Guinea pig squeaking when peeing

[Lauren93]

Hello, looking for some advice.

My guinea pig has started squeaking when peeing and has peed some blood occasionally. I have taken her to the vets who have tried antibiotics, anti inflammatory medicine which haven't helped. She went in for an x-ray today to see if there was any bladder stones but her x-ray is clear. My vet is now going to speak to an exotic specialist but has anyone experienced a similar issue? She is still eating and drinking fine along with running around the cage normally.

 

[Princess Dustmop]

If you've rules out a uti (would have bacteria in the urine and should have had some response to antibiotics) and bladder stones (via radiograph). It could be interstitial cystitis.

 

[Piggies&buns]

and
Once several antibiotics have been tried and all other medical issues are ruled out, then interstitial cystitis is often the next thing. It can be tested for, it’s more diagnosed by process of elimination.
It can’t be treated but can be managed with diet and glucosamine, and painkillers when there’s a flare up.

The diet guide below can help with how to feed a bladder piggy, should the vet think IC is the possibility.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

 

[Free Ranger]

Sometimes a UTI is resistant (or partially resistant) to the first choice of antibiotic - which is often baytril in the UK. There are other things to try though. We've had several UTIs in different pigs but on one occasion our vet prescribed baytril as usual and after no change by the third day she switched it to a different antibiotic. Although the course should have been a week she said that because there was no change after 72 hours resistance was a possibility. Certainly any AB that worked usually started showing an effect by the end of day 2. It's good news there is no stone though.
There is another thread running at the minute with a boy who might have SIC: he started antibiotic treatment but it's not been straightforward and now the vet is trying some other things for him Male guide pig with uti
You might want to keep an eye on this to see how he gets on. It turned out his mother and brother also suffered SIC and sadly they had to have his brother pts because of a large stone so you can understand that owner must be pretty tense right now with this boy but fortunately his x-rays have been clear so far. Their vet is trying some stuff I've never heard of before so we're keeping everything crossed. I hope your girl can turn a corner - do keep us updated!

A note on pain relief: You have likely been given either metacam or loxicom (same thing, different name) but there are 2 strengths. 'Cat' type is 0.5mg/ml and 'Dog' is stronger at 1.5mg/ml. In the past piggies have been given dog type pretty regularly and often twice a day. But then cat type was actually licensed for piggies so many vets now give this instead - and at lower doses, and only once a day. If you have an older vet with piggy experience they might still be giving out dog-type but the younger vets who appear at my practice all offer only the cat one and won't budge... which is why my old boy George goes to see an older vet as he is on dog metacam for the rest of his life with arthritis! This week for the first time I had to sign a 'release' form to say I understood that the meds were off license but after this many years I was fine with that. At first I didn't understand the differences but it was explained that painkiller - like antibiotic actually - has a range of active doses that can be prescribed for shorter or longer periods so each vet has their own idea of what is good standard practice. And of course there are other things like how old/heavy/healthy is piggy. Bonkers!