• DONATIONS NOW OPEN! TGPF relies on donations to run. If you'd like to donate towards running costs you can find out more HERE
  • Fresh grass and lawn tips to avoid springtime deaths Click here for details
  • 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

Urinary tract infection and back leg problem

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

marsvin

New Born Pup
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Kenilworth/Coventry
Hi!
We have a problem with our younger guinea pig who is less than a year old. He seems to have problems with his back legs, he is running kind of wobbly. We took him to the vet who prescribed Metacam (0.45 ml/day) for 3 days and took a urine test. They found a lot of bacteria in it, so he was put on a 10 days Bactrim treatment (0.8 ml twice a day). With the Metacam he got immediately better (although not perfect), but did not improve much after the treatment stopped. Unfortunately after the antibiotics treatment there were still bacteria in his urine, so now he is on the second course of Bactrim. We also were advised to give him Metacam for 3 days again and today is the second day since this treatment stopped. Our feeling is that he is only better when he is on Metacam and as soon as we stop it, he gets back to his wobbly moves.
Does anybody have any advice on Metacam? Should we do a longer-term treatment? Or is it dangerous?
Thanks a lot for any help!
 
Hi Marsvin, welcome to the forum. I'm sorry it has taken a couple of days for forum members to respond.

Bladder problems often affect the walking movement of the pigs; the pain can lead to a hopping "movement" in some guineas. However it doesn't sound as though this is quite the case of your piggie - I'm more inclined to believe it is a problem with the legs themselves, and the urinary infection is coincidental as you don't mention other symptoms.

As it seems quite vague at the moment, I wonder if some extra info would help to figure out possible causes. How long has he been walking oddly for? Is there any chance he could have sustained an injury? What sort of housing does he live in - multi level, ramps?Do you know anything about his history etc.? What breed is he?

Treatment with Metacam long-term is possible, but obviously determining the cause of the weak legs is very important.

I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but lots of luck, and do keep us updated.
 
The back leg movement you describe sometimes indicates a vitamin/mineral deficiency. I suggest that, initially, you give him 0.2ml of Osteocare once daily for 5 days.
Osteocare is available from most pharmacies.
I would not be too worried about the bladder "infection", it would be very easy for the sample to be contaminated.
 
Last edited:
Hi!

Thank you very much for your replies!
Plushie has been walking oddly for more than a month now. When we first noticed it did not seem to be serious and also he is very young and still growing, so we thought it was just to do with that. After about 2 weeks we took him to the vet. The housing is not multilevel, but it is two cages attached to each other, so a jump is required to move between the two compartments and also to come out and go back into the cage during floor time. So I can't exclude that there has been an injury during a jump. When he is on Metacam he is quite good at jumping, but when not, then he would not move from one part of the cage to the other. He lives with another guinea pig (Chucklet, 1 year old) who has no problem with jumping between the cages.
He is not a pure breed guinea pig, but he looks like a teddy.

Yesterday we payed another visit to the vet and he was X-rayed to see if there are any stones, but none were found. The vet adviced us to give 0.45 ml Metacam for 3 days, then 0.35 for another 3 days and then get down to 0.3 ml per day. Do you think we should go lower than that? He weighs 1.15 kg.

He gets vitamin C in form of the Oxbow tablets, which he really loves. I checked on Osteocare, but can't find the product under this name here in Sweden. Is it this product: http://www.expresschemist.co.uk/product_2591_osteocare-liquid-200ml.html
I will try to get it from the UK.

Thank you so much for your helpfulness!
 
Yes, that is the product. Is there a Swedish equivalent that would have the same effect?
 
Unfortunately I can't find anything in a liquid form only tablets (and those are not the same composition either) and I'm afraid to experiment. So I order it today from the UK and hope it arrives soon.
Thanks for the suggestion I hope it will help him get better.
 
A little update on Plushie.
We went to the vet yesterday and got a urine test. There are still a lot of bacteria growing, so the vet sent the sample to a lab for analysis to know exactly what are growing. The result will come next week, so she suggested in the meantime we put him again on Bactrim. This will be the third time and I am not sure there is any point in using it as it does not seem to cure him. On the other hand of course I should follow the vet's advice, but I feel so bad about giving him medicines which do nothing. What do you think, should we start the Bactrim again?

I read here that people also use cranberry juice to help with the infection. Is that a cure or only prevention? In the shop I found the brand "Ocean Spray" but it is not 100% juice. Is it still OK to give?

We are still waiting for the Osteocare to arrive from the UK, I hope it will be here soon.

We are very sad about the current situation as nothing seems to get better. :( In addition to all this he seems to have a skin condition (flaky skin, lot of scraches, wounds) which did not improve after treatment for mites, so the vet suspects it is fungal infection. She sent skin and hair samples to the lab for analysis also. :(((
 
Ocean Spray cranberry juice is a good one. I don't know if cranberry juice is a cure, but it has made a big difference to many pigs. I have no personal experience (note: with my pigs!) so I can't say if it is good enough to cure the problem, but I know many pigs have had some relief with it.

The skin problem can probably be cleared up quite easily, it does sound like a fungal infection. Two or three weekly baths in anti-fungal shampoo is usually sufficient. Can you get Nizoral or Alphosyl shampoo there, sold for humans with dandruff problems?
 
Cranberry juice does not cure the infection, as such, but it makes it difficult for the bacteria to "stick" to the lining of the bladder, which means it becomes easier to flush them out of the urinary tract.
 
Thanks for your quick replies!
I will try to find an antifungal shampoo.
It seems the cranberry juice can do good, so I will try. Do you think I can give the not 100% one? I think it is 25% and I'm afraid it is sweetened.
 
Yes, the cranberry juice I bought is Ocean Spray, but only 25% and with added sugar. There was a "light" version as well, I guess that has sweetener instead of sugar.
But at the moment we are a bit unsure about giving him the juice, as he is on everyday metacam and the vet said it can cause ulcer, so maybe it is not good to give him anything too acidic.
 
Thousands of pigs have cause to be thankful for cranberry juice, it will not do him any harm.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top