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Blood in urine

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neve38
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Neve38

This evening I decided I was going to take my 4 year old guinea pig Buttercup to the vet as she was squeaking a little sometimes when she goes for a wee. I have tonight noticed a little blood in her urine. I am now off to Tesco's to get her some Cranberry Juice and will take her straight to the vets in the morning. She is happily drinking, I must say not eating very well but is nibbling hay as we speak. Am I doing the right thing with the cranberry juice?

Joy xx
 
Poor Buttercup. You are doing the right thing by giving her cranberry until you can get to the vets. Its may just be a urine infection and the cranberry should help with that in the meantime. Post after you have been to the vets to let us know how you get on.
 
Update

I have just come back from the vets with Buttercup. The vet felt her tummy and said she couldn't feel any lumps or stones so thinks it is cystitis. She has given me some antibiotics for 10 days. Whilst we were there luckily, Buttercup did a wee and was squeaking so the vet gave her a painkiller injection also. She said if she does get worse or indeed doesn't get better then to take her back and they will give her an x-ray. I have just given her painkillers now and will need to give it to her twice a day so she can have some more this evening. Fingers crossed that she starts to feel better very soon..poor little thing. I do feel sorry for her. I will keep you updated.

Joy xx
 
If the pig does need an x-ray please remember that there is absolutely no need for sedation or a general anaesthetic.
 
Hi :)

I have just been through this with one of our rescue piggies Fanny Adams see the thread "Fingers crossed for Fanny Adams please" we had to go through a large range of antibiotics to sort it including varying dosages so if you have any questions and I might be able to help feel free to ask.

Make sure it is unsweetned cranberry juice the childrens bay juices are very good and dilute with some water.

What antibiotics is you piggy on and what dosage?

If she has cystitis it is important to give her a lot of fluid, a guinea pig bladder holds 10ml of fluid so I was advised to give fanny 3 15ml syringe feeds of fluid per day to keep everything diluted she did also have a sludge problem as well but upto 45mls of extra fluid a day will help. When you syringe feed be sure the piggy is facing on a slightly downward tilt and push the plunger slowly as they have no gag reflx and can take fluid into the lungs if it is given too quickly.

There have been some great threads on the treatment of cystisis I used so is worth havnig a search on here for them.

Good luck to you and your piggy :)
 
Glad to hear you got on ok at the vets. Hopefully the antibiotics will clear up any infection. Buttercup sounds like she is in good hands with the care you are giving her..Heres hoping she picks up soon..
 
Thanks to you all for your kind words and advice. We have been given Baytril and Buttercup is on 0.2mls twice a day. I am diluting it with water, she isn't very keen on it but it is for the best. I have the unsweetened cranberry juice but don't think she is too keen on that either but luckily she does love water and does drink quite a lot anyway. She is still squeaking a bit when going to the loo but it is still early days. She is getting lots of fuss and kisses from me and she will get spoilt rotten. I will keep you all updated as to how she gets on.

Joy xx
 
It may take a couple of days for the antibiotics to kick in so hopefully she will be all better soon. I'm lucky in that my boy Mimsi, who has a bladder stone, loves cranberry juice. He takes it willingly and I have trouble getting the syringe out of his mouth to fill it up again!
 
The correct dosis of baytril is 0.4 ml twice a day. Your vet is playing it far too safe, I'm sorry to say!

If you can badger your vet into prescribing pediatric septrin 0.5 ml twice daily, if your symptoms don't go away, that would be a fight well worth. I've done it with my vets this spring. Septrin is a mild antibiotic for children and has a banana flavour - my guinea pigs LOVE it and it is a lot less hard on the guts as baytril! The problem is that baytril is the only listed antibiotic for guinea pigs, but septrin works better for UTI's.

I hope that your vet has given you some painkiller (for example meloxidyl for cats, ca. 0.2 ml once daily for a 1kg piggy) and some probiotic to counter the effect of the baytril on the guts. You can get probiotic from p@h if necessary; it will make Buttercup feel better in herself.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE AN X-RAY without anesthesia! The feeling method, apart from being inconvenient for your piggie, is not at all conclusive, and if there is blood in the urine, you really need to check for crystals and stones.

You can do a little home check, by placing Buttercup on a plastic surface and leaving her there until she's had several pees. If the pee feels gritty, then there is indication for crystals!

I have lost one of my guinea pigs to bladder stones/cystitis; and had two more this spring with infectious cystitis, but I made certainly sure with both that there was no other bladder trouble!

Make sure that Buttercup gets as much fluid (cranberry juic and water) as often as you can manage to flush out the infection.

All the best to the poorly patient!
 
PS: I found that syringing a mix of half cranberry juice/half water went down a lot better with my own piggies.

PLEASE up your dosis of baytril and go back to the vet when you're finished, or look for a specialist in your area.

You can find a list of recommended vets in a sticky thread at the top of this section.
 
I am taking Buttercup back to the vets tomorrow. She has picked up, eating more and drinking plenty and the blood did seem to disappear from her urine in the week although sometimes she does still squeak a bit when weeing. I have noticed some blood in her urine again today. She is only on 0.2ml of Baytril twice daily - should I ask for them to up this amount to 0.4ml twice daily as someone suggested? The vet last week did say that if she isn't better they would do an x-ray to make sure she doesn't have any stones. I have made an appointment for tomorrow but as usual it is never the same vet on duty so I will have to see someone else. She hates taking her medicine, it must be disgusting poor thing.

Any advice would be very welcome so that I can have a good chat with the vet tomorrow to do what is best for Buttercup.

Joy xx
 
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