  There has been so much talk about stones lately that since we have several new members to the digest (yea!) I thought I would share the experiences Albert & I have had this past year with stones. 
  In Oct. I noticed that Albert seemed to be peeing alot more frequently when he was out for playtime, but the quantities of urine were very small. Just a little puddle every 5-10 minutes. I also noticed that his urine was "sludgy" looking, meaning it was a whitish color & gritty. Then 1 night when he peed, there was a tiny, reddish bit in the urine. I thought perhaps he just had a bladder infection, so I took him to the vets. The vet did an x-ray & there was a stone (BOO!), so we scheduled him for surgery the following week. The day the stone was discovered was a Fri. & so they couldn't do the surgery till the following week. The vet gave us antibiotics (ab's) & Metacam ( a painkiller, anti-inflamatory) & sent us home. The next week I took him in for the surgery in the morning & dropped him off, expecting to pick him up that afternoon. Well, as soon as I got home from work I called & the vet said there were some unexpected complications. The stone had actually formed in the ureter itself & was lodged there. Normally the stones form in the bladder & they can flush them out during the surgery, but they kept flushing the bladder over & over during surgery, but nothing would come out. So as they couldn't leave him under anesthesia too long, they closed him up & decided to do a sonogram, to get a better feeling of where the stone was located. That's when they discovered the stone was lodged in the ureter. The major complication from that, was that if the stone continued to grow, it would block the ureter & back urine up into his kidney & cause the kidney to fail. He said in his 20+ years of dealing with piggies, he had never seen a stone actually form in the ureter like that. So, it just so happened that day that there was a vet from the Penn State veterinary hospital there & my vet consulted with him. They decided to try putting him on a med. called Polycitra-K to try & dissolve the stone. He sent us home with very little hope for Albert's future. 
  So, fast forward 11 days into the future. Albert is not doing well recovering from his surgery at all. He was on the Polycitra-K to dissolve the stone & I was also giving him shilintong, which helps to relax the bladder wall, so they can pass the stone easier. I put him out in his playpen so I could clean his house & I looked over & saw that he had peed. I went over to wipe it up & low & behold, there in the middle of a puddle of urine, laid the stone! I was pretty sure that's what it was, but was so shocked that he had actually passed it, I just couldn't let myself believe what I was seeing! He never even cried or made a peep when he passed it!  I called the vet 1st thing the next morning & they wanted me to bring it out so they could see it. The vet was just shocked. 1st he was shocked that Albert could have even passed it, but for the meds to have worked so fast, he just couldn't believe it. I guess the meds dissolved it enough to dislodge it from the ureter & out it came!  So they did another x-ray & the stone was gone! I don't know if it was the Polycitra alone, or if it was a combination of that & the shilintong at the same time, or what. I also syringed him LOTS of water while he was out for playtime. He will go back in the end of Feb. to see if there is any more stones forming. 
  So what have I learned from all this? Well, 1st off, diet plays a major part in the formation of stones. You go to the pet store figuring that if a food or snack was bad for your piggie, they wouldn't sell it right? Well, I learned that is completely not true!  Alot of the foods are too high in fat & they shouldn't have foods with seeds or nuts & stuff in them. I switched Albert over to ONLY Oxbow pellets & snacks (which you have to do gradually) & I see a huge difference in his appearance, health & behavior. Also you have to limit the number of snacks. I am going to switch him over to Oxbow hay soon too. The other snacks I was giving him said he could have 5-6 biscuits a day! A DAY! I was only giving him 1, but if someone didn't know better & followed those directions, they'd have 1 unhealthy piggie! Also the fruits & veggies you give them can play a big part in stone production. Some veggies are very high in vit.c (which is good!), but also high in calcium, which can cause the formation of stones. Albert's stone was made of calcium carbonate. There are websites that give you the calcium/phosphorus ratio of fruits & veggies (guinealynx?), but I can't recall which ones off hand. Maybe some of the other "stone piggie's" people will remember. Piggies are prone to stones, so it's like a never ending battle.  =(  But, if we all share as much info as we can, maybe eventually we will be able to have more control over it & find a way to keep them from being as deadly to our piggies as they are now. I am very blessed that Albert's story had a happy ending, but unfortunately too many stories do not. =(  Maybe other "stone piggie" people can share their experiences for our newcomer digest members too. Sorry this is soooooooo long! Take care to piggies & their people!

***JAIME***
http://www.piggiepages1.blinkz.com/ 
