Specialist Possible Uti?

[Perfectpets11]

Hi everyone, a while back I posted a thread about Chico my 2 year old boar having an extremely wet bottom. This was up to his grease gland and all over his stomach. We never took him to the vets because he didn't have another wet bum and still hasn't. On Monday I noticed a tiny speck of blood in their hutch which I later discovered came from Chico. On Tuesday my mum took him to the vets, he was pretty thin compared to buddy and didn't want to eat much. The vet prescribed him with baytril and the supreme science recovery stuff. He takes the baytril better than the recovery med. he gets baytril 2 times a day and the recovery stuff 3 times per day. The vet weighed Chico and buddy and we also did tonight. Buddy weighs 1100g and Chico weight 920g. Chico definitely has lost a lot of weight because he used to be the same size as his cage mate.
I noticed tonight that he constantly makes a chewing noise. You know the cute sound they make when they eat? Well that sound constantly, except he has no food in his mouth? What could this be?
The vet asked for a urine sample so my mum dropped it in this morning. He said it looked very clear for guinea pig wee and he would give us a call in the morning with results. I'm getting so worried about my baby not eating enough. He mainly only wants to nibble on orange pepper and cucumber. He doesn't really want the hay although he had a small amount of grass tonight in the run. How long should we keep him on the meds? What foods will make him gain weight? Is there anything else I can give him? What's the chopping noise has making? Please help xxxxx

 

[Wiebke]

The chewing noise could be teeth grinding because of pain, which is also an appetite killer. Please also ask your vet to check for overgrown pre-molars (which can also account for the tooth noises and inability to eat) and also for an x-ray for a potential bladder stone (which can be very painful).

Make sure that you syringe feed with recovery food and/or mushed up pellets. A healthy guinea pig needs about 120 ml in solids or syringed form per day to maintain its weight, so you need to regularly top him up with as much as he will take, including offering water, too. How often you do it in a day depends on much syringe food he is eating in one sitting. Your care is very important with any guinea pig that experiences a major weight loss. Switch from weighing weekly to weighing daily at the same time in the feeding cycle.Please read carefully through our syringe feeding guide; it should show and explain everything step-by-step.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-syringe-feeding-guide.115359/

 

[Perfectpets11]

Thank you @Wiebke. This morning we weighed him again and he has put on 15g, not a lot but it's something. I will take your advice on board thanks. Do you think the chewing noise may be due to overgrown molars?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you @Wiebke. This morning we weighed him again and he has put on 15g, not a lot but it's something. I will take your advice on board thanks. Do you think the chewing noise may be due to overgrown molars?

Without seeing your piggy, all we can do is point out likely avenues for your vet to check out.

 

[biscandmatt]

my feeling is that he either has dental issues as his main issue, or as a secondary issue to not eating well for a while due to pain elsewhere (possibly the uti issue) - his very clear watery urine makes me think he is filling up as much as possible on water, again to flush his own bladder out, or because he is hungry and not able to eat properly. this would make sense with the weight loss.

of course, when one problem starts, other issue occur, usually teeth related as a piggy in pain will not want to eat.

baytril is the only licensed guinea pig antibiotic but unfortunately it is not the best at treating most common guinea pig problems, like a uti. i would strongly recommend seeing an exotics vet for treatment. i have been through this a few times with various piggies unfortunately and have always in the first instance had them checked over throughly and in the case of a strongly suspected uti, been given an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory pain relief like metacam, and then anything like recovery food if also needed. the vet can feel the bladder, hopefully express some urine to see how the piggy urinates and reacts when he does, and a basic dipstick test to check for the presence of blood. usually this is the first treatment tried and then if symptoms don't seem to be improving then further tests can be carried out.

treatment with an exotics vet who works with piggies day in and day out and who has specialist training is alot different to standard dog and cat vets who have only minimal training with other species. there is a vet locator at the top of the page which will help you find your nearest recommended guinea pig vet.

 

[Perfectpets11]

Thank you a lot @biscandmatt your response was great! Today he gained al little bit of weight and has Been eating on some lettuce(not iceburg) and other veggies. I saw him drinking a few times yesterday but nothing unusual. What else can I do to fatten him up? Pellets syringe fed? X

 

[biscandmatt]

Thank you a lot @biscandmatt your response was great! Today he gained al little bit of weight and has Been eating on some lettuce(not iceburg) and other veggies. I saw him drinking a few times yesterday but nothing unusual. What else can I do to fatten him up? Pellets syringe fed? X

i'm glad it was helpful. i'm going through bladder issues with mollie at the moment aswell. these pesky bladder issues!

lettuce is a good food for providing water and flushing out the bladder so that will help. small amounts of recovery food or mashed pellets given regularly will also help him but be careful with trying to make him gain weight too quickly. alot of people panic at weight loss and desperately try to fatten the piggy up but this can cause other issues aswell because it can be too much digestion wise and it is also much safer for the body to gain weight slowly over a period of time. too quickly and it puts too much pressure on the body which obviously isn't good either. i think specifically it is the liver that struggles although not 100% on that, but i know it is a certain main organ!

