Sludge!

[Devon]

Hi everyone
My beautiful alpaca boar bovril who is only just over a year old has bladder sludge confirmed by an ultrasound last week. We initially thought he had interstitial cystitis which I guess could still be possible? He has been having gabapentin, antibiotics (just in case of infection) and rheumacam but still cries when toileting! I dont know what to do. The vet could only see the beginnings of sludge he said it looks like a starry sky with the crystals in the bladder. This makes me think it shouldn't be causing him this much pain. The vet said we will rescan in 3 months but try to flush the crystals out? I have changed his vegetables, only scatter feed pellets in hay to try to get him to move around and soak the veg before he gets it. He is also on 1 cytease tablet a day. I have no idea how else to remove the sludge? Does anyone have any tips or advice? I dont want him to be in pain. Thank you for reading my essay

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this

Crystals are sharp so can be painful but if there isn’t a lot then you would hope it isn’t too painful.

Increasing and Encouraging lots of fluid intake is the best way to get loose sludge out.
Unfortunately soaking veg does not increase fluid intake - the vast majority of the water just runs off.
You are better off to give an extra chunk of cucumber to get a bit more water into a reluctant drinker. Otherwise multiple water sources in the cage including a mix of bottles and bowls or offer some water by a syringe (carefully).

Any tightly packed sludge (which doesn’t sound to be in play in this case) usually requires careful vet intervention - bladder flushing.

Ensuring you filter drinking water, keeping pellets strictly limited to one tablespoon, keeping high calcium veggies to a minimum will help. Although any changes to the diet take several weeks to have any effect on the calcium levels in the body going forward, but will not help any current sludge formation

The guide below explains further.

I hope he is ok

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

 

[Devon]

I’m sorry to hear this

Crystals are sharp so can be painful but if there isn’t a lot then you would hope it isn’t too painful.

Increasing and Encouraging lots of fluid intake is the best way to get loose sludge out.
Unfortunately soaking veg does not increase fluid intake - the vast majority of the water just runs off.
You are better off to give an extra chunk of cucumber to get a bit more water into a reluctant drinker. Otherwise multiple water sources in the cage including a mix of bottles and bowls or offer some water by a syringe (carefully).

Any tightly packed sludge (which doesn’t sound to be in play in this case) usually requires careful vet intervention - bladder flushing.

Ensuring you filter drinking water, keeping pellets strictly limited to one tablespoon, keeping high calcium veggies to a minimum will help. Although any changes to the diet take several weeks to have any effect on the calcium levels in the body going forward, but will not help any current sludge formation

The guide below explains further.

I hope he is ok

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

Thank you! I have cut pellets down but he loves his pellets which is annoying and I don't want him to lose weight. I have halved the amount though and scatter them to try and get him to move around. He likes to just sit in one place so I also removed their hide to stop him sitting in one wet place. He has got uses to that now and is much more active. I dont feed any spinach or parsley and I stopped the kale ages ago. He has green pepper, cucumber, romaine spring greens coriander and occasionally a piece of carrot. Their water is filtered and I will stop wetting the veg if you dont think its helping. I really dont want to lose him and was hopeful after the vet visit but now I'm not so sure!