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Jeff has haematuria :(

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2280CLAIRE

2280CLAIRE

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A few days ago I noticed that the newspaper in the piglet litter tray was stained with darker urine than normal and that there was less of it. The next day I changed the bedding and the white towel underneath the fleece had some dark red stains on it, I had just given them peppers and carrots the day before, I was hoping it was just juice from them :( The next day (yesterday) I noticed Jeff was quiet and I picked him up and looked at his bottom, there was blood around it :( Took him to the vets and they have prescribed Baytril and...Metacam (I think? it's a painkiller...not really familiar with piglet drug names!) for 5 days. Today he is still passing blood and there is a strong smell of blood when I pick him up. I am syringing him cranberry juice along with his meds (I checked with the vet, who said 5 days of sweet juice won't do any harm to him in the long run, and it will help with the UTI). As a nurse (a people one!) I have never seen a UTI cause visible blood in the urine, and his symptoms really suggest stones to me (although the vet did examine him, and said there was no grittiness).

What can I do to help him pass the stone? (if I am right). He is still drinking and eating well, but should I be encouraging more water to flush the stone out? Should I be syringing water, too? If so, how much?

Can I give him anything else for pain? He still whimpers when he pees.

Thankyou for your help! :)
 
Oh bless him...!
Poor little mite... :(
Vets tend to 'under prescribe' meds so if it seems like he's still un comfortable then if you call the vets they should tell you the safest large dose... For example Evie is 700g and and the dose she was prescribed was 0.28ml of metacam and shes now on 0.5...(this is dog strength metacam thought which is stronger than cat metacam...)

Cranberry juice is a good thing to do.., you could also syringe some water aswell just to keep his fluids up and keep his system moving... When you are giving a pig supportive care the minimum fluids is 50ml in 24 hours... Being as he's still drinking I'd just let him have what he wants from the syringe...

If your concerned it is stones then you can bring him back to the vets for a second opinion... I do this quite often if in concerned...

Good luck and I hope he's feeling better soon...!
x
 
Poor little guy! I would make sure the drug is dosed correctly for his weight- sometimes vets 'low-dose' them. If you don't see improvement, some vets will x-ray for stones- that would give you a more definitive answer. Visible blood doesn't necessarily indicate stone, though-it's quite possible even for people to have visible blood in urine from a UTI alone... unfortunately I've been there several times myself! Good luck and I hope he feels much better soon!
 
I have had several boars with UTI and one with stones.

I have a foster pig here at the minute who has been on 2 & half weeks of Septrin (higher dose) with little difference, so we will be having x-rays next week.
He is also taking the natural concentrated cranberry juice from the health food shop and metacam for pain relief.

The difference with boars is that they have narrow urinary tubes so it'd not so easy to pass stones as it is for sows.

My boy Pepper (rip) had 2 x-rays for stones, the first one didn't show any stones but 3 months later another scan did reveal a couple.

My biggest headache at the minute.
 
Poor little boy, sorry i can't offer any help but sending lots of cuddles and wheeks your way from me and my little gang.

Hope he gets well soon (:
 
I would discourage flushing his bladder until you know if or not he has stones, as this could in-courage the stone to move into his urethral and block his urine output.

My boy Patrick had 2 stones and these could not be felt on palpitation of the bladder.

Any UTI I have had in a pig did not have visible blood and the squeaking cleared up after 3 days. I would request an Xray, please make sure you have a Cavy Savy vet.

x
 
Thankyou for all your advice and support...

@Freela, I am surprised, but reassured that you have said it is possible to have a UTI with visible blood...I've seen so many patients with UTI's, not one has ever had visible blood. He is passing very frank, fresh blood, which does suggest that something is causing a trauma in his renal system (i.e, a stone, trying to push through, and tearing up his tubes :() I only hope that I am wrong...


Today he is still passing blood, but he is no longer whimpering when he is urinating. He is currently on the dog metacam, and on 0.4mls, so I don't think he can really have much more than that.

His meds are due to stop on Tuesday...I am reaaaaally hoping this clears up. If he does have a stone, I have no idea how, because I am so careful with the calcium in their diet. They have one tiny sprig of parsley each about once a month, I have taken kale out of their diet since last year when I realised it was high in calcium (and even then, they only had it once a week), I even cut out romaine lettuce in total fear of stones! Their diet is mainly cucumber, peppers, carrots, lettuce (lollo rosso, red oak etc), a little tomato, and fruit as a treat once a week. I know it's not the best diet, but certainly not the worst!?

On the plus side, he hasn't lost his appetite, and is still loving his veg, nuggets, and hay :)
 
Your diet is high in phosphorus, not all stones are calcium based I believe you can also get phosphorus stones but to be fair I believe stones maybe a genetic problem.

I would insist he is Xrayed by a Cavy Savy vet, as it's fresh blood I'm inclined to agree with you re-trauma in urinary tract.
 
Hmmm...do you know if they give something orally to break up the stones? Or are there only surgical treatments available? I'm struggling to think of the name...but I think there is a medicinal treatment (for people) that basically dissolves the stone...is this available for piglets?

Thanks for your help.
 
2280CLAIRE said:
Hmmm...do you know if they give something orally to break up the stones? Or are there only surgical treatments available? I'm struggling to think of the name...but I think there is a medicinal treatment (for people) that basically dissolves the stone...is this available for piglets?

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

We tried to dissolve P's stones but failed when the stones showed on Xray and we knew he couldn't pass them I opted for surgery the risk is to high for boys as they can get blocked in their tubes. Patrick was very lucky as the stones where firmly stuck in ureter had we not did the surgery when we did he would most likely have entered kidney failure and died.
 
Good news! I gave Jeff potassium citrate earlier (this is the name of the medication I was struggling to think of), and he has just passed some clear urine! I am soooo relieved. I spent most of today syringing him water, cranberry juice, and potassium citrate (I looked up the dose according to weight on guinea lynx). We have a very good vets nearby that offer 24hour emergency care if needed, and so had he gone into urinary retention secondary to the stone moving into the urethra, I'd have rushed him in.
The fact that Jeff has made such good progress with potassium citrate suggests that his stones were calcium...I really don't know how this happened? Unless, as flintstones has said, sadly this is something he is just genetically predisposed to.
Ofcourse, I will still complete his course of antibiotics, and I am continuing with his metacam, but I am so pleased that he has finally passed some clear urine (it wasn't even a little sludgy).
 
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