Blood In Urine, Squeaking And Calcium Crystals? Please Help

[WinnieandBear]

Hello!

After many many many rubbish and useless vet visits from far and wide, I seem to have found a thorough and very informative and so far brilliant vet very local.

Bear has been showing discomfort when urinating and pooing recently sometimes accompanied by squeaking but that was much less frequently. It stopped for a few weeks but has started up again and have noticed her urine smelling much stronger than usual and that she sometimes has a damp bottom. I suspected cystitis and managed to find a small animals vet nearby who has so far been the most thorough and knowledgable yet. Her name is Pauline and she runs a clinic in Hatfield Heath. She took a utine samply directly from Bears bladder which showed calcium crystals and blood. I specifically asked for Septrin and NOT Baytril as Bear has reacted badly previously to Baytril. She has sent her home with Fibreplex 2-3 times daily and
"Sulfatrim" which she said was a veterinary version of Septrin, 0.25ml twice a day. When Bear came home I later noticed some small fresh blood spots on the fleece and I immediately contacted Pauline who suspects the needle in her bladder may have irritated it and cause some spotting. Obviously I will monitor it but this is the first time I have seen this so I am hoping that is correct.

She is speaking to a nutritionist and getting back to me tomorrow as she says she may need a bladder flush due to sludge but we are going to try drugs first and possibly one to dissolve some of the crystals as she mentioned a treatment for rabbits that may be useful. I would prefer surgery as last resort. I have mentioned Cystaid to her and she is going to double check the amount of protein in it but I have mentioned member have had success in the past.

If anybody else has any advice in the meantime I would be very grateful as I am so so worried about her especially after seeing the blood, she is after all my little best friend.

 

[Wiebke]

Hello!

After many many many rubbish and useless vet visits from far and wide, I seem to have found a thorough and very informative and so far brilliant vet very local.

Bear has been showing discomfort when urinating and pooing recently sometimes accompanied by squeaking but that was much less frequently. It stopped for a few weeks but has started up again and have noticed her urine smelling much stronger than usual and that she sometimes has a damp bottom. I suspected cystitis and managed to find a small animals vet nearby who has so far been the most thorough and knowledgable yet. Her name is Pauline and she runs a clinic in Hatfield Heath. She took a utine samply directly from Bears bladder which showed calcium crystals and blood. I specifically asked for Septrin and NOT Baytril as Bear has reacted badly previously to Baytril. She has sent her home with Fibreplex 2-3 times daily and
"Sulfatrim" which she said was a veterinary version of Septrin, 0.25ml twice a day. When Bear came home I later noticed some small fresh blood spots on the fleece and I immediately contacted Pauline who suspects the needle in her bladder may have irritated it and cause some spotting. Obviously I will monitor it but this is the first time I have seen this so I am hoping that is correct.

She is speaking to a nutritionist and getting back to me tomorrow as she says she may need a bladder flush due to sludge but we are going to try drugs first and possibly one to dissolve some of the crystals as she mentioned a treatment for rabbits that may be useful. I would prefer surgery as last resort. I have mentioned Cystaid to her and she is going to double check the amount of protein in it but I have mentioned member have had success in the past.

If anybody else has any advice in the meantime I would be very grateful as I am so so worried about her especially after seeing the blood, she is after all my little best friend.

Hi! It is great that you seem to have found a thorough vet.

What you can do with a bladder piggy:
- we recommend a glucosamine supplement like vegan/vegetarin glucosamine, or glucosamine-based cystease/cystaid/cystophan to help protect the bladder walls, which have a natural glucosamine coating.
- Some people swear by barley water. You make it by boiling pearl barley in a little water for 20-40 minutes, then syringe the drained, cooled gloopy water, as much as your piggy will take. This again is a supplement for helping with the bladder inflammation (cystitis).
- to help flush out the bladder (many bladder piggies are not good drinkers), have two water syringing sessions each day, as much as she will take in one go. Ideally, you try to get up to 10-15 ml, but that may not be possible - any little helps! Never give more than 1/2 syringe full (i.e. 1 mouthful) and wait until it has gone done.
- feed a low calcium diet that is free of foods that can trigger cystitis. This here is a good example of a long term balanced trigger free daily diet:
A slice of Red/Green/Orange/Yellow bell or sweet pepper colour
Couple of chunks of Celery
1 chunk Cucumber
Coriander - a couple of sprigs
You can also feed one French bean and a strip of spring greens additionally (the latter for the calcium).

