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Help! Bloody in urine. Vets aren’t much help

Lisanjake

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jul 15, 2015
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Location
Saffron walden
Basically Bella has been not herself recently. Sleeping a lot and not eating a ton of hay / veg etc.
Took her to the vet yesterday and they kept her in for the night.

So picked her up from the vets this afternoon.

She had a scan and Urine test. No bacteria in her urine so it’s they have ruled out a UTI.

Had an X-ray - no sign of stones or anything else untoward that they could see.

BUT she has blood in her wee... they have sent me home with pain killers for a week and if there’s no improvement to go back for a scan. They said she may have passed a stone and is a bit uncomfortable still? She’s still being withdrawn and sitting in her house looking sorry for herself. Gave metacam a few hours ago (0.3ml) once a day.
she got up for some veg but not lots then I’m not sure how much they have fed her.

Any ideas what else I can do? I have critical care, is it worth trying to top up her food intake?

I just feel like I’ve spent £270 for them to say here’s some pain killers she should be alright! Grrr x
 
£270 sounds a bit steep but if they kept her in overnight I guess thats understandable. Apart from the scan, xray and urine test you mention there isnt much else a vet can do but prescribe pain relief. Sorry its very frustrating but sounds like the vet has been quite thorough and ruled out anything obvious. Some pigs get cystitis with no cause- I believe @SkyPipDotBernie and @Claire W have experience of this plus of course @Wiebke and possibly a few other forum regulars I've forgotten to mention- perhaps they have some advice on diagnosis and treatment?
 
The most expensive thing was the X-ray and she needed a minor anaesthetic to keep her still that was £136, urine test was £33, consultation £40 and vet care and meds add up to the rest.
Yes you are right, hopefully the metacam will kick in after a few days.
I just feel helpless and want her to be back to normal :(
Any help on what else I can do from the others you have tagged would be fab!
Thank you so much x
 
Could try some cystease or try syringing water. (Up the water intake)Thats if it is cystitis or could be Intertestial cystitis. I dont even give dot anything for it anymore and shes fine. Still pees blood a little, but its not pure blood , its diluted with pee.

Also if your not using a filter jug for their water, that may help to start.

Dots symptoms when first noticed.

* Lack of hay eating( veg was normal)
*Bloated looking
* Weight loss. Not loads but was a bit alarming.
* Laying looking uncomfy and hiding
* pink urine ( bloody urine)
* teeth chattering
* Squeeling when pooing and taking ages to get one out
* same when peeing.

How much weight has she lost?

From your post it does look like it could be cystitis. I would try cystease, ask your vet if its ok first. You can buy it at pets at home in the cat section. Its in a lityle cardboard box. Brand name feliway
 
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Could try some cystease or try syringing water. (Up the water intake)Thats if it is cystitis or could be Intertestial cystitis. I dont even give dot anything for it anymore and shes fine. Still pees blood a little, but its not pure blood , its diluted with pee.

Also if your not using a filter jug for their water, that may help to start.

Dots symptoms when first noticed.

* Lack of hay eating( veg was normal)
*Bloated looking
* Weight loss. Not loads but was a bit alarming.
* Laying looking uncomfy and hiding
* pink urine ( bloody urine)
* teeth chattering
* Squeeling when pooing and taking ages to get one out
* same when peeing.

How much weight has she lost?

From your post it does look like it could be cystitis. I would try cystease, ask your vet if its ok first. You can buy it at pets at home in the cat section. Its in a lityle cardboard box. Brand name feliway

Oh wow she’s given literally all those symptoms!
Will the cystease affect the way the metacam works?
How much should I give ideally?
She’s lost a little weight. I Think she was 1260 when I took her to the vet last (the system says 1.3kg) and she was 1.236 when I weighed her on Wednesday. Haven’t done it today as she’s currently sleeping so giving her a rest from being poked and prodded today.
I use volvic bottled water as I read somewhere this was low in calcium? Should I buy a filter anyway for it?
Thank you for your reply
 
Il have to tag in some more experienced members with this. Not sure on the water. I know the cystease is fine along side metacam. I filter because it saves dragging bottles of water back from the shops. Whats the dosage on the metacam?

