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Symptoms of Interstitial Cystitis or people with pigs who have I.C?

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Joey&Gizmo

Joey&Gizmo

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Some of you may remember that Gizmo had a UTI back in April and we went to the vets for a xray and septrin. Nothing showed up in the xray only that he had arthritis in both his back legs which was quite bad and his chest had a break that was left to heal when he was young, which means he cannot have a full GA as this could kill him as the pressure would be too much, unless he needs an op that means life or death. The vet gave me metacam for him to take daily. But sometimes he has days that he does squeak when weeing, again no blood, grit and back to the vets we went who wants me to try a months worth of septrin and metacam and then if no improvement another xray.
The month will be up on the 27th July and so far he has had some days that he squeaks, as i found before once off the septrin he would start squeaking again but this time hes been having it daily with no breaks.
I have been making notes of when he squeaks and i test his urine daily which only shows up traces of protein, some days there is medium levels of protein other days none or hardly any. Could this be I.C as he has no blood or grit in his urine and the vets said that if he had stones he would be in pain all the time and he would leak/have blood or grit in his urine. The vet i see is very cavy savy so i do trust him.

The next step is back to the vets on the 27th and then x rays again, but i was wondering if anyone had pigs with I.C or knew the symptoms?

He is fine in himself and hasn't lost any weight, in fact he has gained weight and he is very happy popcorning about and is his usual self.

Thanks for reading and sorry its so long! :)
 
My piggy, Truffle has been diagnosed with IC - he has been suffering like Gizmo for over a year now. The vet prescribed Cystease tablets (for cats) which have helped slightly, however Truffle still has good days & bad. I've been advised of something else to try with him but do not have all the info yet so wouldn't want to give any advice until I know more.
It is a terrible thing for a piggy to have but Truffle carries on as normal & is a very happy piggy otherwise.
I actually stopped giving metacam a few months ago as it did not make any difference with regards to pain relief (following advice from my vet & rodentologist).
It may be worse discussing the cystease with the vet. If he is happy with it you can buy it from vetuk instead of from the vets xx
 
Thanks, I did look into cystease and I'm going to discuss it with my vet on the 27th.

Does Truffle squeak every day or does it come on and off in a few weeks days? As ive noticed that Gizmo can either go a few days without squeaking or he does one or two squeaks a day sometimes more. I'm going to keep a close eye on him now i have the 6 weeks summer hols off work.

The only thing i have noticed is that he does leave some white powdery marks after his wee but so does joey. I have read this could be due to excess calcium, but the vet told me not to cut out any veg, just increase fluid.

I'm so gutted that he is still squeaking when weeing as he is so active otherwise!
 
He squeeks most days although he does sometimes go a couple of days without doing it.
I have my calcium/phosphorous ratio spot on as recommended & some of my pigs do still sometimes leave the white marks, I also use brita filter water.
I get really upset when Truffle has really bad days but then when he popcorns off it makes everything better.
I know a lot of people have had great success with cystease so hopefully it will work for Gizmo xx
 
Can i ask what veg you feed as this maybe where i am going wrong, or do you have a link for the diet your following? I was following the diet that Laura posted and the vet advised me not to cut any veg? But then when reading on guinea lynx it does say you should follow a low ca diet. Ratewatchers?

I know what you mean about them popcorining off! Gizmo does this too. :)

I'm definalty going to as about cystease.

Thanks for being so helpful and sharing Truffles symptoms to me. :)
 
It sound suspicious of IC to me Sam, I'd definitely discuss the Cystease (or Cystaid) with Mark, see if it'd be worth trying.

Jasmine spent around 2 years suffering cystitis-like symptoms on and off, only symptom was the squeaking when peeing and pooping. Some days she'd be fine, even go a few days or a week in a row without a sound; other times she'd cry with almost every wee. It was very random yet regular enough to know the crying would come back, if you see what I mean?

We tried treating with Baytril and Setrin, along with anti-inflammatories, but no relief; most of those two years she went without any treatment as her condition was not recognised and quite frankly, neither the vets nor I knew what to do as we'd treated for bacterial infection with no success. At that time, a long-term course of anti-inflammatories was never suggested and I didn't know enough to consider it myself.

The turning point for Jasmine came with the diet. Since changing the diet to balance the calcium phosphorus ratio, it's been all quiet, over a year now and not a squeak. Like magic.

She was never diagnosed with IC, but from what I know now, her symptoms lined up with it. I don't know why just a change in diet stopped her case though - I should say it was a very mild case despite the length of time it went on, she was not suffering nearly as badly as I know many do. Perhaps certain foods irritated her inflamed bladder, or perhaps a deficiency from her diet before (which was very low calcium). Bit puzzling but at least it's worked.
 
I only feed them celery, cucumber, coriander, round lettuce, romaine lettuce & mixed looseleaf lettuce. I follow the guinea lynx calculator & have to get the weights correct of each one. I only follow this because I have tried everything to help Truffle, it may not work for others but at least I know the ratio is perfect and that I have eliminated all things that could irritate his bladder. xx
 
Thanks Laura! I'm just worried that it maybe a stone and the op and him having a GA worries me! But then he has no bleeding etc and from what i have read it seems to be I.C. But of course he is going to have a xray again.

What diet do you follow now? I think i need to look into it more and change their diets. Funny enough my mum said it could be the veg that irritate his bladder.

