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Girl Guinea Pig Crying When Weeing

GuineaPigMamaKara

GuineaPigMamaKara

New Born Pup
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Hello, I'm Kara and I have two indoor guinea pigs, Mabel and Millie who have been with me since May 20th 2020, when they were 4 months old. About a month ago I took Mabel to the PDSA vets as she kept crying every time she would have a wee, so I was prescribed some medication to see if that helped and some painkillers at 0.2ml (neither of which did anything) so back in late March I took Mabel again and the vet did a scan and said there appeared to be a little white mass showing up, and the only two options he had was either an x-ray or to give me a bigger bottle of painkillers that she could go up to 0.6ml if it wasn't helping, so I opted to give her the painkillers to see if increasing the dosage to 0.4ml would work. After a week, 0.4ml didn't help at all, so I increased it to 0.6ml last Friday, waited a week and still she cries in pain when having a wee. The vet who did the ultrasound also mentioned her belly is sore to touch and a little bloated. I'm just worried about what to do, she's 5 years old, and I don't know if she'd survive the surgery (if she needed surgery). Just to clarify, the vet was sure it isn't stones or anything cancerous, and she is still a very happy piggie, begging for veggies, eating lots of hay and drinking fresh water, it's just when she has a wee she squeaks in pain.
 
I’m sorry to hear this.

I have attached a guide detailing the different kinds of urinary issues which can occur. Antibiotics can be given for any bacterial infections which may be causing her pain.
I’m assuming you weren’t given any gut medications to deal with any bloating?

Is the vet going to carry out more checks?
Can you get to a more knowledgeable vet at all for a diagnosis?

We can give you home care you advice which is switching from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weighing her daily (each morning) so you can ensure she definitely is eating enough hay to keep her weight stable each day. Hay intake can't be monitored by eye so the weight checks are essential.

I’ve added some guides below which provide further reading on a few aspects which you mention

I hope she is ok

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones
Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble
Weight monitoring and management
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m sorry to hear this.

I have attached a guide detailing the different kinds of urinary issues which can occur. Antibiotics can be given for any bacterial infections which may be causing her pain.
I’m assuming you weren’t given any gut medications to deal with any bloating?

Is the vet going to carry out more checks?
Can you get to a more knowledgeable vet at all for a diagnosis?

We can give you home care you advice which is switching from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weighing her daily (each morning) so you can ensure she definitely is eating enough hay to keep her weight stable each day. Hay intake can't be monitored by eye so the weight checks are essential.

I’ve added some guides below which provide further reading on a few aspects which you mention

I hope she is ok

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones
Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble
Weight monitoring and management
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the reply, and the links, I'll be sure to follow that advice. I wasn't given any gut medications no, I was told the most I can do to make her comfortable is giving her the highest dosage 0.6ml of Loxicom.

I've booked her in to the vets on Tuesday and he's said he'll check her over again. I'm hoping he'll x-ray and see if he can diagnose the problem. All I was told was there's a thin, white line just beside where she releases to pee, and that's where it perhaps seems to be coming from and it doesn't look like cancer and he's positive it's not stones. The vet himself is an avid guinea pig lover, and he says they just don't have the answers unless they take further action and look into it further (via x-ray). She's still very much a happy piggie, she just cries when she's having a wee.

I'll definitely start weighing her daily, as at the moment I've been weighing her once a week and the scales keep telling me she's losing and gaining weight with each week that passes.

I'll also just add that the link you gave me on weight monitoring it says I can't view it or don't have permission?
I'm very new to the site so I wasn't sure that was a thing, nonetheless I really appreciate your reply.
 
Obviously we don’t know what the white line might be but I am surprised antibiotics and gut meds weren’t tried. It’s usually the first thing that is done along with urine tests etc.

It’s normal for weight to fluctuate which is why we only talk of weight loss once it is 50g or more. I’ve tried adding the weight guide again - you should be able to view it regardless of being a new member. If the link still doesn’t work, I’d you go the health and illness section, you can go into the section called Wiebke’s care guides and the weight guide is available from there.

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/weight-monitoring-and-management.171577/
 
Piggies&buns said:
Obviously we don’t know what the white line might be but I am surprised antibiotics and gut meds weren’t tried. It’s usually the first thing that is done along with urine tests etc.