@Claire W @Wiebke
 
Basically Bella has been not herself recently. Sleeping a lot and not eating a ton of hay / veg etc.
Took her to the vet yesterday and they kept her in for the night.

So picked her up from the vets this afternoon.

She had a scan and Urine test. No bacteria in her urine so it’s they have ruled out a UTI.

Had an X-ray - no sign of stones or anything else untoward that they could see.

BUT she has blood in her wee... they have sent me home with pain killers for a week and if there’s no improvement to go back for a scan. They said she may have passed a stone and is a bit uncomfortable still? She’s still being withdrawn and sitting in her house looking sorry for herself. Gave metacam a few hours ago (0.3ml) once a day.
she got up for some veg but not lots then I’m not sure how much they have fed her.

Any ideas what else I can do? I have critical care, is it worth trying to top up her food intake?

I just feel like I’ve spent £270 for them to say here’s some pain killers she should be alright! Grrr x
Hi, this happened to my Guinea pig she had blood in wee , right so i give her alot of cucumber and that has help ,so i keep her on cucumber everyday to help her ,just tellling you to do the same .vets are no good !
 
Hi! It sounds like your girl has what we call IC or interstitial cystitis, which is a non-bacterial inflammation of the bladder walls that doesn't reacting much or at all to antibiotics. It tends to flare up every few weeks. The symptoms are the same as for UTI, bacterial cystitis or stones/sludge. IC can only be diagnosed by default after all other possible issues have been excluded. It has become more frequent in recent year, but as we don't know what is causing it, all we can do is address the acute symptoms, but not heal it. It is not an officially acknowledged illness at this stage.
The good news is that it usually goes away on its own, that it doesn't cause bladder stones or shortens the life expectancy. The bad news is that you are usually looking at years rather than months.

Metacam (which is an anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller) and a glucosamine based prescription-free cat bladder food called cystease, which supports the beleaguered natural glucosamine coating of the bladder walls are currently the best things we can do.
Some think that certain foods may contribute to triggering a flare-up.

While mildly diuretic veg can help in the early stages of a flare-up, please be very careful to not overfeed watery veg and cause fermentation in the gut and diarrhea.

Here is a bit more information on IC and any dietary recommendations (see chapter special diets):
Links - Interstitial Cystitis - Guinea Lynx Records
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Hi! It sounds like your girl has what we call IC or interstitial cystitis, which is a non-bacterial inflammation of the bladder walls that doesn't reacting much or at all to antibiotics. It tends to flare up every few weeks. The symptoms are the same as for UTI, bacterial cystitis or stones/sludge. IC can only be diagnosed by default after all other possible issues have been excluded. It has become more frequent in recent year, but as we don't know what is causing it, all we can do is address the acute symptoms, but not heal it.
The good news is that it usually goes away on its own, that it doesn't cause bladder stones or shortens the life expectancy. The bad news is that you are usually looking at years rather than months.

Metacam (which is an anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller) and a glucosamine based prescription-free cat bladder food called cystease, which supports the beleaguered natural glucosamine coating of the bladder walls are currently the best things we can do.
Some think that certain foods may contribute to triggering a flare-up.

While mildly diuretic veg can help in the early stages of a flare-up, please be very careful to not overfeed watery veg and cause fermentation in the gut and diarrhea.

Here is a bit more information on IC and any dietary recommendations (see chapter special diets):
Links - Interstitial Cystitis - Guinea Lynx Records
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Thanks for this wiebke 👍 i was getting out of my depth, didnt want to give false info. Probably have already😜 you lot helped me loads with Dot and shes doing brilliant now. Hopefuly Bella will be fine aswell
 
My Ellen has IC but before that was diagnosed, she had scans and xrays (which your vet has already done) and a fresh urine sample was sent off to the lab for culture which showed no bacteria which proved there was no infection. She was having Septrin at the time. Having said this, Ellen also often has infections in top of her IC which a course of Septrin usually gets rid of but so far, they have only been mild which can only be found when my vet spins down the urine and bacteria shows up on the microscope. She was quite poorly over Christmas with an IC flare and infection which she is still being treated for.

