UTI treatment

[LucyP]

Firstly please don't cut back on medication unless advised to by your vet. Put simply if you lower the dose it could prove to be ineffective to the condition you are treating and could help to build an antibiotic resistance. Take her off any veg and please only feed readigrass occasionally as it's too rich. Eating plenty of hay is good. I would supplement with a probiotic an hour before or after each antibiotic dose to help with the gut balance. If she is losing weight you can also step in with syringe feeding mushed up pellets to help keep her going.

If she has gone downhill and is struggling to eat then please see a vet as an emergency

thank you. The vet said at the time that if they had issues with soft poos after starting the AB, to take them off and contact her. So we did as advised by the vet but sadly can’t get hold of her this weekend- I will call in a mo to see if someone else there can advise or ask if we need to go in today.

they’ve had regular pro c since being on various meds (for some time). She had tiny amounts of veg yesterday as she wasn't touching much of anything and eating a small leaf of coriander etc seems to prompt her to go for hay straight after... and a little bit of the readigrass was sprinkled to also encourage hay eating as she wasn’t going for hay in the normal way and we just wanted to keep her chewing something. I’ll stop all veg and readingrass completely today. We do normally give huge amounts of either but when it’s one of the few things she’ll accept it’s hard to know what’s best....

The runny poo does seem to be since she took the marbocyl - everything else in her diet has remained the same- but of course I could be wrong. Her weight last night was good and she’s not losing weight and she’s eating hay right now as we speak but her general reduced appetite and lethargy is a worry.
Thanks

 

[LucyP]

I’ve called the vet and no exotic specialist today but the general one is calling me back in an hour. However Betty just did this so I’m very worried. Is this normal for respiratory issues (which she has) or something else? She’s still eating hay but maki funny noises

 

[VickiA]

I’m afraid she is in pain and needs to see a vet as soon as possible. Has she had an X-ray or scan to rule out stones?

 

[VickiA]

I think she needs a hands in exam by a vet today. So sorry x

 

[LucyP]

Thank you. The vets said they might be able to get her seen as an emergency today but only by the general one and they were advising us to wait and see the specialist tomorrow but I am happy to take her in if that's better for her. Since that video was taken she has had metacam (0.5, as per her prescription) and we are waiting for an emergency call back from the general vet. She hasn't made that noise or action again and is drinking water and eating hay. She is pooing regularly but her poos are like cow pats.

 

[LucyP]

Sorry - re stones, the vet didn't test yet as was waiting to see if the AB would clear it up before going down that road. They have both made the odd strange noise and movement at times during the respiratory issues so I thought it was maybe that but that noise was horrible to hear. I don't think the general vet will be able to scan her today but they might be able to advise. Thanks Vicki.

 

[LucyP]

Were going to the vets

 

[Ritika]

What a pretty girl she is I hope everything goes fine with the vets and her treatment❤

 

[VickiA]

Were going to the vets

I think that’s the right thing to do. Good luck.

 

[LucyP]

The vet can’t scan today but they said if she depreciates toSorry - just to add that she is still drinking water from the bottle as normal and eating hay and seems to be able to swallow ok.

if she gets worse we can make an appointment with the emergency general vet later today but if not to hold tight and speak to the exotic specialist first thing.

What a pretty girl she is I hope everything goes fine with the vets and her treatment❤

Thank you. She’s now eating hay non

I think that’s the right thing to do. Good luck.

thank you - they initially thought it was best for us to wait

I think that’s the right thing to do. Good luck.

thanks-almost at the vets now.

 

[LucyP]

Hi all

the vet gave Betty a hands on exam of her body, mouth and down below, as well as listening to heart and lungs and taking her temperature. She couldn’t find anything immediately wrong and suggest we keep her off marbocyl as that may be causing the runny poos. We are advised to continue with metacam, also we will of course continue with the hay and syringe feed diet. We can then speak to our usual vet tomorrow to decide which AB to put her on next as we obviously still want to treat her respiratory issues and see if ABs can get ok top of her UTI type symptoms.
There was a brief suggestion from them about possible opioid pain relief for her but they felt this wouldn’t be ideal as it causes lethargy and she Is already on metacam 0.5 twice a day.

We asked her to check over the little one at the same time too (Winnie, respiratory and possible heart issues pig) as she’s been eating less and doing small dry poos this morning but again there were no obvious issues the vet could see. For Winnie we’re giving her the usual diet including veg. Interestingly this morning Winnie seemed to want to sniff in Betty’s cow pat poos quite badly, not sure if that means anything or not.

