Fasting for 12 hours before surgery?

Post Reply
MarlowePieper11

Post   » Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:25 am


So the maddening thing is that he's not actually making much noise when he's eliminating now! It was at its very worst when we came home from his first vet appointment after they had done his X-rays oh, but they did mention they'd manipulated his body around a lot to get those pictures so maybe he was not feeling well in general. That was last Friday. this is weird but he actually peed on me while he was in a deep sleep and I didn't mind it at all because, 1- I was glad he was still urinating and able to, 2- even though he did it in his sleep, it didn't wake him up or cause him any pain. I am glad just to go on Friday to this second doctor to get another opinion on what to do. Best case scenario would be that he passes this Stone but 5 mm to me seems impossible. The pricing is for everything, not just the procedure. It's for the fluids, and they keep him overnight.
Just taking a look at the estimate again it includes all the injections, presumably x-rays that they'll do after the operation, anesthesia, the catheter, all fluids.
"Aerobic culture and Mic with staph" is $192-no idea what that is.
Also, the bladder stone analysis is $110-do I need to do that?

MarlowePieper11

Post   » Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:53 am


Nevermind I take back what I just said oh, I put him back in his cage after snuggles this morning and he was squeaking while he was defecating. My poor little guy.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:39 am


Watch for incontinence, too.
https://www.guinealynx.info/urine_scald.html

Has any vet provided you with pain killers, like meloxicam?

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:44 am


I'd skip the analysis. Most (not all, but the majority) of stones in guinea pigs are comprised of calcium carbonate.

MarlowePieper11

Post   » Thu Jan 09, 2020 7:45 am


No, no pain killers, but I don't actually think he needs them. The pain is minimal now and he is absolutely normal after urinating. He's zooming around his cage as I write this.

MarlowePieper11

Post   » Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:23 pm


Finley has his surgery scheduled for this Tuesday. I emailed then asking for an x-ray before they take him into surgery to be certain he didn't pass this stone-improbable as it may be. He has NO symptoms right now to speak of. The surgery is so scary 😬. Anyways we take him in Tuesday. She also told me I need to change his diet, she said I give him too many veggies so to cut back on that. I also let him graze clover in the yard in summer so I'll stop that-I had no idea that was bad for him. After the surgery he'll be on painkillers and antibiotics.

She also mentioned 2 medications to put him on, seemingly, for the rest of his life? One is to change the pH of his urine, she said it will change it very slightly but may help to prevent future stones. I can remember the other! I'm a bit way to put him on those as he is so young. Especially given that I can change his diet pretty easily.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:23 pm


I take it you have read https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html ? It has some valuable information. Sef posted it earlier.

MarlowePieper11

Post   » Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:31 pm


I have thanks

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Mon Jan 13, 2020 7:09 am


She also told me I need to change his diet, she said I give him too many veggies so to cut back on that.
Grumble. I'd say it's generally wise to cut back on higher calcium vegetables, but I wouldn't necessarily say that cutting back on all veggies will do anything either way. If anything, the moisture in lettuces (avoid romaine) and other "watery" veggies can help keep the bladder flushed.

I think an x-ray is always a good idea before bladder removal surgery, just so the vet can 1) verify that the stone is still there; and 2) locate the stone and see if more may have formed since the last set of images.

Good luck tomorrow -- keep us posted.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jan 13, 2020 8:28 am


Ditto Sef on all counts. Consider also fresh clean grass, introduced slowly. I don't think grass has much vitamin C in it (don't know why) so some fresh vegs would still be a good source of it.

MarlowePieper11

Post   » Mon Jan 13, 2020 12:03 pm


I was giving him 1/4 slice of green, orange and red bell peppers 2x a day, she said to cut back to 1 salad sized slice of 1 of those colors once a day. I need to but more least greens for him, and she also recommended herbs, like mint, basil and dill which I'll buy and test out. He is not an overweight pig at all. I'd say he's not even a normal male size. He's just a little guy! And he wouldn't always finish all three peppers but he did a pretty good job and getting through them. I was giving him a full carrot maybe every other day or so but I've cut back to a tiny slice of carrot every couple of days. she was pretty angry that first day when I cut back on his veggies but he has gotten used to it even just a couple days into and has been eating more hay which is good. I also unknowingly used to we have unlimited amounts of hay and pellets out, but now have cut back to 1/8 of a cup of pellets a day. Hoping all these changes will be helpful.

The vet emailed me back today saying that it's normal procedure for them to x-ray him before the surgery. She said that last week, in fact, it turns out that one pig had passed the stoned and didn't need the surgery. I'm really hoping that's the case for us! But tomorrow we'll know.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Jan 13, 2020 2:33 pm


Almost all herbs are high in calcium.

Post Reply