Poorly pig

[Wiebke]

We are obviously running parallel. Llewelyn went to the vets for possible UTI / cystitis on Friday. My vet was kind enough to shave off 10 mins. off his lunch break for me.

I had the same experience re. septrin. Your dose of baytril is slightly too high - it should be 0.4, unless you have a REALLY big pig! Llewelyn is already a respectable 1200g. I also got some meloxicam/metacam for pain relief.

I have to take Llewelyn back for more x-rays under general anesthesia tomorrow as well, because a first quick x-ray without sedation on Friday showed up a possible bladder stone. If this is confirmed, there will be an op immediately after. BRRR! That was a shock, as there were no warning signs at all! If your piggy has to be sedated, the vet should have told you. I have to sign a form beforehand and have to bring him in for the day.

Make sure you ask for avipro (prebiotic without extra calcium) or any other prebiotic, if they haven't, to help counter the effects of baytril on the guts/appetite when you take yours back to the vets tomorrow. The prebiotic will make your piggy feel immediately better in itself.

Try and get hold of some "Ocean Wave" unsweetened cranberry juice from the supermarket. It is especially good with fighting cystitis.

Unfortunately, I just found out over the weekend that Llewelyn does NOT like syringes OR cranberry juice which I syringe into him together with the metacam/meloxicam...

Best luck for you and your piggy tomorrow - it's going to be hard day on the fingers for crossing!

Vicky

 

[smr1001]

Thanks for that Vicky it does indeed sound as though we are having similar problems. Fraggle is a big piggie so 0.5ml may well be correct for her. I managed to get some of the Ocean Wave Cranberry juice today though I am still having a battle as she doesn't like the syringe. May not be getting all of the baytril in either :-/

Best of luck tomorrow with yours, please let us know how you get on.

 

[Wiebke]

Best luck with Fraggle - I know EXACTLY what you mean! Guinea pigs, syringes and baytril don't mix; it tasts so horrible. At least Llewelyn is not a biter...

I'll keep you updated tomorrow and will be thankful for the support!

 

[Stinklepig]

Just to chip in on meds and diagnosis here, along with what's been said...

Baytril may be licensed for piggies, but it's very harsh on their digestion. Septrin may be unlicensed, but it' much kinder in my experience. Plus it appears far more effective in bladder issues. For a vet to claim they can only give the unlicensed one after trying and failing with the licensed seems ridiculous to me, when not only in the unlicensed one very commonly (and safely) used in piggies in this country by many vets, but also as it's widely recognised as being both less damaging to the vital gut bacteria *and* better for UTIs. I recently had an argument with a receptionist at my usual vet over another antibiotic, and when she said they wouldn't have been able to providse it anyway as it's unlicensed, I questioned how they were happy to sell me Metacam and Septrin time after time. There was no answer...

Cranberry is very good to flush through the bladder, I tend to buy pure stuff from a health food shop but that's not an option outside of normal hours. The carton supermarket stuff is OK, but I get precious about how long it's been open and end up buying a fresh one every day!

Blood in the urine could be from an infection, or from an irritation due to a stone. After my brilliant boy died from comlications after a bladder stone op (by complications, I mean vets that would have been better off selling chops and sausages..) that had been delayed 4 days due to first treating as a UTI, I now feel that so long as an x ray can be done without intensive anaesthetic it's a must the moment these symptoms appear. Pain when passing urine can be from stones or infection, and if you try and flush them through and wait for the antibiotic to work on the assumption it's an infection, you're causing harm if it's a stone. Of course, you have to do the best you can until you know one way or the other, but it's a worrying time.

Baytril seems to be dosed at 0.4ml twice daily now, used to be a lot lower and some vets still give the low doses, especially if not overly guinea knowledgeable. I'm not sure what the once daily dose is, but I suspect it's far too high for their digestive systems. I personally feel 0.4 is on the high side, but at least with 12 hour spacings there's time for the guts to recover a little in between. Oh, and that 0.4 seems to be the same for an 800g pig or a 1kg upwards, which is a slight concern!

I'm finding more and more that Septrin is given at 0.6ml twice daily, which sounds high but I haven't seen any signs of it causing the digestive upsets even a 0.2ml twice daily Baytril dose does. It's also banana flavoured, which helps make it go down easier


By the way, wondering if the mods might want to split this thread off as the original piggie isn't involved anymore (sadly )