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Off to vets this morning

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Cuddlepigs

I am off to my local vet with Loulou today as she was passing bloody urine late yesterday night. She is eating and drinking as normal (thank goodness) and other than a need to squat and wee a lot she is bright as normal. It looks like cystitis or a bladder infection of some kind. She isn't 6 months old yet poor little girl.

I am worried it is my fault, wrong foods and all that. I give my girls a good mixture but maybe too much? I am currently moving them over to Supa Guinea Excel so it is half and half with Gerty at the minute. Kale features strongly in the diet as does spring greens, carrots and cabbage, coriander, basil and occasionally broccolli.They also like grapes and cucumber. I am worried about the calcium levels. The kale is already in the bin. I only feed them veg twice a day but should I cut this down? Some advice please so I can try and prevent a recurrence. I know some piggies have a predisposition toward bladder probs...just praying Lou isn't one of them.

Here am I panicking and Lou lou? Having a good hay munch and looking at me as if to say *Chill Mum, just get me to a vet this morning." I am just pleased I have her indoors with me as her bum is clean at the moment and I wouldn't have known about the blood if I hadn't seen it late last night as I was passing by the cage. So pleased she is eating. I must go and calm down! Sorry!
 
((((((((((hugs))))))))))

good luck fingers and paws crossed everything is alright :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
That diet sounds fine to me, I give my lot the same and other stuff and not had any problems. Good luck at the vets :)
 
It does sound like a high Calcium diet, try feeding a little less of the cabbage type foods, Celery is good. Nothing wrong with Kale but only a couple of times a wheek :) Lots of grass and hay too :) Dill is a favourite with mine too :)
I'm sure you know that Gerty is bad hence the switch :) Supa Guinea Excel is very high in Protein(better than Gerty though), if you can switch to Wagg, Tesco, Rabbit Royale, or ideally Cavy Cuisine which is based on Timothy.

Even people who feed ideal diets get problems with bladderstones. Marbles and his Bladderstones.

Bladderstones are a nightmare, and the squeaking is horrible. Do let us know how it goes :)
 
Well I am hoping things are ok but the vet was a little bit disconcerting because she knew very little about pigs. Loulou has been postively fine all day and has passed no more blood. She did, after some coaxing which she didn't like, an enormous piddle on the consult table and down the vet. The vet did a dipstick test in the puddle and there was no blood in that.

We were sent home with metacam and baytril with instructions that if she was no better tomorrow then she needs an xray for bladderstones on Friday. The thing is, to me, she seems better TODAY than she did yesterday and isn't squatting to wee all the time as she was. She hasn't stopped eating or drinking at all.

Thanks for the replies and advice regarding diet. I have never tried out celery on these two. They may be getting it soon. :)
 
Where do you live? Maybe someone here will know of a better piggy vet for you? :(

Hope she continues to improve O0
 
Awwww.... good luck love!

(My Rube's had alot of bladder probs too - calcium crystals. She's having an op on the 22nd to get flushed out :( - she also has Super Guinea excel but may switch to Cavy Cuisine (as Karen suggested to me on another thread) to see it if helps. But I think its a genetic thing)


Really hope everything will be ok with Loulou O0 O0 O0
 
Cuddlepigs I really feel for you and LouLou! One of my piggys, Gus, is going through the same problems (without the blood) so I totally understand how you are feeling. We've had Septrin and Baytril time and time again and nothing is working. You can read about it on another thread 'In pain when pooing'. I'm trying to change his diet too but it's knowing what to give him. Hope LouLou's problem clears soon. Hugs and wheeks to you both.
 
I spoke too soon about there being no blood. She passed watery but red blood every time she went last night, and I thought she was going to die I really did. She didn't move for several hours, so I put a water dish beside her and some fresh hay with her food and she started on the hay and got a taste for it then moved onto the food. At time of typing Lou and her sister Meg are on the floor on a blanket covered with newspaper, tucking into breakfast. She has just done a nice pile of poos (tmi I know) and all that is wrong is when she wees she passes this bright red. I am just relieved she is alive. I don't think the baytril injection can have done much, and she seemed in MORE pain to me last night and that was after metacam.

As you can imagine, I am going straight back to my vet this morning. I haven't slept at all, and decided at 5am to get them out because their cage was frighteningly grotty looking and I needed to disinfect it. I have replaced the normal carefresh with a large soft towel with newspaper under as usual. Carefresh is terrible in circumstances like these.

I am on the IOW and going to the Riverbank vet surgery here in Ryde. They have a marvellous hospital in Newport so if Lou has to go there I know she will be in good hands. Plus, some of my ex colleagues are there whom I used to work with at another surgery! I recall when they first had it built, the practice had an open day so the public could have a looksee at their new facilities because we had not seen anything like it over here on the island. Three of us nurses from our practice went there incognito to look around. It made our surgery look like something from the 1800s! ;D One of us decamped to them not long after!

I'm so tired I feel slightly 98)
 
Ring Vedra at CCT she will help. She may know of a rodentalogist near you.
 
You probably realise that she wasn't squatting because she wasn't in pain, not because she was better. Septrin is better than Baytril but vets like to try Baytril first. Are you using Cystopurin (or similar) too? Its a human product for treating cystitis which may help a little. You need her to have an x-ray and removal of stones etc.

Marbles Bladderstones Please read this article about Marbles who had two bladderstone ops and is still being maintained on Uriflow over two years later.

Do you have any more Metacam? I would continue to give it to her as its antiinflammatory too. I have no idea how often they need Metacam, I don't use it but someone will :)
 
karenrgpr said:
Do you have any more Metacam? I would continue to give it to her as its antiinflammatory too. I have no idea how often they need Metacam, I don't use it but someone will :)
Click to expand...

