Chonkerz
New Born Pup
Hello,
Please anyone with experience in UTI’s in female pigs please help! I’m a 19 year old who pays for all my pigs vet bills, and all of their other expenses and I’m wanting to know where to go from here ;-; please read my situation and help me.
I‘ve got two female guinea pigs, both are in separate pairs with a neutered male. They are mother and daughter. The mother is called pirate and the daughter is called ginger. The first problems with UTI started December 2020 with Pirate who was found one morning with blood on the bedding. We took her to the vet and after about a month on baytril and anti inflammatory medicine she had stopped squeaking and there was no more blood. However the vet didn’t check her urine or request a check up, so it is not certain if it fully went away.
This march I noticed her squeaking had returned and took her to the vets at the start of April for a general health check where I brought up the issue. The vet who performed the health check took them away into a room and so we did not see the procedure, I assumed they just weighted the pigs (she gave us the weights) They then did a quick over view looking at teeth, fur eyes ect in front of us but without using proper tools. She felt the bladder and said she didn’t feel stones and told me that without blood, Pirate probably didn’t have a UTI. I was doubtful but my parents convinced me I was being paranoid and overbearing so I dropped the issue as I am not a vet. After this appointment, I took my other pair of pigs for their health check and was left unsatisfied again that they hadn’t used proper tools (like looking in their mouth, actually using the little light to check their eyes, listening to heart ect) So against my parents protest, I changed their vet to one that is suggested on here.
I was now sure that Pirate had something wrong but I still doubted myself as now my parents were very annoyed. Within that week, I noticed the tiniest specks of blood on her bedding and phoned the new vet where she was taken as an emergency appointment. The vet noted that he usually treated UTI’s with different medication, but prescribed what our old vet had given us to see if that would work as she was given it before and her symptoms stopped. From looking at our statement we were given baytril, rheumocam and bio lapis as a pro biotic. This round of antibiotics must’ve lasted between 12-21 days, I’m unsure as a lot has happened since then but her symptoms did not go away. A month since her emergency appointment, at the start of July, I booked another appointment but this time ginger came too as she had started squeaking when she was peeing and pooping too.
This time, the vet ran x-rays on them both which ruled out stones and took urine samples which showed blood in both of their urines. He commented that Pirates bladder looked particularly prominent on the X-ray. So we were prescribed 0.4ml of co trimoxazole (I’ve heard this is Septrin?) and 0.4ml of loxicom (metacam) twice daily. We were told to continue this treatment for 10 days, then the vet wanted urine samples. However we ran out on Friday, day 9 of the of the antibiotic, so I continued with the metacam until Tuesday when I was able to get the urine samples to the vet and pick up more medicine. I was actually free to do this at the weekend, but the vets said they didnt take samples as weekends and had less staff to deal with them while they were fresh hence the delay. Now we are right up to date.
The medicine I picked up this Tuesday was, another bottle of metacam but I still have some left from the first one so I’ll continue that and a stronger concentration of septrin, so the dosage has went down To even it out. Now the treatment is 0.2ml of septrin and 0.4ml of metacam twice daily. The vet said this should last at least a week, however it looks like I have enough for longer than that and I’ll use the medicine until it runs out. The vet wants another urine sample after we complete a week of this new round, but I’ll see how long the medicine lasts and push it until they’re finished hopefully as I think it’s pointless to test the urine when they are still in the middle of treating the infection. I’ll also continue using the metacam maybe a week or so after I finish the antibiotic, as the vet recommended to do this.
Over the last two months, I’ve spent £620+ treating these UTI’s plus an appointment and ultrasound for my other pig who had a lump and I’m getting to the point where I feel like I’m just throwing money away. (I’ll gladly spend the money to make sure they’re given the best care possible, but I had wanted to save over the summer and I’ve had to use my money for the pigs instead) I trust my new vet, and I’m hopeful that this new round of antibiotics will get rid of any infection. The urine samples I provided on Tuesday showed less blood. I’ve read that some people have had luck treating and then helping to prevent UTI’s with the cat supplement cystease mixed with water as it helps restore the bladder lining? I’m thinking this might be a big issue for Pirate as she was delayed treatment for so long because of the first vets, and then the first round of medicine not working as well as I’d have liked etc.
I don’t want to come across as critical of the new vets, because they’re great at keeping me informed and doing everything they can to help which I felt I wasn’t getting before. I’m just at a loss now because it’s been so long, and I don’t know what else to do. They live on guineadad fleece bedding, with bobble bath mats and pee pads in high traffic areas that are changed twice weekly to avoid them being damp, along with their hay tray which is also emptied out whenever the fleece is changed. The cage gets a full wipe down, where everything cleaned out once a week. The cage is spot cleaned twice a day, with the poops and stray hay being swept up and new hay added in when needed. Their veggies are varied and we try and avoid feeding the same calcium rich foods all the time, their hay is meadow hay from hay box and they’re eating excel pellets; a mix of blackcurrant and mint but I’m looking to change to a grain free alternative once I’ve used up what I’ve got.
