A difficult situation

[Piggies2022]

Hi! I’m new here and am just looking for some advice regarding my Guinea pig. Trevor is about 7 years old now. About a month ago now I noticed blood in his hutch. For about a week I would notice little spots and patches every few days.

After seeing the vet, it was established that the blood was in his urine and was most likely due to either an infection or a more sinister issue such as bladder stones or cancer.

He has been on and off antibiotics and pain relief since then. The blood clears up when he’s on the antibiotics and then returns a few days after stopping them. He’s currently still on some pain relief but the vet is wary about keeping him on it long-term.

He is showing signs of discomfort but is still eating and relatively active. The next step would be to do an ultrasound/x-ray to try and find the cause but these are expensive and even if we do find a cause a surgery would be risky due to his age and may not even work.

Another question- this may sound stupid, but if the antibiotics stop the blood in the urine does that point to it being an infection? I’m at a loss at what to do now. Has anyone else experienced a similar issue? I would really appreciate some advice. Thanks ☺

 

[Bill & Ted]

Hello and welcome to the forum
I cannot advise you on some of your dilemmas but what I would say is your old boy needs to keep on pain medication so he can have a good quality of life. Pain meds may ultimately slightly shorten his life? but at least he can enjoy the later part of his life in some comfort and that is so important
There are many piggies on this forum on long term metacam etc having quite strong doses and living happy lives

I hope you can find out what the problem is, good luck

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

I agree with the above, he needs to stay on pain meds if he has an ongoing issue. I have a piggy on long term dog metacam/loxicom for bladder issues. She gets 0.4 or 0.5 ml twice a day. It is very safe to give long term and in relatively high doses. Piggies tolerate it and metabolise it differently to other animals such as cats.
If the antibiotics help then he could have an infection but that doesn't mean he might not also have inflamation or a bladder stone. Non infectious bladder issues in piggies are relatively common.
Personally I would recommend having an x-ray so you can get a better idea of what you are dealing with and be able to make more informed decisions. It is a hard situation to be in, I hope you are able to get to the bottom of the problem

 

[Piggies2022]

Hello and welcome to the forum
I cannot advise you on some of your dilemmas but what I would say is your old boy needs to keep on pain medication so he can have a good quality of life. Pain meds may ultimately slightly shorten his life? but at least he can enjoy the later part of his life in some comfort and that is so important
There are many piggies on this forum on long term metacam etc having quite strong doses and living happy lives

I hope you can find out what the problem is, good luck

Thank you! I agree, I definitely think he needs to stay on pain relief. It’s reassuring to hear that other pigs are on long term metacam. I’m just worried that it won’t be enough. The blood has come back today so will get him back to the vets to discuss a scan and keeping him on the pain relief. Like you say, it may just be a case now of managing the pain and monitoring his quality of life :/

 

[Piggies2022]

I agree with the above, he needs to stay on pain meds if he has an ongoing issue. I have a piggy on long term dog metacam/loxicom for bladder issues. She gets 0.4 or 0.5 ml twice a day. It is very safe to give long term and in relatively high doses. Piggies tolerate it and metabolise it differently to other animals such as cats.
If the antibiotics help then he could have an infection but that doesn't mean he might not also have inflamation or a bladder stone. Non infectious bladder issues in piggies are relatively common.
Personally I would recommend having an x-ray so you can get a better idea of what you are dealing with and be able to make more informed decisions. It is a hard situation to be in, I hope you are able to get to the bottom of the problem

Thank you for your advice. I agree, he definitely needs to be on some sort of pain relief. He’s currently on 0.2ml once a day which seems very low so will talk to the vet about possibly increasing this. I think I’ll get the scan done as it’s unfair to leave him like this and then we might at least know what we’re dealing with. The vet mentioned either an X-ray or ultrasound. Would an ultrasound be likely to highlight the issue in your opinion? Ive heard X-rays are more effective but they’re so expensive

 

[Betsy]

My Rainbow Piggie Silver Fox Christian was on Dog Metacam for 18 months. Initially the dose the vet gave me was 0.7ml twice a day. He had spinal arthritis. He was on this dose for at least 9 months and then with the vets approval, I slowly weaned him down to 0.5ml twice a day. It may have shortened his life he was just over 5 and a half when he went to The Rainbow Bridge. I made the decision that I'd rather he had a shorter life pain free than a longer life full of pain.

I also have Christian's sister Shy Little Meg on long term Metacam too. She also has spinal arthritis and was diagnosed with it by the best piggie vets in the Country in the middle of Lockdown. She has been on 0.3ml twice a day since May 2020 and is 6 and a half now.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that guinea pigs can do well on long term Metacam.

Hope you can get to the bottom of Trevor's problems.

Can we see a pigture of Trevor please? We love pigtures here!