One drop morning and night is the dose I was recommended by a couple of vets to give Tetley. Smells awful but I found if I put it on a piece of cucumber of small sprig of parsley Tetley would take it.

Good luck with your piggy, know exactly what you are going through.
 
Hope the little sweetie will be better soon! :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: *big hugs and kisses to both of you* :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
I'm sorry I never got back yesterday but I'm afraid things got worse and worse and I had to make the decision to let her go. I saw a different vet yesterday, an older more experienced chap (although nothing wrong with enthusiastic YOUNG vets either I must say) who examined Lou, by then lethargic and losing blood all the time and said he could feel her bladder was absolutely huge which made little sense as she was doing huge pools of red all the time. He suspected either a tumour (rare in her age group but it happens) or a stones. He said it was likely the stones would recur if it was those. I know some of you are going to think me an awful person but I did not want a life of suffering for her so I very regretfully had him put her to sleep.

I loved Loulou so very much. I'm so upset because of the two girls, I had to work so hard to get her tame, get a cuddle out of her without her biting me, even to get her weight up because was a tiny wee thing. I always suspected she may have a been a little bit of a runt of her litter because Meg is so much bigger. It made her all the more lovable, biting and all. And we had finally got there with her loving her cuddles, me ignoring the teeth so she gave up. Was she in pain all along and that was why she got so grumpy? :'( To think of her suffering all along tears me apart.

At least Meg seems to be taking it all in her stride. She and Lou were not really close. It was a "you stay up that end and I'll stay up this one" kind of relationship in the cage and they only really met at floortime where they managed to share food quite well. She hasn't cried out for Lou or gone searching around. I have been cuddling and talking to her all the time, telling her that she won't be alone for long as I couldn't bear her being alone in a cage either.

I'll so miss Lou's little snuggles into my neck and her chewing my earrings. Thank you so much for replying to my postings these last couple of days. If some of you are angry with me for putting her to sleep I understand why.
 
You did the right thing if she was like that. It would have killed her anyway or left her with an unhappy life full of pain. Sometimes thats just the way things are but at least now she is up there with friends and family nibbling on all her favourite treats 0:).
 
awww... I'm so sorry little Loulou couldnt be helped :'( :'( :'(
You arent a horrible person at all... it shows you really cared about her and what she was going through. I dont think any of us are angry - why should we be? You did your very best for her. No-one would like to be in that situation.


Sweet dreams little Lou :-* :-* :-* Thinking of you cuddlepigs at this difficult time
 
Don't you dare beat yourself up my love, you did what you felt was right for your little girlie. We have just gone through exactly the same thing with Tetley one of our boars, having to make the same heart breaking decision that you have just made. It is one of the most awful things I have had to do, but at the end of the day you have to do what is best for the piggy, not yourself.

Take care, give Meg a big cuddle from me and my gang. Say hello to Tetley, my little 0:) Lou. x
 
I'm so sorry 2 hear you had to make such a horrible decision, dont blame yourself you did the right thing by lou-lou and that makes you a good mum, it would have been selfish to keep her in pain. I'm not a piggie expert but this case doesnt sound like the other cases of stones that i've read on here, if it was a tumour she would have been in a lot of pain and wouldn't have lasted long if you had not put her 2 sleep, in my eyes you did the right thing. RIP lou and my thoughts are with you at such a sad time. 0:)
Emma x
 
oh hunny i'm so sorry to hear that! :'( :'( you've been soo brave and done the right thing for your piggie. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: well done she won't be in all that pain and discomfort now. You did the right thing ! and you are a BRILLIANT mummy for doing that and putting her needs before yours. you looked after her wonderfully and loved her loads and put in the same position i would do the same thing. BIG BIG HUGS AND LOADS OF LOVE TO YOU, THINKING OF YOU AT THIS SAD AND DIFFICULT TIME. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Please don't beat yourself up about Loulou you absolutely did the right thing. I had the same problem with Rodney last year he was 6months and after a scan found he had bladder stones in a very awkward place. The vet said that a piggy so young would probably get them again as he was very likely predisposed to them so I made the same heartbreaking decision as you...........
But we did the right thing for Loulou and Rodney and at the end of the day, thats all we can do. They're probably playing together now at the bridge..........

Take care
Suex
 
I'm sorry to hear the sad news but I think you did the right thing for her & nobody who's ever cared for & loved an ill pet would blame you for your decision . Its never easy to make a decision like that & you mustn't feel guilty or blame yourself in anyway , you did everything you could for her & should take comfort in the fact that you gave her a very loving home for the time she spent with you. :'(
 
Thank you all so much for your replies, they really have been comforting. I really mean that. One of the reasons I joined this forum was because I was very moved at the Rainbow Bridge section even though I am not really a believer in that sort of thing for myself, I do have this hope and belief that all the little furries we love and care for go somewhere after they leave us. Knowing Lou she will be nicking dandelion leaves off of some of her new friends! :)

On Monday the search begins for a new sister for Meg as she must have a friend to talk to and snuggle up to hopefully. She looks quite lost in that cage all by herself. I have rearranged it and am using towels and newspaper instead of carefresh from now on. After last week I'm not sure I could face using carefresh again, it was a horrible mess. Meg likes the towels, she pops when a fresh one is put in every morning!

Meg is making the most of the extra cuddles situation at the moment. She never normally sits on me for long but she really nestled into me last night and cooed away.

Thank you again for your posts, I really appreciated them.

Wendy
x
 
Cuddlepigs, I've just read about LouLou. I am so sorry. You done exactly the right thing for her. Hugs and kisses.
 
Oh you poor thing, what a heartbreaking decision to make. No one would ever be angry at you - you put your Loulou first and did what you thought was best for her, even though it must have been the hardest thing to do. I'm so sorry she has gone :'(

hugs from me and my pigs x
 
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