worried about chesney, advice please

[biscandmatt]

Conscious x-rays depend on the vet to be honest, a good cavy vet can do them conscious. Not sure about the blood test from the ear though, hopefully someone experienced in having a piggie having had it done will see this soon & comment?

As for stone ops, I don't have any experience of these, from reading this forum there seems to be successful outcomes & not successful ones so it's hard to tell.

Are you saying that this vet is away from Friday? If that's the case make sure there is someone experienced there if you have an emergency afterwards. I think I would be loathe to have any op if he wasn't going to be there in the few days after, but that's just me being a worry wort

If Chesney isn't as quick to eat the other piggie will be sneaking in to nick his nosh, maybe have that one out for a bit to give Chesney a bit of a head start at meal times?

ignore the bit about the blood test from behind the ear, i'm getting confused. that was when we talked about maisie. rolleyes think i'm over-tired today!

i'm sure the vet will go through everything to do with xrays and the dental etc. and stones. i have to admit i read threads about stones and get worried as it does seem to be some do really well and some don't. but i won't worry about that yet as we don't know anything for sure.

the vet is in thursday and then off from then until over a week later. but the other exotics vet is there all the other time so if he needed to stay in or go back, there would be an exotics vet there. depending on how things go when i talk with the vet, i might choose to wait until he's back if ches does need something like an op for stones etc.

ches is eating veg at the same speed as maisie. he's eating hay, it's just the pellets. he kind of sniffs them, pushes them around the bowl with his nose and then maybe manages a few but then goes away again. and other times he comes over to get some and then gives up. he's also doing that heaving hiccup aswell quite alot. sounds like gagging.

i haven't noticed him pushing his bum back though, that was a while ago. but he could be, i haven't been watching him obsessively as he seems really happy.

Hiya -

Perhaps your scales aren't the same as the vets so perhaps Maisie hasn't gained that much.

X-rays and the pin prick test can both be done conscious - the vet could do them first before doing the Dental. When I opted to have Milo's blood work done I asked that he could also be Xrayed under GA for heart problems my vet said he would rather Xray conscious to check heart and also for stones. He would then do the blood under GA as if anything came up on the Xrays then the plan could possibly change.

I would Xray before considering Full Bloods works it's an invasive procedure. The pin prick test behind the ear is very different to full Bloods. It's normally done to check for Diabetes.

with ches the scales were slightly different by about 9g i think. maisie was so heavy when i picked her up! i can't believe she's at this higher weight! :o

we thought - take them thursday morning, talk with vet etc, then xrays first and if clear go with the dental. if there's something there like stones etc, then we thought leave the dental as ches is eating hay and veg, and save him going through an op for if he needs it for stones or something.

so when we go it will be just xrays and a urine sample. or xrays, urine sample and the dental.

i was confusing the pin prick test with maisie so ignore me! rolleyes

that's our plan now. of course we are going to talk it through with the vet first and decide on a plan.

finally, a decision!

 

[biscandmatt]

i've just given ches and maisie quite a big piece of spring greens to watch them eat it and ches is definitely chewing slower than maisie and he took longer to eat his piece aswell. normally he would eat quicker and try stealing maisie's piece. rolleyes i'm pretty sure in myself now that his teeth do need doing. i had to be sure before putting him under unnecessarily. and i think the vet wanted to be sure aswell because obviously we don't want him going through something if we weren't 100% sure.

 

[Glynis]

Piggies often sit in their urine......do you think maybe Ches is doing this more perhaps? Have you had a urine test done on him at all? you can collect the urine yourself (pop him in plastic container feed some wet greens and they usually give you a sample - use a clean syringe and then pop this in the fridge till you go to vets, i usually only do this the day or the night before going to the vets)

when you say moving butt back to wee? Velvet does this she shuffles backwards and Duke used to also

Paws crossed for Ches XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[biscandmatt]

Piggies often sit in their urine......do you think maybe Ches is doing this more perhaps? Have you had a urine test done on him at all? you can collect the urine yourself (pop him in plastic container feed some wet greens and they usually give you a sample - use a clean syringe and then pop this in the fridge till you go to vets, i usually only do this the day or the night before going to the vets)

when you say moving butt back to wee? Velvet does this she shuffles backwards and Duke used to also

Paws crossed for Ches XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

he could be sitting in his urine but if he is, he's chosen an awkward time to choose to do that! rolleyes he's never done it before and i've never even felt a wet bum on him or seen any wetness on his legs. he's usually spotless underneath. so i'm going to mention it just incase.

i haven't had a urine test done on him so i will either take one to the vets when we go, or they might beable to get one if they stay in for the day.

it was more he stretched forward and then pushed his bum back as though a straining motion, although his wee and poops seem fine. :{ i did see him do it and it took a bit longer for him to push a poop out. but he was checked over for any impaction or anything else wrong in that area and there wasn't anything. :{ he's actually very clean the vet said. except the slight wee on his legs. it wasn't wet at that point, it had dried by then.

i'm going to write down everything and go through it with the vet. i have to write it down otherwise i will ramble on as normal and miss things out etc. rolleyes

 

[Pebble]

It sound like there are two possible issues that the vet needs to check out at your next appointment and the two often go hand in hand.

