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Stripes is poorly again :-(

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katiepops

katiepops

Adult Guinea Pig
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Poor Stripes he has been through it. He's got bumblefoot and although he's been on Baytril for about 6 weeks now it's not got any better. Now his other front paw is showing signs of it.
If that wasn't bad enough I've just done the daily bed change and spotted what looks like blood in his urine after sitting waiting for one of them to pee to work out who it was.
He's been really grumpy for a few days, really bickering with Spike so I knew something wasn't right. He's started having accidents (i've been wee'd on twice last week without any warning which isn't like him at all) and has generally been weeing much more than he's drinking. I had to give him a bum wash the last couple of nights because he was soaking wet, even though he's on vet bed. The newspaper underneath was soaking as was the vet bed.

Looks like we'll be making a visit to the vets tomorrow. (they know us in there now, that's not good 8...)

I'm praying it's not another bladder stone. He had one removed in November.
I'm worried it might be something to do with his kidneys, what with all the pee.

Please keep your fingers crossed for him tomorrow. :(
 
So sorry to hear about our little man's problems.

Will be keeping everything crossed for the vet visit xx
 
I am so sorry for poor Stripes. It is UTI season right now.

Here is info on the bloody, smelly pees:
http://www.guinealynx.info/uti.html

Make sure that you give Stripes as much unsweetened cranberry juice as he'll take, if necessary mixed with water. You can give up to 50ml over the course of a day, although most piggies won't take more than few ml in one sitting. Ask for avipro plus probiotic - it doesn't contain extra calcium. I do not know which antibiotic your vet will prescribe as he has to deal with the bumblefoot as well. I always ask for metacam as well when my piggies have cystitis. It is an anti-inflammatory/painkiller.

Sorry, I can't help you on the bumblefoot. I understand that it is more ca condition to be managed than a problem that can be healed.
 
I'm sorry Stripes is not well again. I hope it goes well at the vets and he makes a speedy recovery! x
 
Thanks every one. Well we've been to the vets today, twice in fact!
There's two vets we usually see but one's on maternatiy leave now (our favourite) and the other on holiday so we saw someone new called Sean.

Poor Stripes was a right state, they'd been out in the garden for about an hour (thanks for the tip Wiebke about putting damp towels over the run) I don't know if he's manage to eat something he shouldn't have even though I thoroughly checked for buttercups etc. but he's had a touch of diarrhea since he came back in. So I stuck his bum in the kitchen sink to clean him up before we went to the vets and he wouldn't let me dry him. He cried and cried when I tried to towel dry him and it's far to hot to put the hairdryer on so he turned up at the vets with a wet and pooey (again!) bum.

The vet squeezed his bladder to make him wee, he put a dip strip test in and said it wasn't showing any blood. (even though it was pink :{ )

He gave him an injection of Metacam and has given him 0.5ml of Septrin (Paediatric suspension) twice a day. He said clearly the Baytril wasn't working for his Bumblefoot to not have eased at all and for him to get what appears to be a UTI so suggested it straight away. He told us about the two types of Septrin (Paediatric = banana flavour and favoured by pigs over the adult one which tastes of anaseed) So I was very impressed that he suggested it straight away and I didn't have to suggest it and persuade him like I did with the other vet for Spike. I'm feeling much more confident with him.

So much so that I booked Spike in and took Stripes home then went straight back with Spike.

I've written about Spike in a previous thread but basically the other vet (not our favourite) thinks Spike's squeeking when pooing is behavioural and not medical so wouldn't try any more medication unless anything changed.
I mentioned it to Sean when we were with Stripes and he said he's never heard of anything like that so said to bring him in. Which we did.
He gave him a really good check over - poor Spike's face said it all when he popped his penis out then stuck a thermometer up his bum! :red
He's given him a months worth of Metacam 0.1ml a day so fingers crossed that will do the trick.

All in all it's been a rather expensive day! And just to make it worse the receptionist said " you should of booked them in together, it would of been much cheaper." I KNOW!

And relax..... 8)
 
Poor Katie...

I hope that your boys will be better for it. Piggies CAN have reddish pees without blood - Llewelyn has done that as well! There is a variety of bacteria which discolours the urine and can flourish when a piggy is not well. I doesn't seem to cause any other illness.

The diarrhea/soft poo can be down to too much fresh rich grass or the heat.

Just put your boy off fresh food for a couple of days to stabilise the guts again.
 
Glad you got a good vet! Hope your boys getter better now, really soon! xx
 
The good news is Stripe's diarrhea cleared up really quickly, all was back to normal by yesterday, the bad news is I've never heard a guinea pig cry quite so loud when he's peeing! He really cries then lets out a yelp as he poos, he's clearly not very happy at all poor little thing, it's breaking my heart hearing him. He does like his medicine though which makes the whole thing a lot less stressful for him and us, clearly banana flavour is a hit. :(|)
As for Spike I just wave the syringe of metacam in his general direction and he charges over and tries to wrestle it out of my hand, he can't get enough of it! He's not happy he only gets 0.1ml a day. Can piggies get addicted?! :{
 
I'm glad you are getting somewhere with your boys :) Did you try giving Nurofen for the Bumblefoot? It really did work for both my girls, I gave for a 4 week period and it really helped reduce the inflammation and soreness to the point where it was 99% better :) I wouldn't usually use Nurofen on a daily basis for 4 weeks as one would think the effectiveness would be reduced, but it is worth a shot.
It's the only thing that had a result and believe me I tried lots of remedies and creams. :)
 
Glad to hear you have a vet you are happy with - makes all the difference when you have a vet you can trust!

