Reoccurring Issues

[AvatarKorra]

For the last couple months, my Guinea pig Nibbley has been going through a lot of problems. It started at the end of July with a bladder infection. He soon felt better until he was on antibiotics for about three weeks and then he started looking bad again. We found it was most likely due to the vet never prescribing Probiotics so we went to a new vet who gave us probiotics, tummy meds, and a painkiller. We had him on that for about a week and stopped. He was looking great from about the beginning of September until now. He stopped eating again, is very lethargic, and seems to be arching his body a lot. I'm really worried it could be kidney stones. However, the doctors did every test possible from blood to urine. Are you able to know if stones occur from these tests? I would assume the urine test would show if there is an excess calcium amount but I'm not sure. The only option we would have left is an X-Ray. Does anyone know what this could be? He doesn't seem sensitive on his body as I was petting him and he was purring very much. He is 5 years old and we are hand feeding him Critical Care so he doesn't lose weight.

 

[gizzy]

Is he weeing freely ? There could be a stone in his willy or even a sperm rod , You can cheq by roling the forscin back and lightly roling his wiily between your fingers ,
NB (there is usualy somthing that feels like a small stone half way down his willy , this is natural )

Once you locate that , feel for any thing else that feels like a small stone . If you find anything , it is a job for your vet , and he will probabay need a general anesthetic !
Getting any type of X ray , as they have to be motionless , most vets will only do them whilst under a general anaesthetic .

As he is 5 it wouldent do any harm to ask your vet to just give him a whiff of gas, as opposed to a full G A .

The sperm rod I mentioned ! This is often visible at the opening of his willy , it is a bright white, and often they can be pulled out !
If you are not able to dislodge it, then ask your vet

 

[lauraboara]

Sorry to hear about Nibbley and his problems. If antibiotics have not worked and u think he is in pain (arching) when weeing then I would talk to your vet about X-rays for stones. This is the key test for confirming stones. My vet also favours taking a blood sample at the same time to check kidney function. As Gizzy says, usually they will be given gas to make them sleepy and still for X-ray. Lots of my boys have had this done for X-rays or other tests and been fine but the vet will explain any risks.
Great that u are already hand feeding him - will help keep his strength and fluids up. Is he back on painkiller / anti-inflammatory? How is his weight?

 

[AvatarKorra]

We put him back on those original meds and have checked his area. There looked to be a bedding piece there so we took care of that. He was acting like this the last two times he was sick too and the meds helped him. Hopefully, they will help again or it was just that bedding piece that was a problem. His weight is fine. He still eats his veggies and is being hand fed the critical care, as well as water. He hasn't been peeing/pooing much as of yesterday and today but it could be because he is just eating less. The first days he started looking sick, he was still peeing and pooing normally. He did pee though when I was looking at him and there was no blood, unlike when he had the bladder infection. All these problems started with that bladder infection and the meds clearly help him for a substantial amount of time so I just can't see how stones would be the problem. I would think he would have been sick the whole time instead of going on and off. If this persists, we will definitely take him in for the X-ray but I really hope it isn't a serious problem