Bladder Stones Op

[Rachel1234510]

Hello

We have a 5yr old sow who's presenting with classic bladder stone symptoms. In pain, hunching and considerable amount of blood in urine. She's up and about and eating.

We unfortunately lost a pig a couple of years ago (she was 3 and this piggys sister) due to her not recovering from an op to remove bladder stones, I nursed her for 2 days then she passed which was so traumatic .
I don't know what to do should I be correct about her diagnosis. Would be good to hear from any of you who've been through the bladder stones op with a pig. I'd hate to out her through an op only for her to pass away however I of course want to do whatever we can to get her better and prolong her life!

So I guess my question to you all is
Is the op usually something most pigs recover well from?

 

[piggieminder]

I've had 2 boars operated on for bladder stones, both recovered well. 1 was PTS 3 months later due to more stones in the kidney which were inoperable and 1 lived another year and died from an unrelated condition.
Your concerns are best talked over with your vet who will do an xray or scan to see where any stone is and how complicated the operation would be.

 

[weepweeps]

I lost a piggy 4 days after stone surgery last year. He was only 2.5 and really healthy. So it was a shock. I heard so many stories of good outcomes I wasn’t prepared for him not surviving.

Hopefully it’s just a UTI and your piggy won’t need surgery .

 

[Matt+emily+]

Rachels other half ere. We're still none the wiser after a vet visit and xray. The vet wasn't confident in his answers whatsoever and wasn't sure of the location or amount of stones. He was confident there was stones present though and said there could be a big one that didn't show up in the xray. I know people can't diagnose etc here but your views on the xray from your own experiences would be appreciated cause I don't see much

 

[Gem789]

Rachels other half ere. We're still none the wiser after a vet visit and xray. The vet wasn't confident in his answers whatsoever and wasn't sure of the location or amount of stones. He was confident there was stones present though and said there could be a big one that didn't show up in the xray. I know people can't diagnose etc here but your views on the xray from your own experiences would be appreciated cause I don't see much

I'm no expert but just bumping your thread up so hopefully one of the experts see it.So sorry if it is stones,I'm actually on the way to the vets to pick up an 8 year old piggie of mine who's had a bladder stone removed.

 

[weepweeps]

This was Percy’s scan pictures. As you can see his stone was very visible. I’d get a second opinion if you are not comfortable with your vets diagnosis. How do they know there are stones if they can’t see any?

Did your vet say that is a stone by the leg joint?

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Hi, there looks to be a stone you can see behind the knee joint but unfortunately because the legs are in a forward position it is possible there could be stones that are obscured by the bones. For best results the legs should be positioned back, so they don't overlap the body. Vets often also like to a view from above as well as from the side to help locate the position of any stones but obviously the spine can sometimes obscure these views.
If you feel your vet wasn't overly confident it might be a good idea to get a second opinion from a vet more experienced in guinea pig bladder issues.
We have a list of vets recommended by forum members, I am having trouble linking it but if you click on forums you will see it.

 

[Gem789]

Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

Here is our recommended vet list.

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

Here is our recommended vet list.

Thank you

 

[Wiebke]

All the best!

There are clearly a stone or two but it is not quite obvious as to whether they are in the bladder or potentially in the urethra and whether there are more hidden by the bones. If you feel that your vet is not confident with operating on a guinea pig, you can ask for a referral to another vet.

PS: My Teggy was 5 years old when she ended up with a large urethral stone (about as large as can pass) in October 2020 likely as a result of the fresh food shortages at the start of the pandemic and during the first lockdown where most of it was rather higher in calcium that I would have liked. She did make it through despite my vet's concern of urine leaks due to a much more complicated operation than expected and lived another 1 1/2 years to 6 years of age.

 

[Josie_lg]

I would maybe ask for a second opinion or for a vet to do an ultrasound aswell as the x ray. My poppys stones were found via ultrasound. I also requested a CT scan to be done prior to both ops to make sure there wasn’t anything else underlying like an obvious kidney change visible on a CT image. She recovered very well from the first op it was a difficult first few days but she recovered very well. However two months later she developed a hernia at the site of the surgery. It was so small at the time so we monitored. Sadly 9 months after her first stone despite meds and a strict diet she formed a second stone and had to have surgery as it was huge and causing pain. She also had her hernia repaired at the same time. The first few days of recovery were so differant compared to her first op. She was so flat and no interest in food at all she had to be re admitted to the vets for fluids. Eventually after a very difficult few days and nights and constant care she seemed to perk up but sadly suffered a stroke not even a week post op, again she started to pick up after the stroke but we lost her a few days later. I think the surgery was just too much on her little body this time.
Ultimately I couldn’t leave her with a huge stone she needed it removing and she needed the hernia repairing as it was getting bigger by the day. I miss her terribly and will always question the decisions we made for her but I know every choice we made was the right one for us. Some piggies are just prone to stones because of genetics others are because of diet.
Piggies having stones is just heartbreaking. My thoughts are with you. Please don’t beat yourself up sometimes we just can’t prevent it. We were so careful and yet she still formed another stone.

 

[Matt+emily+]

Hi all. Haven't been on for a while. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge. Vet just recommended pain relief and see what happens, she was definitely back to herself after some pain relief but urine output is low now and when pain relief wears off she's shouting whilst peeing . I'll get her back in. In response to a couple replies, the vet said the bit behind the knee joint was part of the knee itself they also said stones can be radiolucent so do not show up on xrays but that's not the case with calcium based stones.

 

[Rachel1234510]

Hi all. Thanks for all your advice. She lost a lot of weight and despite increasing her pain relief she was very clearly still suffering. Due to the weight loss and her age we felt putting her through an op wasn't fair so we made the very difficult descicion to have Emily put to sleep. Absolutely horrible, we loved her very much , crazy how such a little creature can have such a big place in your heart! We're feeling very sad but are now focusing on finding some company for our remaining sow Poppy.... we've decided to re home two more pigs!

Thanks again for all your advice ..... any more relating to bonding a younger pair with our 5 year old Poppy would be very welcome! We've gone through the bonding process before (Poppy came from a rescue 2 years ago) however it's a nerve racking process!

 

[Rachel1234510]

Hi all. Thanks for all your advice. She lost a lot of weight and despite increasing her pain relief she was very clearly still suffering. Due to the weight loss and her age we felt putting her through an op wasn't fair so we made the very difficult descicion to have Emily put to sleep. Absolutely horrible, we loved her very much , crazy how such a little creature can have such a big place in your heart! We're feeling very sad but are now focusing on finding some company for our remaining sow Poppy.... we've decided to re home two more pigs!

Thanks again for all your advice ..... any more relating to bonding a younger pair with our 5 year old Poppy would be very welcome! We've gone through the bonding process before (Poppy came from a rescue 2 years ago) however it's a nerve racking process!

The pig in the picture is our lovely Emily.

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so sorry Emily has left for the rainbow bridge. She was obviously a much loved piggy who have an amazing life with you. Take care.