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Poorly Pig, 2 X Kidney Stones, Not Drinking Or Eating , Any Advice Please?

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SixPigs

SixPigs

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Am new on here. Please help me. We have 5 guinea pigs and one of the eldest [4 1/2 yo] had stopped eating his veg and looked hunched and squinty eyes so we took to vet on Sat.
He checked mouth [ok] and did bloods [all ok] and examined [all ok], but xray showed 2 kidney stones. I did see xray but don't know size, vet said they are often jagged and will be causing pain. He's prescribed abtibiotics and pain killer which i am giving once a day. The bill is about £200 so far.
He's looking very sad this morning, hunched in corner of his cage and not moving. He looks miserable. When I get him out for a cuddle he is urine soaked underneath. I have washed him and I am changing his bedding a few times a day. If I offer leafy foods he will eat them. He's taken a couple of nuggets from his bowl but I don't think he has used his water bottle since Saturday. I have syringed some water but he's not keen on me putting anything in his mouth at all. Recently we had introuced apple and I am wondering about mouth sores. Surely the vet would have seen these?
He is my son's beloved pet, they all are, but this one in particular is very very special to him. I can't bear it, I'm almost too scared to ring the vet [he asked me to update hi this am]. We lost our youngest piggie to lymphoma about 6 weeks ago. Just wondered if anyone on here has any advice. I don't want him to suffer. The vet said an op would be too risky. I suggested a rescue feeding as I did that with the other one, but he also said not to force feed him. The fact that he looks so sad and is not drinking is really worrying me. The vet said he had lost a lot of weight and his condition was chronic.
Very sad here please help me?
 
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thank you @Kerrie74, do i need to private msg those people you have suggested or will it pop up in their feed? i am not sure if I have even posted my thread in the right place to get advice really! #newbie Here is the poorly one, Badger

badger.webp
 
I tagged Helen, so she should get notified and I'll tag @Wiebke as well :) I'm sure they'll respond when their online :) Yeah you posted it in the right place by the looks of it :)

Cute guinea pig :D I was just thinking that your piggie looks like a Badger!
 
Thank you @Kerrie74 , I really do appreciate your help. My son is at school, I'm scared to speak to the vet as I don't know what he is going to suggest next although of course I would not want Badger to be in pain. He's on 0.3ml of Metacam and 0.8ml of Baytril once a day. Not sure the pain relief is enough :-((
 
The pain relief would depend on his body weight as far as I know, I have a piggie that possibly has IC which is a type of cystitis and he's on 0.4 per day but he's just over 1.1kg.

I know how you feel, we lost a guinea pig to stones in April, the vets he saw were taking guesses at his problem, one even said it was his head, it was the PDSA that said it was bladder stones, they xrayed him and he had two, but... they wanted him to wait 6 days before doing the op, sadly he just kept losing weight even though he was syringe fed and he was in a lot of pain, so the vet advised us to have him put to sleep, I think if I had managed to get him to a vet who knew about guinea's in the first place that he would still be here, that's the problem with living in Nottingham and not being able to drive, the guinea's specialist all seem to be in places like Derby.

This forum is brilliant for advice, lots of brilliant people on here with their own experiences :)
 
Aww I'm so sorry to hear that you lost yours to the same problem, it's so sad. My son is 14 so old enough to understand what's happening and also having just lost one he will be only too aware of what may be the outcome, he's just sooo close to Badger. he's always been the go-to guinea pig in times of need. He's very interactive and loves a cuddle. Today I don't feel I want to even disturb him. :-(((
 
That was the same as Sheamus :/ I had a bit of a bond with him because he had been ill a few times last year. My son's 22 XD
 
I don't have much experience of kidney stones, the vet was certain they were in his kidneys and not bladder? What dose of pain relief is he on? Am afraid that you will need to step in with syringe feeding if he is not eating for himself? I know it seems horrible but it is essential to keep his guts going. Do you know why the vet thought not to force feed him? Here is our guide Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Is your vet experienced with pigs? In Barnet you are not too far from London and so may have access to this practice?

Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital - Royal Veterinary College, RVC

I am going to tag @Abi_nurse also though she may not be online today.
 
Kerrie74 said:
I think Badger is on 0.3 mls of metacam once a day @helen105281
Click to expand...
Thank you, sorry skim reading on my lunchbreak.

Is it dog or cat? either way that is fairly low and ideally needs to be increased and split so he is having twice a day to account for the fast metabolism. Maybe something to discuss over the phone with the vet?
 
@helen105281 @Kerrie74 goodness sorry you're right, it's bladder stones. He's on 0.35ml of Metacam and 0.8ml Baytril, started Sat and I can't see any improvement. He's def in pain. We are with a cat and dog vet and he was very sceptical about surgery saying it was risky, they don't cope well etc. he also said the stones would come back :-(( He Quoted about £250-300 for the op and then 5 days hospitalisation. I'm a housewife, i don't have any problem with the aftercare, I can be with him 24/7 to get him through this if necc. Just not sure what to do :-(
Yes I thought I should be syringe feeding, I've got the sachets here so know what to do, was surprised he said not to. At present it's taking him half an hour to eat a spinach or dandelion leaf. I was so sure he had something wrong with his mouth. the vet says not. I have heard of Beaumont, ut think they need a referral from vet before they will see him and it's really expensive too. I know it shouldn't come down to cost at all, but we don't have a great deal of money sadly .
 
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@helen105281 @Kerrie74 I've got an appt at Beaumont tomrrow a.m,. The lady said to syringe feed tonight, you were right. Good job I looked on here this morning, thank you so much for the help and advice. Paws crossed for Badger
 
I really hope they can help you tomorrow. Good luck with the feeding, shout if you need anything.
 
Glad you have an appointment. We have done bladder surgery with success, the key is to get there strength up before the surgery and give them lots of supportive care. He really needs to be syringe fed and given good pain relief is he's sore. Tramadol is a good option for this and of he's in hospital then buprenorphine. Sadly people often underestimate the amount of care little piggies need and often send them away with very little help with often very sad consequences. Hopefully Jo will give you all the options and you can discuss it with her, she's fab. I'm assuming you will be seeing her. Surgery is an option for sure if the stones are in the bladder. Kidney stones are a little more tricky but are very much treatable one way or another.

x
 
Hi - My Bumble has recently had two big operations for bladder stones (the second was because there was a tiny stone on his penis bone that was so small it wasn't picked up by the x-rays - we had to do a CT scan to find it ) - Your piggy should not need 5 days hospitalisation - in most cases not even a night - I kept Bumble in overnight after both of his only because the insurance would pay for it and I am a rubbish syringe feeder - the £200 - £300 price quote seems about right -stones don't necessarily come back - a change to filtered water and feeding a low calcium diet can all help - good luck!
 
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