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Interstitial Cystitis Tips Please?

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Trish B

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My 19 month old male guinea pig Chive has recently been diagnosed with IC following elimination of the usual suspects! I managed to get my vet to prescribe him Cystease which he has taken (half a capsule daily) for 10 days. He also has a low calcium diet. The cystease is giving mixed results and he still has days when he squeaks both weeing and pooing. I just wanted to ask whether a course of metacam may help-say 14 days worth? He has been on septrin for 14 days plus metacam which made no difference. No infection was found and he has had 2 x-rays which showed nothing abnormal and no stones.

Is it worth trying diluted cranberry juice?

Many thanks for reading this-I just wanted to know whether there was anything else I could do to help him. His appetite is unaffected and he appears happy and popcorning! It's just frustrating!
 
Is half a capsule 125mg do you know? I give my IC pig Amy vegan glucosamine which is the same ingredient as Cystease but I dose at double the dose, if you are seeing mixed results you could ask your vet about an increased dose? Also, I think products like Cystease ideally need to be given long term. Amy has been on it for 2 years now and is mostly symptom free. I think a course of Metacam would definitely help, it is an anti-inflammatory so should help with any inflammation in his bladder as well as pain relief.

I am not a fan of Cranberry juice and have actually seen cases where it has made things a lot worse for pigs with IC but there are mixed opinions on it,. When you say low calcium diet, what do you feed? and what pellet? A friend who used to run a clinic at a vets has put together a diet called the IC plan, which is mainly for pigs with IC but can be fed to all pigs. She carefully worked out all the vitamin and mineral ratios and Amy has done really well on it. She also has grainless pellets.

Welcome to the forum, please could you update your location on your profile as it helps us with the advice we give.
 
helen105281 said:
Is half a capsule 125mg do you know? I give my IC pig Amy vegan glucosamine which is the same ingredient as Cystease but I dose at double the dose, if you are seeing mixed results you could ask your vet about an increased dose? Also, I think products like Cystease ideally need to be given long term. Amy has been on it for 2 years now and is mostly symptom free. I think a course of Metacam would definitely help, it is an anti-inflammatory so should help with any inflammation in his bladder as well as pain relief.

I am not a fan of Cranberry juice and have actually seen cases where it has made things a lot worse for pigs with IC but there are mixed opinions on it,. When you say low calcium diet, what do you feed? and what pellet? A friend who used to run a clinic at a vets has put together a diet called the IC plan, which is mainly for pigs with IC but can be fed to all pigs. She carefully worked out all the vitamin and mineral ratios and Amy has done really well on it. She also has grainless pellets.

Welcome to the forum, please could you update your location on your profile as it helps us with the advice we give.[/Q
Click to expand...
 
You can also use cystease longer term. Angus has IC and we use cystease daily (or almost) and he still has the odd squeaky day for which we have Metacam (at the lowest effective dose). We are reasonably careful with diet to avoid excessive calcium where possible and he has filtered water.
 
I live near Woking in Surrey.

I have 2 pairs of male guinea pigs and they all get romaine, red pepper, cucumber, green bean, celery, broccoli (floret and leaf), broccoli stalk and minimal spring greens. I feed Excel but only a small amount plus loads of timothy hay.

I'm not sure what dosage the Cystease is-it just says Feliway Cystease on the bottle. My vet says I should reduce to a quarter of a tablet after a month....?I will certainly consider the vegan glucosamine and thanks for replying-I really appreciate your help
 
Ok, for the veg I would try cutting out the romaine and brocolli and see if that helps. The veg I feed twice a day is:

1 slither of spring greens
1 green bean
2 pieces of celery
1 piece of pepper
1 piece of cucumber
1 spring of coriander

The grainless pellets may also help, as grains can be heating and contribute to inflammation. I feed either of the following:

Bunny GuineaPigDream BASIC | Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

Vitakraft Emotion Professional Prebiotic Guinea Pig

JR Farm Grainless Complete Guinea Pig | Free P&P £29+ at zooplus!
 
It may take a bit of getting used to as the pellets are much bigger, so I break them in half.
 
i think metacam would definitely help it's an anti-inflammatory and also controls any inflammation based discomfort/pain aswell. if it didn't work last time then i'd think perhaps the dose wasn't adequate enough for bladder inflammation or the course given wasn't long enough.

i can relate to how frustrating it is though, as we've been going through a bladder issue with mollie for the last four months or so now. not completely the same as she technically doesn't have IC. her inflammation is caused by excess calcium salts irritating her. but treatment for the inflammation seems to be the same (although we use cerenia instead of cystease for the bladder wall treatment) :)
 
Chive now has a definite UTI. He was squeaking every 5 mins and straining(still wanted to eat though) so I collected a specimen and took him to the emergency vet this morning. Managed to avoid the offered baytril and insisted on septrin plus he had a vetergesic injection. I was told I can give metacam tonight as well-is this ok?

