[Stones] HEALTH: Living with a stone pig]

[mtjaffe at verizon.net]

Would appreciate any feedback on those who have decided not to do surgery on a stone pig.  Lucky has had two stone surgeries in his short life (3 1/2 years). He had one surgery about a year and a half ago and then another one in mid-December of 2006. After being given "a clean bill of health", I began to notice disturbing symptoms again, approximately 8 weeks after his surgery. The vet thought I was nuts when I asked him to take an x-ray (I would have been happy to have been certified neurotic),  but sure enough he had another big stone! I have decided that putting him through a third surgery so soon was not fair to him , particularly since it would likely result in the same scenario.  So the timeline is as follows, the x-ray confirming the new stone was done in early February. Initially, while he was passing what seemed like a lot of blood in his urine he wasn't in a lot of pain so I held off giving him the Metacam that I got from the vet. I also started him on two Shilington (spelling?) tabs a day -- one in the evening and one in the morning. For a couple of weeks in February he seemed "out of it" -- withdrawn and not his usual chipper self, but in the last couple of weeks he has perked up even though he is clearly in pain while peeing and pooping. I have started the Metacam (every 12 hours at the prescribed amount) . The blood in his urine is decidedly less and he is frisky and eating pretty well, though has lost some weight. My thinking is that as long as he is responsive and still shows an interest in his food that I'm not being a bad slave by keeping him on this side of the bridge. I know he hurts every time he goes to the bathroom but otherwise he is doing OK. Any other thoughts or ideas? Merle, slave to Lucky