Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
-
Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement
Sterile Cystitis
- Thread starter Zehuri
- Start date
Hi
This is the typical maroon tint of a natural dye called porphyrin, which is characteristic for the onset of a urinary tract infection (both bacterial or sterile) and for any sterile cystitis flares.
Blood can be present but doesn't have to in every pee. It takes a whole lot more of it than you think to actually discolour urine. Blood is usually a much brighter red to pink shade, drying into mid-brown tones but you rarely see it in infectious pees.
For more information on sterile cystitis, you may find this link here helpful: Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones
Please bookmark this thread so you can easily find it for any further questions and concerns along the way. It helps everybody if we can keep ongoing cases together; especially as we are not part of social media and do not rely on generating lots of new threads.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
thank you.
She had a few urine samples taken last month when you couldn’t physically see blood but when tested it showed traces of blood.
But since the end of March every few days you can now see blood in the urine.
The vet has advised Cerenia to be give in addition to Dog Metacam, whilst her urine sample has been sent off for culture
Cerenia seems to be increasingly used by vets to help with the discomfort.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke
. Since her weight loss started in February the lowest she’s been is 827g the highest she’s been is 875g. Her weight on average is staying at 850g
. She used to be 950g on average before her weight loss began in February when she then got diagnosed with Sterile Cystitis. The fact her weight isn’t going into the 900g range does that mean she’s still in pain?
She turned approximately 4 in April so still young.
She’s been on recovery food since February, approx 8ml twice a day. She’s always been eating her hay, pellets and vegetables and dried forage she’s never completely stopped eating or shown signs of a reduced appetite.
Exotic vet said to give Emeraid to support her weight but as it’s not going any higher as in into the 900g after several months should I stop this now and see how her weight does without it?
The fact her weight isn’t back in the 900g range does that mean she’s still in pain? Or is 850g her new normal.
She’s getting:
* Emeraid Critical Care 8ml twice a day
* Dog Metacam 0.5ml twice a day
* Johnson’s Liquid Glucosamine once a day
* Cerenia 0.1ml twice a day (started last month after noticing she still seemed in pain sometimes hunch after being handled, despite being on the dog Metacam)
Thank you
. Since her weight loss started in February the lowest she’s been is 827g the highest she’s been is 875g. Her weight on average is staying at 850g
. She used to be 950g on average before her weight loss began in February when she then got diagnosed with Sterile Cystitis. The fact her weight isn’t going into the 900g range does that mean she’s still in pain?
She turned approximately 4 in April so still young.
She’s been on recovery food since February, approx 8ml twice a day. She’s always been eating her hay, pellets and vegetables and dried forage she’s never completely stopped eating or shown signs of a reduced appetite.
Exotic vet said to give Emeraid to support her weight but as it’s not going any higher as in into the 900g after several months should I stop this now and see how her weight does without it?
The fact her weight isn’t back in the 900g range does that mean she’s still in pain? Or is 850g her new normal.
She’s getting:
* Emeraid Critical Care 8ml twice a day
* Dog Metacam 0.5ml twice a day
* Johnson’s Liquid Glucosamine once a day
* Cerenia 0.1ml twice a day (started last month after noticing she still seemed in pain sometimes hunch after being handled, despite being on the dog Metacam)
Thank you
4 years old is the lower end of the average life span, so while she isn’t old as such, she also isn’t young.
Once they start to get to this age range, putting lost weight back on can become harder and some older piggies never get back to pre-illness weights. Instead they maintain at a new lower ‘normal’.
Your piggy’s weight sounds to be stable, which is good news. Personally I don’t think I would continue with syringe feeding at this point - at only 16ml a day she isn’t getting much at all anyway - and would instead monitor her to see if she can maintain her weight herself. If she loses weight (beyond normal fluctuation) or loses appetite during a flare then you can of course step back in
Once they start to get to this age range, putting lost weight back on can become harder and some older piggies never get back to pre-illness weights. Instead they maintain at a new lower ‘normal’.
