?cystitis/UTI

[Ali_x]

Hi

it’s for Teddy again, poor boy is going through the works! So just wanted people’s advice or any experience they can share. I noticed that Teddy was squatting a bit to wee, although he had large patches of wee in his cage, in between whiles, he looked like he was struggling. The first wee I saw was a pink colour, the second the next day was like brown sludgy. I took him to his regular exotic vet, she said best case scenario was cystitis, the worst case was bladder stones.
So for treatment, he’s on Metacam twice daily and two different tablets called nutracyst and nutracalm. Also I’ve been advised to syringe feed Teddy water 3 times a day, to increase fluid intake.

These are the treatments she has prescribed for cystitis. There obviously aren’t any antibiotics in this treatment, but they’re obviously going for a more natural treatment plan. I was wondering if anyone has had experience in this treatment and has any feedback.

also she has said if there’s no improvements it may mean x rays or USS to look for stones, this will involve anaesthesia, obviously this comes with a higher risk, given his heart failure progression, was wondering if anyone has on this as well?

thanks!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

it’s for Teddy again, poor boy is going through the works! So just wanted people’s advice or any experience they can share. I noticed that Teddy was squatting a bit to wee, although he had large patches of wee in his cage, in between whiles, he looked like he was struggling. The first wee I saw was a pink colour, the second the next day was like brown sludgy. I took him to his regular exotic vet, she said best case scenario was cystitis, the worst case was bladder stones.
So for treatment, he’s on Metacam twice daily and two different tablets called nutracyst and nutracalm. Also I’ve been advised to syringe feed Teddy water 3 times a day, to increase fluid intake.

These are the treatments she has prescribed for cystitis. There obviously aren’t any antibiotics in this treatment, but they’re obviously going for a more natural treatment plan. I was wondering if anyone has had experience in this treatment and has any feedback.

also she has said if there’s no improvements it may mean x rays or USS to look for stones, this will involve anaesthesia, obviously this comes with a higher risk, given his heart failure progression, was wondering if anyone has on this as well?

thanks!

Hi!

I am very sorry but I have never come across the kind of treatment Teddy has been put on.

Personally, I would think that it is rather more likely that Teddy has picked up a cystitis, as that is an opportunistic illness that typically hits piggies with a lowered immune system (more commonly piggies with high stress levels as a default setting in my own experience with IC piggies, of which I currently have got another two) but any underlying health issue also has the same effect.

X-rays can be done with minimal sedation; they do not require a full GA. But in order to pin any stones down inside the body, a vet will usually take two x-rays from different angles (looking down and looking sideways), which requires draping the piggy in different positions. Ultra-sound has also become a lot more common with more clinics having this equipment.

I would see what effect the medication Teddy has been put on is doing for him. Your vet has obviously very carefully taken all his other issues into account when they decided to opt for a less standard approach.

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

There is a lot of thinking now, within the veterinary profession, that cystitis in guinea pigs is often caused by stress, in the same way that cats suffer from idiopathic cystitis. It seems that your vet is taking this approach by using anxiety reducing medications in addition to Metacam. Very interesting!