• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Confused...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lady Kelly

Lady Kelly

Senior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Messages
18,588
Reaction score
36,903
Points
2,115
Location
Leicester
Bumble is apparently sitting in her own filth again, her rear is filthy, I have just had a right job cleaning her up. Her grease gland is caked again and it was only a few weeks ago I resorted to swarfega to clean it up. She was in clear discomfort being cleaned and I'm sure I found the start of a scald again. Her abdomen feels a bit distended and her nipples are slightly crusty again... but following last summers cysts she was spayed and doesn't have ovaries anymore so it can't be cysts right?!

Obviously I'm going to be getting her into the vets for a full check over but I'm just puzzled. If she wasn't spayed, everything kind of indicates ovarian cysts. Could it be from the remaining part of her uterus as I believe not everything was removed?

Edit: she has gained weight, not lost her appetite and seems otherwise healthy
 
Sending healing vibes! I do think a vet check is wise, especially with a few symptoms like that :) Hopefully it's nothing too serious!
 
Poor Bumble. Can't offer any constructive advice Kelly, just healing vibes.
 
Could she have a UTI? that can make them leak urine too? though that wouldn't explain the crusty nipples.
 
helen105281 said:
Could she have a UTI? that can make them leak urine too? though that wouldn't explain the crusty nipples.
Click to expand...

She could do, she did a couple of small wee's while she was out and didn't seem to have any discomfort passing anything. The nipples were the very start of crusting but definitely what I remember seeing when she had cysts. Poor old girl, will be a trip to the vets this week
 
I have a bladder piggy who have a full spay last October, she had early pyometra but this was probably caused by her having bladder sludge & various UTI for the previous 2-3 years.

I would suggest an ultrasound of her bladder & uterus to check for tissue changes/stones & a low daily dose of Metacam for pain relief & also as an anti-inflammatory. Have you noticed any weight changes at all?
 
Poppy'sMum said:
I have a bladder piggy who have a full spay last October, she had early pyometra but this was probably caused by her having bladder sludge & various UTI for the previous 2-3 years.

I would suggest an ultrasound of her bladder & uterus to check for tissue changes/stones & a low daily dose of Metacam for pain relief & also as an anti-inflammatory. Have you noticed any weight changes at all?
Click to expand...

She's gained a tad recently but not massive amounts, could be resulting from a constantly full bladder I think. I'm going to a new vets this time round but my vet from a few years ago works there now so I'm confident they will be much better than the constant stream of often unexperienced locums at my current practice. I'm certainly thinking that as she doesn't seem to be showing normal signs of a UTI that a scan would be very wise.
 
OK we went to the vets today and I am so very glad I decided to jump ship over to another vets now I have the ability to drive over there! For a start their preferred antibiotic for small mammals is septrin. The vet was lovely, very knowledgeable and attentive. Given her age we decided to plump with treating a UTI first and then going back for xrays etc if there is no improvement. Hopefully this does the trick but if not she will have an xray to see whats going on, check for stones etc. The vet also said that on occasion there can be a bit of ovarian tissue left in the body from a spay that can cause problems.
 
Get you -driving your girl to another vets is such an empowering moment. Hope she responds to the septrin x
 
Well Bumble responded very well to the antibiotics and pain relief, the swelling subsided very quickly and her urine scald healed. I finished the week course on Wednesday and she was fine so was under the belief it was probably just a UTI but this morning I noticed her bum was quite dirty walking away from me so she came out and she is starting to swell again and her urine scald which was nearly completely healed is slightly worse again. I have gone straight back to the meds and on Monday will be calling to arrange to take her in for an xray to try and find out what's going on with her.
 
Damn just realised it's not Sunday (I was off yesterday so don't know what day I am on). Will give the vets a call now and hopefully I can take her in on Monday
 
Right well the vets wouldn't let me take Bumble in until 12:40 on Monday which was impossible with my work calendar at the moment so I booked her in at 9.40 this morning. Despite being ill all night myself (was in bed from 8.30 last night) and still feeling like hell this morning I have dragged myself up for the drive and have dropped the little lady off. She is having urinalysis and an xray (hopefully without sedation but she was very fidgety this morning). If the xray shows anything then they may opt to do an ultrasound as well.

Now I'm back at home and going to have another nap and try and settle my stomach while I wait to hear more from them
 
Well Bumble is home after her tests, xray and ultrasound scan. Nothing conclusive showed up but her urine is very dilute and showing traces of bacteria. She's going back on the antibiotics for two weeks and then having a follow up at the vets to see how she is getting on. She is also getting a uti diet, the vet has ordered me some special food in that I need to go and pick up tomorrow. There is a feeling that it could be a small stone that just hasn't shown up or a problem with the kidneys but we will see in two weeks whether we go down the route of taking bloods etc.

Poor old girl is looking a bit grumpy but with a shaved tummy and two shaved patches to her sides I think I'd be feeling pretty grumpy too.
 
Poor Bumble - and poor you! I hope you both start to feel better soon! :( xx
 
Well Bumble had her follow up two weeks after my last post. She seems to still be leaking and the urine scalds aren't going away completely though there has been an improvement so she was referred to Craig at Chine House who is an exotics specialist with very good piggy knowledge.