Your piggy’s weight sounds to be stable, which is good news. Personally I don’t think I would continue with syringe feeding at this point - at only 16ml a day she isn’t getting much at all anyway - and would instead monitor her to see if she can maintain her weight herself. If she loses weight (beyond normal fluctuation) or loses appetite during a flare then you can of course step back in
Ramia
Forum Donator 2025/26
My CBS boy was down after an ear infection, and for two months he had critical care and at first it helped but then I became frustrated with him not gaining weight.
I weaned him off the critical care slowly, and in 5 months he was back to almost his original weight.
I think he was full on critical care and not eating as much hay as he should.
But if yours is a pain issue it might not work.
I'm sure an expert will be along shortly.
I weaned him off the critical care slowly, and in 5 months he was back to almost his original weight.
I think he was full on critical care and not eating as much hay as he should.
But if yours is a pain issue it might not work.
I'm sure an expert will be along shortly.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke
When a GP has a Sterile Cystitis flareup have you ever seen a few drops of blood in the urine now and again?
The blood is not daily or several times a day. It’s intermittent.
Happend on the 29th March
Happened 2 times in April and I thought it could be some fresh forage I gave (rasberry , strawberry and bramble leaves)
The blood this month in May has appeared so far 3 times.
4th and 5th May
On the 4th May I gave 2 small pieces of a dried hazel leaf. Her Metacam was also running low, I was waiting for a new bottle to arrive so on the 3rd and 4th May instead of her usual 0.5ml of Metacam twice a day she got 0.3ml twice a day. She was back on 0.5ml Metacam from the evening of 6th May. So not sure what caused the blood, the dried hazel leaf (2 small pieces) or the temporary lower Metacam dose.
16th May
Then I spotted blood today (16th May) when I spot cleaned in the morning. I spot clean twice a day. Have attached photo, of blood found.
On the evening of the 14th May I gave Nuri 0.4ml Metacam and on the 15th May morning and evening I gave 0.4ml Metacam instead of her 0.5ml dose. I wanted to see how she does on a slightly lower dose as she’s been on 0.5ml for a few months now.
Cause?
Trying to figure out the link is it reducing the Metacam dose slightly or could fresh forage or some new dried forage like hazel leaves be the cause.
She gets Rosewood Naturals Fields of Forage daily for the past year. Fresh forage is only given between Spring - Autumn but wary now as I don’t know if that’s causing the blood.
When a GP has a Sterile Cystitis flareup have you ever seen a few drops of blood in the urine now and again?
The blood is not daily or several times a day. It’s intermittent.
Happend on the 29th March
Happened 2 times in April and I thought it could be some fresh forage I gave (rasberry , strawberry and bramble leaves)
The blood this month in May has appeared so far 3 times.
4th and 5th May
On the 4th May I gave 2 small pieces of a dried hazel leaf. Her Metacam was also running low, I was waiting for a new bottle to arrive so on the 3rd and 4th May instead of her usual 0.5ml of Metacam twice a day she got 0.3ml twice a day. She was back on 0.5ml Metacam from the evening of 6th May. So not sure what caused the blood, the dried hazel leaf (2 small pieces) or the temporary lower Metacam dose.
16th May
Then I spotted blood today (16th May) when I spot cleaned in the morning. I spot clean twice a day. Have attached photo, of blood found.
On the evening of the 14th May I gave Nuri 0.4ml Metacam and on the 15th May morning and evening I gave 0.4ml Metacam instead of her 0.5ml dose. I wanted to see how she does on a slightly lower dose as she’s been on 0.5ml for a few months now.
Cause?
Trying to figure out the link is it reducing the Metacam dose slightly or could fresh forage or some new dried forage like hazel leaves be the cause.
She gets Rosewood Naturals Fields of Forage daily for the past year. Fresh forage is only given between Spring - Autumn but wary now as I don’t know if that’s causing the blood.
Attachments
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
Thank you that’s very helpful. I’ll stop it and see how she does without it.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
I’ve just been doing it for a few months a
Glad he’s better!
