Hi
You are always allowed to get a second opinion.
Is your vet aware of sterile interstitial cystitis, i.e. nonbacterial regularly flaring up bladder inflammation, which causes exactly the symptoms you are describing but cannot be healed by antibiotics. It has become increasingly more common over the last 15 years but it not much known outside vet circles that see guinea pigs very regularly.
Sterile IC can only be managed with metacam and mainly with glucosamine (which is not classed as a medication but as a food supplement); in this, it follows sterile feline cystitis (FSC, which is something your vet may know about). It is mainly the natural glucosamine coating of the walls of urinary tract that is affected; this coating prevents highly corrosive urine from coming into direct contact with raw tissue - hence the squeaking when peeing and pooing and the inflamed bladder walls.
We recommend to use feliway cat bladder supplement capsules for ease of application in milder to medium cases; you mix the powder of one capsule with 2 ml of water and then give 1 ml of the well shaken mix every 12 hours.
In more extreme cases that do not react to oral glucosamine, recent research has shown that cartrofen injections do also work for guinea pigs.
It may however take a few weeks initially for the extra glucosamine to build up in the system, so there is no quick cure and you will experience sudden flare-ups every few months. Once you have got on top of the acute symptoms, you can then establish a maintenance dosage and how much to up it with an acute flare to get on top of it quickly. Milder cases can eventually go away on their own (more in a matter of years than months). The good news is that unless you have got the most severe forms (whcih you haven't), sterile IC doesn't shorten the life span and doesn't cause bladder stones.
You can additionally help with some long term dietary measures; again, it will take some weeks until they work their way through the body.
Here is more information on sterile IC:
Links - Interstitial Cystitis - Guinea Lynx Records
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets (read the guide and especially the chapter on guinea pigs with urinary tract issues).
We get regularly posts on here from desperate people whose vets are at end of their wits because they have never heard of it so it may be well worth to pursue this rabbit down its hole first before putting your piggy to sleep.
PS: Nerys, the big piggy in my avatar picture on the left, had sterile IC for three years but then lives another 3 years free of any urinary tract problems and died at the ripe old age of 8 years from an age related problem in 2016. Just to hopefully give you a bit of a more encouraging perspective.
my girl is currently on meds for a suspected UTI and also ‘cries’ when she wees, it’s horrible knowing they are in pain. like others have suggested i’d get another opinion and hopefully you can find other options to help her! please keep us updated, got everything crossed for both you and your pig!
