What's Wrong With Ruby?

[Pets Palace TV]

About a month ago I posted a thread about one of my guinea pigs (Ruby) making unusual squeaking noises when passing urine/faeces. We took Ruby to the vets and they gave us some baytril for a suspected UTI, unfortunately after one week this didn't help so we took her back to the vets and they did an ultra sound scan on her and this didn't show any stones which was really good news! We were given more baytril to use for 3-4 weeks to see if it helped (the vet still thought she had a UTI but quite a bad one so it would take this amount of time for it to get better). Now that Ruby has finished her baytril I am confused why she is still making the same noise, surely if it was a UTI it would have cleared up by now and it shouldn't be causing her any pain and we know for sure that it's not a stone so I can't think what else it could be unless she is just expecting it to be painful because she is used to it hurting. If anyone could help me that would be great

 

[biscandmatt]

it doesn't sound like baytril is the right antibiotic for her. (it isn't usually for uti's) you could try another one, and also metacam aswell. if there is alot of inflammation then cerenia can be given aswell, to work as an anti-inflammatory but in a different way to metacam.

you could ask the vets to take a urine sample for testing aswell. if your vets aren't exotics/guinea savvy, then i would suggest going to one and getting their opinion.

good luck

 

[Wiebke]

UTI or urine infection is only one form of bladder problems; there is also an inflammation of the bladder walls that doesn't react well to antibiotics and often ends up as an interstitial cystitis that has to be managed with metacam rather than be treated. I have been through it myself with girls of mine and know how frustrating it can be! At least you can rule out bladder stones, which is the biggest worry.

How old is your girl? Has your vet considered other reasons like arthritis if she is not a young piggy? I guess that any womb problems would have shown up in a scan and during an examination.

 

[Pets Palace TV]

it doesn't sound like baytril is the right antibiotic for her. (it isn't usually for uti's) you could try another one, and also metacam aswell. if there is alot of inflammation then cerenia can be given aswell, to work as an anti-inflammatory but in a different way to metacam.

you could ask the vets to take a urine sample for testing aswell. if your vets aren't exotics/guinea savvy, then i would suggest going to one and getting their opinion.

good luck

Thanks for helping, we actually have some metacam that we got for my cat but I don't suppose I would be able to give any to her because I wouldn't know how much and how often to give it to her

 

[Pets Palace TV]

UTI or urine infection is only one form of bladder problems; there is also an inflammation of the bladder walls that doesn't react well to antibiotics and often ends up as an interstitial cystitis that has to be managed with metacam rather than be treated. I have been through it myself with girls of mine and know how frustrating it can be! At least you can rule out bladder stones, which is the biggest worry.

How old is your girl? Has your vet considered other reasons like arthritis if she is not a young piggy? I guess that any womb problems would have shown up in a scan and during an examination.

Thank-you, she is just over 2 years. They haven't mentioned arthritis but I doubt she would have that due to her age

 

[helen105281]

She may need a different antibiotic such as Septrin if it is an infection, other possibilities are Interstitial cystitis or ovarian cysts. I would speak to the vet on the phone about pain relief as soon as you can, explain you have some and ask them to tell you the dose to use.

 

[biscandmatt]

Thanks for helping, we actually have some metacam that we got for my cat but I don't suppose I would be able to give any to her because I wouldn't know how much and how often to give it to her

definitely best to check with the vets first.

 

[NASH]

We use metacam for dogs and the dosage is based on piggies body weight eg Frank being huge has 2 drops Fluffy being tiny has 1. They've been on it once a day and twice depending on what they had at the time, but I would definitely check with vets first. Has anyone else used the one for cats?

 

[Pets Palace TV]

We use metacam for dogs and the dosage is based on piggies body weight eg Frank being huge has 2 drops Fluffy being tiny has 1. They've been on it once a day and twice depending on what they had at the time, but I would definitely check with vets first. Has anyone else used the one for cats?

None of our piggies have used it yet