I filter their water and feed a low calcium diet consisting of cucumber, pepper, green bean, coriander and little gem. You can also add a slither of spring greens but I find it hard to find where I live. When Ellen is having an IC flare she also gets a daily dose of cystease (1 capsule mixed with 1ml of water) and 0.2ml of metacam per day which is thankfully enough for her
 
Wow thank you so much for all the help. I’m so glad I posted on this website!
I’ve been to pets at home and they have ordered in some cystease for me which should arrive in a few days.
I went to Tesco and got some almost zero sugar cranberry juice as that’s all they had. I diluted with more water and gave her a little bit which she seemed to like.
One thing I’m worried about is she’s sleeping a lot so I’m worried she’s not eating hay etc.
Should I try and give some critical care?
She had veggies at about 6.
She gets up had a little hay and straight back to sleep.
Also she had a episode a month ago where she had this then was fine and it’s just got bad again. She used to drink loads now I’ve not seen her drink at all since she been home.
I always give cucumber anyway so won’t increase as she had soft poops before and I had to cut out veg for a day to get them back to normal.
 
Wow thank you so much for all the help. I’m so glad I posted on this website!
I’ve been to pets at home and they have ordered in some cystease for me which should arrive in a few days.
I went to Tesco and got some almost zero sugar cranberry juice as that’s all they had. I diluted with more water and gave her a little bit which she seemed to like.
One thing I’m worried about is she’s sleeping a lot so I’m worried she’s not eating hay etc.
Should I try and give some critical care?
She had veggies at about 6.
She gets up had a little hay and straight back to sleep.
Also she had a episode a month ago where she had this then was fine and it’s just got bad again. She used to drink loads now I’ve not seen her drink at all since she been home.
I always give cucumber anyway so won’t increase as she had soft poops before and I had to cut out veg for a day to get them back to normal.

If you give more veg than normal, then you will find that your piggy is drinking less. They are not any thirstier just because you offer more fluid in another form. ;)

Your girl will feel better again once she is on metacam and her bladder is no longer feeling so rough.

PS: The cranberry tip, which is working for human bladder infections, has unfortunately not stood the test of time when it comes to guinea pigs. As IC is something we have to deal on a 'what works' basis, tips will come and go. Cystease has proven its value over several years of making practical experiences with it, cranberry juice has not. ;)
 
Hey, update is Bellas not interested in hay or critical care, only veg! I can’t get her cystease till Tuesday (going to call another pets at home and see if the have any and drive there tomorrow)
Is there anything else I can do for her tonight?
I will get her out soon and weigh her again.
She seems to be sleeping tons, she had her metacam at about 6pm but that doesn’t seem to have helped.
Not sure what else to do, don’t want her to go into stasis?
Ps it’s only her second lot of metacam. When should it start kicking in?
 
Is she eating nuggets at all? You may need to start syringe feeding her to keep her weight up. There is a syringe feeding guide in the sticky threads at the top of the Health and Illness section. The metacam should kick in soon x
 
Is she eating nuggets at all? You may need to start syringe feeding her to keep her weight up. There is a syringe feeding guide in the sticky threads at the top of the Health and Illness section. The metacam should kick in soon x

No she’s eating nothing evening trying to syringe feed her she’s not interested.
She’s currently at the vets now, they said the metacam May be giving her diorrhea? So they want to stop that and give antibiotics and a pain relief injection and they will syringe feed her.
Praying she’s okay.
She was in pain when they felt her bladder x
 
It’s strange because Luna had the exact same thing a few months ago 🤔 and she died in the end. could it be contagious? Should I get Winnie checked too?
 
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