Bonnie - ovarian cyst w/ no symptoms

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puffin

Post   » Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:52 am


A little update on Bonnie. Her droppings have been normal now for over a week - Yay! She is loving the corn husk, and I have also given some frisee and endive, and she is doing fine with those. I have a variety of hays, including some oat, orchard, second and third cut timothys. The third cut is very popular with all the pigs. I mix it in to the others and they like to go rooting it out. With regards to the critical care, I think she was just tired of it. I gave her a day off from it, and the next day, she was eagerly gobbling it up. Her weight is gradually increasing/stabilizing. She seems to be averaging about 920 grams now. I'm not sure how quickly pigs should put on weight. I feel like the 960 range is a good weight for her, and am so happy she is trending up again!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Nov 29, 2021 8:20 pm


Sounds like all is going well! Always great to hear positive updates!!

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:54 pm


Thanks for posting a follow up, I’m so glad she’s doing well.

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puffin

Post   » Mon Dec 06, 2021 12:14 pm


Well, I was premature in my optimism. We had a squishy dropping setback last week. I was first attributing it to the escarole. I put her back on hay and pellets and CC, and things normalized, so I reintroduced corn husk, which was ok for two days and now she her droppings are bad again. So back to hay it is. The droppings will fluctuate from being formed to being more cow patty looking (a greenish brown color), and they usually stink. I am thinking that in my zeal to help her weigh increase, I am still offering too many greens, although it seems like such a small amount. I am also wondering if I am introducing them back too fast after they normalize?

It is so perplexing because this was never an issue until one day it just was. Would it be detrimental to her health to eliminate greens altogether if she is getting hay (offering a mix of orchard, second/third cut timothy, oat) and pellets (oxbow garden select)? Or perhaps something every other day? I just feel at a loss for what to do. I've had her checked for sludge/stones. She is a very good drinker and showed no signs of stones so I am hoping pellets are safe for her in that regard.

We have had a fecal float test and she had blood work which showed nothing. Is there anything else we could check?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:07 pm


Maybe for now, eliminate the greens and then try one that never causes problems every other day?

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puffin

Post   » Thu Dec 09, 2021 1:42 pm


Bonnie is recovering from a minor bout of stasis now. After her last squishy dropping episode, we were doing hay and CC. She was leaving very few droppings on Tuesday morning and was lethargic and without an appetite. We went to the vet, who gave her fluids and took an x-ray, showing food in her system and some gas. She was leaving a few droppings (very dry and mucousy). We increased the CC and the dropping floodgates opened yesterday with so much squishy greenish/brown cow patty droppings. These seemed reminicint of her other squishy poos but much worse. Took her back to the vet yesterday afternoon and she really perked up and was nibbling hay and took some pellets. They did a little more CC for her and more sub-q fluids. Her x-rays showed a lot of improvement. She is doing well today nibbling hay and some pellets. The vet thought the droppings that were greenish/brown and very frosting-like looked like the result of CC versus true diarrhea. She is eating her hay and pellets this morning and her droppings look great.

However, her weight is down to 840 from 870 yesterday. I am offering some very thick CC rolled up in my hand - avoiding the more liquid slurry since that seemed to be contributing to the squishy droppings. She isn't terribly interested right now but I'll keep trying. The vet advised that if she eating hay and pellets not to force CC on her and wait a few days to see if her weight stabilized. They said to reintroduce small amounts of greens tomorrow if she was still doing well.

My anxiety and obsession with her weight I'm sure is making things worse, so I am trying to just weigh twice a day now. I know it fluctuates depending on bladder and belly fullness. Thanks for listening. I feel we are stuck in this cycle and I am making things worse but interfering too much for fear of not interfering enough. We had that good week where she did put some weight on after being this low, so I am hoping she will get on an upswing again.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:46 pm


Her "squishy greenish/brown cow patty droppings" may have been cecal feces, the kind she should reingest for valuable nutrition. If so, they would be pretty stinky too.

I hope things improve, for you both.

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puffin

Post   » Thu Dec 09, 2021 9:47 pm


I wondered that too initially. I offered them up to her but she was not interested. There was so much of it too. She’s doing well today. Has been producing nice droppings and eating cecotrophs as well. Her weight was at 850 at the end of the day, so stable. Thank you for your good thoughts!

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puffin

Post   » Tue Dec 21, 2021 4:29 pm


A little update on Bonnie. She had another bought of mild stasis. It seems like her digestive system is out of whack. The good news is that she has been on a fully no veg diet for a week and is maintaining weight. Her droppings were looking better but then all the sudden have become squishy again, although the repercussions are less severe in that they return to normal quicker and she doesn't seem distressed by them. I now have some additional things to determine:
1. She has been chowing down on the oat hay - I am wondering if that is too rich (if that is a thing with hay) for her. She's also enjoying third cut timothy (which I thought I read somewhere could cause looser droppings) and orchard grass. I also offer plenty of 2nd cut timothy. I'm thinking of cutting out the oat first and see if that makes a difference.
2. She has been taking a little CC for weight gain (not a lot, but some). I wonder about there being some ingredient (wheat?) in that that is irritating.
3. She gets 1 Tbs of Oxbow garden select pellets and an oxbow digestive biscuit as a treat. Perhaps too many pellets/treat? Or some ingredient in those that is bugging her.
4. Maybe none of the above and either some other underlying issue TBD or she's just been on a roller coaster of diet woes that it is taking her body awhile to get back in balance.

I will continue observing and tweaking to see if she can stabilize on weight and droppings! I am grateful that this week she is in good spirits and her happy spunky self.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:42 pm


Chew on the oat hay and see if you think it is too sweet. Fresh oat grass is pretty sugary - it depends on what stage the oat hay was harvested if it is sweet or not.

Glad to hear she is in good spirits.

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puffin

Post   » Thu Dec 23, 2021 8:57 am


I tried a piece but can’t really tell! I’ve cut it out entirely now and will see if that has any effect over the next few days.

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puffin

Post   » Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:34 am


We seem to be stable with Bonnie’s droppings. So far my only guess at this point is some of the Oxbow biscuits but I am still perplexed.

However, Bonnie has rapidly gotten weak in both of her hind legs, dragging them and struggling to get around. Her appetite is good and she comes over for treats. The vet has her on metacam to see if that helps (I cannot tell) and suggested we go for CT imaging at a specialist clinic. She thought the ovarian cysts could be pressing on a nerve.

I brought up scurvy and calcium deficiency but she didn’t seem concerned about those. Now that I’m reflecting though, during the past few months when we’ve cut out a lot of foods due to the loose droppings if her C levels got too low. I am going to try increasing C for the week to see if that helps.

I will go out today to find a chewable C. We have drops but those have upset her tummy in past. I did give her probably 50 mg yesterday between drops and food. No noticeable difference except her appetite went up as did her weight.

How quickly would scurvy recovery be noticeable?

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