First is the wet leg/straining when pooing. This is indicative of a possible urinary problem such as a stone/crystals and as such you need to take in a clean urine sample and also get X rays done, particularly if the vet detects any pain in the bladder/kidneys on palpation ( a good feel/exam of the abdominal area)

This could be painful/irritable enough to then reduce his food intake, he will lose weight, and his teeth will start to overgrow - which is the second issue and you are seeing this in the fact he can;t pick up pellets properly.

It is often the case that a piggie is in pain from one cause, but the first indication the owner sees that something is wrong is the weight loss/reduced food intake/irritable gut (squishy/smelly poos at times and at others very few poos).


If it were me, I would get Xrays and teeth done at the same time (plus the pin prick bloods) under GA. You say your vet is very good so there shouldn;t be much of a risk with GA and it will mean that a proper exams of the urinary tract and mouth can be done so that nothing is missed (which can happen when trying to do this on a conscious pig as the legs might not be able to be positioned properly and can cover part of the urinary tract and a stone might be missed on Xray or the back of the molars are not examined throughly enough and a spur might be missed)

I wouldn;t put things off any longer and go to your appointment on thursday fully prepared to have everything done because that is the only way you will get to the bottom of the problem(s)....and there is clearly something wrong that needs to be sorted.

Good luck on thursday
x

 

[biscandmatt]

It sound like there are two possible issues that the vet needs to check out at your next appointment and the two often go hand in hand.

First is the wet leg/straining when pooing. This is indicative of a possible urinary problem such as a stone/crystals and as such you need to take in a clean urine sample and also get X rays done, particularly if the vet detects any pain in the bladder/kidneys on palpation ( a good feel/exam of the abdominal area)

This could be painful/irritable enough to then reduce his food intake, he will lose weight, and his teeth will start to overgrow - which is the second issue and you are seeing this in the fact he can;t pick up pellets properly.

It is often the case that a piggie is in pain from one cause, but the first indication the owner sees that something is wrong is the weight loss/reduced food intake/irritable gut (squishy/smelly poos at times and at others very few poos).


If it were me, I would get Xrays and teeth done at the same time (plus the pin prick bloods) under GA. You say your vet is very good so there shouldn;t be much of a risk with GA and it will mean that a proper exams of the urinary tract and mouth can be done so that nothing is missed (which can happen when trying to do this on a conscious pig as the legs might not be able to be positioned properly and can cover part of the urinary tract and a stone might be missed on Xray or the back of the molars are not examined throughly enough and a spur might be missed)

I wouldn;t put things off any longer and go to your appointment on thursday fully prepared to have everything done because that is the only way you will get to the bottom of the problem(s)....and there is clearly something wrong that needs to be sorted.

Good luck on thursday
x

thanks. i've phoned the vets and spoken to them this morning as last night i noticed ches was taking ages to eat a piece of spring greens and he hasn't slowed down his veg eating before last night. this morning he ate his veg but maisie was eating much quicker, and she had about two thirds to his one third. so he is starting to slow down with veg now aswell. i fed him more afterwards.

i weighed him before veg time and he's 1167g so it's going gradually down again. when i tried to get him out of the carrier aswell, he wouldn't let me at first as i put one hand underneath him and one behind his rump and it did seem he wasn't comfortable with me touching his underneath. maybe it felt tender. when the vet felt his abdominal area last week ches didn't have any tenderness but he could have progressed further and have some now.

so i rang the vets and spoke to them and booked thursday. usually you have to take them between 8am and 9am if they're staying but because we would be stuck in traffic through town at that time, they're letting us come at 10am which is great for us and reduces the journey time for the piggies aswell.

our appointment at 10am is with the vet to go through everything and they said they can take a urine sample (i might take one anyway though) and ches can have xrays and then his dental and a blood test aswell. so basically everything.

they reassured me again it is a very light anaesthetic and that way they can check really thoroughly his teeth and do any other tests for him aswell.

i'm happy we're getting things sorted but really nervous for thursday now. :... but i trust the vets so if anything was to go wrong for whatever reason, i'd know that ches couldn't have been in better hands.

i worry about them so much but o/h says they're tougher than i think, they'll be fine at the vets.

fingers crossed for chesney x