One of my wethers in surgery at WSU for UC

[Saph]

So cute! What a good patient! 

[Nanno]

What a sweetie. Big horns for 20 months! I love the deep ridges!

[Stringinit]

Its really good to hear he pulled through the surgery. Hopefully he lives a long healthy life.

I had the misfortune of being in your shoes and I opted out of surgical removal of the stones and had decided to put my string leader down. Deecon was 3 yrs old.

Please keep us informed on his health.

Perhaps cumulatively through all of our experiences we can develop a strategy to prevent UC.

[Nanno]

How's your fella doing? Did you find a lab to analyze the stones?

[CMGifford]

They sedated him Wednesday and tried to do contrast imaging but couldn't get the dye to pass from either direction in the upper portion of the urethra so that pretty much tells them he is blocked in that location.

Second surgery is scheduled for Tuesday morning to use endoscopy to try to go in and pull the stone out through the bladder. They are consulting with their small animal specialists to put together the right sized instruments and come up with a solid game plan to have the best chance at successfully removing the stones without having to do a more invasive surgery. He is doing well, eating really good, taking his meds (they have discovered he'll take them in marshmallows now that he has caught on to their fig newton surprises). He is not drinking well at all so they are giving him Gatorade/water via syringe but they are keeping him well hydrated so he is ready to go into surgery. He loves his morning and evening walks and I think the staff is getting a little education on what we all know...that goats are amazing animals with distinct personalities that can be very sweet and loveable.

Hoping Tuesday's surgery is successful and we can get him home soon!

[CMGifford]

How's your fella doing? Did you find a lab to analyze the stones?

I just posted on his status.  He's doing okay but still blocked.  Hopefully they will get that cleared up on Tuesday. 
The stones were sent to University of Minnesota.  They are a little bit delayed but they are still taking and analyzing stones so hopefully we will know for sure within another week or so.  The vets are pretty sure they are calcium carbonate stones.

[Nanno]

I'm so sorry it wasn't a straightforward outcome from the get-go. I hope the second surgery goes well. I've had the same experience with vets who have worked with my goats--they are just amazed that goats are so smart and personable. People don't think of "livestock" animals as capable of being just as intelligent and human-oriented as the ones we keep for pets.

I started giving each of my boys a magnesium gummy every morning. They love them! And if it's true that magnesium keeps calcium in suspension so it can't form bladder stones, that is cheap and easy prevention! I read up on it and it's very difficult to overdose magnesium. Apparently they just pee out the excess without it affecting other organs--very similar to Vitamin B in that regard.

[Charlie Horse]

Very interesting about the gummies. Hmmmmmmmmm.......
Time to visit Amazon

[CMGifford]

I thought I would update this thread with the latest information regarding Journey's bout with UC. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving they did another endoscopy and were able to flush fluid both directions from his bladder through the urethra and from urethra to his bladder and were able to "touch" the endoscope and some other piece of equipment so they were confident there was no more blockage. They also scoped his bladder again and found inflammation but no more stones.

We picked him up the next day (Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day) and brought him home for 2 weeks. They left the cystotomy tube in his bladder attached to his stomach with urine draining out the tube so that his urethra could continue to heal. We gave Meloxicam once a day and an over the counter (human) drug Azo (I believe it is commonly called) that is given for urinary tract pain 3 times a day 6:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. This Azo med must taste horrible (bitter) because he got to the point where he could smell or taste it in EVERY treat we tried to hide it in. I finally just had to open his mouth, push it way back with my fingers, and follow it quickly with a piece of dried mango or honey roasted peanut. He was really quite good about taking it this way and it was easier than having to deal with a tiny pill that starts to dissolve as soon as it gets slightly moist and it stains everything including human fingers/hands.

So we kept him isolated in his own shelter and his 7 buddies kept him company through the gate and he even got to the point where he would start sparring matches through the gate. I didn't really appreciate that and a few welds were broken but the gate and the goats all survived quite well.

Yesterday we took him back to WSU and got him there in time for them to do another planned endoscopy of his bladder and flushing of fluid through the urethra. Everything went great! They found no more stones and fluid flowed through the bladder and urethra. They clamped the cystotomy tube off today and he was urinating out his penis. It was not a stream but dribbled out enough that they still think everything is clear and he just needs some time to re-strengthen his bladder muscles which have atrophied due to lack of use for the past 4 weeks.
They will clamp the cystotomy tube again in the morning and leave it until they go home at night as he builds those muscles back up and starts peeing a good stream. The plan is to bring him home on Saturday (still with the cystotomy tube in place in case of an emergency unexpected blockage). After another 10-14 days we should be able to take him to have the tube removed by a local vet and hopefully this will be the end of it.

[Nanno]

Thanks for the update. I hope Journey gets over this hurdle and never looks back!