# Living with kidney stones, like a champ



## Pfeffernuss (Nov 17, 2010)

My little girl Pfeffer has been living with kidney stones for about 3 months now. She was originally thought to have a uterine tumor and had her uterus removed. After a few rounds of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine, nothing, still some definite stone shadows on her xrays. She's definitely not the active hog she used to be, but doesn't seem to be in pain and is still eating/drinking normally and still weighs the same. She will have blood every few days, sometimes pink, sometimes more red. She gets a vet check up every month, I don't know if the vet will want to try something new or if we will just keep giving her a dose of anti-inflammatory/antibiotics every month or so. She's been on Hills C/D as well. I don't know how long she can live with active stones (and probably by this point some solid kidney disease) but as long as she isn't showing signs of distress/lethargy/pain I won't put her down until I have to.
Has anybody else had to deal with kidney stones or kidney disease? I'm doing all that I can to manage it, I just don't want to make the poor girl miserable, for now I don't think she is. She's about 1.5 years old right now, my feeling is it will be a miracle if she makes it past 2 and through next winter.

Pfeffer's mom.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

I don't have any experince, but just wanted to say I hope she can pull through this. It's good she's got a loving home.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Ditto PJM. It's so sad that she has to deal with health problems so young. I'm glad she has you to take care of her. There is a yahoo group that may be able to offer you extra assistance with health issues, "hedgehog_help". If you're interested you could look it up and join. There are lots of members that have extensive experience with hedgie health problems.


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## Pfeffernuss (Nov 17, 2010)

Thanks for the support!

Thankfully Pfeffer adores her Hills C/D dry food or I don't know what we would have done. The food seems very salty? This could just be the appearance but it is meant to make them drink tons of water after all. I've learned many tricks for syringe feeding, so if anybody ever has questions let me know! I like to change up what I do so she doesn't catch on and stop eagerly biting whatever I've disguised the syringe with. Out of all her medication feedings I've only had to force feed her the syringe twice, so I like to think my tricks haven't failed me yet.

Nancy suggested in PM a different kind of antibiotic, her stones should not still be active after so many rounds of clavomox. I remember when she had her uterus out they gave her an anti-inflammatory shot as well so that might be a little easier then feeding her by syringe every day (I take a small mealworm and curl it around the tip of it, so far her lust for mealies hasn't faltered her temptation to bite the syringe). I made a vet appointment Monday so I'll talk about trying some different medicine. She has the occasional bad day where she won't let me pick her up (she normally never quills up when being picked up), but for the most part she's still the same Pfeffer, just doesn't run on her wheel hardly at all I think, she's probably tired out quite a bit from the stones/ the bleeds. When squeezed in the kidneys she doesn't exhibit signs of pain (somehow  - I'd be curled in a ball shouting).

I'll look into the yahoo group, but it seems like either most hedgies have passed their stones or died from a blockage, and have not really been able to live long enough to manage kidney disease like veterinarians do with dogs and cats, which I guess is what we're doing? The vet wanted me to take her to UW to have the kidney taken out, however a later xray looked suspiciously like a 2nd stone on the other side, and from what i know of humans when both kidneys get diseased when they do with stones, it affects both sides equally so I think that would be a bad idea to take her kidney out, especially if we aren't sure the other doesn't have stones and since she has kidney dilation which does indicate kidney disease.

Yeah, I'm upset that she already had to suffer so young (I suppose I fancied myself as being such a good mom that she'd live to be 5-6 and that she'd see me through law school and be my stress therapy like she is now), even if the vet had caught it earlier and not thought it was the uterus it's still the kind of stone that doesn't really break up....so they may have gotten bigger but it's unlikely they would have dissolved had her first vet gotten to them sooner or anything. Kidney issues at barely over a year old, if her breeder is reading this, he should be ashamed. It wasn't her diet, I was incredibly careful and her stones are formed around bacteria not a food mineral etc, and most kidney issues in hedgies are worsened/genetically vulnerable with poor breeding, according to her new vet. I love her to death though and I'll still never regret picking her out of the litter. I heard from another local girl with a hedgie that he is no longer breeding, good riddance. If you can't do it responsibly, don't do it at all. I've told Nancy about similar inbreeding/over breeding of sick dogs problems that my parents had to face with their golden retrievers they've purchased, (my dog that I raised as a kid battled epilepsy for 10 years so regrettably I'm experienced with chronically ill pets) they now only adopt, I suppose with my next hedgie that's my plan too, if he/she has health issues, I won't feel as angry about somebody like her breeder being at fault for her her pain. But anyway, thank you to you both for your words of support, I'll keep the forum updated and let you all know if anything revolutionary happens like stones passing or if she passes on her own. Seems I'm an expert on both sick dogs and hedgies now too.

Pfeffer and her mom


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Clavamox won't do anything to get rid of or prevent the stones. It is only for treating infection. Clavamox might be easier on her stomach than what she is currently on. I've had many on clavamox with usually none or very little stomach upset. Still waiting to hear about the antibiotic creame.


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

Oh, such a beautiful little girl! I hope she is well soon!


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## Pfeffernuss (Nov 17, 2010)

Nancy said:


> Clavamox won't do anything to get rid of or prevent the stones. It is only for treating infection. Clavamox might be easier on her stomach than what she is currently on. I've had many on clavamox with usually none or very little stomach upset. Still waiting to hear about the antibiotic creame.


Yeah, I mean since the stones are theoretically made around an infection and if they move at all and tear the kidneys/bladder it helps with that infection, but the theory is that the combo of the antibiotic/anti inflam should do something magical (no  ) Clavomox is what she is on (it is amoxocillin), and it does destroy her stomach :S I don't know if a different kind would be better or worse. Sadly it's not like humans and there's no way to give a medication that breaks up her kind of stones...actually i don't even think they break up with meds in humans. The vet told me about a clinic in Chicago that does stone/ultrasound therapy for pets like hospitals do for humans.....however I find myself lacking the 5k to have that done  and its all experimental.


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