Stones Stone stuck in urethra. Piggy in hospital. Need some information

[bpatters]

I've done it several times. There's plenty of room to do it. You pinch the skin above their shoulder blades and insert the needle in the "tent" formed by the skin. They should show you how to do it.

Have you tried unflavored Pedialyte with her? Most pigs love it, and will happily take it from a syringe.

 

[MamaP]

Thanks @bpatters!
Makes me feel better. Yes, I have tried unflavored Pedialyte. I'm lucky I can get 3 ml into her a day. She won't swallow and it drips out. I don't want her to aspirate so I think SQ fluids are the best thing to do. There are two water bottles in the cage and I am wetting the pellets into mush (which they love!) but it's still not enough.

 

[MamaP]

I have an appointment in the morning so she will be fully hydrated come tomorrow and each day following. I am sure she is not gagging. Just not wanting to swallow it. I will give her more tonight. Just hoping she tolerates the fluids well since it would make me feel better to know that I am actually getting the fluids into her.

 

[lunarminx]

When I had to give food and fluids to my pigs, I put it to the side of the mouth and all the way back until the were chewing on the syringe.

 

[MamaP]

Well I successfully gave her fluids at the Vet. The true test will be tomorrow when I have to do it on my own, haha! I also found a way that she is accepting water from the syringe. I am putting slices of cucumber in the water to flavor it. I am taking very small pieces of the cucumber and giving it to her. In between pieces she is accepting the water from the syringe. Yay! Hopefully I can get enough into her that way throughout the day and I won't have to give fluids too long. The Vet Tech said it wasn't "ideal" to continue giving them to her daily but if she's not drinking and I can't get the full amount of fluids into her via syringe I'm not sure what else to do. Thanks everyone for all of your knowledge! It's helped a great deal. We're not out of the woods yet but I feel better.

 

[Agrimony]

I had a boar that had stones twice, once they were surgically removed. I switched him to no pellets/small amounts of KMS pellets and one Oxbow urinary health tab per day. I removed spinach, kale, romaine, parsley from his diet and he has not had another stone in two years. Although it could be recurring you can take steps to hopefully help prevent them. Syringing water until she drinks enough on her own is good too. You are doing a great job, hopefully you have good luck from here on out!