Hi there,
Sorry for the long post, but we’d really appreciate any advice, stories, anyone can give.
Our boy is about 4-5 years old (he was a rescue so unsure exactly), and about 3 weeks ago developed signs of bladder stones. He’s seen the vet twice, been given pain relief, anti inflammatories, gut motility and antibiotics. Originally the vet didn’t see a point in x-raying, as it was obviously bladder stones and it was paying a lot of money just to confirm what was already known; so we have been continuing with the meds and monitoring him, changed his diet to low calcium etc. He has started losing a bit of weight despite not being off his food, but seems relatively happy other than being in pain when urinating/pooing.
We took him to have a check up today, and saw a different vet (who had seen him previously), who decided to X-ray to understand if it was just cystitis or a stone at this point.
The X-rays showed one large stone, and 3 smaller pieces/stones in his bladder - her recommendation was euthanasia. We are aware of the risks of surgery with guinea pigs (having lost one prior following surgery), and the vet explained the low success rates and likelihood of recurrence of stones, but euthanising him there and then so quickly just wasn’t what we wanted. So we’ve brought him home, with an appointment on Monday to make the decision.
However, we’d love to know people’s experiences of having the surgery done; whether it was successful, if stones recurred, the cost, or even if euthanasia was the best option in their situation. We’ve seen quite a few stories online saying that they have had success, and after hearing the unsuccesful stories from the vet, are thinking maybe we should be seeing some better for this.
We don’t want to lose our boy, as he’s only been with us just over a year and deserves the best life having had a rough start and being mistreated.
Thank you for reading and any advice/comments x
Sorry for the long post, but we’d really appreciate any advice, stories, anyone can give.
Our boy is about 4-5 years old (he was a rescue so unsure exactly), and about 3 weeks ago developed signs of bladder stones. He’s seen the vet twice, been given pain relief, anti inflammatories, gut motility and antibiotics. Originally the vet didn’t see a point in x-raying, as it was obviously bladder stones and it was paying a lot of money just to confirm what was already known; so we have been continuing with the meds and monitoring him, changed his diet to low calcium etc. He has started losing a bit of weight despite not being off his food, but seems relatively happy other than being in pain when urinating/pooing.
We took him to have a check up today, and saw a different vet (who had seen him previously), who decided to X-ray to understand if it was just cystitis or a stone at this point.
The X-rays showed one large stone, and 3 smaller pieces/stones in his bladder - her recommendation was euthanasia. We are aware of the risks of surgery with guinea pigs (having lost one prior following surgery), and the vet explained the low success rates and likelihood of recurrence of stones, but euthanising him there and then so quickly just wasn’t what we wanted. So we’ve brought him home, with an appointment on Monday to make the decision.
However, we’d love to know people’s experiences of having the surgery done; whether it was successful, if stones recurred, the cost, or even if euthanasia was the best option in their situation. We’ve seen quite a few stories online saying that they have had success, and after hearing the unsuccesful stories from the vet, are thinking maybe we should be seeing some better for this.
We don’t want to lose our boy, as he’s only been with us just over a year and deserves the best life having had a rough start and being mistreated.
Thank you for reading and any advice/comments x
I don’t have any experience of stones but there are plenty of members on here who have success stories of bladder stone surgery and the stones haven’t reoccurred. Sorry, I can’t think of them off the top of my head. Are the stones in the bladder, urethra (the tube running from the bladder to the penis) or the ureter (there’s two and they run from each kidney to the bladder) and having stones there I’m afraid isn’t good as surgery is a lot trickier
