almondandcashew
New Born Pup
Hi everyone! I have been a long-time lurker of this forum and wanted to share my boy Almond's recent experience with bladder stones and ask for prevention advice. Almond and Cashew are my first piggies so I am new to dealing with bladder issues and want to ensure I'm doing the best I can.
5 days ago I came home to find blood in Almond's urine. He was acting totally normal- eating, drinking, using the bathroom, etc. But he did lose a huge amount of weight. I booked a vet appointment for the next day and suspected UTI, hoping it wasn't a stone. One x-ray later showed a large, fully formed stone in Almond's bladder. At this point he was still acting mostly normal- no pain, still blood in urine. But still losing weight and he seemed a little off. The vet told me I had to operate immediately before the stone moved into his urethra. She was hoping it would stay in the bladder for now since it was so large. She had me give him 0.6ml Bactrim and 0.25 (I ended up doing 0.3) ml Metacam every 12 hours.
I decided to take him home for the night and think for a bit- I was just beside myself and so unprepared to put him on an operating table right then and there. His bday is unknown but I suspect he's about 3.5 or 4 years old- same with his 'brother' Cashew.
I started Almond on critical care (aiming for 30 ml every 24 hours- he was still eating at this point), liquid vitamin c, bottled water (and syringing it), and low calcium/oxalate veggies. I did tons of research and talked to so many piggie parents and decided to order some supplements.
The next day I started Almond on Sherwood Urinary Support tablets and shilintong in addition to everything else. He was my full time patient!
The following day, 2 days after his vet trip, Almond went downhill fast. Not eating, drinking, and barely moving. I was terrified and increased his CC & water intake drastically. It was at this point I increased his Metacam dose from 0.25 to 0.3ml. By the end of the day he was squealing in pain when peeing & pooping. It took him like 2 hours to pass 4-5 poops
I called the ER and got a quote and appointment for surgery the next day, and called his PCP to prescribe gabapentin (which I never got- it's quite regulated here). I filled him up with CC, water, and his Metacam, and set my alarm to sleep for 90 minutes as I had stayed up with him all night.
About an hour later, at 8am, I wake up to see Almond sitting in the same spot, which made me so upset. But I looked closer... and found the bladder stone right next to him.
I literally could not believe my eyes and I still can't.
Fast forward two days- he's eating veggies, hay, drinking on his own, and is finally able to rest with his little leggies out (he sat all puffed up for hours and hours without sleeping the night before). His poops are fewer and smaller but getting better slowly. I am still finishing up his prescribed 10-day course of Metacam & Bactrim. I'm not sure if I should keep him on the Metacam longer than that? He is pooping and peeing without pain and blood (only a little blood the day he passed the stone). He seems 85% back to normal although I'm sure his bladder and urethra are quite sore. Right now, besides the meds, he's on:
- critical care: down to about 20ish ml. His weight is still fluctuating about 30-40g per day (although he passed the stone literally yesterday- I think that's a normal amount? I'm not sure when or how much to wean him off the CC. Plus it is SO HARD to force feed him- and ALL of these things I have to force feed because he is so picky
- liquid vitamin C: instead of the oxbow tabs
- low calcium veggies: red/green leaf lettuce, bell pepper, cucumber, radicchio, and occasionally carrot. Cashew is on the same diet now.
- distilled water
- sherwood urinary tablets: I am going to stick with 1 tab in the AM and 1 in PM, then decrease to half of that in a few days. I also put Cashew on 1/2tab, AM & PM.
- I took him off the shilintong. He only had it for two days- the day before and the day when he passed the stone.
I have both boys going for x-ray's in a few days to make sure there are no stones or sludge. I had ordered Cystease (glucosamine) and it won't be here for another week. I am also hoping to get potassium citrate from the vet when we go. I have also heard of chanca piedra powder? Didn't get any of that tho, haven't really seen much research on it.
I'm looking for advice on what combination of things I should keep both pigs on indefinitely, what's safest, what side effects should I be wary of, and anything I should change in terms of my care. Also just to note, they haven't been fed pellets since they were babies. Hoping Almond continues to be on the mend, and I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can in terms of after care for him, as well as prevention for both of my boys. So basically:
Should I keep Almond on the Metacam past the 10-day mark (which will be about 7/8 days post stone passing)? How much/when should I wean down on CC? What is safe to keep him on indefinitely for prevention? Same with Cashew? Anything else I should know?
