Princess - Bladder Sludge and UTI
Princess must love our vet. She's always going back to see him.
Since our trip to NYC in November, she was slowly losing weight. One-half ounce every week. She also started rumbling a bit more and even occasionally tried to mount Snuggles, her neutered boar friend. She's always been the boss, a very dominant little sow. But the weight loss prompted me to see the vet on Feb. 12th. She dropped from 2lbs. 7oz. to 2lbs. 3oz. in a 10-week period.
She was examined and palpated. We were originally thinking teeth, but she settled down with her buddy Marilyn and started eating some KM's bluegrass we took with us for the trip. She ate it without any problems. She never labored to eat at all.
So, with all the symptoms she did display, we thought it was ovarian cysts. I asked Dr. Rupp why cysts would cause a slow loss of weight. He explained that the cysts might be pressing up against the stomach or intestine, causing Princess to feel fuller sooner. I did recall that Princess would eat for short periods, taking frequent breaks or just being first to leave the veggie table.
Since doing an ultrasound meant bringing a tech in, and costing $150, Dr. Rupp decided to use two hCG injections as a diagnostic tool (only $32), since Princess, though skinnier, was otherwise energetic and bossy. The hCG injections would shrink the cysts, back up his diagnosis, and allow Princess to eat better and gain some weight prior to an eventual spay.
The hCG worked almost immediately. The humping and rumbling stopped after a day or two and the weight loss stopped, and she started gaining. On Feb. 12th, she was weighed in at 968 grams, tonight she was 1,017 grams.
We have scheduled her spay for March 15th. The Ides of March.
We brought Marilyn as company for both visits. She seems to really like Dr. Rupp. She also peed on me, and we discovered crystals on my dark shirt. Another sludge pig.
Since our trip to NYC in November, she was slowly losing weight. One-half ounce every week. She also started rumbling a bit more and even occasionally tried to mount Snuggles, her neutered boar friend. She's always been the boss, a very dominant little sow. But the weight loss prompted me to see the vet on Feb. 12th. She dropped from 2lbs. 7oz. to 2lbs. 3oz. in a 10-week period.
She was examined and palpated. We were originally thinking teeth, but she settled down with her buddy Marilyn and started eating some KM's bluegrass we took with us for the trip. She ate it without any problems. She never labored to eat at all.
So, with all the symptoms she did display, we thought it was ovarian cysts. I asked Dr. Rupp why cysts would cause a slow loss of weight. He explained that the cysts might be pressing up against the stomach or intestine, causing Princess to feel fuller sooner. I did recall that Princess would eat for short periods, taking frequent breaks or just being first to leave the veggie table.
Since doing an ultrasound meant bringing a tech in, and costing $150, Dr. Rupp decided to use two hCG injections as a diagnostic tool (only $32), since Princess, though skinnier, was otherwise energetic and bossy. The hCG injections would shrink the cysts, back up his diagnosis, and allow Princess to eat better and gain some weight prior to an eventual spay.
The hCG worked almost immediately. The humping and rumbling stopped after a day or two and the weight loss stopped, and she started gaining. On Feb. 12th, she was weighed in at 968 grams, tonight she was 1,017 grams.
We have scheduled her spay for March 15th. The Ides of March.
We brought Marilyn as company for both visits. She seems to really like Dr. Rupp. She also peed on me, and we discovered crystals on my dark shirt. Another sludge pig.
Princess doesn't love our vet anymore. Today, we found out he moved to Maryland, just one week before the appointment.
Luckily, I have a good backup vet, Dr. Kelleher. If you remember, she performed the neuter on Snuggles and Amee's spay. We got an appointment for the very same day.
Luckily, I have a good backup vet, Dr. Kelleher. If you remember, she performed the neuter on Snuggles and Amee's spay. We got an appointment for the very same day.
Princess is at the vet right now for her spay. She's in good hands and we pick her up this evening. She will be coming home with Metacam (we asked for it by name). BoC cried before she was taken in for admitting.
We already have the hospital cage set up. It's a small pet store cage, but is perfectly sized for a recovering smallish sow.
Dr. Kelleher usually keeps the spay patients overnight, but she is confident in our experience to pick her up tonight. Princess is her first surgery of the afternoon.
She was quite impressed with the KM's bluegrass that we brought for Princess. She'll probably be ordering some shortly.
Updates as soon as we know anything.
We already have the hospital cage set up. It's a small pet store cage, but is perfectly sized for a recovering smallish sow.
Dr. Kelleher usually keeps the spay patients overnight, but she is confident in our experience to pick her up tonight. Princess is her first surgery of the afternoon.
She was quite impressed with the KM's bluegrass that we brought for Princess. She'll probably be ordering some shortly.
Updates as soon as we know anything.