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Bladder/Kidney stones

Stacey

Stacey

Junior Guinea Pig
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Has anyone had experience with this? One of my girls cleo was at the vets on Tuesday with possible urinary infection. Would squeal when trying to urinate.
Shes been on baytril and metacam and was improving.
However, this morning she was really squealing and not eating so we got an emergency appointment. Shes being kept in for xrays and if she has stones will get them removed.

Whats the recovery period like etc?

Thanks
 
It depends on how they plan to remove the stone/stones. You can get a whopping one that can be either extracted or flushed out without surgery. You can get grit or sludge - there is something called a 'bladder flush' which I personally don't have experience of (touch wood). And then there is surgery with general anaesthetic etc. to remove large ones in the bladder itself. I think they can also form in the kidneys and the tubes which run from kidneys to bladder but that is a more specialist topic and the chances of successful surgery go down. Bladder/urethral stones are unfortunately quite common but there are measures to take to reduce the chances in future, and yes they do occur alongside UTI... it's not an either/or thing.

How old is your girl? Younger ones are able to recover better but older ones still have a good chance with a decent vet. Girls have a bigger urethra than boys and are more able to pass stones on their own. One of my girls was given an opioid injection to kill the pain and then had a large bolus of fluid injected under the skin of the shoulder. It absorbs into the body and makes them pee like crazy. It flushed her out but she was totally stoned and it wasn't nice to see. She recovered quickly once the drug had worn off and it avoided the general anaesthetic so I'd do it again. Another girl had a monster pulled out of her urethra with forceps - again grim, but making surgery unnecessary. If the bladder is blocked it's serious. Be guided by your vet, and good luck x
 
Free Ranger said:
It depends on how they plan to remove the stone/stones. You can get a whopping one that can be either extracted or flushed out without surgery. You can get grit or sludge - there is something called a 'bladder flush' which I personally don't have experience of (touch wood). And then there is surgery with general anaesthetic etc. to remove large ones in the bladder itself. I think they can also form in the kidneys and the tubes which run from kidneys to bladder but that is a more specialist topic and the chances of successful surgery go down. Bladder/urethral stones are unfortunately quite common but there are measures to take to reduce the chances in future, and yes they do occur alongside UTI... it's not an either/or thing.

How old is your girl? Younger ones are able to recover better but older ones still have a good chance with a decent vet. Girls have a bigger urethra than boys and are more able to pass stones on their own. One of my girls was given an opioid injection to kill the pain and then had a large bolus of fluid injected under the skin of the shoulder. It absorbs into the body and makes them pee like crazy. It flushed her out but she was totally stoned and it wasn't nice to see. She recovered quickly once the drug had worn off and it avoided the general anaesthetic so I'd do it again. Another girl had a monster pulled out of her urethra with forceps - again grim, but making surgery unnecessary. If the bladder is blocked it's serious. Be guided by your vet, and good luck x
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Thanks for your reply. She is around 3 years old.
The vet said she couldnt feel any but doesnt mean she doesn't have any. I wasnt aware of the flushing them out.
 
Hello. My boy Percy went in this morning to have a stone removed. ☹️

I hope your girl doesn’t have any stones and she makes a quick recovery 🤞
 
Oh no I’m so very sorry to hear that. You did all you could for her. Sometimes the call to the rainbow bridge is too strong. Take care ❤️
 
Oh poor Cleo, I'm so sorry to hear that. My vet was actually telling us today that if the kidneys get involved in bladder blockage there isn't much that can be done. Do they know what happened? We'll be praying for her, you and any remaining piggies you might have x
 
Free Ranger said:
Oh poor Cleo, I'm so sorry to hear that. My vet was actually telling us today that if the kidneys get involved in bladder blockage there isn't much that can be done. Do they know what happened? We'll be praying for her, you and any remaining piggies you might have x
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Thank You. The vet said the stone had moved down to her urethra and had caused a blockage. They tried to flush it back up to remove it but there was swelling starting to appear and think the stone had caused some tears so they said the kindest thing would be to put her to sleep.

She was at the vets on tuesday and they thought it was a UTI and she was doing really well on them until this morning. I keep thinking I wish i would of said then about an x-ray on tuesday and she might still be here but it never crossed my mind she could of had them. X
 
It's a really tricky call to make - I've had pigs that have just had very simple UTIs that have had a short course of antibiotics and recovered. My vet typically don't x-ray unless there are further complications - but they will give the bladder a good feel and see if it's tender for piggy to give them an idea. And then again sometimes a girl can very suddenly pass a stone on her own with no prior warning. The urethra in girls is shorter and slightly wider than the boys but also it's the same width all the way down so a stone that can pass into it should normally be able to pass out again if it's a rounded shape but some of them are all points and corners and can get embedded 😔. I lost a boy straight after a bladder stone surgery (he just couldn't recover from the GA) but even before he went in the vet warned me that the scarring on the bladder wall can trigger more stones to form in some pigs. It really is a minefield. I've got a girl at the minute that has gritty pee more or less constantly and I just know she's a little fat timebomb but I can't really do much more than keep her flushing through with low calcium water (filtered or bottled) and trying to limit her pellets.

I'm so sorry you lost Cleo, but at least she is without pain now and at peace x
 
It's OK - after 10 years of piggies (and they're all adults when they get here) I know as soon as I fall in love again that there's going to be something one day. But we remember the 'happy todays' and there were plenty of those 💕
 
My piggy Eric had surgery to remove a stone that had passed into his urethra too. He passed away the next morning 😢
We try our best for our babies but that's all we can do!
So sorry you've lost your girl; I know how you feel. Seems to be a common issue with piggies.
RIP Cleo 🌈❤️
And good luck to Percy @weepweeps 🤞
 
Wheekallweek said:
My piggy Eric had surgery to remove a stone that had passed into his urethra too. He passed away the next morning 😢
We try our best for our babies but that's all we can do!
So sorry you've lost your girl; I know how you feel. Seems to be a common issue with piggies.
RIP Cleo 🌈❤️
And good luck to Percy @weepweeps 🤞
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I'm so sorry to hear.
Cleo was such a little character and its not been the same without her. Once I get get her ashes back I always feel a bit better that she's home where she belongs.
 
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