Guinea Pig UTI Support

[Tory93]

Hi Everyone,

I have 2 piggies from the same litter who are now 5 years old.

Piggie 1 had urinary issues last year - blood in urine and squeaky wees. We took her to the vet, they prescribed Baytril and she had serious adverse effects and nearly died. After several weeks the blood and squeaking didn't stop. After doing some research we suspected IC so gave her glucosamine daily for weeks and touch wood she has been okay.

Fast forward to now, Piggie 2 now has blood in her urine and loud squeaky wees. We took a trip to the vets yesterday who carried out an ultrasound on her tummy to check for stones and everything was clear. They suspected a UTI and have prescribed antibiotics (we requested it not be baytril, so we were instead provided a tablet antibiotic to crush up and provide with water - we have had this previous for a RI and everything was fine). Appreciate these things take time but the poor little baby sounds so distressed.

She is currently on:
1/4 antibiotic twice a day
0.25ml dog metacam twice a day
Cystease twice a day for 3 days (tomorrow will be the last day, but will continue with 1 capsule a day)

They have tesco bottled water (lowest calcium I can find).

They have probiotic in their water as standard.

They also have Sherwood urinary support tablets twice a day every day as standard.

I have also been giving fibreplex with the antibiotic to make sure we are covered there.

Is there anything else I can do to speed up recovery and make her more comfortable? Vitamin C? Different Veg? Will try anything

We try to keep their calcium levels low, no kale, no spinach. They get fresh dandies everyday.

Sorry for the wall of text. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Ps only mentioned her sister in case it's genetics.

 

[CTWC]

Hi oh poor baby it's horrible seeing them in pain. I'm sure someone will be along soon with some great advice, fingers crossed

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this

As a UTI is bacterial, all you can really do is wait for the meds to work in killing the bacteria, as well as managing the pain (along with home care of switching to daily checks so you can ensure sufficient hay intake. Stepping in with syringe feeding is there is any weight loss).

In terms of low calcium, you also need to make aids you aren’t going too low (which is just as bad as too high). Most calcium comes into the diet via water (which you have covered) and pellets.

 

[Tory93]

Hi,

Thank you both for your replies.

So I have assumed that each time she squeaked loudly she was weeing, however having had her on my.lap for the past hour, syringing her extra water etc she has squeaked and gone into wee postion 5 times but nothing has come out. Now I'm super worried. I can't feel any obvious blockages and her ultrasound was clear but now I'm concerned there could be a blockage.. any thoughts?!

I hate my out of hours vets but will obviously take her if needed.

 

[CTWC]

Have I read that cranberry juice diluted can help?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Have I read that cranberry juice diluted can help?

It doesn’t tend to work for piggies, plus even unsweetened introduces too much sugar which can make issues worse.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome

I would also recommend to give your new piggy glucosamine. It helps with all urinary tract issues that come with squeaky pees and poos. If it turns out to be another sterile cystitis you are already ahead.

Please don't go lower in calcium in your diet; there is a sweet spot either side of which you can get stones. Neither infection, UTI nor sterile IC are caused or controlled by diet.
- Bacterial urine infection (UTI) is caused by an overgrowth of faecal bacteria in the urinary tract when the immune system is lowered for some reason - this cn be caused by a damp/cold ground when you put piggies on the lawn, temperature swings or existing health issues. Most piggies have some faecal bacteria in their urinary tract because the tiny scent glad they use to mark their territory by wiping their bum on the ground is located right in front of the genitalia.
- Sterile IC generally affects guinea pigs with a high stress level default setting (which is not something you can do anything about). The only difference in symptoms is that sterile IC has all the infection markers but a low bacteria count (zero is extremely rare because of the scent marking). It cannot be cured by an antibiotic because it is not bacterial and it has regular flares.
It is not the diet itself but new foods that can sometimes cause a flare; like fresh spring grass. One piggies have accustomed, it won't be a problem.

You are more likely dealing with a sterile IC and not a UTI when symptoms persist or recur after the end of the course of antibiotics and any other potential problems (stones/sludge etc.) have been excluded. A urine test should bring clarity at this stage. Sterile IC can be transmitted via scent marking; healthy piggies can usually fend it off with their immune system without ever developing more visible symptoms than pees that turn hay bright yellow. If the immune system is lowered, then IC can develop but in my own experience it is usually milder than in the first case.

Please monitor the weight by weighing daily first thing in the morning on your kitchen scales for best dy to day comparison.

