle, it's time to recover. Your slave can't take any more stress!

Thinking back to P, I think it took about 10 days for him to be right. Weirdly enough P's favourite food was cucumber throughout his recovery he'd eat every veg except cucumber. I knew when P finally took his cucumber that he was feeling better. He was a bizarre little character!
 
Best of luck with good recovery! It is tougher for older piggies to recover quickly from a major operation and to put at least some of the weight lost back on; that can take some time and may never happen. I hope that your boy is making steady progress.
 
Keeping all fingers and paws crossed for a speedy recovery. I went through this with Rosie (5 weeks ago) she is a 5yr sow who had the same problems and like you it was a case of either surgery or letting them go. I decided I had to give her every chance. So very glad I did, she's like a new piggy. It has taken a few weeks for the weight to go back on, only now is it going on and staying on. I found grass and timothy hay worked really well. I kept her apart from her friends after surgery thinking she would be better but she became depressed so she went back the day after surgery. I must say Colin is a very handsome boy xx
 
Get healing Pringle! Colin needs you!

I feel your worry, I went through this late last year with Struan (complicated by the removal of two mammary tumours at the same time as the stone) and it was such a nerve wracking time. But after some time to recover he did bounce back and did well. He also lost weight and put only some of it back on but lived a happy and healthy while after that before other things caught up with him. Just make sure your wee guy has enough pain relief to keep him comfy and is eating well ( I went with the feed him anything he wants thing at this stage :) ) Stru got totally spoilt while all this went on and then decided it should stay that way once he'd got better....

Just keep on going :)
 
flintstones said:
Pringle, it's time to recover. Your slave can't take any more stress!

Thinking back to P, I think it took about 10 days for him to be right. Weirdly enough P's favourite food was cucumber throughout his recovery he'd eat every veg except cucumber. I knew when P finally took his cucumber that he was feeling better. He was a bizarre little character!
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Yes the slave could do with a rest from stressing!
Pringle is being a bit weird about food - he is liking cucumber but I have offered him bits of pepper which he normally chomps and he looks at it as if it the devil's food! Everything must be a bit topsy turvy for him.
 
Midge&Panda said:
Keeping all fingers and paws crossed for a speedy recovery. I went through this with Rosie (5 weeks ago) she is a 5yr sow who had the same problems and like you it was a case of either surgery or letting them go. I decided I had to give her every chance. So very glad I did, she's like a new piggy. It has taken a few weeks for the weight to go back on, only now is it going on and staying on. I found grass and timothy hay worked really well. I kept her apart from her friends after surgery thinking she would be better but she became depressed so she went back the day after surgery. I must say Colin is a very handsome boy xx
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Thank you - really good to hear about a positive outcome in Rosie - gives me some hope too! Hope Rosie keeps getting stronger.
 
MerryPip said:
Get healing Pringle! Colin needs you!

I feel your worry, I went through this late last year with Struan (complicated by the removal of two mammary tumours at the same time as the stone) and it was such a nerve wracking time. But after some time to recover he did bounce back and did well. He also lost weight and put only some of it back on but lived a happy and healthy while after that before other things caught up with him. Just make sure your wee guy has enough pain relief to keep him comfy and is eating well ( I went with the feed him anything he wants thing at this stage :) ) Stru got totally spoilt while all this went on and then decided it should stay that way once he'd got better....

Just keep on going :)
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Yes I remember hearing about Struan. Sounds like and even more stressful op....But as with Struan, if it gives him a little longer, that would be great.
I am trying to give him as much painkiller as possible
 
lauraboara said:
Yes I remember hearing about Struan. Sounds like and even more stressful op....But as with Struan, if it gives him a little longer, that would be great.
I am trying to give him as much painkiller as possible
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It wasn't a good time I have to say which is why I can sympathise! We thought he wasn't going to make it for the first week, he needed so much pain relief and struggled to hand fee him enough, it was just vile. I have never been so upset, tired and stressed, I'd also just started a new job! If the pain relief isn't enough then speak to the vet again, we ended up having to give him way over the recommend dose to get Stru's pain under control but I would never ever do this without a vet's say so......
 
worried val of york said:
I hope Pringle continues to improve. If he has his young chum Colin nearby it should given him an incentive to get better. Sending healing vibes.
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Yes its a good point that and Pringle does love Colin already. Colin is just visiting Pringle in his hospital pen at the moment - breaking all the rules of normal boar bonding but hey, this has not been a normal time. They are snuggled together and another bonus is that Pringle is eating some of Colin's healthy poos which of course is great for his gut - good lads. Colin is very gentle so he is not doing any humping or anything that might disturb the wound.
 
