Pain When Pooping :(

[antonianicoleee]

Hi everyone. This is my first post so I’m hopefully doing this correct. I had two guinea babies, one sadly passed away from pneumonia/chest infection just over a month ago. Her sister, Poppy, has pretty much all her life had blood in her wee. She’s almost 4. This hasn’t been constant, but it does reoccur quite often. I took her to the vets and they gave her an anti inflammatory injection along with a course of baytril. This didn’t work, so they did a scan and found nothing wrong with her so they just said she’s probably prone to cystitis. The last day or two she’s been squeaking when going to the toilet, it’s not a pleasant sound and it sounds painful. Her poo’s are a little wet and the blood has reappeared again. When I last went to the vets which wasn’t so long ago, they said it might actually be her bowels that are bleeding, so again gave me baytril and it did nothing. Has anyone else’s piggy baby experienced this? Is there a way to ease her pain without taking her to the vets? I’m struggling with money at the minute and I feel like an awful piggy mum any advice would be lovely. Thanks in advance x

 

[Betsy]

Oh dear that does sound nasty your poor piggy! Can't help I'm afraid had no experience of this. Is your vet and experienced piggy vet as not all of them are? Guinea pigs are classed as "exotic animals" and general vets sometimes don't see them very often. Have a look at the vet locator at the top of the page to see if there is one near to where you live. These are vets recommended by members who have had good experiences of vets for their piggies.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone. This is my first post so I’m hopefully doing this correct. I had two guinea babies, one sadly passed away from pneumonia/chest infection just over a month ago. Her sister, Poppy, has pretty much all her life had blood in her wee. She’s almost 4. This hasn’t been constant, but it does reoccur quite often. I took her to the vets and they gave her an anti inflammatory injection along with a course of baytril. This didn’t work, so they did a scan and found nothing wrong with her so they just said she’s probably prone to cystitis. The last day or two she’s been squeaking when going to the toilet, it’s not a pleasant sound and it sounds painful. Her poo’s are a little wet and the blood has reappeared again. When I last went to the vets which wasn’t so long ago, they said it might actually be her bowels that are bleeding, so again gave me baytril and it did nothing. Has anyone else’s piggy baby experienced this? Is there a way to ease her pain without taking her to the vets? I’m struggling with money at the minute and I feel like an awful piggy mum any advice would be lovely. Thanks in advance x

Hi! How piggy savvy are your vets? How long was the course of baytril you have been given and what kind of dosage/weight of your piggy? Urinary tract problems can be persistent and not just clear with a short, low dosed course. Baytril is also not necessarily the most effective antibiotic for urinary tract problems.

Pain when pooing is usually down to urinary tract issues, which can range from a bacterial urine infection to a bladder stone/sludge and to an inflammation of the bladder walls (cystitis). if the latter is a recurring problem that does not respond to antibiotics, we talk of interstitial cystitis (IC). This last is a default diagnosis only after repeated courses of antibiotic have not worked and a scan or x-ray has excluded stones or bladder sludge. Acute cystitis still needs addressing with a high dosed anti-inflammatory/painkiller like metacam to keep the discomfort down.

Since we have members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county so we can always tailor any advice to what is available and relevant where you are striaght away, like vet access, medical brands etc. instead of keeping things as general as possible. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear with every post you make and helps to speed up things. Thank you!

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Hi, you have been given great advice above. I use to have a piggy, Daisy, who had chronic cystitis, she did not have stones or bladder sludge and did not respond to antibiotics, so was put on daily long term metacam (anti-imflammatory). If ever I tried to take her off it the cystitis came back so she stayed on it for life. This started when she was 6 and she lived to be 8 without problems. The dog metacam is better than that for cats as it is stronger so the doses are smaller and so it is more cost effective. It can only be prescribed by vets tho but is not a too costly a drug.

Really she does need to see a vet to get what she needs. Human pain relief must never be used as it is dangerous and often fatal for piggies.

To help ease her pain a little in the short term try increasing her fluid intake by feeding more watery veg such as cucumber (but dont make sudden changes to her diet) Also avoid veg high in oxalic acid, especially spinach as it is a bladder irritant and can trigger cystitis.

 

[antonianicoleee]

Hi everyone. Thank you for your replies, apologies for the delay. I took Poppy to the vets on Monday. When I took her the time before she weighed just over 1.3. She now weighs 1.02. She has lost quite a lot of weight. The blood is apparently coming out in her urine, not in her poop so apparently this is still cystitis and they think she is just bunged up and struggling to poo. They gave me a course of Loxicom, once a day for 2 weeks but she's had this before and it didn't help. I gave her her first syringe on Monday, and yesterday she stopped eating. She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, hasn't been to the toilet or moved out of her tunnel. I have moved her myself to clean any damp/wet patches underneath her, but there isn't anything to clean. She also has urine scalds on her feet where she's previous laid in wet patches so I've been advised to put Sudocrem on the sores. I'm really worried as she isn't eating, drinking or moving. Her eyes are almost closed and her fur has gone extremely soft. This seemed to happen right before her sister, Dora, passed away a month ago so I'm extremely worried. I have phoned the vets today and she is booked in for this evening as they are worried about her. I've been told to prepare for the worst

 

[Merab]

So sorry to hear this. Guinea pigs can be such fragile creatures.
Holding you in my thoughts

 

[Betsy]

Are you syringe feeding her? Here is the thread that tells you all you need to know:-
Not Eating And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre