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Kidney Infection Update with pictures

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Sarah from Chucklebunnies

Sarah from Chucklebunnies

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Carmina has responded very well to her first week on antibiotics and the swelling has gone down a lot. Her coat is glossier, she has gained 50g as her appetite has returned and she is being boss piggie again as she did before. I am so very very happy!

She has another two weeks on the antibiotic to go, but I thought it would be useful for you to see pictures, her shape at the start of the treatment and her shape now. It really was the best indicator that something was wrong, so perhaps it would help other guinea pig owners to detect problems.

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The first picture shows Carmina, the second shows her shape when she first went to the vets with a massively swollen kidney. The third shows her just now, one week later, and the shape has changed because she is less thin around the front and less bulging just behind the ribs.

Her back feet are placed each time and I looked straight down from above, but the picture just now was much harder to take as she didn't want to stand still! (I was closer when I took the second picture I think) Hopefully the difference is obvious - it is really obvious to my fingers when I cuddle her.

Sarah x
 
Oh gosh, what a dramatic difference. What were her symptoms? What were the antibiotics that she had? My guinea looks swollen around the middle, but she is ok in herself, still eats and drinks ok. She had a check up at the vets back in November and she was like this then.
 
Dear Sharon,

Carmina showed a general lethargy (not much movement) and she was still eating and drinking a bit but not her usual appetite. She didn't feel feverish or look very different, it was the shape of her when I cuddled her that really alerted me.

Once the vet had shown me where her kidney was I could tell instantly that it was getting smaller with antibiotics, but before he showed me I hadn't a clue. I took her in simply because she wasn't behaving quite as she should and I could feel the difference in shape.

She is getting 0.4 ml of 2.5% Baytril solution orally every twelve hours. By syringe - which is hard! I am determined though, this infection could reoccur if she doesn't get the help to fight it, it isn't gone yet.

I think the really obvious bit was how thin her front legs and shoulders felt and how solidly tubby her tummy was out to the sides. You had to feel through the fur though. Her tummy never looked fat downwards - it never dragged on the ground!

Sarah
 
You can see a difference, that's great news! Hope the meds continue to work for Carmina :)
 
Tha is really great news and those pics are very useful, thank you! that is a good strong course of AB she is on and should hopefully kick that nasty infection.
 
Carmina is gorgeous. Great to hear she is doing so well. What a huge difference in her shape!
 
Actually Ovarian Cysts...

Just to let you know what has happened...

After three weeks on antibiotics I took Carmina back to the vets and there was still a lump. She was definitely better in herself after the antibiotics though. An x-ray showed a shockingly large lump - the vet showed me afterwards and it was the size of a 2p piece - so they operated this morning. I am honestly aghast at the thought of how big it must have been before the start of treatment, the two pictures above on the start of the thread show the difference in size and the second picture is with the 2p piece lump! Poor little piggie! :(

The lump turned out to be an ovarian cyst and Carmina was spayed. The vet thinks the antibiotics sorted out a secondary infection, she wasn't very well at all was she, so I think the antibiotics first before the op was probably the right thing to do. She is recovering now, not eating much yet which is a bit worrying, but I think I must be patient with her.

CCC4 - you suggested ovarian cysts when you saw the picture of her on an earlier thread and I take my hat off to you! It just shows how much experience there is to call upon on this fantastic forum and thank you very much indeed. I was thinking about alternatives while talking to the vets and was supported in my hopes by your comments.

Also, she is in obvious pain, shifting about a little bit now and then, that's all. How do I give pain relief? She is not on any medicines now, but I have no ideas of what to give her that is safe. She is not a very well piggie, a spaying operation is quite a big operation. Any help would be gratefully received.

Sarah x
 
I'm so sorry to hear your little one has been so poorly.

It's also very interesting for me. Her shape is exactly the same shape as Rocky, who is being scanned for ovarian cysts on Thursday. Rocky's coat is thin and wiry, with no shine.

Rocky is also bald on the tummy - did this happen to your piggie?
 
Carmina didn't go bald on the tummy, but her coat was definitely lacklustre - visibly bad.

Best of luck with the scan. When the vet did the xray she didn't know what the huge lump was - it could have been a tumour - so we decided to operate as that seemed the best thing to do. I have read that cysts can be treated without operating which might be a good approach, but I suppose you'd have to know that it really was cysts. Carmina's other ovary was also showing cysts the vet told me once she'd done the operation, I think Carmina was simply susceptible to them.

I wish Rocky a correct diagnosis and a speedy recovery.

Sarah x
 
Ovarian cysts are very common, probably more so than kidney tumours.
Ovarian cysts are easily detected by palpating the abdomen and feeling the cysts which give the ovary a bumpy surface.
To repeat from another thread, they are more of a nuisance than anything else.
They can be drained by needle aspiration, sometimes they can be ruptured by finger pressure or treated with hormones. Surgery, with it's attendent anaesthetic risks, is a last resort. They can reach quite a large size and the pig can look pregnant.
Most sows carry on with their lives and let the owners do the worrying whilst the vets. come up with more and more exotic forms of investigation/treatment and cost!
 