Bless little Colin, giving comfort to poorly Pringle. I am so glad that Pringle is on the road to recovery. What a tough little lad he is. And what a wonderful nurse you are Lauraboara. Sending healing vibes your way x
 
pig in the city said:
Bless little Colin, giving comfort to poorly Pringle. I am so glad that Pringle is on the road to recovery. What a tough little lad he is. And what a wonderful nurse you are Lauraboara. Sending healing vibes your way x
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Colin is continuing to do his hospital visiting every evening - seems to really perk up Pringle. Pringle is doing well - wound looks really good and he seems to be moving with greater ease - he was standing on his back legs asking for breakfast today! He still seems very thin at his back end but the food is going in and weight stable. Wees normal looking.
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
How's Pringle getting on now Laura? Good news that's he's bouncing back and having some time with little Colin too.
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Hi. He is doing OK thanks. Hungry which is good. And I am encouraging him to drink as much as I can. Still on Septrin and metacam and still being a blinking wriggly nightmare to medicate - I have to do the tea towel piggie swiss roll approach for meds......Wound looking v good and he jumped over his food bowl so must be feeling more comfortable!
Colin is visiting when I can supervise!
 
Sounds like really good progress :) I hope that soon he his back to his normal self and together full-time with Colin. Sound's like Colin's been a help to him too, with his company and his poops :)
 
Update - I am afraid I have some poor news about Pringle. He has been doing really well after his bladder stone op at the end of April but now the stones are back:(. A couple weeks ago he looked as though he was uncomfortable (fluffed up), drinking lots and then did some pretty pink wees on his vet bed. I didn't mess about with trying antibiotics this time as my gut feeling was more stones and the Xray confirmed that. BUT the xray was not clear on where they were - the stones are in a little line so could be in a tube or could be 'seed' stones on the scar from the previous op on the bladder wall - my feeling is the latter but it is not clear . The vet will do another round of xrays (free) and has offered a range of surgical options (not free!) which I have been thinking about but it is clear that Pringle has the bladder chemistry or whatever it is to be pre-disposed to developing stones. I filter the water, feed timothy hay, avoid high calcium veg etc etc so the husbandry things are in place. So I have made the difficult decision not to put him through more surgery but just do palliative care - heartbreaking but I just think the surgery will be hard and then the stones are likely to be back.

The good news (if there can be any ) is that Pringle does not seem to know about this prognosis and is actually doing OK at the moment! He is on quite a lot of Metacam, potassium citrate (not sure if any use) and pearl barley gloopy water when I make some. No pink wees since the Xray so the metacam is obviously helping for now. So he is having some lovely summer weeks with his new little friend Colin and enjoying it. He is losing weight at the back end but only v slowly. So come on Pringle - keep going for a little more and enjoy your time with lovely Colin.
 
Aw I'm sorry to read this, but there's only so much you can put them through, and when it's an issue that he'll keep getting no matter what you do then it's only fair to draw the line somewhere.
I'm glad he's enjoying himself for the time-being. :hug:
 
So sorry to read this, He's a handsome boy. I've gone through the same situation with Rosie. Her first op was at Easter. At the beginning of June she started with the same straining and peeing blood and was put on a course of septrin and metacam. It all came to a head over the first week of July when I noticed things were not going well. She was actually stood up on her tiptoes to pass urine. My daughter took her to the vets on the Monday and the vet refused to take an x-ray and gave her a steroid injection and told her to wait and see. I was fuming at this point. She went back in on the Monday evening for emergency assessment and it was decided that she was fit and well enough to go through surgery again. I'm happy to say that things are going very well at the moment. She has a new pellet, filtered water, a higher dose of glucosamine, low calcium veggies and an additional 40-50ml water a day. I do know though that she is basically on borrowed time, She can't and I wont put her through any more surgery so I'm just enjoying each day with her and keeping my fingers crossed.
Love and hugs to you both x
 
Midge&Panda said:
So sorry to read this, He's a handsome boy. I've gone through the same situation with Rosie. Her first op was at Easter. At the beginning of June she started with the same straining and peeing blood and was put on a course of septrin and metacam. It all came to a head over the first week of July when I noticed things were not going well. She was actually stood up on her tiptoes to pass urine. My daughter took her to the vets on the Monday and the vet refused to take an x-ray and gave her a steroid injection and told her to wait and see. I was fuming at this point. She went back in on the Monday evening for emergency assessment and it was decided that she was fit and well enough to go through surgery again. I'm happy to say that things are going very well at the moment. She has a new pellet, filtered water, a higher dose of glucosamine, low calcium veggies and an additional 40-50ml water a day. I do know though that she is basically on borrowed time, She can't and I wont put her through any more surgery so I'm just enjoying each day with her and keeping my fingers crossed.
Love and hugs to you both x
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Yes I remember Rosie having her op at a similar time to Pringle - it is disheartening when you have nursed them through all that to have the stones recur. I don't know why your vet wouldn't xray at first? Must have been frustrating.
Glad Rosie is doing OK at the moment - comforting to know about another 'borrowed time bladder pig' even though it is a sad situation. :hug:
What pellet have you transferred to out of interest?
 
It was very frustrating with the vet, it's now on our records that we now longer wish to see her for consults. They've moved on to Oxbow essentials adult guinea pig food. It's a timothy based pellet. They're not keen on it so they still have a little bit of gertie mixed in hopefully by the next bag they will be eating it with no gertie. It's also good for Finny who being a diabetic piggy and is quite overweight with it.
 
I am very sorry; it's the kind of news that nobody with a bladder piggy wants to hear! :(

The good news is that a second operation is survivable; my Minx went through two. In a boar, it very much depends on where the stones are, though, as their urethra is longer and has got an awkward inglenook.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well! You have quite obviously caught it early.
 
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