I'm including photos of his stone, which I measured to be about 5mm! (and pics for pig tax, I hope that's allowed
Almond is the brown American, Cashew is the orange/white teddy)
Thank you so much for reading my novel!
5 days ago I came home to find blood in Almond's urine. He was acting totally normal- eating, drinking, using the bathroom, etc. But he did lose a huge amount of weight. I booked a vet appointment for the next day and suspected UTI, hoping it wasn't a stone. One x-ray later showed a large, fully formed stone in Almond's bladder. At this point he was still acting mostly normal- no pain, still blood in urine. But still losing weight and he seemed a little off. The vet told me I had to operate immediately before the stone moved into his urethra. She was hoping it would stay in the bladder for now since it was so large. She had me give him 0.6ml Bactrim and 0.25 (I ended up doing 0.3) ml Metacam every 12 hours.
I decided to take him home for the night and think for a bit- I was just beside myself and so unprepared to put him on an operating table right then and there. His bday is unknown but I suspect he's about 3.5 or 4 years old- same with his 'brother' Cashew.
I started Almond on critical care (aiming for 30 ml every 24 hours- he was still eating at this point), liquid vitamin c, bottled water (and syringing it), and low calcium/oxalate veggies. I did tons of research and talked to so many piggie parents and decided to order some supplements.
The next day I started Almond on Sherwood Urinary Support tablets and shilintong in addition to everything else. He was my full time patient!
The following day, 2 days after his vet trip, Almond went downhill fast. Not eating, drinking, and barely moving. I was terrified and increased his CC & water intake drastically. It was at this point I increased his Metacam dose from 0.25 to 0.3ml. By the end of the day he was squealing in pain when peeing & pooping. It took him like 2 hours to pass 4-5 poops
I called the ER and got a quote and appointment for surgery the next day, and called his PCP to prescribe gabapentin (which I never got- it's quite regulated here). I filled him up with CC, water, and his Metacam, and set my alarm to sleep for 90 minutes as I had stayed up with him all night.About an hour later, at 8am, I wake up to see Almond sitting in the same spot, which made me so upset. But I looked closer... and found the bladder stone right next to him.
I literally could not believe my eyes and I still can't.Fast forward two days- he's eating veggies, hay, drinking on his own, and is finally able to rest with his little leggies out (he sat all puffed up for hours and hours without sleeping the night before). His poops are fewer and smaller but getting better slowly. I am still finishing up his prescribed 10-day course of Metacam & Bactrim. I'm not sure if I should keep him on the Metacam longer than that? He is pooping and peeing without pain and blood (only a little blood the day he passed the stone). He seems 85% back to normal although I'm sure his bladder and urethra are quite sore. Right now, besides the meds, he's on:
- critical care: down to about 20ish ml. His weight is still fluctuating about 30-40g per day (although he passed the stone literally yesterday- I think that's a normal amount? I'm not sure when or how much to wean him off the CC. Plus it is SO HARD to force feed him- and ALL of these things I have to force feed because he is so picky
- liquid vitamin C: instead of the oxbow tabs
- low calcium veggies: red/green leaf lettuce, bell pepper, cucumber, radicchio, and occasionally carrot. Cashew is on the same diet now.
- distilled water
- sherwood urinary tablets: I am going to stick with 1 tab in the AM and 1 in PM, then decrease to half of that in a few days. I also put Cashew on 1/2tab, AM & PM.
- I took him off the shilintong. He only had it for two days- the day before and the day when he passed the stone.
I have both boys going for x-ray's in a few days to make sure there are no stones or sludge. I had ordered Cystease (glucosamine) and it won't be here for another week. I am also hoping to get potassium citrate from the vet when we go. I have also heard of chanca piedra powder? Didn't get any of that tho, haven't really seen much research on it.
I'm looking for advice on what combination of things I should keep both pigs on indefinitely, what's safest, what side effects should I be wary of, and anything I should change in terms of my care. Also just to note, they haven't been fed pellets since they were babies. Hoping Almond continues to be on the mend, and I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can in terms of after care for him, as well as prevention for both of my boys. So basically:
Should I keep Almond on the Metacam past the 10-day mark (which will be about 7/8 days post stone passing)? How much/when should I wean down on CC? What is safe to keep him on indefinitely for prevention? Same with Cashew? Anything else I should know?
I'm including photos of his stone, which I measured to be about 5mm! (and pics for pig tax, I hope that's allowed
Almond is the brown American, Cashew is the orange/white teddy)Thank you so much for reading my novel!
