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interstitial cystitis

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teadragon

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTMMyGSmGJ0[/ame]

Cashew last night. All night after being loaded with metacam.

He was so loud and in so much pain :(
 
AWWW - poor boy!

It is so upsetting and gutting when you just can't get on top of his infection, isn't it? I hope that he is a bit better now?

I've had this website recommended on a German forum - they are very much into herbal remedies and alternative medicine over there.
http://www.petherbs.co.uk/index.html

On the same forum, they also recommended a diuretic/antiinflammatory herbal tea, if you can get hold of it in this country (you can get it in pharmacies in Germany and Switzerland).

I'm sending my vibes to Cashew!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Helen, he's very much the same; still in pain with inconsistently formed poops.

He's on the maximum dose of metacam I'm comfortable giving him, I put him up to 3ml last night (.1ml over the recommended dose) and today he'll be getting .4ml overall, (.2ml twice) until he starts eating again.

I never want to see a syringe again after this.


<3 to Joanne who just called and let me sob and ***** about guinea pigs to her on the phone
 
its heartbreaking but you are doing the best you can! double vodka for you my treat hehe! sending healing vibes your way! cashew you cant steel fred girlies if your in pain you have to get better for your piggy mummy ! x x x
 
You know, Cashew tried to steal susie_q's Allsorts when they went to the vet together...

(separate cages!)
 
Peter Gurney's suggestion - boil pearl barley til it is a gloop (about 90 mins).

I did this the other day (dashed to my local Tescos Express and got the last bag of pearl barley ...NB I WAS prepared to kill for it {:|) and diluted resulting sieved gloop 1/2 with Holland and Barret cranberry concentrate.

Gave Muffin 1ml the night before the vets. She was weeing fresh blood every 30 mins. Following morning...symptoms had disappeared (NB this was interstitial and not stones as she had already had Xrays that showed no stones)

Good luck
x
 
Thanks for trying to help, but I've been dealing with this for far longer than a year and I'm pretty much done trying herbal remedies that don't work which is why my current plan involves a lot of high doses of unlicensed medicines.
 
OK - I'm new to the forum. Bear with me.

Has he had a [*]recent [/*]Xray that is clear of kidney stones?

Hugs....it's really tough feeling disempowered when our wee ones are in pain

x
 
teadragon said:
Thanks for trying to help, but I've been dealing with this for far longer than a year and I'm pretty much done trying herbal remedies that don't work which is why my current plan involves a lot of high doses of unlicensed medicines.
Click to expand...

I am sorry for you - I have seen how bad a cystitis can get that has been caused by multiple bladder stone irritation.
 
furryfriends - he doesn't have an infection, which is typical of IC. We've used Baytril in the past, but I'm working on getting Septrin/Bactrim to give to him anyway because pigs who have tested negative for UTI's seem to have responded to the antibiotic anyway on a long-term dose.

He has had a recent x-ray to rule out stones. He'll turn into an x-ray machine soon. However, because this bought hasn't cleared I'm planning on another x-ray to avoid having his bladder surgically inspected.

All of this is in his medical thread on Guinea Lynx and e-mails to Wendi of Thistle Cavies. I don't really want to discuss "how to cure the disease that can't be cured" in a third place, but I can link you to his medic thread if you want to input there. Not because I'm ungrateful for advice, it's just that it repeats itself and I'm upset and frustrated and I've underslept and I'm fed up of reading things I've tried that aren't working again and again.
 
BIG HUG

I can understand your frustration. Perhaps it would have been easier if you had made it clearer in your initial post. Sadly, there are only so many things you can try!

My heart goes out to Cashew and you!
 
I totally know how you feel. I've had over 2.5 years now of constantly trying to solve my 3 girls' bladder issues, and it's the most frustrating thing ever. I can only think that a few years down the line when veterinary science is more advanced, we might get somewhere with the difficult problem of piggy bladders. Watching them in pain is heartbreaking. :(
 
"I put him up to 3ml last night (.1ml over the recommended dose) and today he'll be getting .4ml overall, (.2ml twice) until he starts eating again."

Can you confirm that you meant 0.3ml and not 3ml?
 
Hi Tea

I've read your thread on guinea lynx...this is all the info I can offer that might be relevant to your situation:

ANTIBIOTICS
..All my pigs are now on septrin (GSK) because they have baytril-resistant staph/strep/bacillus and have urinary and respiratory problems. It took me a while to get it prescribed by the vet (the alternative is Tribrissen 80 - dilute 1 tablet in 10ml and feed 0.65 mk/kg). They are on for 14 days minimum.

Septrin has sorted all urine problems (again no stones on Xray so interstitial cystitis suspected) in three guineas which baytril had not.

NB: Long term baytril has caused poo problems and impaction with some of my boars.and as a resut MAY have caused urninary problems (we're not sure if it's the baytril or "the respiratory bug" but personally i think its the anitbioitics in general (despite proiotics) ..

Also note: Some of the faecal cultures were also septrin resistant - So I;m currently angling for either oxytet or zithromycin for the respiratory probs - you might like to consider these antibioitics as alternatives if you want to go the antibiotics route.

LONG TERM METACAM
My other piggie Fleure had excessive kidney stones - no blood/sludge, no indication apart from more drinking - untill one day she hunched up with spikey fur and stopped eating (no wheeking at all) and was clearly in pain. Once discovered, we medicated her on metacam and destolit (stones were analysed and found to be carbonate) up to the max limit for two months with no ill effects. Unfortunately her kidneys suddenly enlarged o/night (which I was watching for) and I took the decision to PTS last month with her blessing (that really cut me up - she knew it was her time and communicated to me as such) - she was 6 years old

BARLEY GLOOP
Having said that, I would reiterate my previous post - Muffin had been on septrin for over a week, started pancaking and producing fresh blood copiously (she is a heart pig and therefore also on heart meds fortekor and fruseamide twice daily). A few doses of barley gloop/cranberry extract (plus continuing the septrin and heart meds) and she was so much perkier, the bleeding stopped overnight and she is better than she has been for the last few months. She is not out of the woods as she clearly still has cystitis judging from the sludge in her pee - but she has no pain and metacam was not needed in her case.

