Piggy Care

[pulisa]

My guinea pig, Mandril, today had emergency surgery to remove a bladder stone. Recovery from surgery is always tough for small furries and I face quite a lot of round the clock syringe feeding in the days ahead....I've done this a lot in the past with my previous guinea pigs and rabbits but things are a lot more overwhelming now as my anxiety seems a lot worse than before and my daughter's care needs are very complex..

BUT I will do as best I can for Mandril. I don't really know why I feel so terrified at the prospect of fitting everything in to my busy days but I do..I think I'm catastrophising already!

[mezzaninedoor]

Do you have anyone at all who can help you with this, just to share the load?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Aw poor Mandril. :hugs: I hope he/she is feeling better soon.

It's always such a worry with pets, it's like having a sick small child, a toddler. Especially tricky with smaller ones too with surgery that must have been quite a worry. Poor Mandril must have been in a lot of pain & distress.

Guinea pigs are so cute. They look so innocent.

You will get through it, your caring nature won't have it any other way. It's probably a build up of the stress, it's a shock. Hopefully it will subside as time passes and you get into routine of the feeding. Try to acknowledge you are caring for Mandril and he/she is loving the attention from you.

[pulisa]

Thank you both. I am going to try to delegate this weekend-it won't be easy for me:D

Ironically, another of my pigs (I have 3 males) has developed bladder stone symptoms today and is to have a scan tomorrow. Both lads are back at the vets first thing tomorrow. Mandril is zonked on heavy painkillers and I've started the syringe feeding- I may need a bit of what he's having tomorrow!:D

This should probably be in the "pets" section so sorry and mods please feel free to move it

[Elen]

So sorry Pulisa, as Terry said its such a worry when they are poorly. I think because they are so vulnerable it gives us a great excuse to beat ourselves up.

Delegation sounds great, hope all goes well with your other piggy.

Are there special diets to help with this problem in guineas, I know you can get them for cats and dogs.

Keep us posted.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's strange how they both have it. What has caused that?

So Mandril is flying around the room at the moment, at least in his head. :biggrin:

Are the painkillers syringe delivered too? I think ours were when our dog had a cyst removed from his belly that he was born with.

Are they pretty easy to feed and medicate through a syringe? I've seen water feeders like that in Pets At Home so is he used to drinking from a tube?

Can your daughter help or is it stressful for her with him being ill? Just thinking how much she loves animals.

[pulisa]

Ironically all my pigs have been on a low calcium diet designed to prevent bladder stones since they were very young-shall I ask for a refund?:D

Good news re Fergus-no stones were found on the ultrasound. It may be a case of interstitial cystitis (irritated bladder-no infection). He is often dominated by his cagemate so could be a stress thing.

Syringe feeding is challenging and messy, Terry, but very necessary to prevent complete gut stasis which happens following surgery when the animals can shut up shop re eating. There is this special small animal powder recovery food which you have to make up with boiled water and syringe feed round the clock-Mandril is now producing C-shaped poos which must be interesting to pass! Seeing poos again is great news as his gut is now moving-I have to inject gut motility drugs every 8 hours though. It's a good job my daughter hasn't got her therapy today-it's next Friday so hopefully things will be better by then.

Thanks for all the good wishes-so much appreciated

[MyNameIsTerry]

They always look too cute for bullying behaviour. Funny little noises too.

Glad he is ok. It saves setting up a piggy ward.

C-shaped poos?!!! That's like blowing smoke rings :biggrin:

The routines are always a good thing with pets, we know they are ok and they seem to live for routines...but are happy about it (I want to be a pet!).

[MyNameIsTerry]

How is Mandril?

And how have you coped with it all? Was it a bit of catastrophizing that went once you got into the new routine?

[pulisa]

Mandril has made a full recovery thanks, Terry! It has not been easy and he will need to be syringe fed filtered water for the rest of his life to flush out his bladder and to prevent calcium build-up. I haven't coped with the extra work very well as it's been hard fitting it into my "schedule" but it will challenge my routines. It's more responsibility to ensure that he keeps stone-free but I'm happy to take it on-just won't be having any more guinea pigs for the foreseeable future! I also have to keep his hutch as wee-free as possible to prevent him getting a UTI from sitting in wee so plenty of paper is needed-I'm raiding the local station's stash of free newspapers!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Good news about Mandril. I bet he's a bit happier now? Is he enjoying being fussed by mum so much? :biggrin:

I'm sure you will handle it, despite what you say, you always do. I bet you could show the military a few things about planning!

The government seem to producing a lot of extra free bog roll at the moment so hopefully it can be put to a more useful purpose than they intended it? :winks:

[pulisa]

That's a good idea! :D

I'm not very good when my animals are ill and it makes me wonder whether I'm really cut out for keeping pets whilst everything else is going on at home. I deal with crises outwardly but am all over the place inside. I'll obviously do my very best for Mandril but if he develops another stone quickly then I'll have to have him put to sleep rather than put him through major surgery again. The bladder flushing out is going well and he's weeing plenty-just hope it is doing the trick. Time will tell.

Thanks for your support, Terry