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Interstitial Cystitis

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LeahsPiggies

LeahsPiggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone, so finally 2/3 of my piggies are now on the mend - however, Porche's issues stilll haven't been dealt with once and for all.

As many of you know, she has been squeaking when weeing/pooing since before Christmas - since then, she has been on various antibiotics which have proven in affective. She has also had an xray which didn't show any stones or abnormalities and she has also had urine teste - the most recent showed no blood.

I know a few people's piggies suffer from interstitial cystitis in this forum and I was wondering if I could have some help as I am suspecting that Porche may have this. I can go for several weeks without hearing a single squeak, even having her out of the hutch she often wee's and poo's without a sound being made.

Her most recent prescription was the cerenia tablet for dogs and cats, which acts as an anti inflammatory and has several other properties. . Whilst on this (for 2 weeks) I only heard her squeak around once..

I was considering buying her some cytease / cystophan and seeing if that does any good before taking more steps - our rabbits are also due to their vaccinations and all of the vet bills are getting me down :( we obviously won't hesitate to take her if needs be though.

Sorry for such a long post and thank you in advance! X
 
I have no advice,...sorry. I just wanted to say i know what a tough time you have had lately with piggies being poorly. I just wanted to send you a virtual hug and say your a wonderful piggie mum and doing a great job, they are lucky to have you. I know when Haven was so poorly, it got me so down with endless vet visits, pet bills and general worry, i know i needed to hear that i was doing a good job and kind words from the people on this forum helped me get through it all.
Take care and hang in their, your doing great. ((hugs)) x
 
It does seem possible that it is Interstitial Cystitis. I have 2 with this and they are on a high dose of Vegan Glucosamine (works similar to Cystease) and Phoebe who is a lot worse is also on Quercetin. She has pain relief too when needed though this is for the many other issues she has too.

I also feed a grainless diet and limited veg. They have no fruit as this can make their symptoms much worse.
 
Thank you both so much - it has been a rough time but I've refused to give up on them! I really appreciate your kind words.

I will definitely look into the Vegan Glucosamine. Would be good if I could known for definite but I think this is worth a try beforehand and see how she gets on. Thanks for the fruit warning also, she does love grapes and blueberries!
 
We had some luck with cystease, will dig the dose range out for you over the weekend. Lots of healing vibes sent x
 
I have a bladder sludge boar who, right from the word go, made it very clear that if he got ANY green leafy veggies (spinach/kale/cabbage/lettuce etc) he would sqwauk.
He has been restricted to grass, dandelions, celery, cucumber, corn, carrots pepper, apple, parsley and cucumber for the last 3 years since his bladder flush and his been porblem-free.
However should he manage to "sneakily scarf a bit of spinach/lettuce etc" - he's back to sqwuaking the next day.

Nothing wrong with trying cystease/glucoseamine etc....you might also want to try pearl barley gloop (boil up pearl barely and, once cooled, feed the slimy water)

HTH
x
 
We have a sow who has been suffering from interstitial cystitis for around the past 2 years.

At one stage she was on Septrin, Nutraquin+, Rimadyl plus something herbal, the name of which I can't think of right now, but it got progressively worse.

We then started giving her Shi Lin Tong, which is a Chinese tablet, ground up in water, half a tablet once a day and the change was almost immediate - no more squeaking almost right from the start.

Since then we have been dropping the rest of her medication one by one and she only gets Shi Lin Tong once a day now - twice if we feel she's uncomfortable.
 
@Becky3 could you send me a link to your supplier please as I have a 4 year old sow with IC & although we are managing her condition I am still looking for a better answer to her problem :) I would like to research this more.Thank you :)
 
sport_billy said:
We had some luck with cystease, will dig the dose range out for you over the weekend. Lots of healing vibes sent x
Click to expand...

Thank you, would be very helpful :) x

Pebble said:
I have a bladder sludge boar who, right from the word go, made it very clear that if he got ANY green leafy veggies (spinach/kale/cabbage/lettuce etc) he would sqwauk.
He has been restricted to grass, dandelions, celery, cucumber, corn, carrots pepper, apple, parsley and cucumber for the last 3 years since his bladder flush and his been porblem-free.
However should he manage to "sneakily scarf a bit of spinach/lettuce etc" - he's back to sqwuaking the next day.

Nothing wrong with trying cystease/glucoseamine etc....you might also want to try pearl barley gloop (boil up pearl barely and, once cooled, feed the slimy water)

HTH
x
Click to expand...

I will bare all of your advice in mind - I will definitely be very cautious with her veg from now on. Will also look into the pearl barley, thank you x

Becky3 said:
We have a sow who has been suffering from interstitial cystitis for around the past 2 years.

At one stage she was on Septrin, Nutraquin+, Rimadyl plus something herbal, the name of which I can't think of right now, but it got progressively worse.

We then started giving her Shi Lin Tong, which is a Chinese tablet, ground up in water, half a tablet once a day and the change was almost immediate - no more squeaking almost right from the start.

Since then we have been dropping the rest of her medication one by one and she only gets Shi Lin Tong once a day now - twice if we feel she's uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

Wow that sounds like a very good remedy, would you mind sending me a link to them through inbox? Will definitely do a bit of research and get some. Glad you have your girls issue under control :)
 
@Becky3 and @LeahsPiggies - I've just had a look on the supplier's website and can't see whether they are selling the tablets at the moment. I'll send you both a private message with the details though and have also attached four photos of what the tablets look like (they are imported from China).

From what I can remember we found information about Shi Lin Tong on Guinea Lynx. It is important to keep a very close eye on your guinea pig at the beginning, especially in terms of their gut, gut movement, droppings etc. There were some cases where people had to stop with the tablets, but all in all they seem to react positively and it can make a very big difference.

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I can highly recommend trying the veggie glucosamine - since trying Tango on this we rarely ever hear a peep out of him. Seems to have worked wonders!

Good luck helping Porche with her symptoms!
 
If you cant; get Shi Lin Tong tablets atm - I have the herb leaf preparation which I am happy to send out to peepies that want it. PM me with your contact details.
 
Pebble said:
If you cant; get Shi Lin Tong tablets atm - I have the herb leaf preparation which I am happy to send out to peepies that want it. PM me with your contact details.
Click to expand...

That's really kind of you, what is this herb leaf? What does it do and how do I give it? X
 
Another question! - those with IC pigs, how often does it flare up? Do they always squeak without support (barley water, cystease etc) or is it only once in a while?

Thank you!
 
Mine are on Glucosamine permanently so always have support. Amy seems to be flaring at the moment though so they do still flare every now and again.
 
Same here, Tango still has his odd bad days here and there - though it's generally when I've been weak and given him a bit of kale or something else he shouldn't really have!
 
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