lucifermp3
Junior Guinea Pig
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):
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):