I started giving it in February after she got diagnosed with SC and at the time her main symptom was her weight loss. She’s never gone off her food (pellets,hay, vegetables, dried forage) It’s just been to help her weight but it’s pretty much staying around 850g. And she’s on Dog Metacam twice a day and Cerenia twice a day.
Glad he’s better!
I started giving it in February after she got diagnosed with SC and at the time her main symptom was her weight loss. She’s never gone off her food (pellets,hay, vegetables, dried forage) It’s just been to help her weight but it’s pretty much staying around 850g. And she’s on Dog Metacam twice a day and Cerenia twice a day.
Hi
Are you still seeing little bits of sheer blood or only of red pees? In a sow, there is always the possibility that any sheer bleeding could come from the reproductive tract but most pictures in this thread show rather diluted red urine. But red drops in the urine could be sheer blood. If you have concerns, please speak to your vet. It could come from the urinary or the reproductive tract in sows.
You can try to reduce the metacam and see whether the weight is staying stable once you have established that she is eating enough on her own to keep the weight stable. Otherwise you can offer a little optional feed; this is called top up feeding which is normally a stage between serious support feeding and fully eating themselves. If needed, mix in with some of her favourite food in a bowl outside the cage so you can control how much she is eating and control by weighing whether it is making a positive difference over several days. It gives you more control over whether she can really support herself or not and is much less stressful than syringe feeding.
Fingers firmly crossed for your girl. Please withdraw any painkillers only after her weight is stable but kick in at full strength with any flare and double the glucosamine dose for 2-3 days in order to cap the flare as quickly as possible. The problem with sterile IC that it comes on the whole bandwidth so you have to find our individually how low you can go with the painkiller/glucosamine maintenance and how high you have to go during flare-ups.
Once the weight is stable, you could also try whether the odd bloody drops stop if you up the maintenance painkiller and glucosamine - it could be a sign that the inter-flares base medication is too low. You have to work this out by trial and error to find out what works and what not so you can search further once you have excluded some things you can try at home.
Are you still seeing little bits of sheer blood or only of red pees? In a sow, there is always the possibility that any sheer bleeding could come from the reproductive tract but most pictures in this thread show rather diluted red urine. But red drops in the urine could be sheer blood. If you have concerns, please speak to your vet. It could come from the urinary or the reproductive tract in sows.
You can try to reduce the metacam and see whether the weight is staying stable once you have established that she is eating enough on her own to keep the weight stable. Otherwise you can offer a little optional feed; this is called top up feeding which is normally a stage between serious support feeding and fully eating themselves. If needed, mix in with some of her favourite food in a bowl outside the cage so you can control how much she is eating and control by weighing whether it is making a positive difference over several days. It gives you more control over whether she can really support herself or not and is much less stressful than syringe feeding.
Fingers firmly crossed for your girl. Please withdraw any painkillers only after her weight is stable but kick in at full strength with any flare and double the glucosamine dose for 2-3 days in order to cap the flare as quickly as possible. The problem with sterile IC that it comes on the whole bandwidth so you have to find our individually how low you can go with the painkiller/glucosamine maintenance and how high you have to go during flare-ups.
Once the weight is stable, you could also try whether the odd bloody drops stop if you up the maintenance painkiller and glucosamine - it could be a sign that the inter-flares base medication is too low. You have to work this out by trial and error to find out what works and what not so you can search further once you have excluded some things you can try at home.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
It’s drops of blood but I’ve found it most of the time in a urine patch, if that makes sense.
Hence I’m assuming it’s coming out when she urinates.
It’s weird when it’s happened is a few days following a reduced Metacam dose or fresh forage or a new dried forage has been given.
Not sure if this all just coincidence.
Her previous urine samples prior to the blood physically showing showed traces of blood but at that time it wasn’t physically visible.
Only started to see drops of physical blood from the end of March. So far it’s happened the once on the 29th March, 4th April, 8th April, 5th May, 6th May and 16th May.
Trying to establish a link.
