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Small teardrop poop

Betsy

Betsy

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Velvet has been on 0.3ml twice a day Sulfatrim for a week now and will be on it for another 6 days. I have been giving her Pro-C and Cystease too. This is following a bladder stone and subsequent X Ray showing a bladder full of sludge. This morning after I had given her Pro-C she produced this very small tear drop poop (a normal poop is alongside for comparison).

Velvet small poop.JPG


I have been giving her as much Pro-C as she will take. After she refused a dandelion leaf and a lovely juicy grass stem yesterday, I started to top up feed her SS Recovery Plus. She took so much last night that I lost count but this morning she only wanted about 1ml and refused the rest. She has lost some weight. Usually she weighs in at 1074 Last night she weighed 998g and this morning she weighed 999g. Are these symptoms because she is on Sulfatrim? Should I take her back to the vet?
 
Betsy said:
Velvet has been on 0.3ml twice a day Sulfatrim for a week now and will be on it for another 6 days. I have been giving her Pro-C and Cystease too. This is following a bladder stone and subsequent X Ray showing a bladder full of sludge. This morning after I had given her Pro-C she produced this very small tear drop poop (a normal poop is alongside for comparison).

View attachment 121224


I have been giving her as much Pro-C as she will take. After she refused a dandelion leaf and a lovely juicy grass stem yesterday, I started to top up feed her SS Recovery Plus. She took so much last night that I lost count but this morning she only wanted about 1ml and refused the rest. She has lost some weight. Usually she weighs in at 1074 Last night she weighed 998g and this morning she weighed 999g. Are these symptoms because she is on Sulfatrim? Should I take her back to the vet?
Click to expand...

Hi!

Can you please clarify whether the stone/sludge is still there or is out? If it is still there, pain/major discomfort is likely a major factor in the weight loss. Is she on analgesics and glucosamine/cystease?
In principle, any antibiotic will impact on the microbiome in the gut to some degree or other; adverse reactions can happen to any of them. But like with any issue, it needs to be seen in relation with all that is going on before you can pin down the culprit or combination of contributing factors - that is where self-treatment often falls short.

Good that you have started topping her up with syringe feed.

Please contact your vet; that is a significant enough deterioration.
 
The sludge was still in the bladder last Wednesday cos he showed me on the X-Ray. Since then I have been giving her as much Pro-C as she will take twice a day an hour or so after the anti-biotics to try and flush it out. She is on a Cystease capsule disolved water a day. She is not on any pain relief. I am awaiting a call back from the vet.
 
Just come off the phone from speaking to the Vet. He has recommended to stop the antibiotics and give Velvet a couple of days of Metacam at 0.6ml twice a day cos he says if there are any more stones in her bladder (not noticeable on X-ray cos of amount of sludge in bladder) it will be quite painful and continue with syringe feeding. I'll pop her into the hospital cage where I can keep a closer eye on her and the amount she's eating. I don't like the thought of separating her from Christian and Meg as Meg will be lost without her, but I need to see how much she is eating and pooping and with another pig in the cage I won't be able to do this. It'll only be for a couple of days and if she doesn't perk up it's back to the vet. How come this always happens at the wrong time? We are off to Germany at stupid o'clock in 7 days so I hope she's better by then!
 
Hope Velvet pees that sludge out soon. Spike had sludge last year, I was told by the vet to syringe him extra fluids. I think it was after 4 days he did a big squeal, a big wee and passed some sludge and grit. I was watching him in the playpen at the time, he sort of gathered himself together and carried on as if nothing had happened!
 
I've been syringing extra fluids into Velvet twice a day as much as she will take for 7 days. As she is an outside piggy I don't know if the sludge is out. I examined her lady bits this morning and there was no gritting bits around them which there has been for a while now so hopefully she has weed it out. I'll carry on with the extra fluids for another couple of weeks until I've finished up the Cystease and see where we go from there.
 
Poor Velvet - she’s not having a great time is she?
At least she’s getting the best possible care from you.
Hope that she loses all that nasty sludge quickly and recovers fully
 
Get well soon Velvet! Bless her she is very cute possibly especially with supplemental nutrition around her chops! Though that could pass as pretty clean for syringe feeding... Goodness they are a worry sometimes :-(
 
Well this morning when I got up at 5.30 to feed Velvet she was outside in the Hospital Cage sat under the hay bale which I took to be positive as she wasn't hiding away in the snuggle sack. Her poops are very dry and still quite small and teardrop shaped but a bit larger than yesterday. Last night I had her out for a cuddle while I was watching TV and she turned around and snuggled into my arm. She seems a bit happier today but she still isn't right. The vet said that if I wasn't so good at spotting things early and happy to syringe feed her he would have had her in overnight to keep and eye on her. Her weight is the same as yesterday morning which means that between Velvet and me we must be getting enough food into her. She must be feeding herself too cos she only wants 6-6.5ml of syringed food 3-4 times a day. She doesn't want any more than that. I am syringing in water and Pro-C more often cos I still think her tummy is upset from the AB's.
 
Here are Velvet's poops today, very dry and not at all right. I'm going to make another vet appointment for tomorrow. I'm not at all happy with how she is. She even refused a strawberry top this morning!

Velvets poops.webp
 
Poor baby :( would recomend getting some poo soup into her to help her gut and ask vet for some Gut stimulants also metachlopromide and Zantac

Sending love x
 
Poor Velvet! Hope you can sort out her funny poops, good job you're monitoring her so closely. Hugs and healing wheeks! Poop soup sounds like a good plan!
 
Well that was thoroughly unpleasant! It took me this long to persuade at least one of my 4 piggies to poop. Usually they are poop machines but when you need a fresh poop nopig would oblige! At least Velvet took her poop soup like at good girl. How often do I need to repeat this horrible task?
 
You are a truly dedicated piggy slave @Betsy.
Hoping she starts to improve quickly.
At least with your watchful care she’s in really good hands
 
Velvet has a 9.40 vet appointment tomorrow. I know it sounds really gross but I am taking the dry stringy poops to show the vet (in a small ziplok bag I may add!) Mark isn't available for an appointment tomorrow but is around so we are seeing Auxi (OWSEE) I like her she is always very thorough and checks everything you can think of and stuff you can't too.
 
I generally have had pockets full of (wrapped) poo in when visiting the vet...! If not the actual poo then a minimum of a photo of the stuff I'm worried about next to normal stuff (if available) and a ruler!
I think one of the things that helped Sparkle go on for a long time with a nasty infection and highest possible dose antibiotics was large quantities (the recommended dose) of Fibreplex. I think I spent £200 on it in about 6 weeks! (No other piggies around for poo soup). I felt I should probably be investing in shares in Protexin...
On a more supportive note, I really hope the vet is helpful tomorrow and that Velvet is improving soon. She is very lucky to have such a loving and attentive pig-mum and a hospital cage-home. I do feel for you. Big hugs ❤
 
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