It’s normal for weight to fluctuate which is why we only talk of weight loss once it is 50g or more. I’ve tried adding the weight guide again - you should be able to view it regardless of being a new member. If the link still doesn’t work, I’d you go the health and illness section, you can go into the section called Wiebke’s care guides and the weight guide is available from there.

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/weight-monitoring-and-management.171577/
Click to expand...
Thinking back, I'm pretty sure she was on antibiotics for a week on a low dosage along with painkillers, I think I forgot as I threw away the antibiotics after a couple weeks when she wasn't on them anymore as I specifically remember them giving me just enough to cover giving it to her twice a day for one week. After telling the vet that the painkillers weren't doing anything, she was taken off the antibiotics and I was allowed to up her dosage of painkillers from 0.2ml to 0.4ml then to 0.6ml when I felt confident that each dosage really wasn't doing anything for her. I was told they're very limited with what they can do. Urine tests weren't offered, I thought perhaps they would be but I trust the vets instinct if I'm told what the best action is to take.

Ah, it still isn't working but I'll go looking for it, thank you!

I've just found the receipt for what she was taking, she was on Meloxicam and Enrofloxacin.
 
You obviously need a diagnosis to be able to know what can be done. Let us know how you get on at the vet next week.

The urinary issues we deal with most on here are - bacterial infections which are usually treated with a 10 day course of antibiotics (although bacterial isn’t the most common); a non bacterial called sterile cystitis which is the most common kind of urinary issue (can’t be treated but has a management regime of painkillers and glucosamine for life); sludge (dietary changes, glucosamine sometimes surgical flushing depending on the packing of the sludge); stones (surgery needed except a tiny stone in a sow can sometimes come up on its own; dietary changes)
 
Piggies&buns said:
You obviously need a diagnosis to be able to know what can be done. Let us know how you get on at the vet next week.

The urinary issues we deal with most on here are - bacterial infections which are usually treated with a 10 day course of antibiotics (although bacterial isn’t the most common); a non bacterial called sterile cystitis which is the most common kind of urinary issue (can’t be treated but has a management regime of painkillers and glucosamine for life); sludge (dietary changes, glucosamine sometimes surgical flushing depending on the packing of the sludge); stones (surgery needed except a tiny stone in a sow can sometimes come up on its own; dietary changes)
Click to expand...
Still no massive update as of yet, Mabel was taken to the vets yesterday, fully checked over. We saw a new vet this time at PDSA and she was surprised the painkillers aren't doing anything for Mabel. We're booked in for an X-ray tomorrow, she has to be dropped off at 8:30am and then left there, which of course makes me a little anxious that I won't be able to stay with her, but it depends when they can get the X-ray done. I'll update after tomorrow if we finally find out what's causing her pain when she's having a wee!
 
We're back from the vets, Mabel was seen fairly quickly, she was only in there 6 hours which isn't too bad I feel. I don't think she knows what planet she's on at the minute, bless her. She's had her X-ray, they found bladder sludge. We're back on Enrofloxacin which I've heard is called Baytril? so she's on 0.4ml of that for a week and we're carrying on with 0.6ml painkillers. Hoping and praying this clears up.
 
GuineaPigMamaKara said:
We're back from the vets, Mabel was seen fairly quickly, she was only in there 6 hours which isn't too bad I feel. I don't think she knows what planet she's on at the minute, bless her. She's had her X-ray, they found bladder sludge. We're back on Enrofloxacin which I've heard is called Baytril? so she's on 0.4ml of that for a week and we're carrying on with 0.6ml painkillers. Hoping and praying this clears up.
Click to expand...

Yes enrofloxacin is known as baytril.

The guide below explains sludge - it is layers of crystals. The sludge will either need to be loosely enough packed that she can pee it out. Tightly packed sludge would need surgical removal.

There are also some dietary considerations to take and the guide explains there also

I hope she is ok

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones
 
GuineaPigMamaKara said:
We're back from the vets, Mabel was seen fairly quickly, she was only in there 6 hours which isn't too bad I feel. I don't think she knows what planet she's on at the minute, bless her. She's had her X-ray, they found bladder sludge. We're back on Enrofloxacin which I've heard is called Baytril? so she's on 0.4ml of that for a week and we're carrying on with 0.6ml painkillers. Hoping and praying this clears up.
Click to expand...
Good luck Mabel, I hope things are OK and you recover quickly ❤️ 🙏
 
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