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Cystitis and Blood Clots

Lauraspigs

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 27, 2019
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Location
Gloucestershire UK
My dear little Saffie had an op this time last year to remove a bladder stone. She had a lot of complications for a couple of months afterwards which in the end was put down to interstitial cystitis.

She’s on the low calcium diet, has Voss bottled water as it’s the lowest in calcium and has a cystophan capsule every day.
On the weekend she started squeaking in pain so we went to the emergency vet at 1am, they scanned her and thought she had a stone 2mm by 7mm her pain was only managed by the buprecare(?) injections and surgery was scheduled for today.

When they did the op there weren’t any stones only blood clots that had hardened enough to resemble stones on the scans. She also had scar tissue and adhesions, her bladder was sticking to her uterus. They have removed the clots and flushed her bladder and taken a biopsy. They think it’s extreme cystitis. She will be staying in for a few days so they can manage her pain etc

Is there anything else I can do to try and prevent this happening again? I know that if reoccurs then there won’t be anything more we can do and she’s only 3 1/2.

Does anyone else have any experience of this happening?
 
My dear little Saffie had an op this time last year to remove a bladder stone. She had a lot of complications for a couple of months afterwards which in the end was put down to interstitial cystitis.

She’s on the low calcium diet, has Voss bottled water as it’s the lowest in calcium and has a cystophan capsule every day.
On the weekend she started squeaking in pain so we went to the emergency vet at 1am, they scanned her and thought she had a stone 2mm by 7mm her pain was only managed by the buprecare(?) injections and surgery was scheduled for today.

When they did the op there weren’t any stones only blood clots that had hardened enough to resemble stones on the scans. She also had scar tissue and adhesions, her bladder was sticking to her uterus. They have removed the clots and flushed her bladder and taken a biopsy. They think it’s extreme cystitis. She will be staying in for a few days so they can manage her pain etc

Is there anything else I can do to try and prevent this happening again? I know that if reoccurs then there won’t be anything more we can do and she’s only 3 1/2.

Does anyone else have any experience of this happening?

HUGS

I am very sorry. It is most definitely not the news any of us ever want to get. :(
Gut adhesion is very painful. I haven't come across a case this extreme on here so I don't have any practical advice.

Please discuss the use of glucosamine based cartrofen injections, which have proven to be effective in more severe cases of cystitis since the urinary tract has a natural glucosamine lining that prevents corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue once your vet has the results back and based on their findings - it may or may not be relevant. I can't say whether it will be of any use in your case to help ease any bladder trauma as those blood clots are definitely not usual.

There is nothing you can do and you haven't done anything wrong. Please don't cut all calcium out of the diet; bottled water is fine and reducing the pellets to 1 tablespoon per piggy per day will cut out the two biggest calcium carriers in the diet. Even the no added calcium pellets still contain more calcium than the sam weight of kale - and kale contains nutrients that are not found in veg, like magnesium for instance. Cutting down the pellets will give you a little more leeway with feeding leafy green veg.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets





Buprecare is a strong opioid painkiller - about the strongest that guinea pigs can have in cases of extreme pain.
 
HUGS

I am very sorry. It is most definitely not the news any of us ever want to get. :(
Gut adhesion is very painful. I haven't come across a case this extreme on here so I don't have any practical advice.

Please discuss the use of glucosamine based cartrofen injections, which have proven to be effective in more severe cases of cystitis since the urinary tract has a natural glucosamine lining that prevents corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue once your vet has the results back and based on their findings - it may or may not be relevant. I can't say whether it will be of any use in your case to help ease any bladder trauma as those blood clots are definitely not usual.

There is nothing you can do and you haven't done anything wrong. Please don't cut all calcium out of the diet; bottled water is fine and reducing the pellets to 1 tablespoon per piggy per day will cut out the two biggest calcium carriers in the diet. Even the no added calcium pellets still contain more calcium than the sam weight of kale - and kale contains nutrients that are not found in veg, like magnesium for instance. Cutting down the pellets will give you a little more leeway with feeding leafy green veg.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets





Buprecare is a strong opioid painkiller - about the strongest that guinea pigs can have in cases of extreme pain.

She’s such a little fighter and the dearest pig, I’m amazed that they were able to finish the op and she came through it. I’m hoping that she makes a good recovery and we don’t have anymore issues.

She has 2 sprigs of coriander, a little bit of romaine lettuce which I put the cystophan on, cucumber, courgette, red and green pepper and a bit of carrot. Carrot is her favourite thing and I don’t want to deny her incase she doesn’t have long as I don’t think another op will be possible. Occasionally she has a cherry tomato.

She loves her pellets and has the science selective grain free but I’ll cut down a bit. I’m glad there wasn’t another stone as it means everything I’ve put in place is working but shocked about the clots.

The vets have been brilliant and they even let me visit her for a cuddle yesterday. I’m off work after tomorrow until I start my new job on 1st sept so have plenty of time to get her back on track.
 
She’s such a little fighter and the dearest pig, I’m amazed that they were able to finish the op and she came through it. I’m hoping that she makes a good recovery and we don’t have anymore issues.

