Bladder stone surgery recovery? 🐹

[NikolT]

Hi, I wanted to ask if anybody has experience with recovery from a bladder stone surgery? My boy Garry had 2 little stones and an infection. The surgery was 10 days ago. He is still on antibiotics (Enrobactin) and some pain meds (loxicom) but he still squeaks a lot from pain when defecating...

There is no blood in his pee anymore and otherwise he acts like a healthy pig, runnig, popcorning and eating normally. But he is clearly still in pain when peeing and especially passing poop and I'm really worried..

I was on a checkup at the vet yesterday and they told me to wait a few more days. The poop looks completely normal, he had a lot of tests and xrays done and everything looks fine. The wound from the surgery also looks ok and its healing like it should. And I dont know how but Garry pooped when the vet was inspecting him and there wasnt a single squeak?! I'm just really confused.

So is it normal for him to still be in pain after the surgery or is something wrong? Is it possible that the antibiotics dont work? When should I expect it to get better?
Thanks in andvance

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I wanted to ask if anybody has experience with recovery from a bladder stone surgery? My boy Garry had 2 little stones and an infection. The surgery was 10 days ago. He is still on antibiotics (Enrobactin) and some pain meds (loxicom) but he still squeaks a lot from pain when defecating...

There is no blood in his pee anymore and otherwise he acts like a healthy pig, runnig, popcorning and eating normally. But he is clearly still in pain when peeing and especially passing poop and I'm really worried..

I was on a checkup at the vet yesterday and they told me to wait a few more days. The poop looks completely normal, he had a lot of tests and xrays done and everything looks fine. The wound from the surgery also looks ok and its healing like it should. And I dont know how but Garry pooped when the vet was inspecting him and there wasnt a single squeak?! I'm just really confused.

So is it normal for him to still be in pain after the surgery or is something wrong? Is it possible that the antibiotics dont work? When should I expect it to get better?
Thanks in andvance ❤

Hi and welcome!

If there is no sign of stones in the kidneys, ureters or urethra, then the squeaking is most likely down to an infection or bladder trauma.

Please continue with the antibiotics (what you have been given is baytril) and the painkiller (better known as metcam). What dosages is your boy in and have you been prescribed dog or cat loxicom and what weight is he currently? General vets can have a tendency to prescribe too low dosages because they scales down from cats but do not take the much faster metabolism of guinea pigs and the much better tolerance of metacam into account.
PS: Both forms of metacam can be used for guinea pigs; the dog is three times stronger but it is unfortunately the cat metacam, which has been licensed for small rodents.

I would also strongly recommend to start giving glucosamine. This is not a medication but classed as a food supplement. The walls of the urinary tract are coated with a layer of glucosamine which prevents the very corrosive urine coming into contact with raw tissue. This can be scratched and the tissue very irritated as a result of a stone. Because glucosamine is not a medication, many vets won't prescribe it.
The easiest form to give is a glucosamine based cat bladder food supplement (they are the other species prone to urinary tract problems) as dosage is easiest. The UK brand is Feliway cystease capsules. Mix the contents of 1 capsule with 2 ml of water, shake and wait until the powder has been fully absorbed. Shake again before use and either syringe the 2 ml every 24 hours or 1 ml of the mixture twice daily. In other countries you have to google for comparable products but you should be able to find something as this is a very common problem in cats.
Please note that glucosamine takes some time to build up again; it is not a quick fix but it will help most in the medium to longer term; especially if the infection turns out to be sterile (i.e. resistent to antibiotics).

The other long term area you want to address is diet. Most owners are not aware that most of the calcium in the diet is actually coming with unfiltered water and with overfeeding on pellets. Even no added calcium pellets still contain more calcium weight per weight than kale, the veg highest in calcium. You want to reduce the pellets to no more than 1 tablespoon per piggy per day. Don't worry about vitamin C - your piggy will eat more hay or fresh grass instead, which also contains vitamin C and which is the reason why they never had the need to make their own in the first place as they have evolved on it. With veg, keep the diet leafy green with herbs for trace elements/forage and add high fluid veg like cucumber to help encourage larger pees to flush the bladder if your piggy is not a good drinker (many stone piggies aren't).
More detailed information can be found in the special diets chapter on guinea pigs with urinary tract problems of our comprehensive food guide here: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Again - diet is not a quick fix as it takes several weeks for the calcium absorption process to work and the benefits to comes through but it is vital to prevent the reoccurrance of stones in the long term.

PS: Could you please add your country Czechia to location in your account details (acessed via your username on the top bar) to help those members whose geography is not quite as good. We have members and enquiries from literally all over the world; the forum itself is based in the UK. This allows anybody with just a quick look to the left of your post to tailor any advice accordingly, saving both sides time.

 

[NikolT]

Hi and welcome!

