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Bladder stones

Zinnypig

Zinnypig

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Does anyone know how quickly bladder stones form?

Our piggy had an x-ray at the end of May and there were no signs of stones.

One vet said stones won't grow that quickly as he had an x-ray at the end of May.

The second vet said stones can grow very quickly from the date he had his first x-ray.

Anyone know if any of those statements are true?

How quickly can stones form if there was no sign in the original x-ray?
 
Zinnypig said:
Does anyone know how quickly bladder stones form?

Our piggy had an x-ray at the end of May and there were no signs of stones.

One vet said stones won't grow that quickly as he had an x-ray at the end of May.

The second vet said stones can grow very quickly from the date he had his first x-ray.

Anyone know if any of those statements are true?

How quickly can stones form if there was no sign in the original x-ray?
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Stones will not always show up on an X-ray sometimes an ultrasound can come in handy also to prove or disprove the images that the Xray shows. I don’t really know an exact time frame on the development of stones but they can certainly form or at least make their presence known rather quickly.

I had a case only recently where the piggy was fine and then a massive stone was present the next day.
 
Stones can develop extremely quickly unfortunately. I know of someone whose piggy developed another stone just 2 weeks after surgery to remove one :(
 
My little Nug had an operation to remove one a fortnight ago and unfortunately another visit to the vets today has confirmed he now has more smaller ones. Very upsetting.
 
Barryj1701 said:
My little Nug had an operation to remove one a fortnight ago and unfortunately another visit to the vets today has confirmed he now has more smaller ones. Very upsetting.
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I am very sorry to hear this. How is Nug feeling?
What will you do? Hope they will pass?

It's not nice at all. Was nug eating as normal when you found out about the stone? What were the signs that your piggy gave?
 
I've heard from my vet that they can form very quickly and last year when Gremlin had his removed, she told of us of two of her recent bladder stone piggies had another one within a few weeks.
 
daveclark79 said:
I've heard from my vet that they can form very quickly and last year when Gremlin had his removed, she told of us of two of her recent bladder stone piggies had another one within a few weeks.
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It's unbelievable how quickly they can form and come back!
May I ask what signs do you see before you found out Gremlin had stones?
How has Gremlin been since then?
 
Zinnypig said:
It's unbelievable how quickly they can form and come back!
May I ask what signs do you see before you found out Gremlin had stones?
How has Gremlin been since then?
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It started with him hunching and giving a little whimper when he was peeing, first x-rays over the course of the next few months did not show anything so we carried on. Occasionally he would whimper when peeing, our vet kept examining him and found he had a thickened bladder wall, another x-ray showed nothing so we started on cystease. Another few months later and the whimpering was louder and happened more often. He started to drink 300ml or more in a day. There was noticeable blood drops in his urine and he would leave thick white sludge sometimes. Suddenly he went off his food, he would still eat veggies but hay and pellets were not touched at all. I had to step in with syringe feeding and He lost about 150g in a week while we waited for our vet to come back off holidays. He was straight in the day she came back and the x-ray showed a stone about the size of a garden pea. Operation done and he made a full recovery. That was nearly a year ago and there's been no problems since..... Thankfully.
 
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daveclark79 said:
It started with him hunching and giving a little whimper when he was peeing, first x-rays over the course of the next few months did not show anything so we carried on. Occasionally he would whimper when peeing, our vet kept examining him and found he had a thickened bladder wall, another x-ray showed nothing so we started on cystease. Another few months later and the whimpering was louder and happened more often. He started to drink 300ml or more in a day. There was noticeable blood drops in his urine and he would leave thick white sludge sometimes. Suddenly he went off his food, he would still eat veggies but hay and pellets were not touched at all. I had to step in with syringe feeding and He lost about 150g in a week while we waited for our vet to come back off holidays. He was straight in the day she came back and the x-ray showed a stone about the size of a garden pea. Operation done and he made a full recovery. That was nearly a year ago and there's been no problems since..... Thankfully.
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I'm glad he's doing well, thank you for the detailed explanation. It's very helpful.

How many x-rays did you end up having?

What's Gremlins diet like in terms of veggies? Would you say that this all happened with six months? Sorry for the questions i just want to work out and look out for our piggy so we know how to go about things.

Where did Gremlin have the operation?
 
Zinnypig said:
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I'm glad he's doing well, thank you for the detailed explanation. It's very helpful.

How many x-rays did you end up having?

What's Gremlins diet like in terms of veggies? Would you say that this all happened with six months? Sorry for the questions i just want to work out and look out for our piggy so we know how to go about things.

