Weight Loss and Bloody Urine after Bladder Stone Surgery.

[Authara]

Hi, all.

I have a 5 1/2 year old male piggy who had a bladder stone operation on Wednesday.

He hasn’t really been eating pellets, but will accept hay and a select few amount of veggies. However, he feels & looks like he’s lost quite a bit of weight. Is that normal?

His urine also is still very dark red/bloody looking. Tomorrow will be day 5 after surgery, and I’m starting to become progressively more worried about it. How long is it supposed to be like that for?

Other than that, he’s okay. He’s more active than he’s ever been, running around and exploring.

I’ll be contacting my Vet as soon as they open, but I suppose I just wanted to see if anyone else has had similar issues/problems as well in the meantime?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Have you switched from the routine lifelong weekly weight checks and instead are weighing him daily?
This is so important as soon as you notice they are unwell and definitely during surgery recovery.

In short, no, weight loss is not normal and always requires you to step in with support feeding to stop any more loss occurring. It means he isn’t in fact eating enough hay.

You can’t gauge hay intake by eye so even if a piggy appears to be eating hay there is a chance that when poorly they are not in fact eating enough. It makes 75% of their daily food intake.

Any weight loss of 50g or more requires you to step in with syringe feeding so if he feels like he has lost weight then he has almost certainly lost a potentially significant amount.

Please weigh him daily and step in and support feed him. He would need a minimum of 60ml each day. The aim is syringe feeding is to stop further weight loss each day. Regaining lost weight takes considerably longer and won’t happen until he is fully recovered and back to eating hay properly for himself.

Is he on painkillers?
Has a post op check been booked in?

Please read the guides below

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome

Any illness and post-op weight loss requires your feeding support, which needs to replace the over three quarters of hay/grass fibre which make the bulk of the food intake and which you cannot control by eye. You need your daily weig-in first thing in the morning for best day to dy comparison to compute the level and the number of support feeds you need to give. Your post-op home care is in many ways as crucial as the vet care and can make all the difference in terms of recovery; especially where a piggy struggles post-op.

Here is more practical post-op care advice: Tips For Post-operative Care
Here is our comprehensive support feeding guide which addresses all the little and large questions that come up with practicl tips, pictures and videos: All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

The instant disappearance from the huge pain of a bladder stone is generally a big boost but your boy still needs to recover and heal. The blood drops could be a sign of bladder trauma - the reaction from the damaged bladder walls into which the stone has been banging and scratching into with every single pee. Please speak to your vet about; he may need some analgesics and an antibiotic (in order to prevent a bacterial cystitis) for that kind of post-bladder op complication. It is not normal and should be vet checked to ensure that it is really that.

All the best.