Here is Silver Fox Christian



and here is Shy Little Meg

 

[Piggies2022]

My Rainbow Piggie Silver Fox Christian was on Dog Metacam for 18 months. Initially the dose the vet gave me was 0.7ml twice a day. He had spinal arthritis. He was on this dose for at least 9 months and then with the vets approval, I slowly weaned him down to 0.5ml twice a day. It may have shortened his life he was just over 5 and a half when he went to The Rainbow Bridge. I made the decision that I'd rather he had a shorter life pain free than a longer life full of pain.

I also have Christian's sister Shy Little Meg on long term Metacam too. She also has spinal arthritis and was diagnosed with it by the best piggie vets in the Country in the middle of Lockdown. She has been on 0.3ml twice a day since May 2020 and is 6 and a half now.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that guinea pigs can do well on long term Metacam.

Hope you can get to the bottom of Trevor's problems.

Can we see a pigture of Trevor please? We love pigtures here!

Here is Silver Fox Christian

View attachment 211477

and here is Shy Little Meg

View attachment 211478

Thank you for your reply. Christian and Meg are gorgeous I love the colouring of Christian. Sorry you lost him, it’s so awful when they pass

It’s good to know many pigs do well on metacam long term. I’ve got a rabbit on twice daily Loxicom long term for her arthritis and she’s had no issues. There’s definitely a time when you have to put quality of life over longevity and considering his age I think it might be the right decision. I don’t really like the idea of putting him through a risky operation that might not even work, so long term pain relief might be the way to go.

I just hope it’s enough. The blood has come back since being off the antibiotics, but still being on Loxicom which is worrying. Hopefully the scan will tell us more. Will defo chat to vet about increasing the dosage of pain relief after hearing how beneficial it can be.

Here’s a pic of the little man (brown and black) and his friend Sammy (ginger, white) who we lost a few years ago

 

[Piggies2022]

My Rainbow Piggie Silver Fox Christian was on Dog Metacam for 18 months. Initially the dose the vet gave me was 0.7ml twice a day. He had spinal arthritis. He was on this dose for at least 9 months and then with the vets approval, I slowly weaned him down to 0.5ml twice a day. It may have shortened his life he was just over 5 and a half when he went to The Rainbow Bridge. I made the decision that I'd rather he had a shorter life pain free than a longer life full of pain.

I also have Christian's sister Shy Little Meg on long term Metacam too. She also has spinal arthritis and was diagnosed with it by the best piggie vets in the Country in the middle of Lockdown. She has been on 0.3ml twice a day since May 2020 and is 6 and a half now.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that guinea pigs can do well on long term Metacam.

Hope you can get to the bottom of Trevor's problems.

Can we see a pigture of Trevor please? We love pigtures here!

Here is Silver Fox Christian

View attachment 211477

and here is Shy Little Meg

View attachment 211478

A better pic!

 

[weepweeps]

Hello. I hope you can get Trevor comfortable and he has many more happy days with you.

I recently had a piggy with a bladder stone. He had an ultrasound scan. You can see the stone very clearly with a scan.



Good luck. I hope Trevor doesn’t have a stone.

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Thank you for your advice. I agree, he definitely needs to be on some sort of pain relief. He’s currently on 0.2ml once a day which seems very low so will talk to the vet about possibly increasing this. I think I’ll get the scan done as it’s unfair to leave him like this and then we might at least know what we’re dealing with. The vet mentioned either an X-ray or ultrasound. Would an ultrasound be likely to highlight the issue in your opinion? Ive heard X-rays are more effective but they’re so expensive

Yes an ultrasound should be able to show if there is a stone. Xrays usually give a higher definition.

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum.
All I can add is support for you

 

[Free Ranger]

One of my vets had an old boy with a stone. She didn't think he would survive the surgery so his plan was to live out his life on metacam until things became too much. My boy has been on it for well over a year for arthritis and he's fine. And he loves the stuff!

But you're right - if the blood clears on ABs and returns after it could just be that a longer course is needed. One of my sows had ABs for nearly 3 weeks (although symptoms improved almost straight away) and when we stopped the symptoms returned within a few days. Vet didn't bat an eyelid - just repeated the same prescription (as she'd been fine and had no side effects) and once again symptoms disappeared within a few days. This time we got all the bugs and 3 weeks later she was sorted. My vet opts for x-ray for stones as they generally do a conscious one with piggy wrapped firmly in a towel. Ultrasound requires piggy to have a shaved patch and gel on. One of my girls who had US was apparently so furious after having her belly shaved they had to give everyone a rest before the actual scan! We'll keep everything crossed for you and Trevor x

 

[Freela]

Stones will show on both an x-ray or an ultrasound (ironic that you said x-rays are expensive, here it's the cheaper office since every vet's office will have an x-ray, I was once quoted 800 dollars to go have an ultrasound done at a specialty clinic for Leela!)