i would take him to an exotics vet and they will most likely change his current treatment after examining him. baytril is very harsh on the gut and will probably cause more unbalance but if you decide to stick with it, then give a probiotic an hour or two after the baytril to help. i find the avipro plus one good and give a pinch mixed with around 1ml water although you can use less water and even sprinkle some on a favourite piece of veg. you can also add a pinch to the recovery food aswell. if the vets palpitate his bladder then he will react if he has any pain or discomfort there and they will likely give you metacam aswell to make sure he is comfortable and to bring down any swelliing and inflammation which are common in uti's.

it's good that he is able to eat veggies. is he eating his hay and pellets? usually with dental issues they seem to either go off one thing specifically and noticeably. some will even drink more water to numb the pain in their mouth. but again, they will also do this to flush their own bladder out. if he seems to be drinking normally though then the tooth crunching could be pain related and i would think it probably is more related to the uti. they can be very painful. there is obviously some issue going on with regards to either eating or illness because of the weight loss.

if it was me, i would go to a different vet if possible to get the very best treatment started straight away. obviously the longer things are left for, the more likely they are to require even more long term treatment. at the very least, if your vet could consult with a guinea pig vet then that would be helpful. one of the most important things i believe is adequate relief from the pain because once that is covered, they seem to really brighten up and fight. when you're in pain, you just want to sit and hunch up and not really even try. so getting them comfortable is such an important step to getting them on the road to recovery. i would definitely ask your vet for metacam.

i've been through cystitis with mine a few times. bladder sludge was one case, a bacterial cystitis was another, eddie's was uti and teeth related and sadly turned out to be kidney disease related, and now mollie's is IC rather than bacterial. this type of problem seems drawn to my lot but the vet said it so so common in piggies so i try and hope i'm not a curse on them or something!

eta: my point was ... if you'd like to, then you can search my threads and read what symptoms mine had and what treatment was given aswell as all the advice i received and hopefully some of that will help you

 

[Wiebke]

PS: Watery urine can point to kidney issues; again very painful and causing weight loss.

As long as the underlying issue is not solved, all you can do is topping up with syringe feed which contains the fibre that is needed to keep the guts happy and healthy. Any calorie rich food won't stick and will come off as quickly as it goes on and it won't contribute to the ultimate recovery.

 

[Perfectpets11]

Hi! Update: the vet gave us the results from the urinalysis and said he had a small amount of blood but a lot of protein in his wee. This made him think cystitis. Anyone had a problem with this? Will baytril clear it?
I weighed him this morning and he weighed 1000g which is much better than his previous 915g x

 

[biscandmatt]

Hi! Update: the vet gave us the results from the urinalysis and said he had a small amount of blood but a lot of protein in his wee. This made him think cystitis. Anyone had a problem with this? Will baytril clear it?
I weighed him this morning and he weighed 1000g which is much better than his previous 915g x

a basic urine test doesn't give alot of info compared to a sterile urine sample that has been sent to the lab... but in this case, treating for cystitis sounds like the right way to go. would you say his weight gain is down to improvement and therefore a 'true' gain, or would you say it is more down to extra food? this is the issue with trying to fatten them up, because you need to know whether the gain is 'true' or not, if that makes sense.

if you feel like it is because of improvement then i would treat for cystitis with a full proper course. this means at least two weeks with antibiotics but usually three weeks is the time recommended. metacam is also a must in treating cystitis because of the associated inflammation. some exotics vets will also give another anti-inflammatory aswell specifically for the bladder walls. ours use cerenia. the baytril may well work for him, however other meds are much better at dealing with cystitis, like septrin or marbocyl. marbocyl is stronger and i think it belongs to the same family as baytril but it seems to be much more well tolerated in my experience and alot more effective.

i would speak with the vet about the length of the course, the metacam, and whether he recommends anything else at this stage. then start the proper course of treatment and keep regularly weighing your piggy and keeping a very close eye. any downward trend in weight loss, or a sudden bigger drop, may indicate that something more is going on and in that case, xrays are usually taken, aswell as a sterile urine sample taken directly from the bladder aswell. bloods will also be useful. i would recommend having an exotics vet carry these out if they are needed. then take it from there.

 

[poppypoppy4321]

Anyone tried cysties the human bladder problem remedie

Didn't find it useful on my urinary pigs, but I only tried it the one time

 

[JackJack1]

I have a guinea pig on Cystophan and Metacam at the moment. This combination seems to work for his interstitial cystitis that tends to flare up from time to time. The Cystophan always takes few days to show improvement though. I have not tried Cystease so cannot share any experience of that.

 

[helen105281]

I would keep trying the Cystease if you only gave one dose. It can be very effective. I use vegan Glucosamine instead which is the ingredient in Cystease and my IC pig Amy has been symptom free for a while now.