Please anyone with experience in UTI’s in female pigs please help! I’m a 19 year old who pays for all my pigs vet bills, and all of their other expenses and I’m wanting to know where to go from here ;-; please read my situation and help me.
I‘ve got two female guinea pigs, both are in separate pairs with a neutered male. They are mother and daughter. The mother is called pirate and the daughter is called ginger. The first problems with UTI started December 2020 with Pirate who was found one morning with blood on the bedding. We took her to the vet and after about a month on baytril and anti inflammatory medicine she had stopped squeaking and there was no more blood. However the vet didn’t check her urine or request a check up, so it is not certain if it fully went away.
This march I noticed her squeaking had returned and took her to the vets at the start of April for a general health check where I brought up the issue. The vet who performed the health check took them away into a room and so we did not see the procedure, I assumed they just weighted the pigs (she gave us the weights) They then did a quick over view looking at teeth, fur eyes ect in front of us but without using proper tools. She felt the bladder and said she didn’t feel stones and told me that without blood, Pirate probably didn’t have a UTI. I was doubtful but my parents convinced me I was being paranoid and overbearing so I dropped the issue as I am not a vet. After this appointment, I took my other pair of pigs for their health check and was left unsatisfied again that they hadn’t used proper tools (like looking in their mouth, actually using the little light to check their eyes, listening to heart ect) So against my parents protest, I changed their vet to one that is suggested on here.
I was now sure that Pirate had something wrong but I still doubted myself as now my parents were very annoyed. Within that week, I noticed the tiniest specks of blood on her bedding and phoned the new vet where she was taken as an emergency appointment. The vet noted that he usually treated UTI’s with different medication, but prescribed what our old vet had given us to see if that would work as she was given it before and her symptoms stopped. From looking at our statement we were given baytril, rheumocam and bio lapis as a pro biotic. This round of antibiotics must’ve lasted between 12-21 days, I’m unsure as a lot has happened since then but her symptoms did not go away. A month since her emergency appointment, at the start of July, I booked another appointment but this time ginger came too as she had started squeaking when she was peeing and pooping too.
This time, the vet ran x-rays on them both which ruled out stones and took urine samples which showed blood in both of their urines. He commented that Pirates bladder looked particularly prominent on the X-ray. So we were prescribed 0.4ml of co trimoxazole (I’ve heard this is Septrin?) and 0.4ml of loxicom (metacam) twice daily. We were told to continue this treatment for 10 days, then the vet wanted urine samples. However we ran out on Friday, day 9 of the of the antibiotic, so I continued with the metacam until Tuesday when I was able to get the urine samples to the vet and pick up more medicine. I was actually free to do this at the weekend, but the vets said they didnt take samples as weekends and had less staff to deal with them while they were fresh hence the delay. Now we are right up to date.
The medicine I picked up this Tuesday was, another bottle of metacam but I still have some left from the first one so I’ll continue that and a stronger concentration of septrin, so the dosage has went down To even it out. Now the treatment is 0.2ml of septrin and 0.4ml of metacam twice daily. The vet said this should last at least a week, however it looks like I have enough for longer than that and I’ll use the medicine until it runs out. The vet wants another urine sample after we complete a week of this new round, but I’ll see how long the medicine lasts and push it until they’re finished hopefully as I think it’s pointless to test the urine when they are still in the middle of treating the infection. I’ll also continue using the metacam maybe a week or so after I finish the antibiotic, as the vet recommended to do this.
Over the last two months, I’ve spent £620+ treating these UTI’s plus an appointment and ultrasound for my other pig who had a lump and I’m getting to the point where I feel like I’m just throwing money away. (I’ll gladly spend the money to make sure they’re given the best care possible, but I had wanted to save over the summer and I’ve had to use my money for the pigs instead) I trust my new vet, and I’m hopeful that this new round of antibiotics will get rid of any infection. The urine samples I provided on Tuesday showed less blood. I’ve read that some people have had luck treating and then helping to prevent UTI’s with the cat supplement cystease mixed with water as it helps restore the bladder lining? I’m thinking this might be a big issue for Pirate as she was delayed treatment for so long because of the first vets, and then the first round of medicine not working as well as I’d have liked etc.
I don’t want to come across as critical of the new vets, because they’re great at keeping me informed and doing everything they can to help which I felt I wasn’t getting before. I’m just at a loss now because it’s been so long, and I don’t know what else to do. They live on guineadad fleece bedding, with bobble bath mats and pee pads in high traffic areas that are changed twice weekly to avoid them being damp, along with their hay tray which is also emptied out whenever the fleece is changed. The cage gets a full wipe down, where everything cleaned out once a week. The cage is spot cleaned twice a day, with the poops and stray hay being swept up and new hay added in when needed. Their veggies are varied and we try and avoid feeding the same calcium rich foods all the time, their hay is meadow hay from hay box and they’re eating excel pellets; a mix of blackcurrant and mint but I’m looking to change to a grain free alternative once I’ve used up what I’ve got.
