Hi everyone
I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me any of their experience with dealing with UTIs.
Our rescue pig, Piglet is going through recurrent UTIs at the moment. We're onto his 5th one in two years at the moment. He's around 3.5 years old. His treatment is always the same - 0.25ml of Metacam for the first 4-5 days along with a 7 day course of 0.5ml Baytril. This time he's also on probiotics as i asked the vet for them to help protect his gut.
The occurances have been getting closer together lately. We started with a 6 month gap between the first two, then 6 months between the 2nd and third, 2 months between the 3rd and 4th, and about 5 weeks between the 4th and the current one.
He goes the same way each time - stopping completely still with a 1000 yard stare and lifting his bum to pee or poop, and then a very distinctive 'wheek...wheek...wheek' as he goes.
This current one has scared me as it is the first time that we've had blood. His urine is clear now though (three days in) but he's still a bit grumbly when he pees or poops, although not every time. We came back from holiday and he literally started wheeking the minute he saw me, although my mother in law said he's been absolutely fine up to then, but its possible that he may have had it for longer than normal without treatment.
We've been lucky to hear the first wheeks each time when we've been at home late in the evening, and our emergency vets are brilliant. They make up his antibiotics, i collect them and am generally syringing them in within 2 hours. He then goes to the normal surgery the following day for a check up.
Other than that he's his normal piggy self. Appetite is good - eating lots of hay, cucumber, dandelion and some parsley (as recommended by the vet for the bladder). He loves people and is still sociable, resting normally and washing. We've had a couple of yawns and stretches (very cute!) and he runs up and down his ramp ok, with a little jump off at the bottom out of choice.
We've had scans done about a year ago and urine test from the bladder. It came back negative for stones, crystals and sludge. The vets have never felt anything in the bladder and haven't yet scanned him again as his last scan was clear.
I've got an appointment for him within the next two weeks to see the Bristol Zoo exotic vet who visits our practice. I'm hoping that they might be able to find a permanent solution to this, but I'm at the end of my tether worrying about him! We've previously dealt with a tooth problem pig with a heart murmer that we lost despite an op and hand feeding, a pig with a blocked grease gland who developed a lump that had to be removed after a year spent draining and cleaning at home (he's now well recovered and full of the joys of spring) and now this one with recurrent UTIs. I feel cursed even though they're all worth it! :<> 8
The only other things i can come up with at the moment is the possibility of changing their water for low calcium bottled or using a filter to get any chalkiness out, trying cranberry juice and extra water by syringe, or homeopathy.
Our other pig is dominant and has a weird habit of bumping Piglet's bum until he pees and then licking it up(!) I'm very aware that this could have a behavioural cause but I can't seperate them as they do get on and pine badly when they're apart.
They are year round indoor and have a double level cage that I'm considering expanding as another solution to this, on vetbed with a layer of newspaper underneath and hay on top. All are changed daily for fresh. They eat Excel blackcurrent and oregano pellets, with normal farmers field hay from a local field and Excel herbage. They also have dried dandelion.
If anyone has any suggestions or things that have worked for them, or have been through this it would be great to hear from you. I just want to make him well again but it's so difficult! mallethead
I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me any of their experience with dealing with UTIs.
Our rescue pig, Piglet is going through recurrent UTIs at the moment. We're onto his 5th one in two years at the moment. He's around 3.5 years old. His treatment is always the same - 0.25ml of Metacam for the first 4-5 days along with a 7 day course of 0.5ml Baytril. This time he's also on probiotics as i asked the vet for them to help protect his gut.
The occurances have been getting closer together lately. We started with a 6 month gap between the first two, then 6 months between the 2nd and third, 2 months between the 3rd and 4th, and about 5 weeks between the 4th and the current one.
He goes the same way each time - stopping completely still with a 1000 yard stare and lifting his bum to pee or poop, and then a very distinctive 'wheek...wheek...wheek' as he goes.
This current one has scared me as it is the first time that we've had blood. His urine is clear now though (three days in) but he's still a bit grumbly when he pees or poops, although not every time. We came back from holiday and he literally started wheeking the minute he saw me, although my mother in law said he's been absolutely fine up to then, but its possible that he may have had it for longer than normal without treatment.
We've been lucky to hear the first wheeks each time when we've been at home late in the evening, and our emergency vets are brilliant. They make up his antibiotics, i collect them and am generally syringing them in within 2 hours. He then goes to the normal surgery the following day for a check up.
Other than that he's his normal piggy self. Appetite is good - eating lots of hay, cucumber, dandelion and some parsley (as recommended by the vet for the bladder). He loves people and is still sociable, resting normally and washing. We've had a couple of yawns and stretches (very cute!) and he runs up and down his ramp ok, with a little jump off at the bottom out of choice.
We've had scans done about a year ago and urine test from the bladder. It came back negative for stones, crystals and sludge. The vets have never felt anything in the bladder and haven't yet scanned him again as his last scan was clear.
I've got an appointment for him within the next two weeks to see the Bristol Zoo exotic vet who visits our practice. I'm hoping that they might be able to find a permanent solution to this, but I'm at the end of my tether worrying about him! We've previously dealt with a tooth problem pig with a heart murmer that we lost despite an op and hand feeding, a pig with a blocked grease gland who developed a lump that had to be removed after a year spent draining and cleaning at home (he's now well recovered and full of the joys of spring) and now this one with recurrent UTIs. I feel cursed even though they're all worth it! :<> 8
The only other things i can come up with at the moment is the possibility of changing their water for low calcium bottled or using a filter to get any chalkiness out, trying cranberry juice and extra water by syringe, or homeopathy.
Our other pig is dominant and has a weird habit of bumping Piglet's bum until he pees and then licking it up(!) I'm very aware that this could have a behavioural cause but I can't seperate them as they do get on and pine badly when they're apart.
They are year round indoor and have a double level cage that I'm considering expanding as another solution to this, on vetbed with a layer of newspaper underneath and hay on top. All are changed daily for fresh. They eat Excel blackcurrent and oregano pellets, with normal farmers field hay from a local field and Excel herbage. They also have dried dandelion.
If anyone has any suggestions or things that have worked for them, or have been through this it would be great to hear from you. I just want to make him well again but it's so difficult! mallethead
|)
