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Stanley Is A Hermaphrodite, Advice Needed Please.

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Coco&Luna

Coco&Luna

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sorry not been on for a while, lifes been hellish recently.

Stanley, my boy has had bloody wee since he was neutered to have his testicles removed 1 year ago to be paired with Luna.
He has had 3 xrays which showed nothing. He has since been treated with cystease and metacam and galens gardens stone breaker which i bought myself online

Recently he has been poorly, losing weight, sitting puffed up with sunken eyes, mucousy, stringy poo and straining while doing pooping.
I returned to the vets today, where he was xrayed. This showed two stones. He is currently in the vets right now, the stones have been removed and his bladder has been flushed.
He is still under anesthetic, please keep your fingers crossed he recovers well!

However, the vet has discovered that stanley has female internal organs including a womb and fallopian tubes etc.
He also has a penis and had testicles until his neuter.
The vet asked if i wanted to remove the female sex organs and i said no because it seemed to much.
Did i do the right thing, i have never heard of this before.
Will the female sex organs cause complications?
Did he need to be neutered in the first place, if not ill feel awful. :(
any help would be seriously helpful, I'm lost!

Thanks guys
 
I am tagging @Abi_nurse as she is the best person to comment. This is not something I have ever come across.

In the meantime, I really hope he comes through the op ok.
 
Please don't blame yourself. You didn't know he was hermaphrodite, so when you chose to neuter him you thought that was the best option for him.
I'm crossing my fingers for him x
And sorry I can't be of any help, just wanted to show you my support.
 
It is the first time I have come across this; I would expect this to be as rare as it is in humans. Spaying is quite a major operation; as long as he is living with a sow and not boys, he should be fine with his female bits.

Wishing your poorly boy a good recovery after his bladder op!
Tips For Post-operative Care
 
Thank you :) hopefully Abi will know something more..
Hes starting to come round but hes still really drowsy and out of it so they'll phone me at 3.
He had more than two stones, one of them couldnt be removed because it was in his ureter, they used a catheter to flush the stone up into the kidneys.
Dont know any drug names yet, but i'm being given abx, pain killers and another medication to alkalise the bladder to destroy any crystals left and hopefully he will be able to pass the stone in his kidney himself. God i hope he does.
They dont have the last med i mentioned in and will have to order it for me.

They said that the concern they have with the female sex organs he has is that there is a possibility they will become infected at some point. I don't really understand though, i think the vets got a bit of a shock too and didnt really know how best to go forward so quickly as he was under anesthetic when the discovered it and had to make a quick judgement call and phone me.

I'll update when he's home, I've got his recovery cage all set up and cosy just need to get some recovery food made up.
Fingers crossed for him!
 
Is is very unusual and rare. It happens relatively often I. Cats and dogs and I'm afraid there is no right or wrong answers at all. A lot of the time however these animals have a lot of different hormones coursing through their bodies and can be quite confusing for them. Therefore by castrating him/her then you will help releave some of this and the female sex hormones to take charge a little more.

As for the stones, they can be removed from ureters, we have done this before but it's tricky surgery. Ensure that he is on good pain relief as it will be very sore and the stone may well get stuck in the ureter as they haven't removed it. This can cause kidney problems too. It may well pass too but it will be uncomfortable.

x
 
@Abi_nurse Thank you. is it likely that he'll be able to pass the stone? does it happen often in your experience?
Also, the likelihood of him being given metacam as post op pain relief is high, will this be strong enough?
x
 
@flintstones They want me to take him back tomorrow and wednesday. He's absolutely wasted right now. He cant walk and keeps falling over. I've not to give him any pain relief tonight because he's had morphine and whatever else they've given him. Is this normal, my last girl recovered so fast from the surgery she was practically normal when i got her home. He's so out of it he can barely chew his food and has only eaten a little bit of parsley a sliver of cucumber and about 1.5ml of recovery food. He looks like absolute s***, all puffed up and eyes sunken. .I have metacam, I'll mention tramadol when i go back tomorrow.
I'm gunna start his meds tomorrow, It's too much for him tonight.
 
@Claire W Thanks Claire :)
Tonight's gunna be a lonnnngg night. I literally feel sick with nerves.

I cant find much online about hermaphroditic guinea pigs eccept that it is very rare, may caused by inbreeding and may cause serious health problems in later life but doesn't explain what these problems may be and has worried me. If anyone can find any articles or information that I could read I would be really grateful. :)
 
Coco&Luna said:
@Abi_nurse Thank you. is it likely that he'll be able to pass the stone? does it happen often in your experience?
Also, the likelihood of him being given metacam as post op pain relief is high, will this be strong enough?
x
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I can't take some days and in some cases a week or so to get over major surgery so it will take some time. It's all about keeping on top of pain and ensuring you syringe feed etc if necessary.

