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IC trouble

That's a really nice update to hear, well done on all your perseverance!
George is envious of BB's weight gain. Now he's off his antibiotics (last Thursday) his appetite has returned and he's gone up from 890g to 940g today. We're movin' on up!
 
Free Ranger said:
That's a really nice update to hear, well done on all your perseverance!
George is envious of BB's weight gain. Now he's off his antibiotics (last Thursday) his appetite has returned and he's gone up from 890g to 940g today. We're movin' on up!
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Ah poor George :( it’s hard when they lose such a lot, it’s a lot more difficult to get it back on. We were just lucky that even when BB was unwell, he was maintaining a weight rather than constantly losing it - granted that weight was 100 grams less than his ‘normal’ but he was able to maintain something at least. I think because BB is still fairly young, 3 and a half ish, it was very easy for him to put the weight back on. He’s naturally chunky though, if his pea eyes have anything to say about it! - he just started developing his second pea eye a few months ago after getting his first a few months after living with us
The Big Boy himself:
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Little Ones said:
Ah poor George :( it’s hard when they lose such a lot, it’s a lot more difficult to get it back on. We were just lucky that even when BB was unwell, he was maintaining a weight rather than constantly losing it - granted that weight was 100 grams less than his ‘normal’ but he was able to maintain something at least. I think because BB is still fairly young, 3 and a half ish, it was very easy for him to put the weight back on. He’s naturally chunky though, if his pea eyes have anything to say about it! - he just started developing his second pea eye a few months ago after getting his first a few months after living with us
The Big Boy himself:
View attachment 215817
View attachment 215816
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He’s a stunning chunky boy :love:
 
Not a great update.
BB had been doing so well, we’d spoken to Simon and gotten a prescription for a big bottle of metacam, as he should be on that and frusol for the rest of life potentially. Anyway, today he’s had pain almost every time he’s peed :( We’re hoping it’s IC as Diggy was PTS on Friday. He was bar neighbours with BB, we showed him the body and it freaked him out a bit and then because of Dig’s passing, we altered the cage too that evening. BBs cage is a lot more open now to people walking past. So we’re so badly hoping this is his nervous disposition and it’s flared up his IC (if he even has IC still… it could’ve been a stone all along. I’m not sure when he was diagnosed now, thinking back). We’re going to give extra pain relief and some cystease today. We don’t have much hope though, really hope we aren’t about to lose him :(
 
I am so sorry to hear Diggy was PTS, you are having such a hard time with your piggies at the moment. Sending BB healing vibes, I hope you can get to the source of his pain and he feels better soon.
 
Poor BB!

Our previous pig who had two bladder stones was also a chonker. It certainly made recovery after two (!) operations easier. He took his food very seriously!

To encourage you, he recovered, never had a third stone, and eventually died of old age after a happy life. Wishing BB all the best in his recovery, it sounds like he's having a really rough time right now.
 
Things have gotten a bit worse over here. BBs been on tramadol since Wednesday at a dose of 0.15 however, he had pain throughout the night last night so the dose has been upped to 0.2ml which hopefully does the job. We aren’t in possession of any gabapentin, but our thinking is that once the loxicom and tramadol can no longer control the pain, he will be taken to Simon who will have a look and likely PTS. I’m certain this is another stone which has developed :/ so sad.
 
I'm so sorry to hear your news. BB is such a lovely boy and it breaks you to wake in the night and hear them squeaking in pain. New stones can form, but they're not inevitable, there are other things to rule out too. I mean, George hasn't gained any weight (still 940g) and it still hurts him to pee, but he hasn't had any blood in his urine since his UTI was cleared... having that hurt him a lot more than having his stone. I hope Simon can shed some light on the situation x
 
Well, BBs pain stopped responding to pain relief yesterday afternoon. We hoped we’d be able to manage it, but it really isnt doing a thing. He also started with the blood yesterday evening too. The ideal scenario would be that we get an emergency appointment at 8 and take him today to Simon for him to assess the situation and likely PTS however it’s too short notice for us to arrange a lift and there’s no trains from Barnsley to Northampton until Thursday night. I’m really upset, as I want to get him there ASAP as now I’m hearing frequent pain sounds :( not only that, but he seems really fed up this time. I’m wondering if we can give more tramadol than we are doing, giving any less than 0.2 in one instance does nothing, but the pain relief stops working after 5 hours. When the pain reoccurs, we’ve been giving 0.4 more of loxicom but it doesn’t help. I do wish we had gabapentin but we don’t and it would be much too late to get it. I just wish we were able to go in the morning.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Do you think it could be a build up of sludge again? Ring Cat and Rabbit Clinic, in morning, and ask about upping pain relief and see if you can get him through until Thursday and then get him an emergency appointment.
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Not sure, I doubt it. This is all very reminiscent of the stones from before.
We’ve rung C&R today, the receptionist had to check with Simon about whether he would be in early enough to do an X-ray tomorrow and also asked about pain relief for us. Simon said he could do an X-ray tomorrow and to bring BB in for 11, there would be no time for a surgery though but we won’t really need that anyway. Regarding the pain relief, Simon said we can give 0.1ml when it wears off at about five hours, he said it could make him quite flat but it makes no difference if we think tomorrow is his last day and we’re just trying to get him through today.
Poor thing has been waking me up all night with his pain :( I’m so sad this has happened again
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
I think it’s definitely worth getting Simon to X-ray. At least you’ll know then xx
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Exactly, I don’t trust anything to not be missed elsewhere and the last thing I want is to either prolong the pain or have him PTS when it wasn’t necessary. I know Simon will see whatever is there and guide me in making the right decision for BB.
Its such a shame, he was doing so well, you’d never have thought he’d even been ill. He got his weight up the highest we’ve ever seen it too, 1500! Then all of a sudden, pain again. It’s just so cruel :(