At the end of April a urine sample was taken and cytology and microbiology was done. Cytology picked up nothing out of the ordinary. microbiology picked up low traces of a bacteria which our vet said could just be from cross contamination.
So have just been monitoring her.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
Attachments
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
The Guinea Pig with Sterile Cystitis she’s the submissive one.
If she’s in more pain she then challenges our dominant pig, who in turn becomes overly dominant towards our normally submissive pig.
Once I up the pain medication for our submisisve pig she’s always back to being submissive and our dominant pig is also no longer being overly dominant towards her.
Our submissive pig seemed to have a Sterile Cystitis flareup two day ago so upped her pain relief as usual. However this time have noticed she now seems to be the dominant pig and her sister (the normally dominant one) is now the one making submissive sounds.
Is this something to be concerned about?
If she’s in more pain she then challenges our dominant pig, who in turn becomes overly dominant towards our normally submissive pig.
Once I up the pain medication for our submisisve pig she’s always back to being submissive and our dominant pig is also no longer being overly dominant towards her.
Our submissive pig seemed to have a Sterile Cystitis flareup two day ago so upped her pain relief as usual. However this time have noticed she now seems to be the dominant pig and her sister (the normally dominant one) is now the one making submissive sounds.
Is this something to be concerned about?
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke previous photos of blood from March and April
Thhe vet said to give Emeraid no more than twice a day as a top up feed, as she’s still eating, pellets , hay and fresh veg and dried forage as normal.
I give her the Emeraid in a bowl rather than syringe as she was getting stressed by that.
She’s been on Emeraid 8 - 10ml twice a day since the end of February as a top up, it’s not done much to increase her weight as in its still sticking to around 850g whereas prior to February she’s was on average 950g. So I’ll stop the Emeraid and see how her weight does. I’m weighing her twice a week at present.
I didn’t know I could up the glucosamine when she has a flareup. That’s good to know. I’ve been following the 0.4ml per kg guideline for the Johnson’s Extra Strength Liquid Glucosamine. Good to know I can increase the dosage during a flare up.
She started Dog Metacam twice a day since the end of February. I’ve tried three times to lower the dose, but within half a day to a day she starts to show signs she’s not okay. She stops eating her recovery food, starts challenging her sister who is the dominant pig, or looks hunched after handling. Once I’ve put her dose back to 0.5ml again twice a day she goes back to her normal self within half a day. Even though her weight is currently sitting around 850g so is stable, (used to be 950g on average prior to SC symptoms starting) I can’t seem to fully stop or reduce her twice daily Metacam dose.
So It looks like she may just have to be on Dog Metacam at 0.5ml daily for the foreseeable.
Do some pigs with SC have to be on daily pain relief for the rest of their life?
The Cerenia twice a day 0.1ml dose was started a month ago as I felt she was still in discomfort, particularly after being handled. Not sure if it’s worth stopping that at all.
They only get fresh forage between spring - autumn. I started to give some fresh forage like a few leaves of rasberry or strawberry or nettle. Can that cause a flareup for SC? Should I just give one type so Rasberry leaves and two leaves and then wait for 4 days to see if there’s any blood? Or do things like fresh forage not cause a SC flare up?
Sorry just trying to learn as new to all this.
Hi
No, it isn't, as long as there are no hostile face-offs, serious teeth chattering, chases etc. .
You may find these behavioural guide links here very helpful. You can also find them in the green field at the top of our Behaviour section:
- A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours (the quick version)
- Guinea Pig Behaviours in their Context (a comprehensive in-depth look at the most comprehensive collection of behaviours you can find and how to interpret them in their actual context)
Hi
This looks to me like some rather mild, very watery porphyrin stained pees to me as they are very typical for sterile cystitis flares. The urine can test positive for blood or not but the urine is too dilute for any major quantity. It takes a lot more blood in the urine to actually stain it red than people think!
Is your girl a naturally consistent strong drinker or has she suddenly started to drink a lot more?
All About Drinking, Bottles and Dehydration
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi,
Sorry for the late reply: She’s a good drinker, she also gets cucumber daily so she is well hydrated.
