My George had a blocked bladder at one point. His first stone formed in his penis - actually at the end beneath the foreskin and it blocked him. I just picked him up one night for his usual unbunging and there was a big domed bulge in his lower tum like he'd swallowed a conker! It was very obvious... I freaked out a bit but half an hour later he must have managed to pee out and the bulge had gone down again. There was a lump in the penis as big as a bean. Next day the vet squeezed it out with a bit of lube. If Squeak is running about and eating normally don't worry too much. Blockage is something we have to watch out for, but most piggies with stones don't block up. I've had a few other stone piggies and none of them ever got blocked. My friend has had 4 boys and none have ever had a blockage. What you tend to hear more about on here is a boar grunting and squeaking as he pees out thick sludgy pee.
Cisapride is gut stimulant. It's useful if his appetite is affected and he's losing weight or if he gets bloated for some reason (like avoiding hay and overdoing the veggies). I've never seen it given for anything else. Maybe it was given as a just-in-case? If he's eating normally, pooping normally, and maintaining weight I'm not sure why he'd need it.
Citrate (i.e. potassium citrate) is prescribed sometimes when stones are present or after a stone surgery. It's a really tricky one as I'm not sure the results of using this are clear cut in pigs. But I don't think there's any harm in it as it's prescribed a lot by vets. As far as I can understand the idea is that calcium will bind to the citrate rather than binding to things like oxalate which can cause calcium oxalate stones. But some stones are 'struvite' (mixed composition, typically associated with infection) and some stones are calcium phosphate. And then of course there are the calcium carbonate stones that plagued George and which people now seem to think make up the majority of piggy stones. It gets prescribed for people with stones too, or other pets. It changes the pH of urine a bit by raising it (making it less acidic and more alkaline).
If you're a person, or maybe a cat, with really acidic urine (pH5.5 or less) you might form a uric acid stone and taking potassium citrate for a few weeks can raise the urine pH enough to dissolve these. But people and cat pee varies a lot in pH because we eat all different things - meaty and dairy things. Pigs just eat vegetation and their pee is typically pH8 - 9 so I'm not sure they could actually form a uric stone if they tried. Any UTI raises rather than lowers that pH too. And although I've only been on here a couple of years the forum has been running over 10 years and if someone had successfully dissolved a piggy stone in that time you can bet your socks it'd be all over the country by now! George tried a lot of cranberry juice (very acidic, pH 2.5) which he luckily liked and his issues meant he was super-thirsty so he slurped down plenty but it didn't alter his urine pH one jot. He also tried an American product called Sherwood urinary tablets (or something) which outrageously claimed to dissolve stones and was also based on cranberry - no effect on his stones or the pH so don't waste your money. The body is a very good 'buffer' and will adjust it's biochemistry to try and keep everything the same, whatever we shovel into it. That's why people consuming lemon juice (pH 2 because of the citric acid in this citrus fruit) get
raised urine pH instead of lowered as the body adapts to what we put into it. But perhaps your vet was talking more along the lines of Pot Cit keeping crystal formation to a minimum to allow Squeak a bit of time to try and pee out whatever is blocking his tube (if it was his urethra). I hope very much it was just an accumulation of crystals or sludge rather than a sold stone as he may be able to flush that through.
Right - a bit more science so if you don't like science-y stuff just move to the last sentence of this paragraph
.There was a paper in 2015 that looked at the effect of Pot. Citrate in rats that had been bred to be genetically really prone to forming stones (my sympathies for the rats involved). They fed only half the group a diet with potassium citrate, tested all their pee up till 18 weeks, and then checked them for stones. It concluded, "the effect of potassium citrate on urine calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate supersaturation and stone formation is complex and difficult to predict" because there
were chemical differences in the urine
but "Both groups had similar numbers of exclusively calcium phosphate stones." The actual summary - the bottom line conclusion - was "Potassium citrate induces complex changes in urine chemistries and resultant supersaturation, which may not be beneficial in preventing calcium phosphate stone formation." Which once you've re-read it a few times basically says there's no clear answer one way or the other.
What a massive post, I'm sorry. Lots of speculation with no clear answers which, I'm afraid, pretty much sums up what is known about piggy stones. You treat your boy so tenderly when he's unwell but remember to enjoy your boys while they're cheerful. There's still a lot of happiness in his furry life x
I'm ringing the vet branch thats closest to me on Monday to speak to another vet at the practice. Squeaks notes will be online for them to see. I feel so distressed, heartbroken.
he is always eating. Mainly hay of course.