That's what my guinea pig, Snowbie, was asking himself on Tuesday.
Mike noticed he was randomly squealing while trying to go to the bathroom and was refusing to eat his veggies which he loves so much. I took him to Blum Hospital (which is the only animal clinic in Lakeview, so you can imagine the wait time) and they diagnosed him with a lodged stone in his urethra...ouch (see xray/pic). He was probably in pain for a while, but masking it. In the wild, any sign of illness is a sign of weakness which equals being abandoned or seen as prey. When the stone was impeding urination, that is when the little guy decided enough is enough and squealed in horrible pain. The cause of his pain was due to not being able to urinate, a full bladder, and the obvious huge stone. If anyone has ever passed a kidney stone, you know what I'm talking about. Just by looking at the size of his, compared to the rest of his body, one can only imagine his suffering.
At Blum, they gave him some painkillers, antibiotics, and drained out his bladder twice. I syringe-fed him last night, and he seemed to be a lot perkier. I was referred to another vet for the surgery, which I saw this morning in Lincoln Square. They performed surgery on the little guy (cut into his bladder) and were able to remove the stone after pushing it down into his bladder by inserting a catheter into his urethra..(how many of you guys just flinched?!) I am so glad that they didn’t have to cut his urethra. This would have been much more invasive, require a longer recovery time, could cause a lot more problems in the future, and equal a lot more $. According to the doc, bladder stones are very common in boars and no one seems to know why. It could be hereditary, diet, etc. I will be getting the stone analyzed to see if there is something we can do, as far as changing his diet.
I called at 2 and they told me he was just waking up and that he was doing well and that they would call me tonight for the full run-down. He might have to stay over the weekend, depending on his recovery. He's still not completely out of the woods yet...they have to make sure he can urinate and eat on his own. It’s still costing us quite a bit, but how can we put a price on a little life we love so much? That’s what credit cards are for, right? Any animal owner/lover will understand.

Before any of this went down, we decided that he'd be our last little 'pet' pet for a while...until we could get our finances straightened out, move out of our apt, etc. so we are really hoping for the best!! He's 3 1/2 and some piggies have been known to live up to 8 years.

If you could send Snowbie some healings, he would much appreciate it..and us too!

He thanks you in advance for all the good healing vibes you'll be sending his way!


Love you mucho,
Kat n Mike