[Gpdd] HEALTH: Fireball's bladder stone and surgery

[Cindy]

Jocelyn, Fireball the Fat, Little John, and Flashbang Fatbottom, we are very sorry to hear that Fireball has a bladder stone.  As for what to feed him before surgery, we would certainly recommend that you keep up with the Critical Care, although don't feed it within two hours of giving his antibiotic; CC has acidophilus in it, which is great for piggie health but can cause an antibiotic to be less effective.  Probably other than that you should just keep up with his regular diet, so that he doesn't have any unexpected changes.  If you want to give him more pellets to try to get his weight up, you could mix them with water and syringe them as you do the CC.  

We also highly recommend that you begin giving Fireball bottled water -- not distilled water but regular bottled water.  We had trouble finding some of the special bottled waters that bladder stone piggies often get, so we just buy regular bottled water at the grocery, and that has been a tremendous help to Friday (who used to have bladder sludge).  

We hadn't heard about using poops from a healthy piggie to help prevent bladder stones, but it couldn't hurt!

Your vet is going to let Fireball eat until an hour or two before surgery, I hope?  Since his surgery is at 2 p.m., it wouldn't be good if he fasted after midnight.

Hope this helps.  We're sure others who know more will offer additional information.

Our best wishes to both you and Fireball.  You will be in our prayers.

Cindy, Tumbleweed, and Friday