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Bladder Sludge, Pain, Blood... Help Please

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WinnieandBear

WinnieandBear

Junior Guinea Pig
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bishops stortford
My two year old Abyssinian Bear has been through a long time of misdiagnoses and problems and finally have concluded she has sludge in her bladder. She is on metacam for cats 0.1ml twice per day and septrin 0.25ml twice per day. I have also been trying half a capsule of Cystease tablets once a day. She is eating and active and lounging around in this warm weather so in between the pain she seems happy. The only thing is it has been over a month since diagnosed and she still has spots of blood in urine and cries now and again when going to the toilet. Me and the vet are not considering a bladder flush at the moment as feel it would be too much for her. She is at a healthy weight. Has anyone got any advice for me?

Today I spoke to the vet who said if her quality of life deteriorates we may have to make a difficult decision. This breaks my heart as she is my best friend. I don't want her to suffer but also want to try my best before taking the last resort decision. Thanks guys any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
I don't tend to use cat Metacam so may have this backwards but is that a low dose? I always thought the dose for cat Metacam was higher due to it being a weaker concentration. If so, you could ask your vet about increasing the dose and see how she does? I always think quality of life over quantity is most important so if your vet says that a higher dose will affect the kidneys I would try to point this out. There is a herbal bladder flush that I know of using a product from Galens Garden which I can give you details on if needed, however, I am not in touch with the person that told me about it or have access to their forum (where the information was) so my information that I have written down could be out of date. It can also only be used if she is not on any heart medication. It did seem to help my Amy though, but she has IC and not sludge.
 
Has your piggy had any xrays? There's the possibility of stones maybe? I sadly lost a very special piggy of mine a couple months ago to a bladder tumour and we unfortunately had to make that difficult decision, so if you need to chat just send me a message.
 
Hello guys, she had an X Ray done a couple of weeks ago which only showed sludge and no stones in the bladder or urethra. I think my vet is hesitant to give a larger dose as she did mention that she would prefer a lower dose if it's over a longer period, but, I agree that to keep her comfortable would be better to give a higher dose. Helen, if you could give me the galens gardens bladder flush details that would be great as I am happy to try anything! She has been lounging out more the last few days but I have a feeling it is from the heat as she has had her legs stretched right out and looks relaxed as opposed to in pain apart from sometimes when she goes to the toilet x
 
PopcornPigs said:
Has your piggy had any xrays? There's the possibility of stones maybe? I sadly lost a very special piggy of mine a couple months ago to a bladder tumour and we unfortunately had to make that difficult decision, so if you need to chat just send me a message.
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Thank you, so sorry to hear you lost your special pig I have also lost one that was very special to me last year (Winnie) and still miss her everyday: Bear is also so special as she is Winnie's sister and has been through so much! Bladder problems are such a pain :(
 
Going to tag @helen105281 so she's see's what you've asked her :)

Could she have a bit of cystitis with her passing blood and squeaking or is it because of the sludge? I know Storm (my son's boar) gets cystits from time to time, he has bladder and kidney stones sadly.
 
It is definitely sludge as the vet said she found lots of crystals in the urine and when we X rayed you could clearly see cloudy appearance in her bladder... Just want to be able to help her without surgery as she isn't on her last legs or anything just hate seeing her in pain xx wonder if I could up the cat metacam dose for a week or so to calm her down again ...
 
I agree with giving a higher dose of metacam to help with pain.My pig Sam has very bad arthritis in his back legs and he's on 0.25ml twice a day and its made such a different to when he was on a lower dose.I know metacam can affect the kidneys but I'd rather he has quality of life even if it means his life might be shorter.I hope you manage to get your girl feeling better soon x
 
@Gem789 thank you for that advice, I am going to put her onto 0.2ml twice a day and see if she improves. To be honest after her extra 1ml earlier she has been more active, whether that is a coincidence I'm not sure! Her quality of life is definitely the most important, 100% agree. Xx
 
WinnieandBear said:
Hello guys, she had an X Ray done a couple of weeks ago which only showed sludge and no stones in the bladder or urethra. I think my vet is hesitant to give a larger dose as she did mention that she would prefer a lower dose if it's over a longer period, but, I agree that to keep her comfortable would be better to give a higher dose. Helen, if you could give me the galens gardens bladder flush details that would be great as I am happy to try anything! She has been lounging out more the last few days but I have a feeling it is from the heat as she has had her legs stretched right out and looks relaxed as opposed to in pain apart from sometimes when she goes to the toilet x
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Will message you in a moment.