Metacam is fine but I would potentially ask about tramadol. The amount of pain really can vary. As for if piggies can pass them, yes sometimes, but it may just remain in the bladder, it really is hard to say for sure, some do, some don't. Sorry not much help in that area. Most I've dealt with are milked into the bladder and removed or removed from the ureter once. I would potentially consider another X-ray in a few weeks or maybe an ultrasound scan of the kidney/ureter/bladder to see where it is.

x
 
Have no advice about the pain relief but I do have experience with a boar who also had a line of tiny stones in his ureter and kidneys - he is currently on 2ml of fizzy water 3 times a day and this will hopefully help to flush them out into the bladder (have had previous experience of this 2 years ago and it worked ) - he is also on 0.1ml potassium citrate twice daily and something called moduretic (a human tablet that my vet has got the recipe from the states to grind it down and put it into an oral suspension suitable for a guinea pig - it is used in humans to help prevent the formation of stones ) this makes them wee out the excess calcium so it doesnt stay in the system - it works as there are little white powdery patches where he wees- my vet can give your vet instructions of how to make it if your vet wants to try it (only costs about £7 for 4- 6 weeks supply) - Rachel Mowbray at Vale Vets in Dursley 01453542092 .Hope piggy feels better soon - sometimes they just take longer to shake off the affects of the anesthetic - make sure he is warm enough - try and syringe a little water and critical care a bit later on - sending you big hugs xx
 
Abi_nurse said:
I can't take some days and in some cases a week or so to get over major surgery so it will take some time. It's all about keeping on top of pain and ensuring you syringe feed etc if necessary.

Metacam is fine but I would potentially ask about tramadol. The amount of pain really can vary. As for if piggies can pass them, yes sometimes, but it may just remain in the bladder, it really is hard to say for sure, some do, some don't. Sorry not much help in that area. Most I've dealt with are milked into the bladder and removed or removed from the ureter once. I would potentially consider another X-ray in a few weeks or maybe an ultrasound scan of the kidney/ureter/bladder to see where it is.

x
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Thank you :) They've prescribed him potassium citrate 0.28ml 2x daily to take for a month and then he's to go back for an xray. to see the effects this has had on the stone and where it is/if it has passed. i hope it doesn't cause too much hastle anytime soon, this has knocked him for six poor wee man. :(
 
TAN said:
Have no advice about the pain relief but I do have experience with a boar who also had a line of tiny stones in his ureter and kidneys - he is currently on 2ml of fizzy water 3 times a day and this will hopefully help to flush them out into the bladder (have had previous experience of this 2 years ago and it worked ) - he is also on 0.1ml potassium citrate twice daily and something called moduretic (a human tablet that my vet has got the recipe from the states to grind it down and put it into an oral suspension suitable for a guinea pig - it is used in humans to help prevent the formation of stones ) this makes them wee out the excess calcium so it doesnt stay in the system - it works as there are little white powdery patches where he wees- my vet can give your vet instructions of how to make it if your vet wants to try it (only costs about £7 for 4- 6 weeks supply) - Rachel Mowbray at Vale Vets in Dursley 01453542092 .Hope piggy feels better soon - sometimes they just take longer to shake off the affects of the anesthetic - make sure he is warm enough - try and syringe a little water and critical care a bit later on - sending you big hugs xx
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Thank you so much, this has been really helpful. He was prescribed potassium citrate at a dose of 0.28ml 2x daily, nearly triple your piggies dose :/ I'll talk to them about the moduretic tomorrow. Oh, that's a clever idea, ill buy fizzy water from morrisons while I'm out and keep it on stand by until he's better. :)
 
That's really fascinating! I would imagine that any condition that can exist in humans could likewise exist in guinea pigs, but have never run into it and have no advice.

As for being very out-of-it and falling over after surgery, it is likely the narcotic. Sundae had a really deep abscess lanced in her jaw and the vet had to cut back a bunch of muscle tissue to get to the bottom of it.. he thought it would likely be quite painful so gave her a narcotic and she was very obviously drugged for the first 24 hours or so. The vet kept her for observation for a full 8 to 10 hours, and she was still quite wobbly and doped up when I picked her up. She was about back to baseline about 24 hours after surgery, but she was obviously under the influence until then!
 
Freela said:
That's really fascinating! I would imagine that any condition that can exist in humans could likewise exist in guinea pigs, but have never run into it and have no advice.

