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Worried about piggies health...

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Julesie

Julesie

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My piggie Gilbert has been peeing blood for a while. I've been giving him medicine from the vet but it doesn't seem to be helping.

I've just gotten some more today from the Vet as I ran out. They told me he has crystals in his pee and unseen to the human eye, blood too.

I visited them two weeks ago and again today and I have an appointment on monday.

They said he will need an Xray and possibly an operation.

Now I am worried because I know how hard it is to operate on guinea pigs and I really do NOT want to lose my beautiful boy to the operation not going well. He's only two years old.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? I'm so terrified of losing my little boy.
 
He does need to have the x-ray unfortunately, this will allow them to see if their are any bladder stones that may be causing the blood. Hopefully it may just be a stubborn UTI, how long has he been on antibiotics and which one?

Hope Gilbert feels better soon, hugs to you.
 
Thank you. I already plan to let him have the XRAY I'm just terrified about the possible thought of an operation.

He's been on the medication for 2 weeks and will be on it for a few days more.

Thank you so much.
 
I know what you mean, I used to dread our first girls dentals before we found a vet that can do it without GA.

There are lots of piggies on the forum, that have had bladder stones removed with success. But keeping fingers crossed for you it won't come to that. Love and healing vibes to Gilbert x
 
Thank you so much.

I'll feel ever so guilty if anything bad happens. He's such a sweet, trusting, tame boy.
 
Amanda1801 said:
So...he's got crystals...effectively cystitis. Does he have an infection?

Can I ask why you stopped the loxicom?
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I wasn't given anymore loxicom.

Yes thats what they told me it was. Crystals.
Infection?
 
Julesie said:
I wasn't given anymore loxicom.

Yes thats what they told me it was. Crystals.
Infection?
Click to expand...

Baytril is an antibiotic. If he doesn't have a bacterial infection, it's pointless. They should be able to tell this with a simple urine dip test; it'd show as leukocytes (white blood cells) in the urine, did they mention this?

Does he seem to be in pain?

I think an xray is justified. If he'll sit still enough, a quick conscious xray should be fine to look for any obvious stones.

Have you tried cystaid? It's a product marketed at cats, and is designed to help crystals in the urine. I used this for Cameo with very good results when she had cystitis. It's a supplement, not a prescription medication, you can buy it online. I found that 1/2 a capsule, once a day, worked wonders for Cameo, but you can give up to 1 capsule daily. It's a case of open the capsule, and pop the powdered contents on some food, I used to mix with a tiny bit of pureed veg and syringe it ;)
 
Amanda1801 said:
Baytril is an antibiotic. If he doesn't have a bacterial infection, it's pointless. They should be able to tell this with a simple urine dip test; it'd show as leukocytes (white blood cells) in the urine, did they mention this?

Does he seem to be in pain?

I think an xray is justified. If he'll sit still enough, a quick conscious xray should be fine to look for any obvious stones.

Have you tried cystaid? It's a product marketed at cats, and is designed to help crystals in the urine. I used this for Cameo with very good results when she had cystitis. It's a supplement, not a prescription medication, you can buy it online. I found that 1/2 a capsule, once a day, worked wonders for Cameo, but you can give up to 1 capsule daily. It's a case of open the capsule, and pop the powdered contents on some food, I used to mix with a tiny bit of pureed veg and syringe it ;)
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They just told me he had blood and crystals in his pee from the dip test and then they wanted to do the xray.

Would you suggest I try Cystaid before a possible operation then? I'd definitely rather try all the possibly medications before doing something so serious.
I think he'll probably eat that too. The poor guy hates his medication and tries to shove it away with his paws. I feel ever so guilty giving him it.

thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. I'm just so worried about my boy. He's so young in my eyes. (2 years old)
 
Julesie said:
They just told me he had blood and crystals in his pee from the dip test and then they wanted to do the xray.

Would you suggest I try Cystaid before a possible operation then? I'd definitely rather try all the possibly medications before doing something so serious.
I think he'll probably eat that too. The poor guy hates his medication and tries to shove it away with his paws. I feel ever so guilty giving him it.

thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. I'm just so worried about my boy. He's so young in my eyes. (2 years old)
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Obviously I'm not a vet, and forum advice isn't a replacement for any veterinary advice, but cystaid is pretty harmless so it's worth a shot.

Don't worry too much about "the operation" - it's only likely to be warranted if he has a stone, which he may not do, so don't panic. They may want to flush his bladder under GA, but you can kind of do that the long way around by increasing his fluid intake. Have you tried offering him any diluted cranberry juice? That is supposed to be somewhat beneficial for cystitis.

In terms of not liking the medication, that'd be the baytril! It tastes foul. You can try and disguise the flavour a bit with ribena cordial (not the sugar free one - the tiny amount of sugar in the ordinary one is better for him than the artificial sweetners in the sugar free one), or what I do, is give them the baytril first, then offer them something yummy in return (some cranberry juice, some fruit puree); something nice in a syringe so they have a "good" experience after the bad one!

Are you completely happy with your vets experience and ability to treat piggies well?
 
I haven't tried him with cranberry juice. I wasn't aware it could help. My mum loves cranberry juice so I could ask her to get some and she can have the rest.

Yeah the poor guy puts up a right fight when it comes to it. Squirming, pushing with his paws and turning his face away and lightly waving his paws. Would you suggest mixing teh Ribena with the medicine or give the ribena after?

Well I've always worried about vets but this lady I got this time for Gilbert actually took more time into looking after him. Most of the time I'm in there for barely a few minutes but this woman was doing a lot of tests, checks and even double checking in her book so I have more faith in her than usual.

I'm just not sure I trust them enough to do an operation if it comes down to that.
 
Julesie said:
I haven't tried him with cranberry juice. I wasn't aware it could help. My mum loves cranberry juice so I could ask her to get some and she can have the rest.

Yeah the poor guy puts up a right fight when it comes to it. Squirming, pushing with his paws and turning his face away and lightly waving his paws. Would you suggest mixing teh Ribena with the medicine or give the ribena after?

Well I've always worried about vets but this lady I got this time for Gilbert actually took more time into looking after him. Most of the time I'm in there for barely a few minutes but this woman was doing a lot of tests, checks and even double checking in her book so I have more faith in her than usual.

I'm just not sure I trust them enough to do an operation if it comes down to that.
Click to expand...

Where abouts are you? Someone may be able to recommend a "tried and tested" vet
 
I'm in Hertfordshire. Hatfield to be precise. I think I originally got this vet from the reccomended list but the list is old and it had no vet name for an individual person.
 
Just remember to buy the LIGHT cranberry love :)

You could also try barley water (aka Patrick Juice) or even alternate it with the cranberry? I have used both with Velvet and i found the pearl barley was slurped down just as easily!

Good luck with Gil give him loads of loves from us all !

COME ON GIL XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
Thanks hun!

My vet has prescribed me that cat stuff that another poster mentioned on page 1 and she's also written it as a possible cure under the guinea pig section of her vet book in case any other piggies are bought in and it works.

I had to sign a contract and they've told me to try it out and see how it goes so fingers crossed this stuff works for Gilbert. :)
 
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