Can I ask what veg you feed each day and what brand of pellets too as diet could be affecting things.
 
helen105281 said:
Will message you in a moment.

Can I ask what veg you feed each day and what brand of pellets too as diet could be affecting things.
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She is on Burgess excel with mint pellets and I have tried to cut out vegetables high in calcium and giving bottled water. At the moment the only veg the girls are having is carrot, baby corn, peppers, cucumber and some baby salad leaves but I pick out the spinach. X
 
Have you ever tried a grainless pellet? They can help with any inflammation in the bladder and tend to be full of more natural ingredients than Burgess and the other British brands.

Bunny are the best for bladder issues, though can be a bit tricky to persuade them to eat them:
Bunny GuineaPigDream BASIC | Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

These 2 are good too, though do contain some ingredients that may trigger symptoms, especially if a pig has IC.

Vitakraft Emotion Professional Prebiotic Guinea Pig

JR Farm Grainless Complete Guinea Pig | Free P&P £29+ at zooplus!

Also the veg you feed does contain possible triggers too - mainly the carrot, baby corn and the salad leaves.

The veg that I recommend is detailed in our daily veg guide and forms part of an IC plan put together by the lady I mentioned earlier.

A slice of Red/Green/Orange/Yellow bell or sweet pepper colour
Couple of chunks of Celery
1 chunk Cucumber
Coriander - a couple of sprigs

I know she has made some changes to this recently though, such as removing the celery. They can also have 1 green bean twice a day and a slither of spring greens.
 
helen105281 said:
Have you ever tried a grainless pellet? They can help with any inflammation in the bladder and tend to be full of more natural ingredients than Burgess and the other British brands.

Bunny are the best for bladder issues, though can be a bit tricky to persuade them to eat them:
Bunny GuineaPigDream BASIC | Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

These 2 are good too, though do contain some ingredients that may trigger symptoms, especially if a pig has IC.

Vitakraft Emotion Professional Prebiotic Guinea Pig

JR Farm Grainless Complete Guinea Pig | Free P&P £29+ at zooplus!

Also the veg you feed does contain possible triggers too - mainly the carrot, baby corn and the salad leaves.

The veg that I recommend is detailed in our daily veg guide and forms part of an IC plan put together by the lady I mentioned earlier.

A slice of Red/Green/Orange/Yellow bell or sweet pepper colour
Couple of chunks of Celery
1 chunk Cucumber
Coriander - a couple of sprigs

I know she has made some changes to this recently though, such as removing the celery. They can also have 1 green bean twice a day and a slither of spring greens.
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Thank you, that's actually really helpful. I wasn't aware about the vegetables to that extent. Forgot to add that they have a sprig of mint each most days, not sure whatever that is okay then? I am definitely thinking of changing the pellets as recently read Burgess does contain alfalfa also which has really put me off!
 
I am not sure about mint to be honest.

You will find there is lots of conflicting information about regarding diet, and things some people recommend, others don't etc. But the IC plan and grainless pellets has definitely helped my Amy.
 
I am sorry to hear about your girl. Bladder problems are awful :(

My Emma has recently a few months ago been diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis (IC). This was after bladder stones and sludge were ruled out.

She is taking a full cystease tablet a day and 0.2ml of dog metacam a day which I have permission from my vet to increase if she is having a squeaky episode. I then reduce the dosage back down to 0.2ml.

I too worry about the effect metacam can have on the kidneys but I have had to learn that it's quality of life over quantity of life and my vet doesn't seem too concerned as Emma is only on a small dose and metacam doesn't effect all guinea pigs who are taking it long term.

My pigs are also on a low calcium diet and although I live in a soft water area, I still filter their water.

All the best for Bear xx
 
Claire W said:
I am sorry to hear about your girl. Bladder problems are awful :(

My Emma has recently a few months ago been diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis (IC). This was after bladder stones and sludge were ruled out.

She is taking a full cystease tablet a day and 0.2ml of dog metacam a day which I have permission from my vet to increase if she is having a squeaky episode. I then reduce the dosage back down to 0.2ml.

I too worry about the effect metacam can have on the kidneys but I have had to learn that it's quality of life over quantity of life and my vet doesn't seem too concerned as Emma is only on a small dose and metacam doesn't effect all guinea pigs who are taking it long term.

My pigs are also on a low calcium diet and although I live in a soft water area, I still filter their water.

