Stone Surgery or Not?

[JessFerguson]

Hi everyone, my male piggie Connor had xrays at the beginning of the year as i found blood in his urine. The xray showed stones so the vet prescribed Baytril and Rheumocam. He's doing really well in himself, always has been. Sometimes when he poops he does squeek, and today ive noticed blood in his urine again. He has been on long term Rheumocam since, as when i stopped it i felt the squeeking got more frequent.
Not going to lie, I don't feel confident in putting him through surgery due to the general anaesthetic risk.
Just after advice/peoples experiences on stone treatment/stronger pain relief or if Baytril should be started again when noticing blood?
He's great, eating, running around, etc. I adjusted his diet at the time of the xrays after reading the stones page on here. He gets filtered water too.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Swissgreys]

Sorry you are going through this.
The reality is that stones won't go away on their own - they either need to be passed (meaning they are quite small) or removed via manipulation (harder in male piggies) or surgery.
If you vet is experienced the surgery isn't a huge risk in an otherwise healthy pig.

However leaving the stones there runs the risk of them moving down and causing a full blockage.

Has he had a recent x-ray to confirm the number and position of the stones?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

I agree with Swissgreys. Leaving stones inside isn’t really an option, they do need to come out to prevent further pain, damage to the bladder etc
Boars have an angle in their urethra which makes passing stones difficult unless they are tiny so knowing exactly what you are dealing with now is important. A stone trying to pass and getting stuck/blocking the flow of urine would become and emergency and life threatening situation.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi


Bladders stones sadly rarely go aware on their own; you can't book on being one of the very few lucky ones.
It also depends on the size and what is actually going wrong in the complex calcium absorption process and wether there is a genetic disposition. The stones are extremely painful because they are banging against the bladder walls with every pee your piggy makes.

They can become a fatal complication if they get flushed into the urethra and block the flow of urine; they can also burrow into the walls of the bladder or urethra. This is more common in boars who have a longer urethra with an awkward inglenook where stones generally fetch up and wedge in. It is also much harder to get to and operate than a bladder, which is generally a more straightforward operation with a much better recovery rate.
The good news is that the pain relief after the removal of the stone is pretty instant, so piggies will feel a lot better in themselves very quickly since the pain from the operation is comparably minor and will ease as soon as the healing process gets fully underway.

I am very sorry that I haven't got better news.

Here are our post-op and emergency care tips:
Tips For Post-operative Care
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Glucosamine supplements to help replenish the badly scratched natural glucosamine coating of the walls of the urinary tract and diet adjustments are important tools for the long term but they will take a few weeks to make their way through the body before becoming fully effective. They are not quick fix measures.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets (see chapter special diets).
Bladder piggies can eat all the lettuce they want - you want to feed a mix of green leafy veg with plenty of trace elements, vitamin C and some calcium (too low calcium can also contribute to stones; there is a soft spot in the diet that can change with the location) together with some water veg like cucumber and lettuce in order to encourage regular stronger urinationg. Use with filtered or bottled low calcium water and reduced pellets; the latter two food groups is where the most calcium comes into the diet.

All the best. I've had a spate of piggies needing (all successful) bladder stone ops when I was playing around with the diet and got the balance wrong a decade ago but thankfully only one urethral sow stone op in recent years (no thanks to supply issues at the start of the pandemic and during the first Lockdown).

 

[weepweeps]

I hope Connor feels better soon. How old is Connor? Is your vet very experienced in operating on guinea pigs? Good luck.