Rusty is a beautiful, sweet, and loving 4-year-old female guinea-pig. We're hoping maybe someone out there can help us understand the health issues she's had since she was a baby.
PAINFUL URINATION
We first noticed this when she was 6 months old. It started as a very quiet whine she would make when she was starting to pee. By the time she was 1 year old, it had gotten worse, and she would clench up her whole hindquarters and make a horrible groan/wheek of pain. Then we noticed that during these pain flare-ups, sometimes her pee would come out thick looking like milk. It seemed like she was working so hard and enduring so much pain to push out a few drops of this thick urine. We tested the urine and ruled out a bacterial cause, but we did a round of Bactrim anyways. At this point, it sounded like maybe the reason was urinary/bladder stones. We did x-rays, and there was no sign of stones. Another symptom was Rusty's swolen nipples. The vet wondered if there could be a hormonal explanation. We did an ultrasound, and the vet said he thought there was a cervical mass. He recommended we get Rusty spayed (and remove any cervical lump at the same time).
SPAYING
When Rusty was 2 years old, we went ahead with the doctor's suggestion to get her spayed. The operation went very smoothly. The vet who did the surgery was not the same vet who did the ultrasound. She didn't see any large mass, but she did the spay. She said she was sure she got the uterus and at least one ovary, but that the ovaries are very small and easy to miss. We did another round of Bactrim. Rusty healed from the surgery very quickly and was soon back to her sweet self.
CONTINUED PAINFUL URINATION/DEFECATION
The spay surgery had no impact on Rusty's painful clenching and crying out when she was peeing/pooing. The pain continued to get worse. During her worst spells, she clenches so hard and cries out so loud she can be heard from another room in the house. The clenching and crying continues every few seconds for up to 2 minutes, before she finally manages to pass a poo, or a few drops of pee.
SELF-BARBERING
When Rusty was three years old, she started biting out her hair in the groin region. This coincided with another really bad flare-up of the painful peeing/pooing. Eventually she pulled out all the hair from her hindquarters, leaving just a small stripe of hair along her spine. She bit herself so hard in places that she had red marks and sometimes blood. I witnessed the self-barbering many times, and am sure it was not her gentle sweet cagemate.
To rule out mites/lice, we did 3 rounds of treatment with Selamectin. This had no effect. Also, her cagemate and two playmates who live in another cage never experienced any hair loss or any other health problems, suggesting it is not a contagious condition.
Rusty began to lose weight, dropping from 1100g to 900g. Also, during the times of worst pain, her personality suffered. Instead of her cheerful sweet self, she became irritable and sometimes lashed out at her playmates. Other times she retreated into total depression and listlessness.
1st LUPRON SHOT
At this point we got advice from another vet, who suggested trying Lupron. This is a medicine that has been very effective against hormonal-imbalance diseases in ferrets. The lupron was a miracle. Within 2 days, the hair biting stopped, the clenching pains stopped, and her mood totally bounced back. Within 1 month, all of her hair had grown back, and it was no longer possible to tell that she had been totally bald all over her hindquarters. All her bite marks healed, and she gained all the weight back.
The vet said we might have to get another shot of Lupron within 1 or 2 months, and keep coming back for monthly shots. But to our great surprise and happiness, Rusty's miraculous recovery lasted for 6 months.
2nd LUPRON SHOT
At about the 6-month mark, we noticed that the painful clenching had started to happen again. Infrequently at first, and then more often, in unpredictable flare-ups.. she'd be fine for two weeks, then suddenly have a lot of pain for 2 days, then be pain-free for another week. Also, she started biting her off her groin again.
We took her back to the vet and got a second shot of lupron. Also the vet took another x-ray and saw nothing amiss. She also did a physical exam and ultrasound, and didn't notice any obvious lumps/masses.
CURRENT CRISIS
It's been 1 month since the second shot of Lupron. Rusty's hair grew back and the hair biting stopped. But the painful/constipated/clenching fits have gotten even worse. Right now she has been having one of these flare-ups for two days. It started yesterday morning. Every 5 minutes she goes into the cycle of violently clenching her abdomen, trying to expel something from her vent. A loud grunt/scream with each convulsion.
Last night she suddenly started having a weird discharge from her vent. At first it was like a little bit of green diarrhea, from incompletely digested hay/veggies. Later it became a black discharge, so black it looks almost bluish in comparison to her pink skin.
At one point she suddenly passed a large number of poos (all well-formed, good color). The clenching/screaming stopped. Her whole mood improved, and she was "smiling" and had her fur all puffed up, and she was munching on veggies. The relief from the pain lasted for about an hour. But then it started again.
Now she has completely stopped eating. The pain is so bad, she just wants to hide and suffer in silence. Right now we're in life-support mode, syringe-feeding her water and Critical Care food paste. Giving her warm butt-baths every few hours to clean up the very stinky pee/diarrhea. Just trying to keep her comfortable. Using metacam for pain.
Tomorrow morning we are going to the vet again. But I'm afraid the vet is out of ideas.
Any advice/experience would be extremely valued.
Has anyone seen this kind of pattern?
