recurring kidney stones...possibly surgery..new meds

[crazychic]

Hi everyone! This could be a bit lengthy but I am confused about medical advice and worried. My guinea pig Skittles had kidney/bladder stones twice in the past and was given both Baytril and Benebac gel which caused the bleeding in his urine to stop. Yesterday he started getting blood in his urine again but I recently moved to KY so I had to take him to a new vet who gave him only Baytril and said they had never heard of the Benebac gel. The new vet also said that guinea pigs will not pass the stones and the bleeding will only continue to recoccur unless he has surgery. My previous vet said typically if the bleeding stops it is because he has passed the stone and surgery on pigs can be fatal and should only be used for emergencies. Also, the old vet felt that the Benebac gel was very important. I am very confused here as to what to do and am looking for any advice, especially from those who have dealt with these stones before. Thank you ahead of time.

[Toadies]

Can you get in touch with your old vet's office and have them fax your piggy's records to your new vet? Or at least call the new vet? There is no reason for them to refuse to fax the records for you.

[Jennicat]

Male pigs typically do not pass stones because of how narrow their urethra is. They can actually become stuck, block the urine flow, and kill your guinea pig. So male pigs mostly require surgery to remove bladder stones.

Your pig may have been lucky and had very small stones which he did manage to pass, or he may have had a larger stone which did not move. The antibiotics may have helped his inflamed bladder heal temporarily until the stone started banging around inside of him again and tearing up the tissue.

I just had a pig with bladder stones have to have them removed. She was a girl, but had a TON of bladder stones. With antibiotics the bleeding stopped, but she literally had dozens of small stones and several big ones in her bladder. It was quite painful for her.

Can surgery on pigs be fatal? Yes. Surgery on anything can be fatal, but with an experienced surgeon I believe the general consensus is that this is on par (invasiveness-wise) as a spay on a female pig, which many vets do with confidence these days.

The recovery period for stone removal is longer than other surgeries I've seen, so be prepared to handfeed aggressively to keep weight up.

Guinealynx has an excellent section on stones, and their removal:
Guinea Lynx :: Bladder Stones