All the best for Bear xx
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Thank you! I hope Emma feels herself again, I think the idea of upping the medication for bad days is a good idea, I'm going to try that too and see how she goes. So horrible watching them be in pain/uncomfortable! x
 
Hi
I have a boar who suffers with bladder problems and a piggy savvy vet - he is on 0.15ml potassium citrate twice a day and a medicine called moduretic (0.4ml twice a day) which my vet makes up specially as it is usually used to help prevent bladder stones forming in humans so we are trying it on Bumble - its basically a diuretic so makes him excrete out the calcium rather than keep it inside the body - he is now also on a homeopathic medicine called calcorea carbonica (made by Nelsons and available from Holland and Barratt at £6.99) 1 pillule crushed up twice a day and mixed in with his metacam - my vet has in the past had to operate on a baby tortoise that kept getting bladder stones in quick succession and after operating on the baby tortoise bladder 3 times turned to a homeopath for some advice - (as I think there is only so many times you can go in through the shell of a tortoise or something like that )- after the toroise was put on this it had no further stones.

Bumble is also on 2mls of fizzy water 3 times a day (no more as you dont want to cause bloat ) this may help to push some of the sludge out - Bumble had a kidney stone last year and the fizzy water pushed it out - and he has recently had 4 small stones in his ureter - 3 were blown out by the water in week 1 and the 4th in week 2 - if your vet wanted to try any of this my vet is an exotics specialist and also a referrals vet who has pigs of her own - she is happy to speak to other vets about the alternative meds (both the moduretic and the potassium citrate are only a few pounds )
 
TAN said:
Hi
I have a boar who suffers with bladder problems and a piggy savvy vet - he is on 0.15ml potassium citrate twice a day and a medicine called moduretic (0.4ml twice a day) which my vet makes up specially as it is usually used to help prevent bladder stones forming in humans so we are trying it on Bumble - its basically a diuretic so makes him excrete out the calcium rather than keep it inside the body - he is now also on a homeopathic medicine called calcorea carbonica (made by Nelsons and available from Holland and Barratt at £6.99) 1 pillule crushed up twice a day and mixed in with his metacam - my vet has in the past had to operate on a baby tortoise that kept getting bladder stones in quick succession and after operating on the baby tortoise bladder 3 times turned to a homeopath for some advice - (as I think there is only so many times you can go in through the shell of a tortoise or something like that )- after the toroise was put on this it had no further stones.

Bumble is also on 2mls of fizzy water 3 times a day (no more as you dont want to cause bloat ) this may help to push some of the sludge out - Bumble had a kidney stone last year and the fizzy water pushed it out - and he has recently had 4 small stones in his ureter - 3 were blown out by the water in week 1 and the 4th in week 2 - if your vet wanted to try any of this my vet is an exotics specialist and also a referrals vet who has pigs of her own - she is happy to speak to other vets about the alternative meds (both the moduretic and the potassium citrate are only a few pounds )
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Thank you for your reply, this is very interesting, could you maybe message me her details as although my vet has been speaking to exotic specialists, this sounds like new information she might not know about so would be good if she could maybe speak to/refer to her. Poor bumble! I hope he doesn't have any more stones. Such a cute name by the way, love it.
 
Has she been given an ultrasound at all? They can be done conscious & will also be good to check her uterus & ovaries for pyometra &ovarian cysts. My bladder piggy had an extra 3 1/2 years of life with a sludgy bladder (Which a bladder flush didn't cure by the way) by giving a low dose of dog Metacam twice a day & increasing it when she had an infection & also monthly Cartrophen injections rather than Cystease. I think you need to eliminate cysts/pyometra as a cause of the bleeding though :)
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Has she been given an ultrasound at all? They can be done conscious & will also be good to check her uterus & ovaries for pyometra &ovarian cysts. My bladder piggy had an extra 3 1/2 years of life with a sludgy bladder (Which a bladder flush didn't cure by the way) by giving a low dose of dog Metacam twice a day & increasing it when she had an infection & also monthly Cartrophen injections rather than Cystease. I think you need to eliminate cysts/pyometra as a cause of the bleeding though :)
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Completely agree with this. I forgot to mention that as well as X-rays, Emma also had ultrasounds to rule out ovarian cysts x
 
Hello guys, thank you for all of the help! The girls are now both on Vitakraft emotion professional pellets and have began following the IC diet. Bear has been having 0.2ml twice a day of the cat metacam and seems much more comfortable. Haven't heard any crying when going to the toilet so fingers crossed things will start to flush out and not recur with the sludge xx
 
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