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IC trouble

I’m so pleased he seems ok. My Percy didn’t move really all night or the next day. Keep a close eye on BB. ❤️
 
He’s had a bit of a squeaky pee, or I assume it was a pee. Nothing like the screams I heard earlier.
Ive tried to syringe feed him, he only had 4ml of food but started to eat a tiny bit of hay once I put him back in the cage.
Question, for those who have been through this before - what am I meant to do regarding hay? The nurse told me to make sure there’s no hay on the floor so I’ve put it in hay bags. He doesn’t really like hay bags and it’s kind of hard to avoid hay on the floor even with the bags. What should I do for the best? He’s trying to steal hay off the floor of the neighbouring cage rather than eat the hay in the hay bags. And do I need to be so strict about hay being on the floor if it does come out of the bags?
 
I put Percy mainly on towels for his first night with hay right under his nose
 
weepweeps said:
I put Percy mainly on towels for his first night with hay right under his nose
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Ah that makes sense. Don’t know if that would work with Bb. He’s being the most annoying patient ever, lol. Biting on bars, chewing correx… At least he’s still feeling like himself 🤣 What did you do with hay the day after? Did you just have it on the floor or did you try not to?
 
Also, should I have gotten some antibiotics as a precaution, or is that not necessary?
 
Little Ones said:
Ah that makes sense. Don’t know if that would work with Bb. He’s being the most annoying patient ever, lol. Biting on bars, chewing correx… At least he’s still feeling like himself 🤣 What did you do with hay the day after? Did you just have it on the floor or did you try not to?
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I had it on the floor in front of him. But he didn’t really move the next day either. So I took him back to the vets that evening. ☹️
 
Fingers crossed for a quick recovery for BB.

I think I just put little piles of soft meadow hay on the floor, not deep enough to make nests or want to lie in. It was quite a while ago! I seem to remember both my boars who had stone operations bounced back within a day or two. Rusty's operation was much more straightforward than Bracken's though.
 
piggieminder said:
Fingers crossed for a quick recovery for BB.

I think I just put little piles of soft meadow hay on the floor, not deep enough to make nests or want to lie in. It was quite a while ago! I seem to remember both my boars who had stone operations bounced back within a day or two. Rusty's operation was much more straightforward than Bracken's though.
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Okay, thank you! By any chance, did any of yours have antibiotics after the procedure, or don’t you remember? BB doesnt have any and I’m not sure if he meant to.
 
Little Ones said:
Okay, thank you! By any chance, did any of yours have antibiotics after the procedure, or don’t you remember? BB doesnt have any and I’m not sure if he meant to.
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I don't think so, although I can't be sure I remember right. I'll go and search the forum for my old threads when I get a chance and see if I said anything there.
 
It looks like Bracken didn't have ABs, I have a vague recollection that I was to monitor and if the surgery site looked red or felt hot I was to request some. Rusty did, he had been kept in the vets for 2 nights as he wouldn't eat and had a high temperature. I think they were concerned the temperature was possibly caused by infection. Rusty was a very nervous piggie, in the end I insisted on bringing him home as I felt being at the vets was the biggest contributor to his problems. He went on to live for another 2 years and died from an unrelated illness.
 
piggieminder said:
It looks like Bracken didn't have ABs, I have a vague recollection that I was to monitor and if the surgery site looked red or felt hot I was to request some. Rusty did, he had been kept in the vets for 2 nights as he wouldn't eat and had a high temperature. I think they were concerned the temperature was possibly caused by infection. Rusty was a very nervous piggie, in the end I insisted on bringing him home as I felt being at the vets was the biggest contributor to his problems. He went on to live for another 2 years and died from an unrelated illness.
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Right okay, thank you for having a look back. I asked Ellie this morning whether I should get any and am still waiting for a response, so thankfully I don’t have to be too worried in the meantime if your Bracken didn’t need them.


BB is doing well today. I syringed fed him every two hours through the night as he was only having a couple of mls at a time. He’d eat a bit of hay right after the syringe feeds then go to bed after five minutes or so. Today has been roughly the same in that respect, he’s come out once to eat hay by himself but the other times, he's eaten for a few minutes after his syringe feed. He’s also had a drink a couple of times today which he didn’t do last night to my knowledge. His pain whilst peeing is a little worse than last night but minor in comparison to before the surgery. I’m just keeping my eye on things, I might give him an extra dose of gabapentin if needed but don’t feel he’s at a tramadol level of pain at the moment.
I’m a little worried regarding loxicom, I had been told to give him 1ml twice a day previously (even went up to 1.2ml twice a day since Saturday) and so he’d been on that high amount for two months. When I spoke to Simon last night, he advised against a dose that high for anymore than a couple of days so I’m a little paranoid that it’s going to have an adverse effect in the future. He said it was a scary dose to be on and he wouldn’t go higher than 0.5ml twice a day. So that’s niggling in the back of my brain, but it’s not an immediate issue.
I'm glad he’s doing alright overall and that he’s come round pretty well after the surgery. I do wish he could’ve waited till today so that Simon could’ve done it, but even though the stone hadn’t gone into his urethra like I had thought, I do think the pain he was in yesterday could’ve finished him off had he not had the op. I'm not sure what Simon charges for the op, but I believe Ellie had quoted us £350. What we actually ended up paying yesterday was a little over £1400. Definitely broke the bank a bit, but what can you do? I’m just relieved that right now, he’s seems to be doing okay to say he had a really intense surgery yesterday.
 
