Post by Orlaith on Oct 7, 2013 14:54:17 GMT
My oldest piggy, Xander is five and a half, so not a young piggy by any means, but he has been in great form, eating away, etc. The only real problem he's had is that the past two weeks or so he has been a little impacted so my wife and I have been helping clear him out every evening.
I noticed he had a hard lump just above his genital area and he cried when I touched it, so we brought him to the vet. We were thinking it could be a mass of faeces that was stuck due to the impaction, or even a tumour.
Imagine our surprise when the vet told us he was actually passing a giant bladder stone! The vet helped him get it out and it was at least the size of a kidney bean if not bigger. It wasn't a solid stone, more of a really hard paste. The vet says he has never seen anything like it in his twenty-year career!
Apart from when I discovered the lump and when it was been eased out, Xander didn't cry or anything. He was acting completely normal apart from the impaction. It just goes to show how good guinea pigs are at hiding health problems and how important it is to give them a little check-up once in a while.
I noticed he had a hard lump just above his genital area and he cried when I touched it, so we brought him to the vet. We were thinking it could be a mass of faeces that was stuck due to the impaction, or even a tumour.
Imagine our surprise when the vet told us he was actually passing a giant bladder stone! The vet helped him get it out and it was at least the size of a kidney bean if not bigger. It wasn't a solid stone, more of a really hard paste. The vet says he has never seen anything like it in his twenty-year career!
Apart from when I discovered the lump and when it was been eased out, Xander didn't cry or anything. He was acting completely normal apart from the impaction. It just goes to show how good guinea pigs are at hiding health problems and how important it is to give them a little check-up once in a while.