Thanks for you insight that what I’m finding is a sign of SC flare.
I’m just trying to figure out what is causing it.
The fresh forage, some new dried forage or me trying to reduce her medication.
For now I’ll keep the Metacam and Cerenia at the current doses.
Their normal dried Rosewood Naturals Fields of Gold forage mix they get daily and have done for the past year I’ll just continue with that.
In regard to fresh forage I’ll give one type of fresh forage, example just 2 strawberry leaves and then wait four days and see if she has a flare up/ red staining. Should I then try to increase the number of strawberry leaves or try a different type of fresh forage like 2 bramble leaves?
She had a mix of fresh forage (bramble, grass, rasberry leaves, strawberry leaves,) several times a week last year between Spring - Autumn back when she didn’t have her SC/ it wasn’t active.
Her symptoms started only this February with weight loss.
Hi
It's probably a combination of all three changes, food-wise and medical. New foods/re-introducing foods after a longer gap when the digestive specialist bacteria have scaled down in numbers can trigger a flare in sterile IC unless you introduce them very slowly in a very small quantity (to allow the microbiome to adapt) but flares happen anyway every few weeks without any obvious cause. Hence the old name of 'interstitial' - recurring - cystitis.
What you need to work out is how low you can go on the maintenance glucosamine and anti-inflammatory/painkiller (if you go too low outside a flare you can trigger one) and how high you have to go on them to cap a flare as effectively and quickly as possible within a few days if the sterile cystitis is not too strong. In my own experiments with sterile cystitis piggies, doubling the glucosamine shortly is more effective than upping the painkiller on its own but doubling the dose of both for 2-4 days until acute symptoms subside is best for milder to medium cases.
Since sterile cystitis happens on a whole spectrum from the very mild to the very strong, there is not a firm rule but you have to learn what you need to do for your piggy by trial and error in order to keep them as comfortable as possible.
I hope that helps you? Don't rush any feeding changes and start very small and don't make them during flares.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke
Thank you for your time and advice. It really is a minefield trying to figure it all out.
If it wasn’t for the Red/ pink staining I wouldn’t know she’s having a flareup as she’s acting herself and eating everything as normal. But they are good at hiding issues.
Her weight has been holding stable as well without the Emeraid and it’s coming to 2 weeks.
I gave 3 small fresh Strawberry leaves on the 21st May.
22nd May: Red staining found in one place
23rd May: Red staining found in two places
24th May: Red staining found in one place
25th May: No staining
26th May: Red staining in one place
27th May: Red staining in five places
Have attached photos
Normally when she has a flareup there’s only one area with staining and it’s usually just over one or two days. As you can see this time it’s going on for several days and today has been the worst it’s been in terms of the number of stains found.
Johnson’s Glucosamine her normal dose is 0.37ml but I’ve been giving her 0.8ml following your advice of increasing during flareups. Can I go any higher dose wise? Could me giving her a larger dose also be causing the staining to be going on for longer?
Her Dog Metacam dose is 0.5ml twice a day. Fhe heighest I can go is 0.8ml twice a day. I’d upped it to 0.6ml but may just go to 0.8ml.
The Cerenia, is 0.1ml twice a day the vet said I can’t go higher on that.
Are there any other medications that could be worth trying?
I’ve decided I’m not going to try feeding any fresh forage to her like Nettles, Strawberry leaves, Rasberry leaves, at least for the next month or two. I’ve tried twice so far just once a week feeding two leaves of fresh Strawberry and then she’s getting a flareup, so i feel for now I want to avoid her having them where I can.
Do these repeated flareups cause long term damage internally? Our exotic vet said if she keeps getting the flareups may need to look at surgery.
They usually get Romaine Lettuce, but Sunday and Monday I gave a gave a leaf of Little Gem, she’s had this before with no issues. So not sure if that’s caused any problem.
Thank you for your time and advice. It really is a minefield trying to figure it all out.