I'm pleased to hear BB is recovering well. £1400 is a fairly average price for an exotics vet I think, most of them are large companies with shareholders these days! Bracken's was £3,000, it was difficult and involved operation and took a long time (they were charging £30 a minute). Over all with all the xrays and scans he cost £5,000. Rusty's was £2,000
 
piggieminder said:
I'm pleased to hear BB is recovering well. £1400 is a fairly average price for an exotics vet I think, most of them are large companies with shareholders these days! Bracken's was £3,000, it was difficult and involved operation and took a long time (they were charging £30 a minute). Over all with all the xrays and scans he cost £5,000. Rusty's was £2,000
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Sheesh, that’s insanity. But it’s one of those things, it’s not like you’re going to choose money over the life of your pet if you have the means available (even if it does mean struggling for a bit). You can get the money back but not their life! My family were telling me to just have him PTS but I had to give him a chance, regardless of the cost and even if it didn’t work. I’m just fortunate that I did have the means to pay for it - thank you, student loans.
Yes, I’ve noticed exotic vets have gotten a lot more expensive, £70 for a consultation where they used to cost £40! It’s crazy, especially since they don’t know half as much about piggies than a guinea pig specialist who costs less charges.
I’m glad you were able to get both your boys sorted and that they recovered from this!
 
Ellie got back to me and said yes to the antibiotics, she said to give him the sulfatrim that we have leftover from when we were ruling out a UTI. Not sure if I should also add fibreplex into the mix because of this, his poos are pretty soft too. He’s having the most pain whilst pooping and since piggies poop a lot, it’s causing him a fair bit of grief. Still some pain when peeing but barely, it really seems to be the poops that are causing the issues. The medication he’s now on is 0.5 loxicom, 0.3 gabapentin, 0.4 emeprid, 0.3 sulfatrim and then potentially fibreplex.
 
Update:
Things are going so well. I didn’t syringe feed him at all last night or today, I just woke up at about 3 so I could have a check and see if he was okay and he was up eating his hay. His weight was stable this morning so it seems like he’s eating enough for himself again. He’s barely having any pain today, just a little bit here and there but barely even at all. He had his post op check yesterday and they were happy with how the wound looked and with how he was doing in general. The vets want a check at the 10-14 day mark but we’ve gone ahead and booked this with Ellie on day 12 post op, just so she can have a good check over him. The vet said they would recommend a lateral X-ray to see if there’s been any more calcification or crystallisation formed since the surgery so we’ll have that done with Ellie. But overall, right now things are extremely positive and I‘m so relieved! Fingers crossed he carries on like this and that his next checkup doesn’t bring any bad news

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Update
A week ago yesterday he had his surgery, he’s still doing the same as when I last updated. Putting his weight back on nicely, eating well, but still having pain when pooping. Peeing seems fine, though - hopefully anyway. I’m hoping this is normal, the vet told me I could expect the pain to have stopped by the five day mark and we’re now at the 8 day mark. Trying to tell myself it was a major surgery, and things were inflamed to start with. Our appointment is on Monday, hoping for good news
 
A little worried tonight. BB woke me up with his pain noises, I think they are probably worse than after he’d just had the op. I’m worried that there could be more stones which have formed and I’m not sure what that would mean for him if it were the case. Would he be able to have more removed? Or would that be a bad idea since he’s just had surgery? I just don’t know… Monday can’t come quick enough, just so I can find out what’s going on :(
 
Poor BB it’s so sad watching them in pain and not be able to help. I hope the vet can help on Monday 🤞
 
weepweeps said:
Poor BB it’s so sad watching them in pain and not be able to help. I hope the vet can help on Monday 🤞
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Thank you, his weight is still good so he must be eating well. It’s just that now I‘m sick with worry, nervous to fall asleep again in case something happens to him. It’s like you said, I’m just here unable to do anything for him and not knowing what’s going on :(
 
He’s not eaten much today but perked up after a syringe feed. He’s just done a pee with blood in it which concerned me. We’ve got an app with the vet who did his surgery, we’re leaving now and he’s just going to try and fit us in
 
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