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Urinary Tract Infection

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Pippy & Daisy

Pippy & Daisy

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Hi everyone,

My girls were out having a play today and I noticed that Daisy seemed to be in pain and then I saw that she had peed out some blood. I rushed her to the emergency animal hospital (which cost a fortune but the regular vet was closed!) and the vet checked her and is pretty confident that she has a urinary tract infection, so she had an injection and was prescribed Enotril for a few days. So obviously I'm not looking for a diagnosis, just wondering if there's any way I can help her feel a bit better.

She's been acting completely normally apart from this and I hadn't noticed any blood before today. Literally only a minute or so before it happened she was running and jumping around and had been eating as usual, so it seems as though I might have discovered it straight away, or at least very soon after she's come down with it. She even came for a cuddle and was as happy as always. She was a bit more placid than usual at the vet but seemed to pick up after her injection and since we got her home she's been acting fine (saw a tiny bit of blood again but I suppose that can be expected) and has been munching on hay and relaxing with Pippy, so I'm pretty happy with how she's going. It's just that it breaks my heart every time I hear her in pain because there's nothing I can do and she doesn't know what's going on. Has anyone ever had any experience with UTIs and can tell me if there's anything I can do (other can giving her her medicine obviously) to make her feel better, or am I better off just letting her be so she can feel better herself? Are there any foods I should avoid while she's not well? Is it still okay to hold her and everything? I'm monitoring her closely to make sure nothing else is wrong and I haven't noticed anything, so I'm hoping after a couple of days she'll be all better again, I just hate knowing it's hurting her and I can't stop worrying about her :(

Thanks in advance, Daisy and I (and Pippy) appreciate it!
 
I'm guessing that the injection was probably a long-lasting painkiller, so she should be cmfortable for a while, but if she looks to still be in pain, you could ask the vet for something you can give her at home (metacam maybe). It does sound like you caught it quickly, so with any luck she'll be back to her happy self in no time. I would give her plenty of love and cuddles and keep a close eye like you're doing. Well done for your swift action!
 
I agree, well done for catching it early.

It sounds like you have been given the Australian version of Baytril so I would recommend you give her a probiotic an hour or so after the dose to help her gut.

Plenty of fluids are also a good idea in addition to pain relief.
 
Thanks everyone!

Since her trip to the vet I've only heard her in pain once and have only found one spot of blood. Is it possible that she's getting better already? I'm a little concerned that it might be that she isn't able to wee at all (their was quite a lot in the cage but I didn't know if Pip was responsible for all of that - I do know that Daisy's pooed though) but I've been giving her lots of watery veggies because she's not a big drinker and she's had no trouble with them; I'll also give her some water from the bottle myself so I know that she's had some, to make sure she's getting lots of fluids. If I wasn't around yesterday and was only seeing her today, I wouldn't think there was anything wrong with her at all! I suppose that's a good thing since she obviously isn't in constant pain, I just hope she's not hiding it. I'll call up ask the vet for a probiotic today. She's on her antibiotics for five days but hopefully she'll be better anyway and they'll just be an extra treat for her for a few days (she seemed to enjoy the taste - or at least didn't hate it). I'm pretty proud of her since this was the first illness she's ever had and she hasn't complained at all! She has managed to guilt me into a bit more cucumber than usual though :P Keeping my fingers crossed she keeps improving like this!
 
Thanks for the update, worth speaking to the vet about some pain relief to give at home like Metacam as it acts twofold, one as an anti inflammatory and two as a pain killer.
I would imagine she is weeing, what you could do is syringe her a little water or lots of soaking wet veggie leaves like coriander and and pop her in a bowl and wait for nature to take it's course
Like this....
P6090921.jpg


We'd sometimes do this with our first piggie Putt who used to have lots of bladder issues.

Lots of healing vibes to Daisy
 
Hi guys, I've been so busy that I didn't have a chance to give any updates on Daisy, so I thought I'd do that now - thanks for all your help!

So, after our first visit to the vet she was prescribed 0.2ml of antibiotics for five days. After a couple of days she seemed to be getting better, but then she went downhill quite fast and was in a LOT of pain and there was some more blood. So I took her to our regular vet and he did some more tests and did an ultrasound to make sure there were no stones, and everything came up clear. He didn't believe her dosage was high enough, so he prescribed 0.5ml of Bactrim for two weeks. He also gave her another injection to stop the pain and advised us to mix her medicine with V8 juice. He advised us not to give her any pellets or lettuce until she'd recovered fully, so it was a diet of just hay and other veggies, with lots of herbs to make up for the lack of lettuce.

Over the first few days she definitely seemed to be getting better, however she was still in pain and just wasn't her self. So it was off to the vet again and I was again fearing bladder stones! He checked her over again and didn't believe it was stones, so he prescribed some pain meds for five days and said we should bring her back if she was still in pain after that. Thankfully, the pain seemed to stop before the five days so we just kept her on antibiotics - the veggie juice didn't make it at all easier to give her the medicine!

By the time we finished her on her medicine, she seemed as good as new and I was over the moon - until we came across another problem in the form of some very soft poo! Fearing yet another problem, I gave the vet a call and he said the antibiotics often had that side effect, and thankfully it only ended up lasting a day or two.

So finally, after weeks of worry and vet trips, Daisy is once again in tip-top shape and is happier and healthier than ever! She'd been quite snappy when she was ill, so it's nice to have her back to her gentle self and it's such a huge relief :)
 
So pleased she is feeling brighter. The funny poo would have been the result of the antibiotics (unless you were giving probiotics) or even the V8 juice, which is a lot of veg to give in one go.
 
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