If there is no sign of stones in the kidneys, ureters or urethra, then the squeaking is most likely down to an infection or bladder trauma.

Please continue with the antibiotics (what you have been given is baytril) and the painkiller (better known as metcam). What dosages is your boy in and have you been prescribed dog or cat loxicom and what weight is he currently? General vets can have a tendency to prescribe too low dosages because they scales down from cats but do not take the much faster metabolism of guinea pigs and the much better tolerance of metacam into account.
PS: Both forms of metacam can be used for guinea pigs; the dog is three times stronger but it is unfortunately the cat metacam, which has been licensed for small rodents.

I would also strongly recommend to start giving glucosamine. This is not a medication but classed as a food supplement. The walls of the urinary tract are coated with a layer of glucosamine which prevents the very corrosive urine coming into contact with raw tissue. This can be scratched and the tissue very irritated as a result of a stone. Because glucosamine is not a medication, many vets won't prescribe it.
The easiest form to give is a glucosamine based cat bladder food supplement (they are the other species prone to urinary tract problems) as dosage is easiest. The UK brand is Feliway cystease capsules. Mix the contents of 1 capsule with 2 ml of water, shake and wait until the powder has been fully absorbed. Shake again before use and either syringe the 2 ml every 24 hours or 1 ml of the mixture twice daily. In other countries you have to google for comparable products but you should be able to find something as this is a very common problem in cats.
Please note that glucosamine takes some time to build up again; it is not a quick fix but it will help most in the medium to longer term; especially if the infection turns out to be sterile (i.e. resistent to antibiotics).

The other long term area you want to address is diet. Most owners are not aware that most of the calcium in the diet is actually coming with unfiltered water and with overfeeding on pellets. Even no added calcium pellets still contain more calcium weight per weight than kale, the veg highest in calcium. You want to reduce the pellets to no more than 1 tablespoon per piggy per day. Don't worry about vitamin C - your piggy will eat more hay or fresh grass instead, which also contains vitamin C and which is the reason why they never had the need to make their own in the first place as they have evolved on it. With veg, keep the diet leafy green with herbs for trace elements/forage and add high fluid veg like cucumber to help encourage larger pees to flush the bladder if your piggy is not a good drinker (many stone piggies aren't).
More detailed information can be found in the special diets chapter on guinea pigs with urinary tract problems of our comprehensive food guide here: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Again - diet is not a quick fix as it takes several weeks for the calcium absorption process to work and the benefits to comes through but it is vital to prevent the reoccurrance of stones in the long term.

PS: Could you please add your country Czechia to location in your account details (acessed via your username on the top bar) to help those members whose geography is not quite as good. We have members and enquiries from literally all over the world; the forum itself is based in the UK. This allows anybody with just a quick look to the left of your post to tailor any advice accordingly, saving both sides time.

Hello, thank you for your time I really appreciate the reply!
The dosage of Enrobactin (25mg/ml) is 0,25ml two times a day and for Loxicom (its the one for cats) 0,5ml once a day. I will definitely look into glucosamine supplement and consult it with the vet to be sure I get the right thing. Hopefully it will help him in combination with the right diet. We never really fed him any vegetables high in calcium but reducing his pellets intake and the filtered water is a great tip. And yes he really isnt a great drinker so I'm glad that atleast he loves the cucumber

PS: I added Czechia to my location

 

[Wiebke]

Hello, thank you for your time I really appreciate the reply!
The dosage of Enrobactin (25mg/ml) is 0,25ml two times a day and for Loxicom (its the one for cats) 0,5ml once a day. I will definitely look into glucosamine supplement and consult it with the vet to be sure I get the right thing. Hopefully it will help him in combination with the right diet. We never really fed him any vegetables high in calcium but reducing his pellets intake and the filtered water is a great tip. And yes he really isnt a great drinker so I'm glad that atleast he loves the cucumber

PS: I added Czechia to my location

The dosages are rather low for a ca. 1 kg piggy. How heavy is he?

 

[NikolT]

He is 1200 grams.

 

[NikolT]

He is 1200 grams

The dosages are rather low for a ca. 1 kg piggy. How heavy is he?

He is 1200 grams.

 

[Wiebke]

He is 1200 grams.

That is a very good weight but medication dosages are low compared to what an exotics vet in the UK would prescribe.
Like 0.45 - 0.5 ml of enrobactin (baytril) twice daily for a piggy of that weight and up to 1.2 ml of cat metacam (0.4 ml dog metacam) twice daily for a guinea pig in major pain.
If you can give the prescribed cat metacam dosage twice daily instead of just once that may help with the faster metabolism because it is metabolised within about 10-12 hours and you still have to go through half day when in pain.

Try the glucosamine and see how that helps with the general comfort and healing. It usually makes quite a difference but is not instant.