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Anselmo - A Bladder Stone Piggy

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Sorry all, I don't have time to post his back story yet as I have to dash to work. I'll try to do it when I get there, or tonight.

He's 6, and has had 2 bladder stone surgeries. He still has sludge. Last winter he started with a bit of a wet nose when it was colder, and it cleared in spring. It started again in July, and we were recommended giving him "steam bath" so he comes into the bathroom with us when we have a bath.

He was at the vet earlier (The Cat and Rabbit Clinic Northampton) and I've been recommended to get a nebuliser and some F10 as it's sounding a bit worse.Does anyone have any experience with nebulisers and/or F10? An infection has been ruled out as he's had Baytril before, and also it doesn't happen all the time. If I put him in a room colder than 15 C I can guarantee his nose will be wet tomorrow, and if I steam him he'll be okay for a day or two. He's also on a diuretic for his bladder sludge.

Sorry for the short post, I'll add in all of his details soon.
 
There is someone on here who used a nebuliser recently but I can't remember who. If it comes to me throughout the afternoon I will tag them.
 
Whistle-stop tour of Anselmo and his problems.

I got him from a rescue in June 2010. He was apparently 6 months old, but he weighed 1kg, so I guess a little bit more. So, he's 6 now.

He squeaked when weeing & pooping when I got him, Baytril sorted it out. He was also snuffly on and off, but Baytril seemed to fix it.( I had a non piggy savvy vet).

I moved to Leicester in April 2012 and he immediately started to squeak when peeing. The water here is a lot harder than the North East so I swapped it.

April 2013, the squeak was back and worse. June 2013 - a bladder stone was confirmed and he had surgery.

Christimas 2013 - squeaking started again, but due to the vet being unhelpful I had to go to the CCT. Eventually at the end of March he had another bladder stone surgery.

April 2014 - he had a life threatening bout of bloat. Thankfully the ER vet saved him.

He's been on various med's and a limited diet to try to combat the sludge

All throughout he's had bouts of snuffles which go away and return, and squeaking whilst peeing and pooping. Sludge is always present.

October 2014 - xray and scan for bladder stone. Clear, but lots of sludge.

Jan 2015 - we swapped to the Cat and Rabbit clinic vet and we started a trial of new meds. He now takes:
Bendrofluazide 0.625 mg a day
Cystassist (1/5 of a capsule a day)
Potassium 20mg a day
He has low calicum bottled water.
No pellets
Limited veg, as low calicum as possible
Lots of Timothy Hay

His squeaking is still on and off, we have Metacam for when it's bad.
His sniffling is also on and off, but has been getting worse since July. It doesn't affect his eating or movement. Some days it's not noticeable, other days he'll have a wet nose, other days he's be crackly when breathing.

He's also prone to bloat now. I've caught it early 5-10 times since the first bout, but a serious one happened in April 2015. Again he needed the ER vet (It always has to happen at Midnight on a weekend!) We have Metoclopromide on hand, just in case.

I think that's about it. Oh, he's had pea eye in both eyes for about 2 years. But, he doesn't really show any other signs of a heart problem. He is slowing down a bit when he's running around at floor time, but he is 6.

Any questions please let me know. Sorry if I've been a bit too concise, I've tried to compact 23 pages on Guinea Lynx into 1 post. Eeep!
 
I think a nebuliser sounds a fantastic idea. We were going to get one for Tweedledee when he was having intermittent respiratory problems, but sadly he passed before I got one. Whether it would've made a difference I don't know, but Simon said at the time that he had had excellent results with rabbits using them.
 
That's what Kim said. They might be expensive to buy, but on the other hand it might save me a few £ on my central heating bill. If the temp drops below 15 he's snuffly the next day.

And, giving him any help towards him feeling comfortable is a priority. He might be starting to age but he's definitely still got his spark. Just ask Kim, she's normally on the receiving end of a nip or two, and plenty of getting told off whinges.