I have an appointment with Anne O'Meara the guinea pig guru vet in Ewell on Tuesday so hopefully we will survive til then?! The vet also said that Chive's bladder wall was thickened- I hope this is just inflammation and nothing else but time will tell...
 
Hopefully the Septrin will kick in over the next couple of days until you can see Anne. As far as I know it is ok to give the Metacam tonight, especially as the vet said so but I will tag a couple of members who may know. @Abi_nurse and @furryfriends (TEAS)
 
He's very drowsy from the vetergesic but at least the squeaking has stopped. I'll syringe feed this evening and hope that things are better tomorrow. If not i'll try and get to see Anne tomorrow instead of Tues
 
I had to take Chive as an emergency to the Goddard Practice in Ewell this morning. My local vet suspected uraemia but the vet at Goddards said that severe UTIs can cause similar symptoms. Chive will be having the works-bloods, X-ray/ultrasound, urinalysis and Anne will get back to me later today. I really need to know what's going on in his bladder and am just hoping that he can be saved. He was a rescue pig so I knew I was taking on "history" but he's only 19 months so he should be given every chance in my book/. Can anyone advise me on what to do if it's kidney failure? Is there any hope?
 
I think with kidney failure it is a case of pain relief until it is time to make a decision.
 
Thank you for replying, Helen. I really hope it doesn't come to this. I'll know a lot more later today but if it is kidney failure and there is no way back then I won't delay my decision beyond today
 
Have just had a phone call from the receptionist to say that I can pick Chive up at 330pm and Anne will discuss findings...

I don't think it can be too bad then? Mustn't get my hopes up though
 
Trish B said:
Have just had a phone call from the receptionist to say that I can pick Chive up at 330pm and Anne will discuss findings...

I don't think it can be too bad then? Mustn't get my hopes up though
Click to expand...

Hope it goes okay, keep us updated. Sending Chive lots of love x
 
Thank you sport_billy!

Well, he's home after having a battery of tests-bloods results won't be back til tomorrow but according to the x rays it looks as though it may be a neurological problem in his lower spine which is causing him not to be able to empty his bladder fully which in turn could be causing kidney problems. The squeaking may be because of the back pain when he was lifting his bottom to wee? There is blood and leucocytes in the wee so this is being analysed but he is continuing on the septrin and will be having metacam twice daily-no more vetergesic! He's actually much brighter now and eating on his own but I will be continuing with the syringe feeding.

Anne will be ringing me tomorrow with the bloods result and I'm back on Weds morning for a possible ultrasound of the kidneys and bladder wall but she doesn't think it's interstitial cystitis as she says this is rare in guinea pigs and his bladder wall is not over- thickened.

I've got a lot of faith in her so can only be guided by her advice. Thanks to you all for supporting Chive and I'll keep you posted. I think his case is quite an unusual one.
 
The blood results showed no kidney or liver damage which is good news! The urine was high in protein and calcium carbonate crystals though. The vet reckons that Chive is not able to empty his bladder properly due to neurological problems in his lower spine. He is to stay on the twice daily metacam for 2 weeks until I take him back for assessment and I'm to keep him as well hydrated as possible. Anne suggested the dog version of cystease which has added cranberry? I've also got to monitor his gait and weeing positions!

She did also mention the possibility of physio! Has anyone tried this for their pig? I can't think that he would be very cooperative!

I didn't ask about the prognosis for neurological bladder problems as he is stable for now and much brighter. I just wondered whether anyone here could advise me?
 
Chive is passing fresh blood this morning...Am very scared now. Ringing Anne's surgery at 9 but she won't be there today. Would rather go there than my local vets though.
But should any vet see him asap? It will take me an hour to get to Ewell
 
Sadly Chive had to be put to sleep this morning. His bladder was very enlarged and he was in pain. Neurologically there was nothing the vet could do other than give him peace. It would have been cruel to have to manually empty his bladder for the rest of his life.

Am gutted. He was a beautiful boy. Thank you for reading his story
 
I am so sorry to hear this. Your boys obviously had a struggle on his hands and it was the kindest thing to do in the end.

Sleep well little guy, your mamma loved you very much and did everything she could for you. x
 
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