Additionally to the septrin, I would recommend to ask your vet for metacam/loxicom for the anti-inflammatory/painkilling effect.
The fibreplex contains probiotics with some other things.
The bladder is hopefully going to settle down again despite the bleeding.



-

 

[WinnieandBear]

Thank you Weibke! I will certainly want to try the Cystaid/Cystease type medication as soon as I hear back from the vet tomorrow, hopefully she will be able to get hold of some. The girls are already on quite a low calcium diet and the vet was saying she is thinking that some piggies are predisposed to having bladder issues depending on breeding and not always diet related. Would make sense as you probably know, Bear has had lots of complications with her health... sadly. She is still eating and drinking normally and seems happy enough at the moment. Fingers crossed the ABs don't upset her stomach much and I will start syringe feeding extra water also. I really hope she doesn't have to go in for any surgery!

 

[Fuzz Pigs]

I bought my piggies a fleece cosy recently and one of the girls have peed in it, but it's dried a white ish colour. Is this calcium deposits that were mentioned in the above post? Should I be concerned?

 

[helen105281]

I think all pigs have some calcium deposits to some extent so I wouldn't worry just yet. Just try to limit the amount of high calcium veg that you feed. If you notice other signs like squeaky pees or blood I would get them checked by a vet.

 

[Fuzz Pigs]

Ok, thank you :-)

 

[Beans&Toast]

I'm currently having the exact same issue with Toast, squeaking when peeing, sludge and a urine sample showed blood and crystals present.

She's been prescribed Cystophan 1 capsule daily and 0.2mls of a diuretic daily too for 2 weeks then we'll see how that goes and take it from there.
I'm also hoping nothing else too invasive is needed as she's an older piggy

 

[Fuzz Pigs]

I'm currently having the exact same issue with Toast, squeaking when peeing, sludge and a urine sample showed blood and crystals present.

She's been prescribed Cystophan 1 capsule daily and 0.2mls of a diuretic daily too for 2 weeks then we'll see how that goes and take it from there.
I'm also hoping nothing else too invasive is needed as she's an older piggy

Hope she's better soon!

 

[Adelle]

I'm currently facing the same issues with my sow, we are 1 year on from her first episode and she is poss facing a bladder flushing surgery if this current course of treatment fails.

She has a badly inflammed, damaged bladder lining and alot of calcium oxalate crystals. The pain got so bad, she gradually went off her food with each flare causing dental spurs- these have now had to be filed down twice, 1 month between each treatment.

She was on metacam and septrin on and off with every flare of bloody, painful wees. She is no longer on antibiotics due to the negative prescence of bacteria in the urine, on and off antibiotics. It is worth having another sample taken, to be sent off for Culture and Sensitivity. This will tell if there is bacteria causing infection, and what antibiotics will be best to treat it. This will now be best done when off antibiotics as this will obviously affect the results.

Crunchie is now on filtered water, strict timothy hay only, the IC diet vegetables- and no pellets. She is also on a cranberry extract, metacam and a high dose of feliway cystease. We have reduced her metacam to a standard dose , as she was on double, and is currently still doing well. I noticed the biggest improvement with the drastic measures that have been taken diet and supplement wise. This is the longest she has stayed bright and maintained her weight since things deteriorated several months ago. We, too, are trying to avoid surgery.

Please bear in mind, some variations of these glucosamine supplements contain chicken flavouring for palatability- this isnt necessary or recommended for guinea pigs, so avoid these types. I use Feliways Cystease, which is safe.

All the best