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Sulfatrim

piggieminder

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Peanut has what the vet and I hope is a UTI and not a stone or tumour. At this stage we are not doing a scan as he is so frail due to age and a bad reaction to an operation he had last year for abscess removal. He never regained the 250 gms of the 300 gms in weight he lost then. He has been put on Sulfatrim, Metacam and Cystease to see if the bloody urine he is passing clears up. I can't remember from when Rusty took it if Sulfatrim affects the gut like Baytril. Please can someone tell me if I need to give him probiotics, with the awkwardness of telephone/carpark consultations yesterday I didn't think to ask. The print on the leaflet that comes with the bottle is so small I can't read it even outside in day light with my strongest glasses on!
 
Yes Sulfatrim is the "go to" antibiotic for a uti along with Metacam for the inflammation and discomfort. My piggie is going through the same at the moment. Hope your piggie is better soon and its simply a uti
 
Ruby really struggled on Baytril, but did much better on Sulfatrim. Hopefully Peanut will be the same.

To be honest I always give probiotics when they are on antibiotics as it won't do any harm, but I also think for sensitive piggies then Sulfatrim is definetly easier on the stomach.
 
Peanut has what the vet and I hope is a UTI and not a stone or tumour. At this stage we are not doing a scan as he is so frail due to age and a bad reaction to an operation he had last year for abscess removal. He never regained the 250 gms of the 300 gms in weight he lost then. He has been put on Sulfatrim, Metacam and Cystease to see if the bloody urine he is passing clears up. I can't remember from when Rusty took it if Sulfatrim affects the gut like Baytril. Please can someone tell me if I need to give him probiotics, with the awkwardness of telephone/carpark consultations yesterday I didn't think to ask. The print on the leaflet that comes with the bottle is so small I can't read it even outside in day light with my strongest glasses on!

Hi!

In the vast majority of cases any antibiotic is tolerated well but adverse reactions can happen to any of them.

Keep in mind that baytril is by a very long mile the most prescribed and in many countries still the only licensed antibiotic for guinea pigs, so it should be no surprise that problems and complaints abound online. This also goes for this forum. Since hardly anybody ever reports a perfectly normal course and recovery this creates a rather misleading picture. In most cases all you get with baytril is no change or just slightly softer poos than normal. If baytril was really as bad as it is made out be, it would have long been replaced by another antibiotic for small exotic furries.

Sulfatrim (i.e. unflavoured adult septrin) is generally not quite impacting on the gut microbiome as much as baytril in most cases; but as with any other antibiotic we have seen the odd case of a bad reaction on here (i.e. loss of appetite and feeling very off). If a guinea pig is very prone to a strong reaction to an antibiotic, there is a slightly higher risk that this could also happen with another. Some piggies seem to be simply much more sensitive.

For that reason, we recommend to support any piggy on antibiotics with either probiotics and/or 'poo soup' (which is the transfer of a live healthy guinea pig gut microbiome from a healthy companion if done properly and as such more effective than the probiotic powder) as a matter of course and to be prepared to step in with syringe feeding support if and whenever necessary.
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency

All the best for a problem-free course and recovery! It is normal to be more jittery after a bad experience.
 
Thank you. I have everything in my medical box should I need it. We have 5 candidates for poop soup so we should be okay on that score. He's maintaining his weight at the moment, I will check it daily to make sure it stays that way, he can't afford to lose any more.
I have had several piggies on Baytril with no adverse effects. I think Peanut is the only one who reacts badly, I wouldn't want to put anyone off giving it if it's needed.
 
This is really useful info for us too, Blodwen starts her sulfatrim tomorrow- the vet didnt have it in stock yesterday so we picked it up this afternoon and tomorrow we switch from baytril to sulfatrim to try treat her stubborn URI...
 
One of my guinea pigs was on Sulfatrim and he didn’t have any bad reactions with his gut. He was on baytril a couple of weeks before that due to the start of a URI and didn’t have much of an appetite and lost a little weight so I know how worrying it can be. Hope your piggy gets on ok but like I said my boy Diego didn’t have any reactions so hopefully you’ll be ok! 🤞🏻☺️
 
Wow the blue writing on the sulfatrim leaflet really is tiny isnt it?! Blodwen started her sulfatrim this morning, and a good thing too as she is gruntier that ever... she's on 0.6mls twice a day, does that sound like a good high dose for a 1200g piggy to anyone who has used it before?
There's no scientific literature on sulfatrim in small furries at all, but Blod's dose seems to be about double the standard rabbit dose... which I would expect really with her being quite poorly and piggies having such a rapid metabolism?
 
Wow the blue writing on the sulfatrim leaflet really is tiny isnt it?! Blodwen started her sulfatrim this morning, and a good thing too as she is gruntier that ever... she's on 0.6mls twice a day, does that sound like a good high dose for a 1200g piggy to anyone who has used it before?
There's no scientific literature on sulfatrim in small furries at all, but Blod's dose seems to be about double the standard rabbit dose... which I would expect really with her being quite poorly and piggies having such a rapid metabolism?
My Ellen was on 0.5ml twice a day and she was less than 1000g so I would say Blodwen is on the correct dose
 
Ruby (who would not like me to say that her weight at the time was 1050g) was also on a dose of 0.5ml twice a day and it really did wonders for her, so it sounds like Blod is on a decent dose for a slightly 'heftier' piggy :))
 
Ruby (who would not like me to say that her weight at the time was 1050g) was also on a dose of 0.5ml twice a day and it really did wonders for her, so it sounds like Blod is on a decent dose for a slightly 'heftier' piggy :))
Thank you! Blod says she's not hefty, its all floofy fur... though I'm quite glad she's a bit of a porky chubster in case she loses any weight with this URI, or with the probable dental she'll be having once her lungs are clear! She's actually a whopping great 500g heavier than when we first brought her home 2 years ago, so there's definitely some back up reserves if she loses her appetite...
 
Peanut is on .3ml he weighs just under 1000gm. Hope this is enough to knock this infection if it is one on the head, as it sounds a bit low comparing it to others.
Blod really landed on her paws when she found you @PigglePuggle what a transformation.
 
Diego was only on a low dose as the vet thought it could have been stress cystitis caused by some previous vet visits (he’s a sensitive boy 😂) to treat his uri but wasn’t bad enough for a high dose (we caught whatever it was early thankfully) and he weighs 1250g and was on 0.3ml twice a day.
 
This is all really helpful, the recommended standard rabbit dose looked to be 0.3mls per kg body weight, but good to hear that its quite common to be prescribed almost double that for bad infections! :)
 
Peanut's lost 40gm since yesterday. Just taken 15ml of recovery food and gone back into the cage to munch on hay. Eating grass now, all cages cleaned out so I'm off to the shop to get some favourite veggies!
 
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