Hi!
Is the urine clear or red when it comes out of the body?
If it is clear and dries a really intense rusty colour in contact with the air (oxidisation), you are dealing with a bacterial problem in the bladder. These bacteria are always present, but are normally kept under control by a fully working immune system. They can in some cases flourish in the wake of bladder problems with protracted use of antibiotics/lowere immune system.
If the urine is red when it leaves the body, you are likely dealing with either bladder stones/sludge or a cystitis (inflammation, not infection of the bladder walls). If the latter does not respond well to antibiotics and keeps coming back, you are talking about interstitial cystitis (IC). At the moment, it can only be diagnosed by eliminating all the other bladder problems that cause the same symptoms (UTI, stones/sludge, one-off cystitis); it is not yet all much researched. We cannot cure IC at the moment, only manage it until it goes away on its own after 2-3 years or so (I have some IC survivors). It usually reacts better to anti-inflammatories/painkillers like metacam during its acute phases.
If your piggy hasn't had one yet, I would recommend an x-ray to exclude stones/sludge.
If your piggy is getting diagnosed with IC, these are the things you can do:
- Giving glucosamine either as human vegetarian or vegan glucosamine from a health shop or as a glucosamine based cat food supplement (they are the other species prone to bladder problems) like cystease or cystaid can help support the natural glucosamine coating of the bladder wall surface.
- Keep your piggy on a low calcium diet with filtered water and avoid what some people consider trigger IC foods like carrots, tomatoes or even lots of fresh grass. Some members may advise you on a restricted, but nutritionally balanced long term diet.
@helen105281
- Some people have reported that giving barley water (the viscous water that results when you cook pearl barley for 20-40 minutes in some water and then strain out the barley) can help the bladder in the longer term, but we have no sustained evidence of that yet in connection with IC, either. If necessary, adjust the viscosity with adding a little bit more water to make it syringeable, as much as your piggy will take.
