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Recurring Uti/kidney Stones - Not Sure What To Do?

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GinaG

GinaG

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One of my rescue pigs had wee with the calcium deposits in it from what I first got her. When I noticed blood in her wee, I took her to the vet, she'd lost a lot of weight, didn't respond to anti-biotics & an X-ray revealed kidney stones. These were removed but it was traumatic for her (in all day, put under sedation a few times) and cost us a small fortune. I've really tried to control her diet to avoid this happening again - so Timothy hay, coriander, peppers, lettuce & cucumber & nuggets that the vet said was good for urinary tract health. Now I've noticed blood in her wee again and I just don't know what else I can do to help her. She's never squealed as if in pain & is the more curious, confident & playful of the two (so she's not lying in the corner feeling ill). She's eating & drinking but I was hoping to avoid a repeat of this through controlling her diet, what more can I do? I can't afford to keep having stones taken out of her every few months, and I don't want to put her through that again.
 
I am very sorry. Calcium absorption is a very complex and not much researched issue. Nutrition and drinking is just one factor that we can influence, but there are others at play. :(

Your next step is likely a scan to see whether she has got stones, so you can then make an informed decision what your future moves are - whether it is wisest to let her live out her life with pain support and pts/euthanasia when the pain gets too much or risk more ops.

In order to help you with vet advice, can you please add your country, state/province or UK county to your details by clicking on your username on the top bar, the going to personal details and scrolling down to location. this makes it appear under your username in each post you make. We have got members from all over the world.

I am tagging in @helen105281 and @Adelle into this thread, too.
 
Ok thank you, I'm in Chester, UK. I found a cavy savy vet through this website & she's very good. My dilemma is she doesn't appear to be in pain - is that possible with kidney stones?! She's eating, maintaining her weight, popcorning etc. Would antibiotics help if its kidney stones?
 
GinaG said:
Ok thank you, I'm in Chester, UK. I found a cavy savy vet through this website & she's very good. My dilemma is she doesn't appear to be in pain - is that possible with kidney stones?! She's eating, maintaining her weight, popcorning etc. Would antibiotics help if its kidney stones?
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I would have her checked out to see what the problem is. It may not sit in the kidneys, or it may still be mild. It can be just an infection. The antibiotic usually prescribed with any urinary tract issues (which includes the kidneys) is septrin (UK)/bactrim (US) or the new exotics vet version sulfatrim, which is the same strength as adult septrin.
 
I feed a diet that was put together to control symptoms in bladder pigs but not necessarily kidney stones. This is the veg I feed twice a day:

1 small slither of spring greens
1 piece of cucumber
1 piece of celery
1 piece of pepper (rotate the colours weekly)
1 sprig of coriander
1 green bean
 
I had a boar who had two bladder stone surgeries, within about 8 months of each other. The vet was very pessimistic about his survival and quality of life.

I researched into what I could do, and found another vet. With a combination of a change in diet, water and medication (both prescription and non prescription) he was stone free for another 3 years. He was euthanized recently for a separate issue, but his last xray in October showed very little sludge.
 
Jaycey said:
I had a boar who had two bladder stone surgeries, within about 8 months of each other. The vet was very pessimistic about his survival and quality of life.

I researched into what I could do, and found another vet. With a combination of a change in diet, water and medication (both prescription and non prescription) he was stone free for another 3 years. He was euthanized recently for a separate issue, but his last xray in October showed very little sludge.
Click to expand...


So sorry for your loss But that's really helpful - I don't filter their water, should I be doing? It's encouraging that your Piggie did so well, I'd hate to lose her but I checked her today & she's nice & fat & has steadily gained weight the last 4 weigh ins so I'm hopeful.
 
Filtering it can definitely help. I used a Brita filter jug on my tap water for a little while. But it wasn't filtering out enough calcium so I swapped to a bottled water, called Deeside. You can buy it direct from them or Waitrose sell it.
 
Haha I Live near Deeside so perhaps my waters good?! Joking aside, I'll look into it. Which mess & non-meds did you use?
 
I think I Googled the water provider to see what out water is like. It's worth having a look.

He was on 3 medications for his calcium issues:

1) Potassium Citrate 20mg a day. My vet said we could add this in, although it probably wasn't going to do much as the dose would have to be massive to really have an impact, and that would cause other health issues

2) A cystitis supplement. You can get these from the vet, or online, or a human version from health food shops. It wasn't doing anything in particular to help fight the calcium but it helped his bladder and pipework feel more comfortable. It also helps with any cystitis type symptoms.
I used Cystease, 1/3 a capsule a day

3)Bendrofluazide. This is vet prescription only. It's a diuretic that also has an effect on calcium absorption. I originally heard of it through a friend whose zoo vet friend has had good results and wanted to find a guinea pig to trial it on. My vet was happy to try it and since then I know they have at least another 3 on it.

None of these are a cure unfortunately and it depends on the pig to what works, especially diet wise but I'd recommend chatting to your vet about them.

Feel free to ask any question's at any time, I'm happy to share my experiences.
 
Thanks all, the vet confirmed a UTI & X-ray thankfully showed no stones or crystals. So I think this is something I'll have to manage rather than cure, thankfully she's full of beans, eating, popcorning, gaining weight, the vet couldn't believe ow lively she is. I'm reading mixed advice of which herbs are low calcium - can anyone advise? Currently she has coriander & parsley.
 
GinaG said:
Thanks all, the vet confirmed a UTI & X-ray thankfully showed no stones or crystals. So I think this is something I'll have to manage rather than cure, thankfully she's full of beans, eating, popcorning, gaining weight, the vet couldn't believe ow lively she is. I'm reading mixed advice of which herbs are low calcium - can anyone advise? Currently she has coriander & parsley.
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Parsley is hight in calcium so I wouldn't feed that but coriander is ok x
 
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