I hope that this helps you? Fingers crossed that it is just a plain UTI.
Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time

 

[Tory93]

**UPDATE- SERIOUS HELP NEEDED**

So our piggie hadn't peed in 2 hours and looked uncomfortable so we took her to our out of hours vets (RVC in Hatfield). They have scanned her and THINK her bladder may be blocked but they don't know..

Gave us 2 options.

1. Piggie stays in and they try to insert a catheter but they've never done it before.

2. Giver her a strong pain killer and take her to our normal vet tomorrow.

I have always hated the RVC and wasn't happy when they became out out of hours vet. Whilst draining the bladder would be better I don't trust them to do it without causing serious damage when they haven't done it before so we are taking her home.

Does anyone have any ideas how we can unblock the bladder at home?

Please please any help you can give would be invaluable.

Thank you

 

[fluffysal]

I'm afraid I have no advice just wanted to offer support

 

[Piggies&buns]

**UPDATE- SERIOUS HELP NEEDED**

So our piggie hadn't peed in 2 hours and looked uncomfortable so we took her to our out of hours vets (RVC in Hatfield). They have scanned her and THINK her bladder may be blocked but they don't know..

Gave us 2 options.

1. Piggie stays in and they try to insert a catheter but they've never done it before.

2. Giver her a strong pain killer and take her to our normal vet tomorrow.

I have always hated the RVC and wasn't happy when they became out out of hours vet. Whilst draining the bladder would be better I don't trust them to do it without causing serious damage when they haven't done it before so we are taking her home.

Does anyone have any ideas how we can unblock the bladder at home?

Please please any help you can give would be invaluable.

Thank you

I’m sorry to hear that

There’s not anything you can do at home if there is a blockage - it’s going to need urgent medical intervention. A blocked bladder is a huge and serious problem

Did you say there isn’t a stone? I assume they checked everywhere through the urinary system, not just in the bladder itself?

I hope all goes well at the vet today

 

[Piggies2023]

**UPDATE- SERIOUS HELP NEEDED**

So our piggie hadn't peed in 2 hours and looked uncomfortable so we took her to our out of hours vets (RVC in Hatfield). They have scanned her and THINK her bladder may be blocked but they don't know..

Gave us 2 options.

1. Piggie stays in and they try to insert a catheter but they've never done it before.

2. Giver her a strong pain killer and take her to our normal vet tomorrow.

I have always hated the RVC and wasn't happy when they became out out of hours vet. Whilst draining the bladder would be better I don't trust them to do it without causing serious damage when they haven't done it before so we are taking her home.

Does anyone have any ideas how we can unblock the bladder at home?

Please please any help you can give would be invaluable.

Thank you

You can't unblock a bladder from home. It maybe a stone with her having had an ultrasound and not an x-ray. Sedated x-rays show them best. How is she now?

 

[Tory93]

When we went to our normal vet practice on Wednesday (didn't see our normal vet) they just said they did an ultrasound, didn't say where abouts and that it was clear and likely a uti. We didn't question it because it was good news.

When we went to the Royal Veterinary College last night they just said they did a scan, her bladder was full and they THINK there was some tiny specs. They didn't say what the specs were (I would assume calcium). They couldn't confirm if their was a blockage, they didn't seem to know anything about anything.

We are just going to turn up to our normal vet practice at 9am today and ask to see our small furry vet as we do know how urgent a blocked bladder is.

We have stayed up with her all night, shes had an hour cuddle, an hour in her cage with her sister, hour cuddle etc. When we gave her a cuddle we sat her on kitchen roll whilst she was snuggled in her blanket and the kitchen roll was getting wet at times, not massive amounts but a fair amount. She must be passing urine for it to soak the kitchen roll but not enough for it to make their fleece bedding wet.

I'm really hoping it's just a case of its too painful to wee and it will get better with pain relief and antibiotics, really don't want her to be put under but will have to see what today brings.

Shes a bit spaced out at the moment as she has been given bupe but she has had some celery, chard and her favourite bits from they hay.

Appreciate you taking the time to reply.

I’m sorry to hear that

There’s not anything you can do at home if there is a blockage - it’s going to need urgent medical intervention. A blocked bladder is a huge and serious problem

Did you say there isn’t a stone? I assume they checked everywhere through the urinary system, not just in the bladder itself?

I hope all goes well at the vet today

 

[Tory93]

You can't unblock a bladder from home. It maybe a stone with her having had an ultrasound and not an x-ray. Sedated x-rays show them best. How is she now?