Someone out there might be able to save Rusty's life with what they know…
Please reply to rusty3456 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Thanks for reading, all our love to all the piggies and pig parents out there
--Mike and Rusty
PAINFUL URINATION
We first noticed this when she was 6 months old. It started as a very quiet whine she would make when she was starting to pee. By the time she was 1 year old, it had gotten worse, and she would clench up her whole hindquarters and make a horrible groan/wheek of pain. Then we noticed that during these pain flare-ups, sometimes her pee would come out thick looking like milk. It seemed like she was working so hard and enduring so much pain to push out a few drops of this thick urine. We tested the urine and ruled out a bacterial cause, but we did a round of Bactrim anyways. At this point, it sounded like maybe the reason was urinary/bladder stones. We did x-rays, and there was no sign of stones. Another symptom was Rusty's swolen nipples. The vet wondered if there could be a hormonal explanation. We did an ultrasound, and the vet said he thought there was a cervical mass. He recommended we get Rusty spayed (and remove any cervical lump at the same time).
SPAYING
When Rusty was 2 years old, we went ahead with the doctor's suggestion to get her spayed. The operation went very smoothly. The vet who did the surgery was not the same vet who did the ultrasound. She didn't see any large mass, but she did the spay. She said she was sure she got the uterus and at least one ovary, but that the ovaries are very small and easy to miss. We did another round of Bactrim. Rusty healed from the surgery very quickly and was soon back to her sweet self.
CONTINUED PAINFUL URINATION/DEFECATION
The spay surgery had no impact on Rusty's painful clenching and crying out when she was peeing/pooing. The pain continued to get worse. During her worst spells, she clenches so hard and cries out so loud she can be heard from another room in the house. The clenching and crying continues every few seconds for up to 2 minutes, before she finally manages to pass a poo, or a few drops of pee.
SELF-BARBERING
When Rusty was three years old, she started biting out her hair in the groin region. This coincided with another really bad flare-up of the painful peeing/pooing. Eventually she pulled out all the hair from her hindquarters, leaving just a small stripe of hair along her spine. She bit herself so hard in places that she had red marks and sometimes blood. I witnessed the self-barbering many times, and am sure it was not her gentle sweet cagemate.
To rule out mites/lice, we did 3 rounds of treatment with Selamectin. This had no effect. Also, her cagemate and two playmates who live in another cage never experienced any hair loss or any other health problems, suggesting it is not a contagious condition.
Rusty began to lose weight, dropping from 1100g to 900g. Also, during the times of worst pain, her personality suffered. Instead of her cheerful sweet self, she became irritable and sometimes lashed out at her playmates. Other times she retreated into total depression and listlessness.
1st LUPRON SHOT
At this point we got advice from another vet, who suggested trying Lupron. This is a medicine that has been very effective against hormonal-imbalance diseases in ferrets. The lupron was a miracle. Within 2 days, the hair biting stopped, the clenching pains stopped, and her mood totally bounced back. Within 1 month, all of her hair had grown back, and it was no longer possible to tell that she had been totally bald all over her hindquarters. All her bite marks healed, and she gained all the weight back.
The vet said we might have to get another shot of Lupron within 1 or 2 months, and keep coming back for monthly shots. But to our great surprise and happiness, Rusty's miraculous recovery lasted for 6 months.
2nd LUPRON SHOT
At about the 6-month mark, we noticed that the painful clenching had started to happen again. Infrequently at first, and then more often, in unpredictable flare-ups.. she'd be fine for two weeks, then suddenly have a lot of pain for 2 days, then be pain-free for another week. Also, she started biting her off her groin again.
We took her back to the vet and got a second shot of lupron. Also the vet took another x-ray and saw nothing amiss. She also did a physical exam and ultrasound, and didn't notice any obvious lumps/masses.
CURRENT CRISIS
It's been 1 month since the second shot of Lupron. Rusty's hair grew back and the hair biting stopped. But the painful/constipated/clenching fits have gotten even worse. Right now she has been having one of these flare-ups for two days. It started yesterday morning. Every 5 minutes she goes into the cycle of violently clenching her abdomen, trying to expel something from her vent. A loud grunt/scream with each convulsion.
Last night she suddenly started having a weird discharge from her vent. At first it was like a little bit of green diarrhea, from incompletely digested hay/veggies. Later it became a black discharge, so black it looks almost bluish in comparison to her pink skin.
At one point she suddenly passed a large number of poos (all well-formed, good color). The clenching/screaming stopped. Her whole mood improved, and she was "smiling" and had her fur all puffed up, and she was munching on veggies. The relief from the pain lasted for about an hour. But then it started again.
Now she has completely stopped eating. The pain is so bad, she just wants to hide and suffer in silence. Right now we're in life-support mode, syringe-feeding her water and Critical Care food paste. Giving her warm butt-baths every few hours to clean up the very stinky pee/diarrhea. Just trying to keep her comfortable. Using metacam for pain.
Tomorrow morning we are going to the vet again. But I'm afraid the vet is out of ideas.
Any advice/experience would be extremely valued.
Has anyone seen this kind of pattern?
Someone out there might be able to save Rusty's life with what they know…
Please reply to rusty3456 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Thanks for reading, all our love to all the piggies and pig parents out there
--Mike and Rusty