As for being very out-of-it and falling over after surgery, it is likely the narcotic. Sundae had a really deep abscess lanced in her jaw and the vet had to cut back a bunch of muscle tissue to get to the bottom of it.. he thought it would likely be quite painful so gave her a narcotic and she was very obviously drugged for the first 24 hours or so. The vet kept her for observation for a full 8 to 10 hours, and she was still quite wobbly and doped up when I picked her up. She was about back to baseline about 24 hours after surgery, but she was obviously under the influence until then!
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I was shocked & the vet said she just stood there confused and had to shout on a colleague for confirmation that she wasn't going mad and that he ended up with a crowd of vets round him having a good look while he was under, my poor little man, lol.
Ok, how much would you say yous managed to get sundae to eat that first 24 hours? Because he's had vitually nothing and it's freaking me out, but its just dribbling back out and I'm upsetting him. :(
 
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Coco&Luna said:
I was shocked & the vet said she just stood there confused and had to shout on a colleague for confirmation that she wasn't going mad and that he ended up with a crowd of vets round him having a good look while he was under, my poor little man, lol.
Ok, how much would you say yous managed to get sundae to eat that first 24 hours? Because he's had vitually nothing and it's freaking me out, but its just dribbling back out and I'm upsetting him. :(
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She actually ate pretty well, but it was largely treat food (veggies and such.) In her case I think she was starving because she had a huge abscess that didn't allow her to open her mouth enough to eat for a few days prior to surgery so all she was getting was syringe feeds prior to the op.
 
As Abi_nurse says stones aren't disolvable - the potassium citrate is to get the urine either less acid or alkali (I can't remember which) I would check the dosage with your vet as Bumble was initially given 0.07ml twice a day and it has now only just been raised to 0.1ml - (Bumble weighs 1325gm) - as long as you dont go over 2ml of fizzy water 3 times a day I dont see why you couldnt start that now and also try and feed cucumber for the water content,as this will all help to flush things out / keep them going through - I have to syringe feed Bumble extra water as he is lazy about using the water bottle - hope he is feeling better today,
 
Thanks guys. :) I'll hold off giving him the potassium citrate. It's to alkalise the bladder the vet said. There's been no change. Still won't eat and still really out of it. I ended up bringing him into bed beside me at about half 5 so I could try feed him easier without too much disruption and keep him warm under the covers. He's still lying beside me and made no attempt to move what so ever. He's just limp. Come on 5 o'clock...
 
TAN said:
As Abi_nurse says stones aren't disolvable - the potassium citrate is to get the urine either less acid or alkali (I can't remember which) I would check the dosage with your vet as Bumble was initially given 0.07ml twice a day and it has now only just been raised to 0.1ml - (Bumble weighs 1325gm) - as long as you dont go over 2ml of fizzy water 3 times a day I dont see why you couldnt start that now and also try and feed cucumber for the water content,as this will all help to flush things out / keep them going through - I have to syringe feed Bumble extra water as he is lazy about using the water bottle - hope he is feeling better today,
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Waters the biggest problem just now. Because he isn't forced to chew he's just letting it dribble straight back out so I've had to water down the recovery food. But its still taking about 45 minutes to get 3ml into him because he won't chew and is just letting his mouth hang open.
 
Coco&Luna said:
Waters the biggest problem just now. Because he isn't forced to chew he's just letting it dribble straight back out so I've had to water down the recovery food. But its still taking about 45 minutes to get 3ml into him because he won't chew and is just letting his mouth hang open.
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Fingers very firmly crossed! You are doing all for him that you can.
 
There's no change, he still won't eat or anything. He isn't getting better. The vets gave him a 20ml water injection to hydrate him. He's still limp but now he's doing these little spasm tensing movements. I might have to admit him tomorrow. I'm not getting enough food into him. :(
 
Guys how much does it cost per day for a guinea pig to be admitted? I have work on Thursday Friday and Saturday all 12 hour shifts so if he doesnt pick up I'm gunna need to have him admitted for 3/4 days.
X
 
Luna doesn't seem to understand what's happening.
"Hellooo? Stanley, look at me! I'm eating all your food? Aren't you going to stop me?" My Poor boy :(IMG_20160316_021716.webp
 
Oh no,he really doesn't look well. Are you able to get him to eat anything? I know earlier he wasn't swallow is he still not?

I don't how much it would be to admit him. I think I've paid £25 a day in the past. Just to give you an idea but it'll vary depending on the vet.

Has he had gut stimulants?
 
I pay £20 a day when mine stay in - poor little chap - as Flintstone's says has the vet given him a gut stimulant - usually emiprid? if not would suggest he needs that asap - fingers crossed.- big hugs to you xx
 
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