Chinchilla w/ a Bladder Stone

[hughesSMFD]

I had to take one of my chins :chin2: to the emergency room last night. Turns out he has a bladder stone. :cry4: (see xray pic)

The vet says the only thing that can be done for him is surgery. She said that the stone is a little too big for him to pass. But to be honest there is no way I can afford the procedure.

So, short of putting him to sleep, I thought I would see if anyone from C&H has had experience with bladder stones, and (more importantly) if there was any other ways to deal with them. Maybe something he can take to dissolve or breakdown the stone???

Anyways, if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[RDZCRanch]

Once a bladderstone has formed, the only way to remove it if the animal cannot pass it safely is to remove it surgically. There is no "breaking it down".

Will your vet work out payments? If not, search around for another vet that can do the procedure and will take payments.

 

[AZChins]

He probably does need surgery. It wouldn't be a giant, huge deal, but this type of surgery can take a lot out of a chin. And, it's expensive. I've had successful bladder surgeries before and not so successful ones. You need a very good vet with very good skills in operating on small animals.

If you just can't do the surgery at all, I would recommend putting him down. This is a very painful thing for a chin to go through. The first time I dealt with a bladderstone in a chin was with a rescue. The surgery and after care was over $1000, I sold some jewelry that my grandmother "left" me to help pay for it.

I hope that he'll be alright. I feel so bad for your little chinchilla. That's not a tiny stone...it is possible that the chin could start to pass it, but it would probably tear up his urethra if it did start to come out on its own.

 

[menagerie]

The only solution is to have the bladder stone surgically removed. There is nothing that will dissolve it internally.

 

[Snickers]

Surgery is the only way. I have some x-rays of one of my chins that had a bladder stone but my husband can't download it from vetpacs lite 2006 for me to post on here. Bubba's stone is larger than yours and in the pelvic area. My vet was off for 2 mths so we ended seeing 3 different vets. I was not happy with the 1st two. The 3rd vet is where my vet used to work at. This vet she can get to the stone. I said do what you have to do to get it out. She called that afternoon and said she couldn't get to it. She called my vet and a specialist. They both said in the area it's in it is very difficult to get to. She said she will try again that afternoon. I told her if you can't get to it to put him down. She ended putting him down.

 

[hughesSMFD]

Does anyone know of any other places I could get $$$ for the procedure? Care Credit closed my origional account, due to inactivity, and won't open a new one for me.

 

[RDZCRanch]

You can use regular credit cards and just spread out the charge amongst cards. You should also just have a long talk with your vet about payments and ask to sign a contract saying you will pay so much each month. You need to get the surgery done ASAP or it will be too late...

 

[hughesSMFD]

It was going to get done today, but sadly Beanie passed early this morning. :cry4:
Thank you all for your advice and assistance.

Thread can be closed/locked. Thank You.

 

[Claire D]

I am very sorry for your loss.

 

[Megan]

I sold a chin a few years back, he ended up developing a bladder stone. His owners were one of the best people I've sold chins to (they have 2 other chins that are from me as well), and they tried everything for this little guy. He had I think 4 different surgeries to remove stones, they put him on a holistic diet, followed up with different vets for more opinions, and literally tried EVERYTHING. The ended up having to put him down a few days ago.

Short of doing the surgery, and HOPING he doesn't develop anymore, sadly there isn't anything else you can do.

EDIT: Just saw he passed away. I am sorry for your loss