If it wasn’t for the Red/ pink staining I wouldn’t know she’s having a flareup as she’s acting herself and eating everything as normal. But they are good at hiding issues.
Her weight has been holding stable as well without the Emeraid and it’s coming to 2 weeks.
I gave 3 small fresh Strawberry leaves on the 21st May.
22nd May: Red staining found in one place
23rd May: Red staining found in two places
24th May: Red staining found in one place
25th May: No staining
26th May: Red staining in one place
27th May: Red staining in five places
Have attached photos
Normally when she has a flareup there’s only one area with staining and it’s usually just over one or two days. As you can see this time it’s going on for several days and today has been the worst it’s been in terms of the number of stains found.
Johnson’s Glucosamine her normal dose is 0.37ml but I’ve been giving her 0.8ml following your advice of increasing during flareups. Can I go any higher dose wise? Could me giving her a larger dose also be causing the staining to be going on for longer?
Her Dog Metacam dose is 0.5ml twice a day. Fhe heighest I can go is 0.8ml twice a day. I’d upped it to 0.6ml but may just go to 0.8ml.
The Cerenia, is 0.1ml twice a day the vet said I can’t go higher on that.
Are there any other medications that could be worth trying?
I’ve decided I’m not going to try feeding any fresh forage to her like Nettles, Strawberry leaves, Rasberry leaves, at least for the next month or two. I’ve tried twice so far just once a week feeding two leaves of fresh Strawberry and then she’s getting a flareup, so i feel for now I want to avoid her having them where I can.
Do these repeated flareups cause long term damage internally? Our exotic vet said if she keeps getting the flareups may need to look at surgery.
They usually get Romaine Lettuce, but Sunday and Monday I gave a gave a leaf of Little Gem, she’s had this before with no issues. So not sure if that’s caused any problem.
Attachments
Hi
Please don't worry about the numbers of stained places; she will make several stained pees and it is actually not bad knowing that she is well enough to move around the cage.
No, you cannot up the medication any further and you cannot do so for more than a week max (ideally only for 2-4 days to bring down the squeaking when peeing = acute pain).
Please don't let your anxiety run away with you. Your girl is not having a major flare if the coloured pee is the only symptom.
Please don't worry about the numbers of stained places; she will make several stained pees and it is actually not bad knowing that she is well enough to move around the cage.
No, you cannot up the medication any further and you cannot do so for more than a week max (ideally only for 2-4 days to bring down the squeaking when peeing = acute pain).
Please don't let your anxiety run away with you. Your girl is not having a major flare if the coloured pee is the only symptom.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke
Thank you very much and sorry for the late reply.
I was doing a trial where I give just two small fresh strawberry leaves on Monday and then monitor her the rest of the week and she would get a flareup of her staining. I tried the same with fresh Rasberry leaves and same thing.
I also tried some dried birch leaves and then some dried hazel leaves and then same result as what happened with the above fresh forage.
In terms of dried forage she can now only seem to tolerate Rosewood Naturals Fields of Gold dried forage as I’ve given that to them 1/2Tbsp every day since I’ve adopted them. So I’ll just stick with that as it’s not causing her any flareups.
For my own knowledge, long term do repeated flareups cause damage internally? Our exotic vet said if she keeps getting the flareups may need to look at surgery.
Thank you for your help.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke
Flareup started again this week on the 11th June. She’s had one or two areas of staining a day.
I upped her Johnson’s Liquid Glucosamine from 0.37ml to 0.8ml.
Her Metacam I’ve kept at 0.5ml twice a day and her Cerenia is the usual 0.1ml.
This morning she had one area of staining and it was a lot of blood it soaked through 1.5 inches of Aubiouse and there was excess blood at the base which I wiped with a kitchen roll piece which you can see. Normally it looks dilute but not this time. She attached photo taken this morning.
She’s eating, drinking, moving around as normal.
Should I be concerned due to the amount of staining and that it’s more bloody looking?
Also long term do repeated flareups cause damage internally? Our exotic vet said if she keeps getting the flareups may need to look at surgery.
