Eye ulcer snd vet visit

[sozansound2]

as long as she eats her 2 servings of smeared veggies a day, i think it should be enough

[sozansound2]

i thought she would get worse when it comes to eating lettuce with critical care but i guess she was hungry this morning and ate them with no problem. also added some powdered acidophilus to the lettuce as well.

her weight before breakfast was 782 grams today. she was 780 grams 2 days ago so i guess the equivalent of 2 syringes of critical care is enough to stabilize her weight. it is less than 24 hours till her operation so she has done super well this past week.

[sozansound2]

not gonna downplay it. i know as the time went by, her pain has slowly increased

[sozansound2]

i have a question. if a guinea gets buprenorphine, are they less likely to eat on their own?

also, should i use metoclopramide a bit after surgery just incase? or wait till she shows signs of not eating as much?

[Lynx]

I posted the post op page, no? If not, here it is:
http://www.guinealynx.info/postop.html

There is excellent info on managing pain.

From what I understand, the issues with buprenorphine are that it is difficult to find the exact right dose. A high dose will knock them out. You want to only manage the pain, not knock them out.

Consult with your vet on the metoclopramide. What you suggest sounds reasonable.

[sozansound2]

so i just got a call from the surgeon and she was able to get the stone out. the bladder looked thick which is usual for a bladder that has a problem. She not only found the stone but found a mass much bigger than the stone in there as well. she gave me the option to send it for biopsy (which is like 300 dollars) to see if it is malignant or benign. she believes that mass was probably the reason the stone formed.

summary:
found mass bigger than stone. should i send it it for biopsy seeing as my guinea is about 6 years old? i don't know if i would have her go into another operation if she grows another big one again.

removed the stone. should i send that in for analysis or it isn't as important?

only have about 3 hours to make my decision.

[Lynx]

If you do not feel it would change whatever treatment you would give anyway, I would not have them analysed. It is likely the stone is calcium carbonate (most common). The mass, I am curious about. Perhaps your vet would do a gross examination of it to look for a nidis (center)?

Ask your vet if treatment would change significantly if the mass was biopsied or stone analysed. Given the location of the mass, I think of irritants causing the growth more than a malignant tumor, for example.

[sozansound2]

that is the thing, i never feed her anything with calcium carbonate before. i only ever used kms at first or oxbow pellets after they removed calcium carbonate.

i will mention this to her and yea, treatment would not change. by the time she would get a big mass and/or stone, she would be much older at that point and don't think it would be a good idea to put her through another operation i feel.

[sozansound2]

so piggy just came home. she ate the leftover veggies i had sent with her when dropping her off (they ask for a veggi bag so when she wakes up they can immediately give them food). i put some flower hay buds and some hard stranded hay and she ate some.

in 2 hours i will prepare her lunch and smear a little les critical care to make sure she eats them with no issues. later i will see if she is willing to drink out of the water bottle (will bring it too her).

i believe the pain meds they injected made her kind of zonked out but at least she shows excitement when she saw the lettuce earlier.

anything you guys find crucial to do? already placed white towels (warmed it up and placed warm water bottle under). she is in her pig hut and she has enough space incase she gets too hot. i did read the post op post as well.

[sozansound2]

they also gave me sulfameth 200 mq/Trimeth 40m as well. is there something i should be aware of using this?

Edit: wait a minute, isn't that another name for bactrim?

[Renonvsparky]

Looks like the surgery went well. I'm glad for that. Looks like you're on top of things with her recovery.

[sozansound2]

just the beginning. she was not having it with any critical care on the lettuce. she ate about 30% of smeared lettuce and decided to just give her the veggies un-smeared and ate about 60% of the veggies in total.

if she starts eating less than that, probably gonna have to force feed. she don't eat hay even doe she smells them.

Edit: i think she is playing around with me or something. i left her bowl with the smeared lettuce and she poked her head out and stared at me after i sent the message and started eating the lettuce. not kidding lmao

something i am surprised is i have not seen blood from the incision yet. gonna be hard to differentiate blood from incisions or blood from urine

[Sef]

Guinea pig (and rabbit) bladder stones are naturally comprised of mainly calcium carbonate. It may not have anything at all to do with diet. Some of us here suggest avoiding the extra calcium carbonate in pellets if the pig is predisposed to stones, just to try to lessen the chances of forming additional stones. Because the majority of stones are calcium carbonate vs. oxalate, in my opinion it's generally not worth the added cost of having them analyzed. Treatment is the same, regardless.

Yes, SMZ is Bactrim.

[sozansound2]

is it normal to see a pig breathe more deeply in post-op?

[Sef]

It can be. There are sometimes lingering effects of the anesthesia. Is she moving around?

[sozansound2]

well, she just got out after i lifted her pig hut, walked to her hay bin, stopped, then walked around her hut to go bite the white towel. she has been biting her towel a bunch. i assume cause of pain or feeling uncomfortable.

i was gonna give her the metacam dose in 2 hours from now since they gave her a metacam injection at the vet so did not want to give it too soon so it can be active overnight

[Lynx]

Read over the postop page again. Some of your questions are answered there.
http://www.guinealynx.info/postop.html

And if you want to learn more about stones, reread this too:
http://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html

[sozansound2]

you mean the assumption she may be in pain cause of biting?

i don't mean to sound ignorant. just been sleep deprived with everything going on (not just my guinea).

[Lynx]

That is one possibility. Just be observant.

[sozansound2]

I'm going to place fleece on top of the towels cause she is biting the towel enough to take the threads off the towel apart.