Where did Gremlin have the operation?
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3 x-rays in total, my vet thought that the stone could have been missed because it could have been concealed behind a bone but it's also possible that there was no stone until a few weeks before the final x-ray. The veggies he gets now are all low calcium, such as pepper, coriander and celery with grain free pellets and filtered water. From start to finish it was over nearly a year. An excellent cavvy savvy vet called Judith Brown did the operation at firstvets in Newcastle.
 
Zinnypig said:
I am very sorry to hear this. How is Nug feeling?
What will you do? Hope they will pass?

It's not nice at all. Was nug eating as normal when you found out about the stone? What were the signs that your piggy gave?
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Thank you for your kind words. I only noticed when he started crying in the corner of the cage where he goes to the toilet. Other than that he was his normal happy popcorning self. Since hes had the operation he's been way of colour,nothing like his former self. It breaks my heart seeing him in such pain. Unfortunately my local vet hasn't got he expertise to carry on treating him. He's had his medical file passed on to an exotic vet,so waiting for them to get in touch.
 
Barryj1701 said:
Thank you for your kind words. I only noticed when he started crying in the corner of the cage where he goes to the toilet. Other than that he was his normal happy popcorning self. Since hes had the operation he's been way of colour,nothing like his former self. It breaks my heart seeing him in such pain. Unfortunately my local vet hasn't got he expertise to carry on treating him. He's had his medical file passed on to an exotic vet,so waiting for them to get in touch.
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That's good you're being transferred to an exotic vet. We recently got transferred to an exotic and they are so knowlegable it's so comforting. Is he still on metacam?
Does the rustle of veggies make him excited?
Yes I totally understand how you feel when you see them in pain. You just want them to speak and tell us what's happening.

I'm sure he will be ok, we've noticed that zinny has active days and lazy days ( that's when we think he's in pain the most).

How old is your PIGGY? When he was pooping was there always pain or just sometimes? My husband and I just can't understand why sometimes he poops with pain and other times no pain.
 
He's on metacam and in the middle of his antibiotics. Like Zinny he has his good days and bad days. Nug is around 13 months old. When he's pooping he sometimes cries but i only think he does it because he's trying to pee at the same time. Peeing definitely causes him the most pain. And he still gets excited when hes hears the rustle of veggies. It always brings a smile to my face.
 
I’ve had a few with bladder stones. All got stones again very quickly after removal.

If they are susceptible I have a really strict regime on diet, filtered water and grain free nuggets. If I have any susceptible to this and cystitis (they often seem to be linked) then they also get cystease daily and syringed with water mixed with cystease twice a day (about 8ml each time). So far this regime has been very successful.

The only Guinea which did not cope with the syringing, it stressed her so much that it ruined her quality of life sadly then passed away through recurrence of stones. This sort of highlighted to me how important this is. Using this regime for prevention seems to be very effective this way. I always regret I didn’t try harder with her to get her used to drinking from the syringe but she was a very anxious Guinea.

My last girl had Cartrophen injections, she had regular cystitis and an inflamed bladder and this cured her completely. But I still maintained the Cystease and most love it and the extra attention! Plus they get a very glossy coat!

Just my experience but it’s worked for me over the years.
 
Guinea Slave said:
I’ve had a few with bladder stones. All got stones again very quickly after removal.

If they are susceptible I have a really strict regime on diet, filtered water and grain free nuggets. If I have any susceptible to this and cystitis (they often seem to be linked) then they also get cystease daily and syringed with water mixed with cystease twice a day (about 8ml each time). So far this regime has been very successful.

The only Guinea which did not cope with the syringing, it stressed her so much that it ruined her quality of life sadly then passed away through recurrence of stones. This sort of highlighted to me how important this is. Using this regime for prevention seems to be very effective this way. I always regret I didn’t try harder with her to get her used to drinking from the syringe but she was a very anxious Guinea.

My last girl had Cartrophen injections, she had regular cystitis and an inflamed bladder and this cured her completely. But I still maintained the Cystease and most love it and the extra attention! Plus they get a very glossy coat!

Just my experience but it’s worked for me over the years.
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Thank you for the advice. Hopefully the exotic vet can sort out his issues and then I can put him on a strict diet.. Fingers crossed.
 
Might be obvious but the higher the piggys squeak if pooping or urinating does it mean they are in alot of pain?

If the sound of the pain quietens are we making progress?

Just wanted to identify the level of pain a piggy is suffering?

Thank you!
 
Zinnypig said:
Might be obvious but the higher the piggys squeak if pooping or urinating does it mean they are in alot of pain?

If the sound of the pain quietens are we making progress?