I'll have a research into them tonight. A quick glance suggests the F10 is anti-bacterial or something, but I completely trust Simon and Kim so I'm happy to give it a try.
 
I think I can remember how to use a nebuliser when daughter had Whooping cough as a child, it helped a great deal but have no experience of using one with F10 sorry :( I am sure Kim/Simon will show you how to use one with the F10 though. Does he get regular x rays to check for any stones? They can literally form so quickly, it might be that he needs an x ray to exclude a bladder/urethral stone. For comparison my bladder sludge piggy is on Metacam daily, a low dose of 0.1 ml dog Metacam once sometimes twice a day if required as it has anti-inflammatory properties & she has monthly Cartrophen injections too, plus a daily dose of Potassium Citrate which binds the calcium together, but you must rule out any stones before using that. When she has flare ups we also add in a dose of Cerenia for a few days/week if needed. My piggy is 5 1/2 & I can tell by looking at her face how high her ears are whether she needs her pain relief upping lol :) Her ears sit lower when she is uncomfortable x
 
I need to invest in one too, as I have a few heart pigs who could potentially need it at some point. I would be interested to know what one you get? A friend bought one a while back and looked into a certain type but we are no longer in touch so I can't find out. It was something to do with the size of the mouth piece and the dosing size I think that was important. Did Kim suggest a specific one?

Not sure what else to suggest bladder wise except Glucosamine but I expect that is in the Cystassist if it is like Cystease.
 
@Poppy'sMum His last x-ray was October last year. We've (the vet and I) decided not to do them regularly as 1) he's not showing any signs like he did the last two times he had stones and 2) they would have to anesthetize him. However, if I did think there was a stone I'd pop him to the CCT where they'll do it without knocking him out.

We have Metacam, but don't give it daily. He has it on occasion when he seems to be in a bit of pain, but *touches wood* he's been okay for the majority of this year. He also has 20mg of Potassium Citrate daily. When I first registered him with Cat and Rabbit Clinic I took along all of the various concoctions I had tried, or was trying and Potassium Citrate was one of them that I was told to continue. The thought is that it's unlikely to make a great deal of difference as he's need to be on a massive dose, but on the other hand it's not going to harm him.

@helen105281 Kim didn't suggest a specific one. But I did a bit of Googling yesterday and found a stockist of F10. They also sell nebulisers. And even better is that they're literally 10 minutes drive from my work, what a coincidence. I rang them and I'm going over at lunch time. It makes sense to get the nebuliser from the same place as the F10, but I'll see when I get there. The place specialises in bird, reptile and small animals, so fingers crossed. I'll let you know how it goes.

I took the Cystassist in to show Kim and she says it's the same stuff as Cystease. But, it's alot cheaper, so she said to continue using that
 
Nebulisers are grear, very much worth it. Just a couple of things to remember when you get them... 1.) by one specifically designed for pets - the particles are smaller when vaporised maki them more effective and 2.) ensure you always dilute the f10 down when you put it in there.

If you need anymore info then feel free to ask. I regularly nebulise a lot of our patients of all species.

x
 
Thanks @Abi_nurse , I think I probably will bug you a bit for help if that's okay with you.

I ended up opting for this one http://www.mah-shop.co.uk/pari-compact-nebuliser-291-p.asp

A bit more expensive than the norm, but I went to see them and they were really helpful and said I can give them a call anytime for advice or help. They also stock F10 so I think it was safe to assume the nebuliser would work well with it.

We've had 3 sessions up to now. I opted for 10 minutes once a day, just as I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing and I was a bit worried on any effect it would have on his eyes (None it seems). It doesn't seem to have done much upto now, but it's not going to be a miracle cure obviously. We've been told we can do it for upto 20 minutes twice a day, so there's plenty of room to increase.

The F10 I got was the already diluted one, I wanted things to be as easy as possible at first. And using it is quite easy.
 
Looks like your up to speed. : )

Doing it for longer won't harm your piggie. I've left birds in for longer than 20mins with no ill effects, and their airways are much more delicate than a piggies.

