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Bladder stone… again 😢

lucifermp3

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
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Hi all! It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted. Hope everyone is well.

My sweet Cyrus is tentatively booked in for a cystotomy next Monday (pending lab results) & I’m feeling fairly anxious about it all. He had a stone removed almost 5 years ago (when he was approx. 1.5-2 years old), and since has only had occasional flares of sludge. We had wonderful control of everything until about a month ago, and it truthfully came out of nowhere as he’s on a strict diet/medication regimen & we filter our hard water.

Thankfully, he does not seem to be in pain at the dose of meloxicam he’s on (1mg/kg of the 1.5 mg/ml strength). He’s gained weight recently and is not ever squealing in pain or crouching/straining to urinate (as he’s done in the past when his sludge has been bad). We’ve also barely seen any blood in his urine in the past week. The plan is that as long as his labs look good, we will proceed with the surgery.

Cyrus is (an estimated) 6.5-7 years old, my other pig Trevor is 5 years old, and they love each other more than any pair of boars I’ve ever had in my 20 years of pig ownership. The idea of Cyrus dying during the procedure or recovery process is enough to bring me to tears as I write this, in part because I don’t know how Trevor will cope. He was so poorly after his brother died when they were around 2 years old. What complicates things is the fact that my partner & I have had to make the difficult choice that Trevor and Cyrus will be our last pigs for a little while due to financial concerns (thanks, cost of living crisis), so we won’t be getting Trevor a new friend if something happens to Cyrus. I’m planning to speak to a friend about her taking him to live in an adjoining cage to her herd of females in the event that anything goes wrong.

I’m not looking for advice on changing medications or anything like that as I’m a vet nurse myself, just for some support. I’m really beginning to second guess my choice to put him through this since he’s so old and also seems to be very comfortable/doing clinically well at this point. (Also— I know that the stone could theoretically become an emergency at any time in case of an obstruction). Has anyone had pigs that have had stones that you didn’t operate on? I know all to well from my work that only the pet’s owner can make the decision on what to do, but any input would be much, much appreciated.

Here are some photos of my darling boys for your enjoyment (including a sweet moment I captured on the PigCam of Cyrus grooming Trev):
 

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Hey, sorry to hear this. Sometimes no matter what we do we cannot prevent things like this from happening. it is a tough decision to make, the issue with stones is if they block it is a medical emergency and if this happened in the night say while you are asleep then 6 hours later you found out it would be awful for the poor piggy. There are always risks with surgery and we have to weigh up the pro's and cons, I have had elderly piggies make it through ops and others not. All we can ever do is put their welfare at the heart of any decision we make

Sending your gorgeous piggy lots of love and a big hug to you
 
Hi there what an emotional time this must be for you they are both clearly adored by eachother and yourself. It sounds like you have thought through the worst case scenario and that if Cyrus leaves for the Rainbow Bridge Trevor will be well cared for, it comes down to the decision of what is the greater risk physically for Cyrus and emotionally for all of you in your profession you probably have a better insight than we do. Any decision will clearly be made with love, as frightening as the prospect of surgery is you need to ask is that better than an emergency rush? If you go ahead with the planned operation you can cherish the time up until then just in case the worse happens and all being well he will be fine. However as you say your mind then thinks well if the worst happens during surgery or recovery he might have been with us for months/years still? It's a terrible decision to make but no matter what remember all the love you have given them each day and that is what counts to your boys. We are all here for you and will keep you in our prayers and thoughts throughout 💗🙏
 
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