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Urgent Guinea Pig Specialist Surgeon Required - North Of England

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tax622

tax622

Junior Guinea Pig
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Burnley, Lancashire
Hi all

I posted previously about our 4 year old boar Buzz who had been making a "hicupping" a sound, no diagnosed as a bladder stone, so here's a quick update:

- Took him to local vet, she thought it may be a tooth problem gave him painkillers (metcam) and asked him to come back in a few days
- We went to another vet (recommended online as a piggie specialist) who said (as someone responded to my post saying) it was a bladder problem. He was scanned the next day and the vet said there was no presence of stones and that it was infection and put him on baytril and to continue with metacam.
- We back to the vets after a week on the anitbiotics, but no improvement. She asked us to stick with it and come back in another week (with hindsight we should not have let this happen and should have taken action, but hindsight is a wonderful thing).
- Back at the vets last night with no improvement, she scanned him again and thought this time she could in fact see a stone.
- Took him to the vets again today for an x-ray under GA and potential cystostomy. However the surgeon called (not the piggy vet) to say the xray had confirmed a stone but it was in his urethra not his bladder and it was 'beyond his abilities to remove it surgically' and recommended euthanasia. I declined as we aren't prepared to give up on him yet, and buzz is now home.

So can anyone recommend somewhere where we can urgently take Buzz to try and get further treatment from a guinea pig specialist? We live in Burnley, Lancashire but I am prepared to travel 1.5/2 hours if it's necessary, and would really love to get him seen tomorrow.

I have been doing some research and appreciate that if it really cannot be removed then euthanasia is the only option as I know he is in pain, but we really want to try and fix him if we can - I know bladder stones are not that uncommon in guinea pigs and have read of solutions (albeit risky) such as pushing the stone back up to the bladder for removal.

Apolgies for the long post, I'm feeling a bit emotional at the thought of losing Buzz and also a bit angry at the vet's completely dismissive attitude :(. We've been to the vets 5 times and have tried our best to help him but I still feel like I could have done more and should have acted sooner.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice - I'm really hoping there is some.

Tanya x
 
I am so sorry you are going through this. I really hope somebody can recommend a vet for you.
 
Ashleigh vets in Chorlton, South Manchester is a very good specialist exotic practice. The top vet there is Aiden Rafferty. The specialist care and facilities are very good, including lots of specialist exotic nurses. Might be worth looking at the recommended vet locator on this forum to see if there are any closer to you.
 
ashleigh vets in whalley range manchester. i highly recommend aidan aswell. if aidan isn't there, then see michelle. :)
 
I live in Northern Ireland so cannot recommend a vet near you but I just want to wish you the best of luck getting him all sorted, x
 
Thank you all so much for your well wishes - they are so nice they just made my fiance shed a tear!

Ashleigh Vets is not too far away from us at all (I managed to speak to Vedra from the Cambrige Cavy Trust tonight and she has given me the number for a vet in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, so Manchester is close by comparison). I am going to ring them first thing in the morning and hopefully get Buzz over there asap.

Thanks again

x
 
Oh bless you, what a terrible position for you to be in. So sorry. I use Cheshire Pet in Holmes Chapel, just off J 18 of the M6. Molly and Liz are exotics vets there. May be worth a call to them in the morning if you get no joy elsewhere. All the best to you x
 
My Maddie recently had a stone lodged at the top of her urethra and we opted for euthanasia as over the days that followed the xray she slowly deteriorated and she was in extreme pain when going to the toilet which she was doing a lot as the stone caused recurring infections. This was on very high doses of Tramadol and Metacam.

I hope you can get something sorted for your boy but in the meantime please make sure he is on very strong painkillers and be prepared to make the decision if needed. Our vets were prepared to operate on Maddie but only when the infection had cleared which was proving difficult and things were further complicated by the fact that she was a heart pig and so there was a massive risk with the anaesthetic.
 
Hi Helen, so sorry to hear about Maddie. I think deep down we are prepared for that, just still hoping for a miracle. Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
awww so sorry to be reading this. I have a boy, Oscar, with a lodged stone that was diagnosed towards the end of 2013 and 'touch wood' he is doing ok, i feel very lucky, but am taking it one day at a time. I have completely changed his diet and weigh him daily and he has Metacam daily and he appears to be plodding happily on. I do not think he is in any pain at all but am watching for any signs and any changes in him. He doesnt cry at all and the only signs i had previously were two bouts of blood in his pee. On the second occasion i took him for investigations. Nothing showed on the ultrasound but upon xray the stone was found. When they opened him up to operate they found it lodged in the tube and could not flush it out, so they sewed him back up and he has recovered pretty well considering.

I can only say what others have said, Aiden at Ashleigh and Molly Varga are probably the best you will come across up here. good luck and please keep us updated.

sending huge healing vibes for Buzz, we have everything crossed for him x
 
Morning everyone

I have spoken to Ashleigh vets this morning, they said they don't do procedures at the weekend but we are booked in for a consult with Aidan first thing Monday morning, and they are going to contact the other vets to get all Buzz's notes etc off them.

He's eaten his vegetables this morning and he's had another dose of medication so hopefully he will be ok until Monday.

Tanya x
 
Sorry to hear about your piggy with bladder stones. Am just wondering why in all these years and with my large herd I have never had bladder/urinary problems,cant seem to think of an obvious reason.
 
Some pigs are more prone to them, it may even be the diet that you feed if you only feed low calcium veg and low calcium and protein pellets.

Good luck for Monday.
 
If you can't get anyone locally to do this operation, try Simon Maddock at the Cat & Rabbit Clinic, Northampton. It will be well worth the trip if you get really stuck. I did a round trip of nearly 400 miles with Minky & it was really worth it. Hopefully you won't need to go that far but it's always worth knowing if you do get stuck. Good Luck with Buzz on Monday.
 
I hope ever so much he makes it and well done for not falling for the i think its best to euthanasia him when there are still other options !
best wishes Astrid and her pigs x0x
 
It's good that you are taking him to Aiden - he is very experienced with piggies and will be able to advise on what is and isn't possible (and what he is or isn;t prepared to try in terms of surgical technique)

If the stone is in the urethra - (ie the tube coming from the bladder into the penis) - then it may be possible to backflush the stone into the bladder and them remove it. My vets did this for my Bailey.

If the stone is in the ureter (the tube coming form the kidney to the bladder) that is normally classified as inoperable - HOWEVER one pioneering vet HAS successfully removed a stone from a boar's ureter (Glenn Hodgson at Apex vets in Denny, Scotalnd) so it can be done and if this is what the Xray shows Aiden may want to ring Glenn to find out how he did it.

If he needs additional pain relief my vet prescribes tramadol in addition the metacam - it seems particularly effective for urinary stone pigs.

Good luck - you are doing everything you can - Buzz is very lucky to have you as his slave.

x
 
Hi everyone

An update on Buzz ..... we took him to Ashleigh Vets yesterday and he stayed there over night, and this morning Adrian successfully removed the stone from Buzz's urethra!

They have kept him there again overnight to make sure everything is alright, so we haven't actually seen that he is ok for ourselves, but according to the vets he is doing well and everything went according to plan :).

We are picking him up tomorrow evening, can't wait to get him home now!

Thanks for all your help and your kind messages, it is really appreciated

Tanya x
 
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