I'm glad Carmina's underlying issue has been resolved. It is obvious that the antibiotics were helping to a degree, so I agree that the treatment path was probably the best for Carmina.

Hormone treatment is possible, as is draining via a needle in the abdomen, both of which Lucinda knows about from her thread, but it can be tough to get vets to consider these as an alternative to a full hysterectomy. The non-surgical treatments are usually very effective.

Pain relief is important, as you have noticed. PIgs who are in pain will often refuse to eat, so a pig obviously in pain/significant discomfort would do well to have a few small doses of pain relief. A spay is an invasive abdominal procedure which will cause some soreness in the days after the operation. Play it by ear with giving pain meds, but 0.2ml twice daily of Children's Nurofen (ibuprofen) or children's Calpol (paracetamol) can be given. If you happen to have any Metacam or Rimadyl to hand then these are also good to use.

Thanks for the update, let us know how she continues to do. :)
 
Today Carmina has been moving about in a careful manner, not too far. She has eaten some hay, some veg and a bit of dried food. She was very happy to be picked up, I was incredibly careful to support her tummy properly, and had a comfortable 40 minute cuddle laid across my chest and gently chuckling/snoozing alternately. I think we both needed that!

There is no blood or matter on her bedding, which is white sheeting on top of towelling for the moment as I can change that often and see anything bad on it. She still needs some pain relief, she is a stoic little pig but I can see it is still sore, so I have given her some. Thank you very much for the dosage. I don't think she took the whole 0.2 ml as I was offering her the syringe while she sat in her house and she was a bit reluctant, but even a bit will help.

Sarah x
 
CCC4 said:
I'm glad Carmina's underlying issue has been resolved. It is obvious that the antibiotics were helping to a degree, so I agree that the treatment path was probably the best for Carmina.

Hormone treatment is possible, as is draining via a needle in the abdomen, both of which Lucinda knows about from her thread, but it can be tough to get vets to consider these as an alternative to a full hysterectomy. The non-surgical treatments are usually very effective.

Pain relief is important, as you have noticed. PIgs who are in pain will often refuse to eat, so a pig obviously in pain/significant discomfort would do well to have a few small doses of pain relief. A spay is an invasive abdominal procedure which will cause some soreness in the days after the operation. Play it by ear with giving pain meds, but 0.2ml twice daily of Children's Nurofen (ibuprofen) or children's Calpol (paracetamol) can be given. If you happen to have any Metacam or Rimadyl to hand then these are also good to use.

Thanks for the update, let us know how she continues to do. :)
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Can I just say that Nurafen and Calpol are NSAID drugs for human use only,they should not be given to animals.Metacam is the safest and best analgesic we have at the moment for gp`s,.
 
As I have said on other threads previously Nurofen and Calpol are SAFE to use on guinea pigs. There are many pigs who have been helped by either/both of these very useful drugs.
Could Delia please give evidence why these should not be used on animals?
 
When there is nothing else available, and the pig is in immediate need of pain relief when the vet believes the pig does not need it, I recommend human infant analgesics for a few doses only. I don't believe it should be used long-term or for more than a few days, but for immediate need I'd prefer the pig was given something rather than nothing.
 
ANY sign of pain = PAIN RELIEF
First choice for general pain is Calpol.
Bloat/colic give Buscopan.
Joint pain give Rimadyl.
If in doubt give all three, as I have done on a number of occasions. They do not consitute a lethal dose, as a one off measure.
Very occasionally I have found that pain relief is sufficient whilst the body sorts itself out eg pulled muscle, colic. Without pain relief the pig could go into shock and die,
 
Those are very useful pics, you have got my thinking now, whether one of my piggies has this. Juliette who had the babies over a year ago, is very big on the sides like that and makes a horrible noise when I pick her up, but I just thought she hated being picked up. I will check her out tonight. Hope Carmina recovers well.xx
 
Hello. I gave pain relief just until yesterday, Carmina's appetite has returned and she is moving around much more easily today so I have stopped it. It was helpful to her, allowing her to be more relaxed when lying down and I think it helped to stimulate appetite because she ate more after being given it.

Carmina has a line of stitching along her tummy that looks like a little zip - good description by a friend. I have been incredibly careful about picking her up and will continue to be. Back to the vet for a checkup tomorrow and she may be allowed back in with the other girls soon. I will let the vet guide me on that one. They are regularly biting at the bars to try and get through - all of them - and the youngest one Carmilla is wheeking for her adopted mummy every now and then. I gave Carmilla the soiled sheet from Carmina's bed this morning and she hid in it, chuckling. It must smell of her mummy I should think.

Thank you again for all your help. I am really glad I took the pictures - if it helps one other person then that means it was worth it.

Sarah x
 
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