Anyway they seem glad to be home and both eating something and we’re giving additional feeds when we can.
I don’t know what else we can do for now but there haven’t been any squawks or strange movements since that video (which I showed to the vet) and they are both eating and doing poos of some sort, so maybe I should try to calm down a bit.

thanks, and sorry for the garbled messages today - combination of distress, multi tasking and small phone have made things tricky!

 

[VickiA]

Hang in there. You are doing all you can.

 

[LucyP]

Thank you. I think her latest poos are becoming a bit more shapely and she’s eating lots of hay and drinking water regularly... so she’s doing what she can.. but she’s still quite withdrawn and also hunching and moaning a bit when she does poos/wees (some of the time, not always), poor thing. I hope she’s not in too much pain as her next metacam does isn’t due til late tonight.

Winnie is still obsessed with Betty’s poos and bum and seems to want to sniff every poo Betty does for some reason.

I just hope the cavy vet tomorrow has some ideas for this. I think as you say a scan for stones might be helpful. I’ve also read about pigs with IC and some of the symptoms sound similar so am wondering about that too. Anyway hopefully the vet will help us get to the bottom of it ASAP as she is really not herself and neither is Winnie fully normal I don’t think.
Thank you again

 

[LucyP]

Quick update - Betty is now doing much better looking poos (see below) and has been eating hay and drinking water all afternoon and a couple of nuggets. The crying when she poos seems less but it is still there from time to time and she’s not comfortable and her normal self, so that’s horrible, but at least she’s eating.

Winnie on the other hand has been very quiet and inactive today and hardly eaten much this afternoon, so she’s being syringe fed now. We’ll weigh both again tonight but at this rate I think she might need night feeds. Winnie has been on marbocyl and metacam for weeks and her only new drug is metroronidazole. Does anyone know if that drug affects the appetite? I thought it was sometimes used to help with tummy issues. She’s on that drug for suspected heart and lung issues (heart rate 100 today and the same on Thursday). Their diet has been steady.

Waaaaaa!
Thanks all

 

[LucyP]

Hi all

Just to update:

Betty seems to be doing well at the moment but we still don’t really know what’s happening with her so after a short break from AB to give her digestive system a break, the vet wants to try a new one on her soon and keep exploring options of what exactly is happening. I’m sure I’ll come back and talk about this more soon.

Winnie (heart and respiratory issues) went downhill with eating on Sunday and although she’s eating small amounts on her own and been accepting some hand and syringe feed from us, we were really worried about how little she was taking in and her general apathy. She was due to go in soon for an ultrasound to check her heart soon so the vet brought that forward and yesterday we admitted her for round the clock feeding and also some gut motility medication, and by admitting her the vets can also monitor her heart rate more often to try to see what’s happening there, and then do the ultrasound. Feel so horrible leaving her in as she’s a nervous rescue pig,but I think it’s for the best and they have an experienced team at the Beamont who seem lovely, and will no doubt be much better at keeping her gut moving than we are. Waiting to get an update today from the vet but I really hope they can stabilise her and then get to the bottom of what’s going on heart and lung wise. she has a low and irregular heart rate which could be a number of things. She’s the sweetest thing and despite all the health issues she’s also been a really happy popcorning pig before this latest setback, regularly zooming and skipping around her indoor run. We’re happy to give her whatever extra care and support she may need, just want her to have a happy life without pain. So fingers crossed she can get through this ok. If she’s stressed we’ll take Betty in to be with her today but the vets advised it wouldn’t have been helpful last night as they needed to keep them separate to monitor the food and water intake overnight. But we can take her up today to keep Winnie company and I think that could help her.
Thanks
Lucy

 

[VickiA]

Oh my days Lucy. You are really going through it with these girls. Sounds like the vets are doing all they can for Winnie. I hope today brings you some better news.

 

[LucyP]

Oh my days Lucy. You are really going through it with these girls. Sounds like the vets are doing all they can for Winnie. I hope today brings you some better news.

Thanks Vicki

shes still not eating on her own or pooing we’ve now taken Betty in to stay with her and really hope that perks her up. Very worrying but they are getting more syringe feed in her then we could so I think it was the right thing to do. I just hope she’s not too stressed. Will get another update a bit later on.

 

[LucyP]

Last spoke to the vets at 5 and she’s still not eating anything other than syringe feed but they said she’s moving a bit more and did a wee. We’re keeping everything crossed. Her heart ultrasound didn’t show anything but she still has low heart rate and it’s irregular. They’re giving her an ECT. Thanks for your support.

 

[LucyP]

Last spoke to the vets at 5 and she’s still not eating anything other than syringe feed but they said she’s moving a bit more and did a wee. We’re keeping everything crossed. Her heart ultrasound didn’t show anything but she still has low heart rate and it’s irregular. They’re giving her an ECT. Thanks for your support.

She hasn’t pooed yet either but I guess it takes a while for things to come through