Fully agree a sedated xray would give the best results to understand what the problem is. We have never had a good experience with pigs and anesthesia and with her being 5 it's not something that I ideally want.

Shes a bit spaced out this morning as she is on bupe. She has had some breakfast, and has passed a few (maybe 10 since last night) very small wees they're not the volume of her nornal wees, but a wee is a wee. She is still really badly straining.

Going to our normal vets today so hoping for a better outcome than from the RVC who didn't seem to know much about anything.

 

[Piggies2023]

Fully agree a sedated xray would give the best results to understand what the problem is. We have never had a good experience with pigs and anesthesia and with her being 5 it's not something that I ideally want.

Shes a bit spaced out this morning as she is on bupe. She has had some breakfast, and has passed a few (maybe 10 since last night) very small wees they're not the volume of her nornal wees, but a wee is a wee. She is still really badly straining.

Going to our normal vets today so hoping for a better outcome than from the RVC who didn't seem to know much about anything.

I've had my pigs under anaesthetic 10 times, had a problem once but pig was fine. But my vet is very used to it.

I'm glad she is weeing & that you have an appointment to find out what's wrong. My Pumpkin has a bladder stone removed yesterday.

 

[Tory93]

I've had my pigs under anaesthetic 10 times, had a problem once but pig was fine. But my vet is very used to it.

I'm glad she is weeing & that you have an appointment to find out what's wrong. My Pumpkin has a bladder stone removed yesterday.

Oh wow, that's a lot of GA'S! It's reassuring to hear some good stories.

Aww sorry did hear Pumpkin had to have surgery, hope recovery is going well xx

 

[Tory93]

I've had my pigs under anaesthetic 10 times, had a problem once but pig was fine. But my vet is very used to it.

I'm glad she is weeing & that you have an appointment to find out what's wrong. My Pumpkin has a bladder stone removed yesterday.

Sorry me again, so it looks like she has a bladder stone. The vet has been through the procedure with us over the phone, he mentioned cutting open the bladder removing the stone and then closing and waking her up.

Is this what your little Pumpkin had?

It sounds so extreme (obviously needed), so just wanted to see what your recovery has been like?

 

[Piggies2023]

Sorry me again, so it looks like she has a bladder stone. The vet has been through the procedure with us over the phone, he mentioned cutting open the bladder removing the stone and then closing and waking her up.

Is this what your little Pumpkin had?

It sounds so extreme (obviously needed), so just wanted to see what your recovery has been like?

Yes that is what Pumpkin had done. Pumpkin's stone was small but there was a risk of it blocking so I went ahead. It's hard to say how recovery is as it's so early. She only had it yesterday afternoon. But she's been eating overnight & ate breakfast. I keep trying to not hover. I have a piggy camera and can see she's not moved for a couple of hours but she does tend to do nothing at this time of the morning so hopefully just her usual self. Not being as active can make stones more likely, and Pumpkin prefers to laze around a lot in comparison to her sister.

My advice would be if you are able, get her in with a vet who is used to doing piggy surgery and bladder stone surgery. But it sounds urgent so know that can be hard.

Hope it goes well for your little one

 

[Tory93]

Yes that is what Pumpkin had done. Pumpkin's stone was small but there was a risk of it blocking so I went ahead. It's hard to say how recovery is as it's so early. She only had it yesterday afternoon. But she's been eating overnight & ate breakfast. I keep trying to not hover. I have a piggy camera and can see she's not moved for a couple of hours but she does tend to do nothing at this time of the morning so hopefully just her usual self. Not being as active can make stones more likely, and Pumpkin prefers to laze around a lot in comparison to her sister.

My advice would be if you are able, get her in with a vet who is used to doing piggy surgery and bladder stone surgery. But it sounds urgent so know that can be hard.

Hope it goes well for your little one

Poor little Pumpkin, I hope she continues to do well. Are you keeping her seperate from her sister whilst her wound recovers or have you kept them together?

I am the same as you and constantly lurk around when they are poorly. I may need to get myself a guniea cam.

My piggies stone is approx 1/2 a cm in diameter so pretty big I think we are at the point where action needs to be taken now. Our vet has blocked out the majority of the day to help her get better. He is pretty guniea savy and I trusted him implicitly with my rabbit when she had to keep going under (I don't trust anyone). I just hope she recovers well and it doesn't come back, we try so hard to keep these things from happening

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm sorry to hear she has a stone. I hope her surgery goes well.