I would say that his squeaks aren't very high pitched when he does squeak so hopefully he isnt in too much pain, it just upsets me as i dont know what else to do for him other than what advise i have from the vet, so i am definitely going to discuss the cystease. x x
 
pompypigs said:
I only feed them celery, cucumber, coriander, round lettuce, romaine lettuce & mixed looseleaf lettuce. I follow the guinea lynx calculator & have to get the weights correct of each one. I only follow this because I have tried everything to help Truffle, it may not work for others but at least I know the ratio is perfect and that I have eliminated all things that could irritate his bladder. xx
Click to expand...

Thanks, mine love herbs so this will be hard to lose for them, also carrots but i dont fed them daily. They do however love all the veg that you have listed :)

I'm going to take another look at the ratewatchers diet and devise a diet.

x x
 
Joey&Gizmo said:
Thanks, mine love herbs so this will be hard to lose for them, also carrots but i dont fed them daily. They do however love all the veg that you have listed :)

I'm going to take another look at the ratewatchers diet and devise a diet.

x x
Click to expand...

I must admit it was hard when I changed my diet - they loved carrot & apple which I cut out :(
 
pompypigs said:
I must admit it was hard when I changed my diet - they loved carrot & apple which I cut out :(
Click to expand...

Its going to be very hard for me too! As they go mad for parsley and i know that is high in ca. They also love spinach, chicory etc. :(

But if it makes him better then it has to be done! :)

x x
 
You still can feed high calcium food as long as you balance it right.
Good luck hun, let me know how you get on xx
 
pompypigs said:
You still can feed high calcium food as long as you balance it right.
Good luck hun, let me know how you get on xx
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm going to have a good look at guinea lynx and the ratewatchers diet and i bet i will spend the next 6 week getting their diet spot on! rolleyes

Shall let you know how i get on. :)
 
Also worth trying pearl barley gloop - it has a natural emoluent to soothe an irritated bladder lining..

Boil a handful of pearl barley in a large quantity of water until most of the water is absorbed and the barley soft(about 40mins)

Pass it through a sieve and KEEP the water/gloop in the fRIdge for No More than a coupLe of days. This can be diluted with concetrated cranberry extract from Holland and Barrett..... 5:1 (gloop 4ml:cranberry 1ml).....and the piggie fed a ml or so three to four times a day (or more often if they will take it)

In combination with diet, this has worked wonders in my piggies with no known bacterial cause for cysti****

HTH
XX
 
Just a update that Gizmo is now on cystease and i dont know if its a coincident but the squeaking have stopped already! He has 1/4 of a tablet daily mixed with water and i also syringe him as much water as he will take, he seems to like the water being syringed to him! I suppose its better than the septrin! :))
 
Joey&Gizmo said:
Just a update that Gizmo is now on cystease and i dont know if its a coincident but the squeaking have stopped already! He has 1/4 of a tablet daily mixed with water and i also syringe him as much water as he will take, he seems to like the water being syringed to him! I suppose its better than the septrin! :))
Click to expand...

Hopefully things will improve for him xx
My vet advised me to give 1/4 of a capsule per day as he was unsure of the dosage in guinea pigs - I have since spoken to another vet & rodentologist & they have advised a full capsule is safe for Truffle (he's an adult male weighing just over a kilo) so this is what I give him xx
 
Good to hear things seem to be ok at the moment, don't be too disappointed if he does squeak again, stick with it for a bit. :)

You asked about diet, I'm not too strict on it at the moment but it is predominantly lettuce and herb based. Usually a type of lettuce, one herb (parsley, dill or coriander) and a couple of crunchy things - cucumber, cherry tomato, carrot, apple, green beans, peppers etc. The herb is the high calcium food, lettuce is mid to low calcium, and the crunchy foods I vary according to what herb I am giving e.g. if I give parsley or dill, I give apple, cucumber, tomato etc. - lower calcium foods. If I give coriander, which is mid calcium, then I give something higher in calcium.

I had been following a very low calcium diet for some years - lettuces, peppers, coriander, cherry tomatoes, babycorn - but this contained so little calcium and the ratio was a long way out (something like 0.7:1 when it should be as much as 1.3:1, or thereabouts). I think the lack of calcium may have actually made things worse for Jasmine because as soon as I corrected it, she stopped squeaking.
 
I know its early days as he only started the cystease on saturday! But I'm sticking with it and shall see how he gets on, still got a re visit on the 27th July. Gizmo is also quite heavy and weighs 1175g. The vet said not to worry if i give too much of the cystease as i am dividing it up into 4 sections, which is quite hard getting them all the same.

I have looked at the ratewatchers diet and have made a few menus from them. I'm off to buy a digital scales today so i can weigh 10g of each, as at the moment i just have a ordinary scales so its hard to weigh veg on! I was surprsied at how much chioce is on them as i can still feed herbs, kale and carrots which the boys adore! :))
 
I just wanted to ask if anyone thinks that Gizmo making a noise when weeing could be a habit? Only because when i stroke him when he wees he makes no noise at all, i am wondering if this is actually a pain squeak or just something he does when weeing?

I have been giving him extra water 3 times a day and he seems to be drinking more from the bottle by himself now. I have kept track of when he squeaks and i test his urine at least once a day, sometimes i test it 3 or 4 times and he has never had any blood since this all started. Is this a good thing? As surly if he had developed stones by now would he bleed?

He is off to the vets next week as planned as i wouldnt wanted to have missed something, just thought i would ask, as maybe its all in my head and I'm misreading his squeaks, as sometimes he does the same squeak during floortime or when he is pottering about. Sorry if i sound mad but i thought i would ask everyone opinion's.

:)
 
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