She has 2 sprigs of coriander, a little bit of romaine lettuce which I put the cystophan on, cucumber, courgette, red and green pepper and a bit of carrot. Carrot is her favourite thing and I don’t want to deny her incase she doesn’t have long as I don’t think another op will be possible. Occasionally she has a cherry tomato.

She loves her pellets and has the science selective grain free but I’ll cut down a bit. I’m glad there wasn’t another stone as it means everything I’ve put in place is working but shocked about the clots.

The vets have been brilliant and they even let me visit her for a cuddle yesterday. I’m off work after tomorrow until I start my new job on 1st sept so have plenty of time to get her back on track.

All the best for a good operation recovery.
Here are our tips if needed: Tips For Post-operative Care
 
All the best for a good operation recovery.
Here are our tips if needed: Tips For Post-operative Care

Thank you, I’m all set up, as been through 4 ops now with my girls. I’ve got 3 different recovery foods, a temporary bed for me to sleep by the cage so I can do nighttime feeds. Loads of syringes, types of veg and hay etc grass pots growing ready, anything to tempt her.

keeping my fingers crossed for the next few days and that this may be the end to the issues. I so wish that she gets to be a little old lady pig. Well not so little she was 1326g on the last weigh in.

She was so happy right up to an hour before I got her to the vet, eating and popcorning. Hopefully we can get back to that soon
 
@Wiebke please could you give me some advice. The vets phoned me at 12 today and said that Saffie had stopped accepted syringe food in the night and thought she might pick up if she came home. I collected her and when I got her home her breathing is very pronounced and noisy. I think she probably aspirated when they were trying to feed her. She doesn’t want any food from me and I’ve tried wiggling the syringe and stroaking her head and she’s just not chewing. I don’t want to give up on her but should I be brave and let her go? I don’t want her to suffer. If she hasn’t eaten anything much for over 12 hours can she come back from that?
 
@Wiebke please could you give me some advice. The vets phoned me at 12 today and said that Saffie had stopped accepted syringe food in the night and thought she might pick up if she came home. I collected her and when I got her home her breathing is very pronounced and noisy. I think she probably aspirated when they were trying to feed her. She doesn’t want any food from me and I’ve tried wiggling the syringe and stroaking her head and she’s just not chewing. I don’t want to give up on her but should I be brave and let her go? I don’t want her to suffer. If she hasn’t eaten anything much for over 12 hours can she come back from that?
Hi!

Please speak to the vet clinic. This is unfortunately not a decision I can make for you, neither for ethical nor for legal reasons.

You may find this guide here helpful, including how to work out whether your piggy is actually already dying. It also talks you through all the practical and ethical aspects in detail to allow you make any necessary decisions that only you can make (since you are the owner), but with a clearer mind and heart: A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs

HUGS
 
I am very sorry for the situation you are in :( My late Ellen had IC which we had under control until early last year when she had a bad bout which lasted several months. By the end, she was passing blood clots, stopped eating and lost lots of weight. On the morning we had to make the sad decision to help her cross the bridge, it was obvious she was dying as she could barely walk and she felt cold. We took her to the vet and my vet could feel a lump on her kidney.

As Wiebke has said, only you can make the decision but any decision you make will be the right one for your girl. Look deep in to her eyes and she will tell you whether she has had enough or whether she wants to fight. (((hugs)))
 
I’m really sorry to hear you’re in such a difficult situation with your guinea pig. My guinea pig also suffers from IC and recently developed a bladder stone which he had removed. My guinea pig has cartrofen injections and they work really well alongside pain killers to help manage his symptoms. Sending you hugs x
 
Thank you both @Claire W and @DougalandDiego shes gone back into the vets to go back on the stronger painkillers and see if they can get her to eat but at 9pm she was still refusing to chew/swallow the syringe food so it’s not looking good. She’s not really eaten anything today. If she’s not showing any improvement in the morning then she’s made the decision for me. I’m heartbroken. I can’t imagine her not being here.
 
How is she today? I hope she has made an improvement. It’s such a hard decision but like you say, sadly sometimes our piggies make the decision for us :( x

She took a turn for the worse this morning and had to go on oxygen. Her breathing was deteriorating so I made the hardest decision for them to let her go. I’m heartbroken, she was so special and I’ve worked so hard for the last year to keep her going, it’s one month short of a year since her last op. She was such a fighter which is why I tried everything again this time but it wasn’t meant to be. She was only 3 years 8 months but she was so spoiled and loved for those years. I hope she knew how much I loved her. I couldn’t go to see her today as they would’ve needed to taken her off the oxygen and I didn’t think that was fair on her but we had cuddles yesterday.
 
I’m so sorry you’ve lost her ❤️ It sounds like you did everything you could for her and more, she was a lucky girl to have you but I’m so sorry you didn’t have longer together. Massive hugs x
Sleep tight Saffie xx
 
I’m so sorry to hear you lost your lovely girl. She sounded extremely loved and well looked after. Sending you big hugs :hug:
 
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