Metacam does go down very well with some piggies, tastes nice to some and others will run a mile from the very smell of it! Have you got the cat or dog suspension? (Same drug, but concentration thus dosage is different.) Whether it is the cat or dog suspension, the dosage can be increased a little Katie, and pain is often more easily managed by dosing twice a day. If you didn't want to increase the dose, I would recommend giving 0.05ml twice daily, or if you felt confident to increase the dose then 0.1ml twice daily.

I have given as much as 0.3ml twice daily of the dog suspension, although I preferred to keep this high dose short-term. For long-term (continual) dosing, 0.2ml twice daily is the highest I would aim to go.

For the cat suspension though, the dosage goes quite a bit higher due to the weaker concentration.

How long he he been/has he got left on Septrin?
 
tattyruncy said:
I'm glad you are getting somewhere with your boys :) Did you try giving Nurofen for the Bumblefoot? It really did work for both my girls, I gave for a 4 week period and it really helped reduce the inflammation and soreness to the point where it was 99% better :) I wouldn't usually use Nurofen on a daily basis for 4 weeks as one would think the effectiveness would be reduced, but it is worth a shot.
It's the only thing that had a result and believe me I tried lots of remedies and creams. :)
Click to expand...

Hi, I did try the Nurofen I didn't see any visible difference in his foot then the UTI started so we've stopped it for know. I'm sure it's probably my imagination and wishful thinking but I'm sure his foot's not as red and swollen today so fingers crossed it's going down.
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
Glad to hear you have a vet you are happy with - makes all the difference when you have a vet you can trust!

Metacam does go down very well with some piggies, tastes nice to some and others will run a mile from the very smell of it! Have you got the cat or dog suspension? (Same drug, but concentration thus dosage is different.) Whether it is the cat or dog suspension, the dosage can be increased a little Katie, and pain is often more easily managed by dosing twice a day. If you didn't want to increase the dose, I would recommend giving 0.05ml twice daily, or if you felt confident to increase the dose then 0.1ml twice daily.

I have given as much as 0.3ml twice daily of the dog suspension, although I preferred to keep this high dose short-term. For long-term (continual) dosing, 0.2ml twice daily is the highest I would aim to go.

For the cat suspension though, the dosage goes quite a bit higher due to the weaker concentration.

How long he he been/has he got left on Septrin?
Click to expand...

Spike's on the Cat Metacam so it is a low dose. Funnily enough we've not heard any squeaking from him today so maybe, just maybe it's doing the trick. He's got a months worth so I was going to give him 1-2 weeks then if there's no change speak to the vet about upping the dose. I think the vet's put him on such a low dose because his squeaking is on and off and the urine tests have shown no sign of an infection.

Stripes is on the Septrin (gets confusing with two piggies with similar names!) He started it on 24 May and has got enough for 20 days. He's not on Metacam as well. He had a Metacam injection at the vets. Do you know how long that is effective for? He's got such a loud squeak anyway that he sounds really bad when he's peeing. I was wondering if he needs a pain killer as well as the Septrin. I didn't want to put him back on the Nurofen incase I OD'd him.
 
I'm glad to hear that your boys are getting better. I have a pig on long term metacam and he loves it too, i gave it to him earlier and he threw out the piece of lettuce he was munching on just to get to the metacam! :))

My Gizmo is on the metacam long term as when he had a xray for stones (none found :) ) the vet noticed that he had arthritis in his back legs, which he said maybe causing him discomfort and pain and that could be the reason for squeaking whilst weeing as his urine was all clear when it was tested and i must say touch wood the metacam seems to be working. :) Touch wood.
 
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Joey&Gizmo said:
I'm glad to hear that your boys are getting better. I have a pig on long term metacam and he loves it too, i gave it to him earlier and he threw out the piece of lettuce he was munching on just to get to the metacam! :))

My Gizmo is on the metacam long term as when he had a xray for stones (none found :) ) the vet noticed that he had arthritis in his back legs, which he said maybe causing him discomfort and pain and that could be the reason for squeaking whilst weeing as his urine was all clear when it was tested and i must say touch wood the metacam seems to be working. :) Touch wood.
Click to expand...

It's a bit alarming how much he loves his drugs! :{ :(|)
 
I've been in for 2 1/2 hours and not heard a painful squeek out of Stripes and there's been no blood! Hoorah! He's definately going ok as he pooed and peed on Mike's lap! Luckily he was sitting on a towel. He does seem to forget to tell us when he needs to go but that might just be him getting his revenge for making him take medicine! :(|)
Only problem is there's quite a stink even though I've just cleaned them out. Someone's got a smelly bum! Must of been the brocolli for tea. :red
 
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