Sow With A Urine Infection

[Katie1988]

Hi all
I have a nearly 3yr old sow, with a healthy weight and a very good appetite!

Today I found a small puddle of blood in the corner of the cage as I was cleaning it out. On close inspection of the two pigs, I saw some blood around Kiwi's lady part. She has a wee and it was red, but was a bright pink when I dabbed toilet paper on it.

I rang the out of hours vets and sent her photos of the wee and Kiwi's bits, she said Kiwi could have a UTI but said it's unlikely to be anything serious as Kiwi is eating, drinking and is very alert as usual.

Kiwi is not/has not squeeked when weeing and now it looks like all of the red has gone from her most recent urine. Do you think a vet visit is still necessary? She's currently loving these spinach leaves!

Many thanks, Katie

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all
I have a nearly 3yr old sow, with a healthy weight and a very good appetite!

Today I found a small puddle of blood in the corner of the cage as I was cleaning it out. On close inspection of the two pigs, I saw some blood around Kiwi's lady part. She has a wee and it was red, but was a bright pink when I dabbed toilet paper on it.

I rang the out of hours vets and sent her photos of the wee and Kiwi's bits, she said Kiwi could have a UTI but said it's unlikely to be anything serious as Kiwi is eating, drinking and is very alert as usual.

Kiwi is not/has not squeeked when weeing and now it looks like all of the red has gone from her most recent urine. Do you think a vet visit is still necessary? She's currently loving these spinach leaves!

Many thanks, Katie

Please see a vet; if it is an UTI, you may find that in the early stages ot all pees are red. Not all red pees necessarily contain blood, but blood can be present in normal looking pees... if you have caught it very early, it can take a few days to manifest fully. It would be good if saw a vet as soon as things get worse.

You can help her by feeding more mildly diuretic veg like lettuce, cucumber or celery to help flush out any bacteria that have accumulated in the bladder, but not so much that she gets diarrhea from them.

She will need an antibiotic and ideally some anti-inflammatory/painkiller and ideally some probiotics (a pinch) to help prop up the guts, as antibiotics are appetite killers and UTIs generally require a fairly high dose of antibiotic.

 

[Katie1988]

Thanks for your advice Wiebke, I'll arrange an appointment for the little lady tomorrow. Should I get a urine sample ready for the vet tomorrow? I don't really like the idea of having them extract a sample using a needle.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for your advice Wiebke, I'll arrange an appointment for the little lady tomorrow. Should I get a urine sample ready for the vet tomorrow? I don't really like the idea of having them extract a sample using a needle.

No please don't. Urine samples go off after half an hour and start giving misleading readings. Your vet can just express the bladder during the consultation. Getting pee is usually not a problem with UTI piggies! All the best!

 

[VickiA]

Hi there. I'd echo what Wiebke has said. It is important to take her to a vet to check for UTI, stones or other causes. I appreciate that the emergency vet may not have considered it an emergency but that doesn't mean that she doesn't need to see a vet. I've never taken a uribe sample to the vets with my piggies. I just feed them plenty of cucumber or celery which are mildly diuretic and they almost always oblige on the vets table and it can then be collected and tested there and then.
Hope you get on ok.

 

[Katie1988]

Thanks guys, we've been to the vets tonight. Luckily the vet didn't find any stones and said the bladder was empty. I was a little concerned that she didn't take a urine sample, apparently they don't do that (yeah maybe it doesn't fit into the 10 min consultation slot, sinical I know).

Kiwi has been given 0.45ml of metacam twice a day, and 0.45ml once a day of marboycl. Treatment for 5 days.