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Syringe feed before operation?

Ellen Cookie

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Hi folks, Ralph is booked in for his second bladder stone operation on Monday (September 7). He is eating and drinking for himself but now his weight is down to 816g, the smallest he's ever been. He's been on 0.4ml of dog Loxicom daily since seeing the vet for x-rays on Wednesday. He's eating hay, grass and a mix of lettuce, peppers and cucumber, alongside a small amount of grain free nuggets but the weight just keeps going down. We've got the weekend between now and his operation, should I start syringe feeding some Recovery feed?
 
Hi folks, Ralph is booked in for his second bladder stone operation on Monday (September 7). He is eating and drinking for himself but now his weight is down to 816g, the smallest he's ever been. He's been on 0.4ml of dog Loxicom daily since seeing the vet for x-rays on Wednesday. He's eating hay, grass and a mix of lettuce, peppers and cucumber, alongside a small amount of grain free nuggets but the weight just keeps going down. We've got the weekend between now and his operation, should I start syringe feeding some Recovery feed?

You can offer him additional syringe feed if you wish to. If he is still eating by himself, just let him have as much as he wants 2-3 times a day.
Please keep in mind that hay is making around 80% of the daily food intake; all the other foods are more in the way of just a single snack in quantity.

You can never judge the hay intake just by eye but it is generally the food category most affected by pain/any loss of appetite. For that you need to switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time in the feeding cycles in order to cut down on the normal daily weight swings. I find weighing before I give them their breakfast a good time to see what the daily bottom weight is.
More on weighing support: Weight - Monitoring and Management

Is he already on daily glucosamine (cystease capsules), filtered water and reduced pellets?
 
Thanks. You're right, it's hard to tell how much hay he's eating (they have a mix of Timothy and ings) but he is certainly still interested. He's on filtered water and reduced pellets and I will be adding the cystease to his routine from today - 1 capsule in 2ml of water daily, am I right?
 
Thanks. You're right, it's hard to tell how much hay he's eating (they have a mix of Timothy and ings) but he is certainly still interested. He's on filtered water and reduced pellets and I will be adding the cystease to his routine from today - 1 capsule in 2ml of water daily, am I right?

Yes, you can give either 1 ml of glucosamine mix twice daily or 2 ml once daily. It is important for the comfort/pain in the urinary tract. The walls of the urinary tract have a natural glucosamine coat to protect the raw tissue from the very corrosive urine. This coating is damaged with by a stone or from a cystitis. But it takes a while to build up and repair the damage.

If your piggy still has got stones even after the measures, you may want to switch to bottled low calcium water. Please keep in mind that if the complex calcium absorption process is out of kilter, dietary and support measures will take several weeks to kick in gradually; and depending what is wrong, they can only mitigate the problem. But during that time, more fast growing stones can unfortunately be produced.

All the best!

Tips For Post-operative Care
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
 
Yes, you can give either 1 ml of glucosamine mix twice daily or 2 ml once daily. It is important for the comfort/pain in the urinary tract. The walls of the urinary tract have a natural glucosamine coat to protect the raw tissue from the very corrosive urine. This coating is damaged with by a stone or from a cystitis. But it takes a while to build up and repair the damage.

If your piggy still has got stones even after the measures, you may want to switch to bottled low calcium water. Please keep in mind that if the complex calcium absorption process is out of kilter, dietary and support measures will take several weeks to kick in gradually; and depending what is wrong, they can only mitigate the problem. But during that time, more fast growing stones can unfortunately be produced.

All the best!

Tips For Post-operative Care
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Great, I will definitely start him on the cystease from today, thanks.
 
Having had another set of x-rays today, my vet and I have decided not to proceed with the stone removal op. Given how quickly this second stone developed, the chances are he'd develop another one soon. Plus the calcification has spread to his kidneys so we're opting for pain management to give him the best life we can for however long he's around.
 
Having had another set of x-rays today, my vet and I have decided not to proceed with the stone removal op. Given how quickly this second stone developed, the chances are he'd develop another one soon. Plus the calcification has spread to his kidneys so we're opting for pain management to give him the best life we can for however long he's around.

BIG HUGS

I am very sorry for the bad news.

Here is our detailed guide for looking after a terminally ill piggy; I hope that it will help you in this most difficult time and to make the best of what you can and create some special memories while you still have him. It is a bitter-sweet time for you, but it is within your control just how bitter or how sweet this time is going to be.

The guide is also there to help you work through the grieving process, which starts the moment you get the bad news. It has different dynamics when you are looking after a terminally ill piggy but you have much more control over how you want to deal with it than with a sudden, unexpected death. The amount of grieving overall and the actual pain of the loss are not any less but you can control the guilt/failure factor and spread the emotional load for yourself so it is not quite the one huge impact wave that it is otherwise.
Apart from the onset (now), the most difficult time is always when you come close to the time for saying goodbye. The guide can hopefully help you with that, too.
A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
 
BIG HUGS

I am very sorry for the bad news.

Here is our detailed guide for looking after a terminally ill piggy; I hope that it will help you in this most difficult time and to make the best of what you can and create some special memories while you still have him. It is a bitter-sweet time for you, but it is within your control just how bitter or how sweet this time is going to be.

The guide is also there to help you work through the grieving process, which starts the moment you get the bad news. It has different dynamics when you are looking after a terminally ill piggy but you have much more control over how you want to deal with it than with a sudden, unexpected death. The amount of grieving overall and the actual pain of the loss are not any less but you can control the guilt/failure factor and spread the emotional load for yourself so it is not quite the one huge impact wave that it is otherwise.
Apart from the onset (now), the most difficult time is always when you come close to the time for saying goodbye. The guide can hopefully help you with that, too.
A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
Thank you very much for your support. He has been prescribed 0.3ml of Loxicom for dogs daily. Wondering if I could increase the dose to help him feel more comfortable - the vet did say that amount would be alright but I just want to do all I can to help him.
 
Thank you very much for your support. He has been prescribed 0.3ml of Loxicom for dogs daily. Wondering if I could increase the dose to help him feel more comfortable - the vet did say that amount would be alright but I just want to do all I can to help him.

That is a pretty high dose of dog metacam. Keep in mind that the loxicom will build up if it is given sustained.

You can go safely to 0.4 ml twice daily for a 1 kg piggy but there comes the point when you have make the difficult decision in conjunction with your vet to switch to opiates or let him make the journey to the Rainbow Bridge to be free of pain again.
 
That is a pretty high dose of dog metacam. Keep in mind that the loxicom will build up if it is given sustained.

You can go safely to 0.4 ml twice daily for a 1 kg piggy but there comes the point when you have make the difficult decision in conjunction with your vet to switch to opiates or let him make the journey to the Rainbow Bridge to be free of pain again.
You're right, the dose he's been prescribed will be helping as it is so I will stick to it.
 
You're right, the dose he's been prescribed will be helping as it is so I will stick to it.

See how it goes. You can always up a little more when you feel it is necessary; and that knowledge will hopefully help you. ;)
 
Absolutely, thanks! Taking each day as it comes, it's precious time 💓

Treasure every day! You can pack a life time's worth of love into just a moment of time. I have learned this lesson in those three years that my dad fought his very painful terminal cancer and was close to death more than once. It is never the length of time and always the quality of what you share that is the important aspect. :tu:
 
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