We advise that piggies are ideally kept together post surgery - it helps them feel less stressed and puts less risk on their bond failing (medical separation can cause a breakdown in their bond).

 

[Tory93]

I'm sorry to hear she has a stone. I hope her surgery goes well.

We advise that piggies are ideally kept together post surgery - it helps them feel less stressed and puts less risk on their bond failing (medical separation can cause a breakdown in their bond).

Thank you.

 

[Tory93]

I'm sorry to hear she has a stone. I hope her surgery goes well.

We advise that piggies are ideally kept together post surgery - it helps them feel less stressed and puts less risk on their bond failing (medical separation can cause a breakdown in their bond).

Yes that is what Pumpkin had done. Pumpkin's stone was small but there was a risk of it blocking so I went ahead. It's hard to say how recovery is as it's so early. She only had it yesterday afternoon. But she's been eating overnight & ate breakfast. I keep trying to not hover. I have a piggy camera and can see she's not moved for a couple of hours but she does tend to do nothing at this time of the morning so hopefully just her usual self. Not being as active can make stones more likely, and Pumpkin prefers to laze around a lot in comparison to her sister.

My advice would be if you are able, get her in with a vet who is used to doing piggy surgery and bladder stone surgery. But it sounds urgent so know that can be hard.

Hope it goes well for your little one

Me again.. sorry! Can you tell I'm going out of my mind waiting for the call to say she's in recovery.

Just thinking about their cage set up. Was going to give it a thorough clean before she comes home, do I need to make any adjustments so that her wound doesn't open?

Their current set up is a cc cage with a memory foam mattress with a waterproof mattress protector over the top with a fleece cage liner on top. They have big boxes of hay either end that they tend to lay in and have a munch. They also have lots of fleece beds and curtains etc. I know hay is important for their diet but is it going to be to prickly for her wound? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[Tory93]

**UPDATE**

Our baby is in recovery, still very sleepy and her temp is a little low but she has been taking recovery food and has begun being a little vocal (has always been a sass pig) hopefully she continues to recover well and her temp comes back to normal.

Going to get her cage sorted out now, if anyone has any suggestions on how to make it the most comfortable it can be that would be great.

 

[Piggies&buns]

This guide will help you
Tips For Post-operative Care

Your cage sounds fine as is

 

[Piggies2023]

Me again.. sorry! Can you tell I'm going out of my mind waiting for the call to say she's in recovery.

Just thinking about their cage set up. Was going to give it a thorough clean before she comes home, do I need to make any adjustments so that her wound doesn't open?

Their current set up is a cc cage with a memory foam mattress with a waterproof mattress protector over the top with a fleece cage liner on top. They have big boxes of hay either end that they tend to lay in and have a munch. They also have lots of fleece beds and curtains etc. I know hay is important for their diet but is it going to be to prickly for her wound? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

So sorry, I don't know why I'm not getting notifications unless I log in. So what I do is reduce the amount of hay in there to encourage her to sleep on bed etc rather than in the hay pile and because, I bin all the hay twice a day to help reduce infection chance until wound is closed. I also change fleece/bed daily or twice daily depending on where my pig has been sitting.

Hay wise I've put in less stalky hay mostly. But she is particularly keen on the stalky stuff so put in a small amount of it. They still have plenty to eat just not enough for hay tunnels.

 

[Piggies2023]

Poor little Pumpkin, I hope she continues to do well. Are you keeping her seperate from her sister whilst her wound recovers or have you kept them together?

I am the same as you and constantly lurk around when they are poorly. I may need to get myself a guniea cam.

My piggies stone is approx 1/2 a cm in diameter so pretty big I think we are at the point where action needs to be taken now. Our vet has blocked out the majority of the day to help her get better. He is pretty guniea savy and I trusted him implicitly with my rabbit when she had to keep going under (I don't trust anyone). I just hope she recovers well and it doesn't come back, we try so hard to keep these things from happening

Kept them together, it helps. It encourages them to eat etc. The moral support is good.

Guinea pig cam is very useful. They sense when we lurk and act differently so fun they act differently. Glad you have a fab vet

 

[Tory93]

So sorry, I don't know why I'm not getting notifications unless I log in. So what I do is reduce the amount of hay in there to encourage her to sleep on bed etc rather than in the hay pile and because, I bin all the hay twice a day to help reduce infection chance until wound is closed. I also change fleece/bed daily or twice daily depending on where my pig has been sitting.