eileen said:
I'm so sorry you are going through this.poor BB,poor you.I hope you can sort the problem at Simons tommorrow.Thinking off you.xx
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Thanks Eileen, it’s just so horrible for him. He was doing so well and was his normal, happy self again. I’m so sad that this has happened again :(
 
Well, he’s been doing very well today. He had pain throughout the night which would wake me up, last pain I heard was at 7:20 this morning. So he’s gone all day without it and we haven’t had to give him any extra pain relief. We haven’t seen any blood today either, as yesterday there was two drops. He seems very well in himself which he didn’t at all yesterday. This doesn’t half complicate things! I want to do right by him but when he gives me mixed signals, I don’t know what to do for the best!
 
We ended up cancelling the appointment this morning as he didn’t have pain all night either. I really hope he has passed something, or it was just some bad inflammation, or something that means it’s not a stone. Whilst it would be nice to confirm if there’s a stone or not, BB is a very nervous, stressed out piggy when he’s not in the cage so I feel that by taking him all the way there when theres been no pain for over 24 hours now could potentially trigger something with his bladder. We’ve got an appointment at 11 on Tuesday for him which we’ll take him to if he gets bad again. Fingers crossed this was a blip 🤞
 
Update:
We had our appointment with Simon yesterday morning. BB hadn't been doing great since Sunday night, the tramadol wasn't working either. Upon initially feeling BB, Simon didn't seem concerned. He thought the bladder felt good and couldn't feel BB tensing at all upon it being prodded, he also squeezed a very big pee out of BB which was clear all the way through. We still decided to go ahead and X-ray. We really believed BB was going to be put to sleep, especially if there was a stone as we, and Simon, all know that operating again would be pointless if the stones are constantly reforming.
Anyway, the X-ray showed a stone... however it was only really small. This makes things more complicated but also a lot more positive. BB is still with us. Simon thinks that those moments where the pain relief doesn't work are because the very small stone slightly begins to block the urethra before moving back to the bladder where it should be, which explains why the pain relief works and then it doesn't and then it does again - if that makes sense. He thinks that it's far too small to be causing a great deal of discomfort when it's away from the urethra. Simon urged us to carry on with BB and so we are.
The plan of action is this: we give him loxicom, gabapentin and tramadol and try to manage the pain. If we are unable to manage the pain then BB will be PTS at a local vet. If we can manage the pain, we wait 2-3 months and then go and see Simon again. If there is still only one stone present, we remove it. If another stone has since formed, he is PTS as it means we will be constantly dealing with stone after stone despite removing them. Because of how small it is, Simon believes he can live with it until it becomes bigger in a few months time and waiting means we are able to see if this stone is the last one he will hopefully produce, at least in this quick of a succession, and we can operate for a third time. Simon's only worry between now and when we see him again in 2-3 months is the stone actually entering the urethra which will mean urgently getting BB to the vets for euthanasia - this is a possibility due to how small the stone is.
So for right now, we take each day as it comes. Today he doesn't seem too bad, he had very slight pain this morning when he was due his medication but I haven't heard anything since. We just have to keep going with it and hope it all turns out okay
 
Well we are off to the vets today for BB to be PTS, the appointment is just after 2. It’s at our local exotic vets but it’s not an exotic vet doing the euthanasia, so hopefully it will all be done correctly as it makes me a little nervous. The pain hasn't been easy to manage as it is, however yesterday evening and all through the night to this morning, the pain just won’t subside despite extra pain relief. There’s no way we can manage it for a few more months when it’s barely been a week since we saw Simon and he’s been in pain for at least 5 hours a day at the minimum - it's just not fair or acceptable. I’m so devastated, absolutely heart broken, and trying to keep myself calm or else I’ll be sick. I'm just so sad for him, he doesn’t deserve any of this, he’s been through so much in his life that he deserves a life which is long, happy, and pain free, and I’m so upset that he won’t get to have that. It’s a very sad day over here.
 
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