Vincent's got a second urine infection since xmas

[Dusty_bugs]

:/ Really not happy. I haven't been sloppy with the cage cleaning but for some reason Vincent has had a second bout in 5 months! Sunday vet fee was £53 before meds aswell!

I feel like I'm letting him down somewhere.

Can some guineapigs be susceptable to UI's? I know boys are worse than girls for getting it, but Vincent also came to us with a large wax build up in the ear (or so my vet thought) and he is now on ear drops twice a month for the forseeable future. :/

 

[Freela]

Did they check for sludge or stones? Sometimes recurrent UTIs can be a symptoms of either of these conditions.

 

[piggyfan]

Oh poor little Vincent. I really hope he recovers soon.

 

[sport_billy]

You are not letting him down. Some appear to be more prone to them than others, we have had 3 bladder piggies.

I would suggest an X-ray just to rule out any nasties if he hasn't had one. Has the wee been cultured to show it is bacterial? Otherwise if it doesn't respond to antibiotics it's could be cystitis. Lots of love to Vincent x

 

[Dusty_bugs]

we havent had a wee culture yet. By this morning he was so dehydrated, he didnt pee at the vets but the towel was wet. No more blood this morning though. I was a bit cavalier last night and gave him a tickle of baytril and meloxivet to see him through the night and up until the vets ( which I told them about before they prescribed him their own). He's now on Septrim and metacam. He was checked very thoroughly by hand the first time and he was fine. His pee is normally clear/off clear. It's the girls who normally leave white streaks.

He hasn't been eating at all today, even dandelions, opens his mouth and then thinks twice and turns his bum to it but we managed a few mouthfuls of crit care before my lovely house mates burst into the house and made a racket which put him off. He will drink a bit though. I gave him his meds with some syringe fed crit care about 10pm. He's not used to the syringe at all but he was quite keen for the food! Leaving him alone for the night now. He's had ALOT of bothering today. Will see him at 7am with more meds and crit care, then I'm back from a job interview at about 2pm. I can give him some fluids and crit care then as well. Then the partner is home at 6.. we'll do his second meds at 7pm. Hoping by then his appetite will have come back.

 

[MargaretB]

Poor Vincent. It sounds as though you are doing everything you can for him. Fingers crossed that he improves soon.

 

[Wiebke]

Some UTI strains are more antibiotic resistant than others, and you can end up dealing with an interstitial cystitis (i.e. recurring cystitis). No fault of yours! When you are dealing with recurring cystitis, please always make sure that you are not dealing with a kidney/bladder stone or bladder sludge problem instead (which means an x-ray).

Please give Vincent plenty of fresh watery veg (grass, cucumber, celery etc.) and ask your vet for metacam (if they haven't given you any) to cut down on the pain (and incidentally boost the appetite) while the syomptoms are acute.

Barley water or cystease are food supplements that coat the bladder and can be of help when you are dealing with a long term cystitis or sludge/crystal problem. Not all piggies react quite as well, so it is a matter of trial and error.

Here is more information: http://www.guinealynx.info/uti.html

 

[AudioHeart]

*Big hugs* to you and Vincent. You're doing a fab job with your little pig unfortuantly as others have said UTIs can be ongoing. wishing vincent a speedy recovery x

 

[Dusty_bugs]

Thanks guys! Well yesterday seemed a bit hit and miss. His poos are still small, but they are a better shape, though he's appetite for veggies of any kind is right off. He had half a romaine lettuce leaf this morning. We gave him a more watery than usual crit care andhis meds.. He'd learnt to grab the syringe by it's side and toss it around like a dog with a kong toy! I'm thinking of renaming him CONAN! Bit of a warrior in there. He's also taken to nipping whilst held for meds :/

I'm at work today, no-one to cover me. If he's not perking up and eating better when I get home I'm ringing the vets.

What's worse is leeland seems to be puffing up. I can't tell if it's because Vincent is down and she feels 'psychologically' puffy or if she's coming down with something. Her pee looks normal right now.. she squeeked the other day whilst peeing ( not since) but she does that when Vincent is behind her anyway, kind of like an "away from my arse!" warning.

 

[Dusty_bugs]

Things weren't looking any better for him by last night and he felt alot lighter so I took him for a fleuroscopy this morning. He has gut stasis and 3 bladder stones :0

We're fixing the gut stasis first with emeprid, zithromax? and infacol. Tomorrow he gets a new drug which I cant remember the name of, it was a bit of a hard and fast day today. Then Monday if the stasis is solved we do the op. Luckily the stones havent dropped to the urethra. They had one die on Monday of bladder stones and subsequent kidney complications. :...

healing wheekies please for my poor man.

 

[sport_billy]

Oh no Poor Vincent.

I really hope he will be okay. Lots of gentle tummy massage to help with the bloat is a good idea, it helps move the gas. emeprid is good stuff and will hopefully get things moving through again. Our girl has reoccurant bloat and is on 0.3ml three times a day. It may be worth speaking to the vet about Zantac too, Treacle has just started having it alongside the emeprid and it is definitely helping, so worth keeping in back of mind if there is no improvement.

Lots of healing vibes to him and good luck for Monday, massive hugs to you

 

[Dusty_bugs]

I just realised I said zithromax and meant Zantac! I'm such a fruit. Thanks for the love sport billy