20mins is the normal I would say, two- three times a day, but I'm pretty sure you cannot overdo it. What are you using to nebulise in?

x
 
They told me that the easiest thing to do was clingfilm a carrying case, even the door when he's in there. Poke the mouth piece through, and another hole for air to come out. It seems to be working pretty well at the moment, as I just need to replace the door bit, and clingfilm is pretty cheap.

Can I give him something to eat whilst he's in there? I know he's ingesting it anyway, but wasn't sure if I could give him a bit of hay or veg to chomp whilst he's in there.

Thanks for your help Abi, I feel much better knowing I can put him in for a lot longer :)
 
Yes he can have food with no problems at all. We use f10 for loads of things including wounds so ingesting what tiny amount may be on food is perfectly safe. The cling film should work just fine. We use incubators or gas chambers or sometimes just cling film kennel doors too.

x
 
Thanks again Abi :)

I didn't notice your reply until this morning, but I decided to give him his dinner in there anyway. Well, he decided for me. He was in there for a few minutes, then I heard a weird noise. I thought something was going wrong with the nebuliser. On closer inspection it was a digruntled boar standing right up against the door chattering his teeth. So, he got some food.
 
Thanks BossHogg!

I wanted to give an update on Anselmo.

Early January he was showing a bit of protein in his urine. A few weeks later during a retest it was higher. This raised a bit of concern with his vet as this can be a sign of kidney issues. And he's on Bendrofluazide for his bladder sludge/stone issues, which can cause kidney problems. I believe he's on on the first pigs in the UK to trial it, and definitely the first at my vet, so what it can do to them is still a mystery.

He started to limp on the 7th April, so we went to the vet. We took a urine sample which was sent away as the results would show more than the dip stick test we'd been using.

The results confirmed that the protein levels were too high so after a lot of thinking from me, and the vets we had 2 options:

1) Reduce the Bendrofluazide to every other day and then re-test his urine in a month or so
2) Bite the bullet and x-ray him.

We decided on x-ray, even though it would not be a conscious x-ray. He had his poorly leg, his kidneys needed to be checked, along with his lungs (because of his occasional honking), checking for stone would be helpful, and they needed blood from him.

So, off he went for his x-ray. The results were some good, some bad. His organs all seem to be fine. The limping is due to a pretty far progressed arthritis, and he has 2 tiny (1mm) stones. They also took blood.

I got the blood test results on Wednesday. All of his levels are normal. No problem with blood protein. His kidneys are working fine.

The vets want to keep him on the Bendrofluazide, they think it is making a huge difference. He's been on it for over a year now.

So, I just wanted to come on here and mention my positive results from it. I know of a few people who have trialled it, and stopped within days or weeks as their pigs sludge output increased. It did for Anselmo too, but it soon sorts itself out. And better out than in, am I right?! :)

He had two bladder stone surgeries less than a year apart, June 2013( 3 large stones) and March 2014 (1 large stone), . He's managed to be stone free since then, and now only has two very small masses in his ureter. It could simply be a bit of packed sludge that's squashed together whilst travelling to the bladder. He'll have another x-ray in a few months to see how he is.
 
And an update on the nebuilsation. I was still very iffy about it during the times mentioned above, and then he got a URI early January. I tried it again, and I mentioned to the vet that I didn't think it was helping. I thought it was the antibiotic that sorted him out eventually.

Mid March he started honking on a Friday evening, It was the most horrendous honking noise I'd ever heard. It was so loud! In every other regards he was fine, bright, happy, eating, wandering around. So, remembering what the vet said about it being very difficult to over use the nebuliser I popped him in for half an hour. Then again at 2am as he woke me up, then again at 8.30am whilst I waited for the vet around the corner to open. The 3rd bout stopped the honking.

I've used it a few times since, and you really have to go in with all guns blazing, a measy 10 mins here and there does nothing.
 
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