How to ensure a bonded boar is urinating without separating (UTI/sludge/weight loss story included)

[Hunt76]

Hi,

Recently, my 9-month-old boar began losing weight with no apparent explanation. He dropped about 100g (from 1128g to around 1025g) in approximately a week, and was taken to the vet two days ago where bloodwork was scheduled for the following week, and they failed to obtain a gram stain (because he refused to poop at the time). That night, I suspected he wasn’t peeing a normal amount as I intentionally held him for a longer than usual time, and he didn’t pee on me. Yesterday, he’d lost even more weight so I brought him in for an emergency appointment as I suspected a possible stone. They did an x-ray and an ultrasound, as well as a gram stain, which revealed what they suspect to be sludge in his bladder. It was also noted that his bladder wasn’t full, so he had presumably been peeing. As such, he’s being treated for a UTI and bladder sludge with metacam once a day and sulfatrim twice a day for 10 days.

He’d been slightly less enthusiastic about food, but still eating and not showing any signs of pain. I’ve been syringe feeding him Critical Care as tolerated (he’ll generally only take 2-5mL before deciding he’s over it). Today, presumably because of the antibiotics and pain meds helping out, he has maintained weight and seemed more lively and hungry - namely, he’s been popcorning and being mischievous again. His cagemate, the top hog, had been extra “nice” to him the past few days but today, regularly-scheduled boar debates have resumed - in which the “sick” boar has often been the instigator! I’ve taken all of these things to mean that he’s feeling better, and we’re on the right track. He’s not necessarily gaining weight, but he’s been maintaining it; I trust that maintaining weight is the goal right now, and that he’ll slowly get heavier as he recovers (please correct me if I’m wrong!).

However, I have a bit of an irrational fear that he isn’t peeing - this isn’t a particularly substantiated fear, but I would hate to think I have him on the right track just to miss something like that. Does anyone have any advice for how to make sure a pig on fleece is peeing without separating him from his cagemate? Obviously, I can look at pee stains on the pee pads underneath the fleece but that’s not particularly informative other than to say at least one of them has been peeing.

Thank you so, so much! If anyone has had a similar experience, I’d love to hear your story and guidance. If I’m being a total wacko because I’m so afraid of watching my young boar wither away like my beautiful, sickly Spike did last summer, please tell me!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear that.

Yes you are right in that not losing any more weight is the goal of syringe feeding during an illness and that regaining lost weight can take considerably longer post illness.

If you really don’t want to separate them then watching is all you can do. They tend to stop and lift their back end slightly to pee so if you watch long enough you may see that subtle movement.
Or have them out of the cage, as you did, for longer and see if you notice anything.

If he has sludge, then he needs to see if it can be removed - either through increased urination or in bad cases, through a bladder flush.
It may also be a good idea to review the diet. A good amount of fluid is needed so encourage drinking by adding extra bowls and bottles. You can also feed a bit extra veggies with higher water content such as lettuce and cucumber as it will help with making sure the bladder is kept flushing through.
Make sure drinking water is filtered and pellets kept to one tablespoon only. Ensure high calcium veg is kept to a minimum.

 

[Hunt76]

I’m sorry to hear that.

Yes you are right in that not losing any more weight is the goal of syringe feeding during an illness and that regaining lost weight can take considerably longer post illness.

If you really don’t want to separate them then watching is all you can do. They tend to stop and lift their back end slightly to pee so if you watch long enough you may see that subtle movement.
Or have them out of the cage, as you did, for longer and see if you notice anything.

If he has sludge, then he needs to see if it can be removed - either through increased urination or in bad cases, through a bladder flush.
It may also be a good idea to review the diet. A good amount of fluid is needed so encourage drinking by adding extra bowls and bottles. You can also feed a bit extra veggies with higher water content such as lettuce and cucumber as it will help with making sure the bladder is kept flushing through.
Make sure drinking water is filtered and pellets kept to one tablespoon only. Ensure high calcium veg is kept to a minimum.

I just began filtering their water after this scare (stupid, I should have a long time ago), and have been feeding the boys extra cucumbers to help “flush out” some sludge, which is usually an occasional treat for them, with each veggie serving. Veggies consistently include spring mix (only mixes without spinach), green peppers, and cilantro. They have infinite timothy hay, orchard grass, and I recently tried some meadow grass to see if it would pique interest but they won’t even touch it. I realized I’ve been feeding 2tbsp/day each of Selective Science grain free timothy pellets (must have been an oversight, I’ve been using the same scoop for so long I haven’t thought about it), but I’ll reduce to 1 tbsp each.

Diet seems pretty dialed in to me, and I did a lot of research on here to try and make sure of that back when I adopted my first boar. If there are any recommendations you’d make, I’m absolutely all ears.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes the diet sounds fine. They can certainly have cucumber daily. If they aren’t big drinkers then the cucumber can help.
Changes to the amount of pellets and filtering the water will take quite a while to have an effect - it takes several weeks for those changes to filter through.