I hope you find a means to give your boy Cashew freedom from pain and understand how distressing it is.

x
 
Please send me the link so I can read it all. Of course I understand why you don't want to keep explaining it over and over. My vet is a guinea pig specialist and if I know the whole story I can ask him what he would advise. I'm seeing him on Wednesday.
 
AP - I misplaced the decimal point, I did mean .3ml, not 3ml. Thank you for noticing.
 
Pebble - I'd like to discuss your take on things a bit more at length. I've tried the barley gloop before and it made no difference, but when he's in as much continuous pain as he is now I'm considering giving it another go. *something* must work.

I'm not sure how an antibiotic will help when he doesn't have an infection (was cultured) unless infections can hide from urinalysis'

Furryfriends - his medical thread is here: http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49097 in advance: you have permission to link him to or print excerpts or the whole thread out if you wish.
 
Poor Cashew, he really is struggling with this isn't he? You're doing a great job and I know you're looking into everything possible to help him.

Emma, I have had a lovely email from a friend who has become aware of Cashew's difficulties and wishes to pass on her advice. Please note that this is not my own advice, but the advice from a very well respected rodentologist:

If a stone has definitely been ruled out for Cashew, then indeed Interstitial Cystitis is a bone fide train of thought. I note he is on a hefty dose of Metacam, but is not responding, this is very common I am afraid with this type of cystitis, as the bladder becomes so thickened with inflammation, in some cases adhesions/blisters will occur and stick the bladder to the bowel wall, thus he may not necessarily be crying when urinating but also when defecating.

I have had a lot of patients this year with this type of problem, all the usual first base cases looked, urinalysis, x-ray, and bladder flushes, and even then some of the patients continue to present with pain.

What to do, well first of all and I say again, provided stones of bladder and kidney have been ruled out, this little pig could do very well on Cystease tablets, yes they are a cat medication, but we have had tremendous results with them as they coat the bladder giving protective covering. They must be cat Cystease S, 125 mg. Dose 1 capsule direct into mouth, or watered down and syringe fed daily, usually this will be for life. Combine this with preferably Rimadyl pain relief, 10 mg 2 x day, Rimadyl stays in the system longer from our experience. 40 mls of water either mixed with cranberry juice or just water daily, add into the fluid treatment any Cystitis preparation for humans, I use Cystemme, I give this daily for 2 weeks, yes longer than the norm, but the idea is flush, flush, flush that bladder. 1 sachet over 2 days mixed up as directed will give an idea as to what intake I am advising to aim for.

We have also recently been looking very carefully at diet, in severe cases, we have removed all dry mixes, including pellets, strictly no fruits (sugar and acids irritate bladder problems) and absolutely no vegetable that contains sugars, carrots, bell peppers to give you two examples. And it does seem to work. Leafy green diet,, readigrass, decent hay, are more than satisfactory to keep the teeth in check.

It is very hard work as you can imagine, but from the pigs I have treated I would say our success rate is running at about 85%, for Cashew perhaps worth a try.

This is the product to which I refer.

http://www.vetmedsdirect.co.uk/products/Feline-Cystease-S-Capsules--125mg-x-100-capsules.html
Click to expand...

She also asked me to clarify that the contents of the Cystease capsule needs to be emptied from the plastic covering.

I hope this helps you Emma, I've learnt a lot from the info she asked me to pass on.
 
Laura, thank you and thank your friend for me please.

Cashew IS squealing when he both urinates and defecates, my mum looks so concerned for him because his squealing is discomforting.

Is the metacam helping at all? If not then there's no need for me to have the dose as high as it is, last night he was on .3ml once (a day) of metacam (I couldn't make myself go up to the .9ml since I was unable to get enough water into him) However, today he seems to have given up on fighting with me so I've managed to get 15ml into him in 20 minutes when beforehand it was a battle to get 1ml into him before he froze on me.

One idea on an IC thread in Guinea Lynx involves coating the bladder - I assume that's what Pebbles barley gloop seeks to achieve, and I have tried the gloop before but perhaps if I'm more persistent with it and go with the frequency Peter Gurney suggests instead of a once-off dose. If I can't get the cat tablets from my vet soon then I'll give the barley gloop another try - I really have nothing to lose at this point.

I'm planning on getting a human Cystitis treatment too; Wendi suggested it in her e-mail to me but I need to alternate it with juice. Wasn't able to get any yesterday but will do tomorrow armed with a hand bag to fend of boxing day shoppers :)

Actually - I might just get the cat tablets if I can buy them online.
 
Have you tried giving him a "straight" pain killer, ie Calpol or Nurofen?
 
AP, no I haven't. Mainly because I didn't want to load him with multiple pain killers when I was using such a high dose of metacam.



Cashew was taken to the eVet earlier today. My mum noticed (before I woke up) that his squealing had changed; instead of squeeking he was grunting in a way that sounded horrible and couldn't pee.

He has bladder stones and one has lodged in his penis, which is completely not what was wrong with him a few months ago. So, yeah. I feel stupid.

He's sedated just now and the vet is going to try and remove it.
 
Cashew is awake.

The lodged stone was removed easily and the vet managed to flush the other stones in the bladder through the same hole so he won't need a second surgery instantly after this.

I'm so relieved.
 
Excellent news, I am glad he has been sorted out so quickly and 'easily'. I hope he's back to normal soon!
 
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