So appointment was Tuesday morning, didn't really know what to expect but we had a good chat about her history and whats been happening recently. She stayed at the vets for the day for more tests. They didn't manage to get a large enough sample of blood for a blood test but they did the needle into the bladder for a sterile sample which will be cultured incase there is still some cystitis kicking around which could be resisting the antibiotic. She also had some sediment in her bladder which was flushed out.

The biggest shock was the xray which showed very marked arthritis at the base of her spine. Craig is now convinced that this is the problem rather than a bladder or kidney problem. He believes that this bit of arthritis will be causing pain everytime she tries to go toilet so she is "leaking" rather than going properly and she may be sitting around in it more as a result which could have caused the UTI in the first place.

She has been put on metacam for the next few days while we await the other results which he said should be here by the end of the week. From that we will need to review what action to take. I am not keen on her being on long term metacam as I've heard it can cause the organs to shut down so a lot of researching will be done over the next few days :(
 
hi, l re the spay, just adding a thought!

l be wrong , but spaying a pig, or dog or any other mammal dos not have a great deal to do with hormone producton ,
it just renders them unabe to conceve .
and her wee is unafected ?
 
gizzy said:
hi, l re the spay, just adding a thought!

l be wrong , but spaying a pig, or dog or any other mammal dos not have a great deal to do with hormone producton ,
it just renders them unabe to conceve .
and her wee is unafected ?
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I don't understand what you are saying. The reference to the spay was because she had all the symptoms of ovarian cysts yet she doesn't have ovaries so the signs couldn't be pointing to that. Either way the tests she has had done clearly show it is not that issue and its now an arthritis and UTI issue
 
l have had sows that have have been spaid , and they still have an intest in boars


she is sitting in her wee, and her nipples are crusty, could be hormonal isues ?
 
urine is indirecly linked to the reproductive systime
just throwing thoghts around
 
What a shock, though it must be a relief to have a diagnosis at last. You could look at vegan Glucosamine in addition to pain killers?
 
Awww poor girl! I know Metacam is not normally a good thing long term, but Petal is on a low dose 0.1 or 0.2 once a day, we up it to twice a day if she looks "depressed" I can now read her facial expressions & can see if her ears sit lower on her head she is uncomfortable. This daily dose helps with her arthritis in her hind legs, she is 5 now & has been on low dose Metacam for about 2 years. Not ideal, but so far no problems & it gives her a good quality of life. Hope that helps x
 
helen105281 said:
What a shock, though it must be a relief to have a diagnosis at last. You could look at vegan Glucosamine in addition to pain killers?
Click to expand...

Thanks Helen, I've paid out £300-400 over the past month on vets visits and tests so very relieved to have a diagnosis. With glucosamine do you just get it from a normal shop or would I need to get a prescription for a guinea pig?
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Awww poor girl! I know Metacam is not normally a good thing long term, but Petal is on a low dose 0.1 or 0.2 once a day, we up it to twice a day if she looks "depressed" I can now read her facial expressions & can see if her ears sit lower on her head she is uncomfortable. This daily dose helps with her arthritis in her hind legs, she is 5 now & has been on low dose Metacam for about 2 years. Not ideal, but so far no problems & it gives her a good quality of life. Hope that helps x
Click to expand...

Thanks. I suppose my worry with metacam is how I found Bea collapsed on the day we had to help her over the bridge. I'm not saying that was down to the metacam as she had only had it for 2-3 weeks at that point and she had kidney disease already. Once you see one like that I suppose it's natural to be concerned over daily medication. I did some research last night and I'm aware now that it is the best medication for her
 
Lady Kelly said:
Thanks Helen, I've paid out £300-400 over the past month on vets visits and tests so very relieved to have a diagnosis. With glucosamine do you just get it from a normal shop or would I need to get a prescription for a guinea pig?
Click to expand...

With Metacam it's a matter of weighing up quality over quantity of life I suppose but I know it's a difficult one. The Glucosamine you can buy anywhere and don't need a prescription. It needs to be vegan though. I use this one:

Deva Vegan Glucosamine

Have used this one in the past but they added in calcium carbonate and I use it for a bladder pig (I now use it for me instead):

Vegetarian Glucosamine Supplement | UK-Made | Nature's Best

The starting dose (at least for cystitis issues) is 125mg a day but I have worked up to a higher dose of 250mg a day. For arthiritis I expect it would be similar but run it past your vet.
 
You could ask for Tramodol instead of Metacam, but I am unsure if that can be given low dose long term :( It wouldn't have the anti-inflammatory quality of Metacam but is very good at pain relief x
 
Well the urine results are back in. The good news is that the infection has all find but there is bad news in that she has the start of kidney failure as well. This breaks my heart because I know the metacam will speed things up but it has also helped her in that her urine scalds have now fully healed.

I've never been in the situation where the best treatment will shorten her life but it's obviously not worth keeping her going if I'm not going to provide that quality of life. I think my stinky girl is going to be having lots of cuddles.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top