Thank you
Flareup started again this week on the 11th June. She’s had one or two areas of staining a day.
I upped her Johnson’s Liquid Glucosamine from 0.37ml to 0.8ml.
Her Metacam I’ve kept at 0.5ml twice a day and her Cerenia is the usual 0.1ml.
This morning she had one area of staining and it was a lot of blood it soaked through 1.5 inches of Aubiouse and there was excess blood at the base which I wiped with a kitchen roll piece which you can see. Normally it looks dilute but not this time. She attached photo taken this morning.
She’s eating, drinking, moving around as normal.
Should I be concerned due to the amount of staining and that it’s more bloody looking?
Also long term do repeated flareups cause damage internally? Our exotic vet said if she keeps getting the flareups may need to look at surgery.
Thank you
Attachments
Hi
You are obviously dealing with a case of sterile cystitis that is a bit higher on the gliding scale from mild to very severe. However, what is your vet planning to operate? That really puzzles me.
Sterile IC doesn't cause stones; that only happens if owners' diet changes push the diet out of the sweet spot.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi,
I have no idea, she just said that repeated flareups may mean surgery or further internal investigation.
Even though yesterday there was a lot of blood the fact she was acting normally and eating and drinking and moving around means she didn’t need to be taken to the vets? Just asking in case she gets a very large amount of bloody staining again.
Good news though that there was no blood this morning looks like hopefully this flareup is done. So she’s been on 0.8ml of the Johnson’s Glucosamine for the past four days. Now there’s no blood this morning I’ll adjust it back to 0.3ml
Please be aware that the red pees are not sheer blood. They have the characteristic maroon tint of porphyrin and not the pinkish tint of fresh blood.
But since she is not showing any other symptoms, yes, it looks that this flare is settling down again. You have to brace for having them every few weeks. If you are in the milder range, the time between them will eventually lengthen and if you are lucky, the cystitis will stop altogether - but you are looking at years and not just a few months.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
Thank you
Just did a spot clean and found one area of staining but minimal in terms of amount.
She’s having a flareup currently every week for a few days. Hence I’m not giving any fresh forage or grass and no other fresh vegetables other than what she normally has (celery, coriander, romaine lettuce ,pepper and cucumber).
The Johnson’s Glucosamine liquid. Is the max she can have double her usual dose or can I give three times her usual dose during an flareup? Also how many days can she have that increased dose for? For example sometimes her flareup goes on for five continuous days so can she have that higher dose of glucosamine for that many days?
That is the normal pattern for sterile cystitis.
Have you got the normal one or the strong one. You can double the normal one for max. 2-4 days to cap a flare and the strong no more than adding half the normal dosage if that for the same short time. See whether it makes a difference. If not, leave be.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
It’s the 4 Joints Extra Strength. I’ll scale back the amount as I had been doubling it when I found staining. I’ll do it for a max of 4 days even if the staining goes on for more days.
Thank you for your help.
Zehuri
Junior Guinea Pig
@Wiebke
My guinea pig has been on Cerenia for two months twice daily dose after it was suspected that twice daily dog Metacam wasn’t enough in making her feel comfortable.
Before the current supply of Cerenia finishes wanted to test how she does without it so I know if she still needs to be on it.
Her Cerenia dose is 0.1ml twice a day.
Am I right it only helps as pain relief or does it also help with inflammation in the bladder?
Would stopping Cerenia cause a flareup?
Can I just stop it completely or do I have to gradually reduce the dose so 0.05ml twice a day?
Thank you
My guinea pig has been on Cerenia for two months twice daily dose after it was suspected that twice daily dog Metacam wasn’t enough in making her feel comfortable.
Before the current supply of Cerenia finishes wanted to test how she does without it so I know if she still needs to be on it.
Her Cerenia dose is 0.1ml twice a day.
Am I right it only helps as pain relief or does it also help with inflammation in the bladder?
Would stopping Cerenia cause a flareup?
Can I just stop it completely or do I have to gradually reduce the dose so 0.05ml twice a day?
Thank you