IC in my sow

[HEvan]

Hi,
I had written a post back in December regarding my 18 month old sow Little Star.

She injured her leg, then had a UTI. She was on Enrocare, 0.2 twice a day for 4 weeks and started on cat metecam 1.6 twice a day but now been increased to 0.19. The UTI wasnt improving so had a ultrasound which showed inflammation at the base of her bladder and urethra. She also developed little ulcers around her vagina.

antibiotics were stopped and the metecam was increased as stated above for another 4 weeks and to come back for another ultrasound.

i noticed alot of blood on the puppy pad so got her another ultrasound and showed that alot of her bladder was inflamed and thick plus had pockets of free fluids around the bladder.
She was restarted on enrocare 0.4 once a day and to continue metecam. Swabs were done on her sores that did show some kind of infection ajd the antibiotics will clear it up. Her sores have improved, with 1 big one remaining but it's is right at the entrance of her vagina so is difficult to keep clean.
I give her a clean and use sudocream twice a day. She no longer gets wet, but her vagina remains moist due to dripping urine. Pink urine happens every few days but mostly remain cloudy.

I have since started her on oxbow urinary support and vit c tabs. Plus few slices of cucumber a day to increase fluid. She's also on grain free nuggest and premium timothy hay. Treats are all hay based. Very very rarely get fruit. I try stick to a low calcium-phosphate diet but information online is so contradictory.
My vets are lovely and helpful, but are not exotic trained. Closest one to me is about 2 hours away and I dont drive and it will stress Little Star out on the train for so long.

I have been doing some research and believe she has IC and is managed by special diet, metecam and cystease capsules.

So I'm questions are, what diet is best for her?
Which hay, nuggest, fresh food?
Is there a better cream then sudocream?
Is there anything of the above that I'm doing wring or can do better?
Is there better meds to help to get from vet as above?

Thank you!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,
I had written a post back in December regarding my 18 month old sow Little Star.

She injured her leg, then had a UTI. She was on Enrocare, 0.2 twice a day for 4 weeks and started on cat metecam 1.6 twice a day but now been increased to 0.19. The UTI wasnt improving so had a ultrasound which showed inflammation at the base of her bladder and urethra. She also developed little ulcers around her vagina.

antibiotics were stopped and the metecam was increased as stated above for another 4 weeks and to come back for another ultrasound.

i noticed alot of blood on the puppy pad so got her another ultrasound and showed that alot of her bladder was inflamed and thick plus had pockets of free fluids around the bladder.
She was restarted on enrocare 0.4 once a day and to continue metecam. Swabs were done on her sores that did show some kind of infection ajd the antibiotics will clear it up. Her sores have improved, with 1 big one remaining but it's is right at the entrance of her vagina so is difficult to keep clean.
I give her a clean and use sudocream twice a day. She no longer gets wet, but her vagina remains moist due to dripping urine. Pink urine happens every few days but mostly remain cloudy.

I have since started her on oxbow urinary support and vit c tabs. Plus few slices of cucumber a day to increase fluid. She's also on grain free nuggest and premium timothy hay. Treats are all hay based. Very very rarely get fruit. I try stick to a low calcium-phosphate diet but information online is so contradictory.
My vets are lovely and helpful, but are not exotic trained. Closest one to me is about 2 hours away and I dont drive and it will stress Little Star out on the train for so long.

I have been doing some research and believe she has IC and is managed by special diet, metecam and cystease capsules.

So I'm questions are, what diet is best for her?
Which hay, nuggest, fresh food?
Is there a better cream then sudocream?
Is there anything of the above that I'm doing wring or can do better?
Is there better meds to help to get from vet as above?

Thank you!

Hi
Diet-wise, keep off any root veg (including carrots), any grain (including sweetcorn), go very lightly on fruit and mainly feed cucumber, 1 slice of pepper a day, a little fresh coriander (USA: cilantro) every few days, a slice of greens (USA: collard greens) once a week; they are a milder relative of kale and contain magnesium, which is not in pellets. You can feed lettuce daily (romaine/cos or gem are best) and also fresh grass as long as you introduce them very slowly. It is less what you feed but introducing new foods too quickly that can occasionally trigger a new flare in our own forum experience. They do better on a very regular diet.

Try timothy based, grain-free pellets if your piggy will take them; but whatever you feed, only give 1 tablespoon per piggy per day. Pellets (even no added calcium pellets) contain weight for weight much more calcium than the veg highest in calcium, kale, but contain suprisingly little fibre. Pellets are the one food group, apart from treats, that is actually optional.

Please filter your water; it is not just the calcium but also minerals that can contribute to the formation of stones.
What we can say is that our diet tips work out in long term practice; keep in mind that the UK is mainly a hard water country, so most of the calcium in our piggies' diet comes via the water and via the pellets and actually not so much from our veg.

If you limit the pellets and filter the water, this then gives you a bit more leeway re. a bit more higher calcium veg or dry forage, which is generally higher in calcium. Our long term members have had VERY few stone issues for the last decade or so compared to all the issues in the preceding decade.
There is a sweet spot in the diet with the optimal ca : ph ratio; if you go too low, you can create problems with the calcium. We have found ours by trial and error, but it works.
Our recommendations cut out most of the high sugar/starch and fatty foods as well as veg high in oxalates but not totally as some is needed. Unfortunately, the sweet spot depends on some local factors so there is no 'one size fits all' diet; you have to work it out for yourself. The USA for instance is mainly a soft water country, so you have a little more leeway re. calcium in your diet... Which turned out to be fatal when we trialled US recommendations with our own UK piggies.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

I would recommend flamazine cream for urine scald; very thinly applied. This advice has been given to me by an experienced exotics vet nurse with a special interest in guinea pigs.
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility (see chapter on further complications, which include urine scald)

Please be aware that sterile IC comes in a wide range of strength from the very mild to the uncontrollably severe at the other end. Oral glucosamine is fine for the mild to medium end; beyond that, you and your vet are looking at stronger glucosamine based medication (cartrofen). Once you have things under control, which will take several weeks, then you have to work out where you are on the spectrum and how low you can go with the maintenance glucosamine and metacam and how much you have to up your glucosamine and metacam to get on top of acute flare symptoms quickly, which you will get every few weeks or months. Upping the glucosamine shortly during flares is more effective than upping the metacam in my own experience since it seems to be mainly the natural glucosamine coating that prevents the highly corrosive urine from coming into direct painful contact with raw tissue. Sterile IC seems to mainly affect guinea pigs with a nervous disposition; their healthy companions can usually fend it off without ever developing acute symptoms.

For a proper diagnosis, please have the urine tested. Unlike a UTI (which is caused by faecal bacteria in the urinary tract), sterile IC is characterised by urine free from bacteria or more commonly only with low bacterial count, which is why antibiotics don't work or - in milder cases - can only suppress sterile IC temporarily but not cure it. Blood is often present in piggies with acute IC but the intense red colour at the onset of a flare is actually a natural die called porphyrine which tends to freak out owners who are not aware of it. You can also sometimes see the number of calcium pees picking up just before another flare.

I hope that his helps you.