Just wanted to identify the level of pain a piggy is suffering?

Thank you!
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Hi!

Generally the more often and louder a piggy screams or grunts, the more it is in pain with a urinary tract problem.

I would be very grateful if you please kept any questions to an ongoing case to one support thread and didn't start a new thread every time.
 
Guinea Slave said:
Good luck and let us know how you get on😀
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Unfortunately little Nug has a further 4 smaller stones in his bladder. The only bit of good news is that the vet thinks that he should be able to pass them himself(fingers crossed). They've given him Potassium citrate, Cystaid plus caps more antibotics and metacam. Plus i have to make sure he's well hydrated. (Easier said then done!
 
Barryj1701 said:
Unfortunately little Nug has a further 4 smaller stones in his bladder. The only bit of good news is that the vet thinks that he should be able to pass them himself(fingers crossed). They've given him Potassium citrate, Cystaid plus caps more antibotics and metacam. Plus i have to make sure he's well hydrated. (Easier said then done!
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Oh poor little thing.

One of my most amazing guinea pigs (Thelma) who I learnt so much from, had some truly awful bladderstones (they were barbed and had lodged in her bladderwall, the vet had to use optical instruments to remove them it was awful and in her words a hatchet job!) she had the major op to remove them (was under for over two hours). She recovered and then 2 weeks later had the smaller stones you describe. This is where I first started syringing water into her with cystease (cystaid is similar) and she passed them all and they never returned. She lived another 3 years bladderstone free, so it can be done!

It maybe controversial BUT she also had heart disease (she was a walking vet bill). But because of her heart she was on a diuretic (Frusol) the upside of this is that it made her drink more and my vet and i were also convinced this helped her. It can put a slight strain on the kidneys but she lived a long life on tis regime for the 3 years she was on the extra fluid and finally a tumour in her tummy got her not her kidneys which were fine.

Its a learning experience unfortunately and as they are all so different the prognosis can vary so much, but I honestly think the additional liquid syringing is key.

Oh and with her we used to warm the water (she didnt like it cold!) and add a little tomato or V8 juice, she loved it! Others have preferred it cold and plain and I had another who liked it with a touch of Ribena..go figure!

(Blimey we spoil them dont we!)
 
That's the best piece of news I've heard for a while. I'm praying that he will be able to pass them himself. The good thing is that he likes he is water warm and plain. Now the critical care is another matter! Thanks for given me a glimmer of hope on what has been a difficult few weeks.x
 
I'm sorry for you both. They can develop very quickly. I had a piggy go through a very complex and expensive surgery where he stayed at the vets for several days to receive round the clock care. He improved quickly but two weeks later went downhill again. The vet said the kidney the other side was enlarged and it was either another stone, damage to the kidneys or the tiny outside chance that it was an infection. It was heartbreaking but agreed that he wouldn't make it through another big surgery so soon so we had to let him go
 
That's my biggest fear. Really don't want him to go through the trauma of another operation. But he's so full of life and such a happy piggy when he's not in pain. It would be heartbreaking to go down that path.
 
Can I please ask, if our piggys suffer from stones/ sludge and crystals is the pain and urinating of blood continuous? Yesterday we had spots of blood, and today nothing.
 
Zinnypig said:
Can I please ask, if our piggys suffer from stones/ sludge and crystals is the pain and urinating of blood continuous? Yesterday we had spots of blood, and today nothing.
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When I had a piggy with stones there wasn't always visible blood in his urine. He wasn't showing obvious signs of pain when weeing either though he must have been in pain as the stone almost blocked his tube and he lost a considerable amount of weight
 
Lady Kelly said:
When I had a piggy with stones there wasn't always visible blood in his urine. He wasn't showing obvious signs of pain when weeing either though he must have been in pain as the stone almost blocked his tube and he lost a considerable amount of weight
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Did he lose weight in a couple of days or over time? What did you end up doing? Removing the stone?
 
Zinnypig said:
Did he lose weight in a couple of days or over time? What did you end up doing? Removing the stone?
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He lost weight fairly quickly. He went into the vets for a couple of days to syringe feed round the clock and then had surgery to remove it and had to stay in for a few days to carry on providing round the clock syringe feed
 
Lady Kelly said:
He lost weight fairly quickly. He went into the vets for a couple of days to syringe feed round the clock and then had surgery to remove it and had to stay in for a few days to carry on providing round the clock syringe feed
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I'm guessing the operation went well?
We haven't been diagnosed with a bladder stone bit after a month of antibiotics, three different vets we're certain that's what we will be dealing with.
 
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