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Any additional advice please?

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Gig

Gig

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My 4 and a half year old boar very suddenly developed what appears to be a severe bladder problem. He had obvious blood on his bedding and was squealing in obvious agony on peeing and pooing. He was eating ok though and was perky in between attempts to go to the loo. A visit to the vets and an injection of Baytril followed by an injection of painkiller later, he is very, very unwell. He is completely off his food and is just curled up in a ball feeling very obviously grim.
I have heard some pigs react badly to Baytril, but she said it's essential to get on top of his infection. I am syringe feeding him soggy pellets and probiotic bottled water, but am not able to get enough into him to be of any real benefit. Do I just keep going and hope he pulls through or are there any other realistic alternatives for him?
Also, he has dog metacam. Can I just check please what is the right dose of this as it's normally the feline variety seen on here. He's been prescribed 0.13ml once daily?
Many thanks in advance
 
Your Guinea Pig needs Xrayed or scanned it's very possible he has a stone.

Has your Guinea Pig had Baytril before, non of my Guinea pig's have ever had a bad reaction to Baytril, if your Guinea Pig is not eating begin syringe feeding but if you can get a vet to do an Xray - I would do today if possible you need to make sure no stones are present as they can block his urethrae.

Septrin is normally better for a Guinea Pig's gut and is preferred to combat UTI's.

I would advise giving some probiotics an hour after his baytril.

Hand feeding advice.

http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

Good Luck x.
 
Did the vet give you more Baytril to take home with you too? I have never heard of it being injected before. I syringe fed it to my pig, twice daily - so (and I may be completely wrong here) one injection doesn't sound to me like enough to clear an infection?
I agree with Flintstones that an x-ray is probably a good idea, if you don't see any improvement soon though. I really do sympathise as I have just been through all this with my pig - he had x-rays that didn't show anything, and his infection has finally cleared up after being on Septrim for 2 weeks (the Baytril didn't help - he was on that for 10 days before we switched to Septrim). I was also prescribed the dog version of Metacam - 0.2ml every 24 hours, so your dose sounds similar.
 
I agree that the next step should definitely be to check for bladder stone(s) as a matter of urgency, via xray/scan, and then go from there. What you've described could just be a very bad UTI or even something else but it also sounds like classic symptoms of stones and, as Flintstones said, a sudden downturn could indicate that a stone has got lodged and can't be passed without intervention. I would xray as soon as possible because if there are any stones which are too large to pass and require an operation to remove, the sooner this is the done, the better the chances are.

In the meantime you're right to be giving a probiotic to combat the harsh effect of the Baytril. It's true that some pigs have a severe reaction to Baytril but I believe this is very rare and I'm not sure what the symptoms would be.

I've never heard of people using probiotic water though...do you mean that you're adding a probiotic to some water or does the water come with it already added?

Re Metacam. As I understand it, the dosage you've been prescribed seems low. Is your piggy unusually small for his age? According to the following link (to a post from this forum), the usual adult piggy dosage of dog strength Metacam is somewhere between 0.1ml and 0.2ml twice daily but in very acute cases can temporarily be prescribed up to a maximum of 0.3ml twice daily
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=845496&postcount=16

Aside from the blood and pain, is your piggy still peeing and pooing normally? As you know, it's vital to ensure that he eats and drinks enough (as long as he is still able to poo and pee) to keep his gut moving and stop him getting dehydrated.

Are you confident that your Vet is very knowledgeable and experienced with guineas? If you're thinking of getting a 2nd opinion then perhaps one of us can recommend a piggy savvy vet nearby if you let us know roughly which area you're in. Just a thought.

Good luck with everything. Please keep us updated x
 
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Thanks for all your replies. To try to answer a few queries:
Yes, he's on a course of baytril - my other pigs have been on it on occasion without any issues.
Unfortunately the vet injected him before I even saw what she was doing, otherwise I would have declined the injection and told her I would syringe it to him :-/
The practice as a whole is the best I've found so far after much research, but I wasn't very happy with the particular vet I saw yesterday. I'll be seeing another going back.
I had a piggy on 100% syringe feeding thru dental issues, so am used to that side of things and know the importance of it. Unfortunately Pinny is so sick he's pretty much incapable of swallowing. I'm keeping at it, but I have to say I don't think he's going to make it. He's still weeing, but barely pooing as I simply can't get enough into him
Re the probiotic water - yes, I added some to the water I'm syringeing to him.
I've only ever seen a pig this sick in the hours immediately prior to death. I feel so guilty trying to force more into him...
I completely understand the thoughts re a stone, but I would give him a zero chance of pulling through if he has surgery in his current condition - maybe that would actually be worth a thought.... at least if he dies on the table he hasn't suffered a bungled pts job :(
 
He is probably going into gut Stasis he needs a vet NOW.

It's amazing what Guinea Pig's can come back from, given the correct intervention!

Good Luck x
 
I'm no expert but I agree that he sounds gravely ill. The fact that he is having so much trouble swallowing is a very worrying sign and I assume that you must be afraid of aspiration/choking if you try and syringe feed too much but obviously without it his body will shut down very quickly. I agree that surgery would carry tremendous risks in his present condition but I'm afraid I don't know what else to suggest apart from calling the emergency Vet urgently. I would definitely go to see a Vet today.

I'm so sorry that Pinny is so poorly and just hope that something can be done to help him x
 
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The fact that he is barely poo'ing means his guts are slowly down a gut stimulant would help.
 
missy said:
Re Metacam. As I understand it, the dosage you've been prescribed seems low. Is your piggy unusually small for his age? According to the following link (to a post from this forum), the usual adult piggy dosage of dog strength Metacam is somewhere between 0.1ml and 0.2ml twice daily but in very acute cases can temporarily be prescribed up to a maximum of 0.3ml twice daily
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=845496&postcount=16
Click to expand...

Thanks Missy - I'm glad someone corrected me on the metacam dosage - good for me to know in future too. Much appreciated.
 
Thank you everyone for your advice and good wishes. I had him to the emergency vet who advised that he be PTS. I had to agree it was the best thing for him.
Thankfully, she agreed to give him gas first but said that it would be done in the back and health & safety issues meany we couldn't be present. After the horror stories on here I'm afraid I pushed it, and thankfully she was lovely and understanding and took us through so I could be sure he went as easily as possible.

The end of an era :(
 
BIG HUG

I am so sorry for what you went through. I hope that you are OK?

It is always so gutting when something major is going wrong and you feel like you are stumbling three steps behind and desperately try to find out what is going on in the very little time you've got.
 
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Huge Hugs To You

Big hug to you from all of us

x
 
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