Hay wise I've put in less stalky hay mostly. But she is particularly keen on the stalky stuff so put in a small amount of it. They still have plenty to eat just not enough for hay tunnels.

Didn't even think about changing the fleece beds, I've just stuck a load in the wash so I'll have plenty spare thank you!

Shes home now, a lot more sleepy than I thought she would be. She's in her blanket but she's sort of just puffed up staring into the corner. I know it's early days and we have only just got her home, but was your experience like your first few hours/night after Pumpkins surgery? I'm normally pretty good at syringe feeding food but the thought of doing it this time is terrifying because I don't want to touch her wound site on her tummy.

 

[Piggies2023]

Didn't even think about changing the fleece beds, I've just stuck a load in the wash so I'll have plenty spare thank you!

Shes home now, a lot more sleepy than I thought she would be. She's in her blanket but she's sort of just puffed up staring into the corner. I know it's early days and we have only just got her home, but was your experience like your first few hours/night after Pumpkins surgery? I'm normally pretty good at syringe feeding food but the thought of doing it this time is terrifying because I don't want to touch her wound site on her tummy.

Pumpkin improved after her evening metacam. Have they given you a good dose of metacam to give? Sounds like pain.

I very much dislike picking up after surgery. I have a tunnel bed from Amazon, herd her in if she's not in already and then gently tip her out. Only had her out once to check her wound but that is how I pick up my pigs generally. Nancy comes out twice a day for medication too & hates being picked up so it works for us.

 

[Wiebke]

Didn't even think about changing the fleece beds, I've just stuck a load in the wash so I'll have plenty spare thank you!

Shes home now, a lot more sleepy than I thought she would be. She's in her blanket but she's sort of just puffed up staring into the corner. I know it's early days and we have only just got her home, but was your experience like your first few hours/night after Pumpkins surgery? I'm normally pretty good at syringe feeding food but the thought of doing it this time is terrifying because I don't want to touch her wound site on her tummy.

Hi

Just give her time to come out of it; it can sometimes take several hours or a day depending on how rough their recovery is.

You can find several ways on how to syringe feed piggies without touching their bellies in our syringe feeding guide: All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Here are tips for looking after piggies with redced mobility, which can include post-op piggies: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

Our post-op and emergency care guides, just in case - you do not want to have to frantically search around when in a panic:
Tips For Post-operative Care
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

I hope that your girl will have come round more and will be more with it (if sore) again by tomorrow. All the best.

 

[Tory93]

Pumpkin improved after her evening metacam. Have they given you a good dose of metacam to give? Sounds like pain.

I very much dislike picking up after surgery. I have a tunnel bed from Amazon, herd her in if she's not in already and then gently tip her out. Only had her out once to check her wound but that is how I pick up my pigs generally. Nancy comes out twice a day for medication too & hates being picked up so it works for us.

I have a 0.45ml of dog metacam twice a day but was told not to start this until the morning, I can however give her a dose of bupe if I feel I'm desperate. She's already very sleepy so I don't know if I want to go down the bupe route yet.

If i ever can't get the pigs out I pop their snuggle sack on and scoop them up but shes not interested in her snuggle sack at the moment.

She has just eaten a small bowl of fresh Timothy grass that I grow in a container in the garden (it was a GU pudding size bowl) and she ate 3 of the fluffy bits from the Timothy hay. I'm going to leave her until 10pm and then try and pick her up for some recovery food (I'm dreading it )

 

[Tory93]

Hi

Just give her time to come out of it; it can sometimes take several hours or a day depending on how rough their recovery is.

You can find several ways on how to syringe feed piggies without touching their bellies in our syringe feeding guide: All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Here are tips for looking after piggies with redced mobility, which can include post-op piggies: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

Our post-op and emergency care guides, just in case - you do not want to have to frantically search around when in a panic:
Tips For Post-operative Care
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

I hope that your girl will have come round more and will be more with it (if sore) again by tomorrow. All the best.

Thank you.

In my head I know she won't be running around but in my heart I'm like oh my god she's not moving panic.

She has just eaten a GU Pudding size bowl of fresh grass so that's good! And 3 fluffy bits (I don't know what they are called) from her Timothy hay. Also managed to get her to eat 4 small squares of chard which I dipped in probiotic water.

Going to leave her for until 10pm and then try and pick her up for some actual recovery food and water.

Appreciate you sending me those links, thank you! I will make a cup of tea and have a thorough read through. I'm used to helping rabbits after dentals, not piggies after abdominal surgery so ive got to try to do the usual recovery in a more delicate way.