Guinea pig with bladder stones

[Jill5piggys]

Hi all! I have viewed threads on this group many times but this if my first time posting, so sorry if I am posting in the incorrect thread or format. I have a 4 year old female Guinea pig named daisy. Daisy is housed with 2 other female Guinea pigs, and last Wednesday evening as I was cleaning their cage I saw that Daisy’s backside was dirty/sticky. After removing her from the cage I realized that what I was seeing was blood, and she had urine scald around her privates. It was the most horrendous thing I have ever smelled, so I gave her a bath, dried her off, and set her up in a private cage in case what she had was contagious or she would like the be alone because of the pain. After the bath she urinated on me and it was white with blood. On Thursday morning I called many vets until I finally found one that would see her on Friday. On Friday I brought Daisy to the vet and she had an x ray showing that she has a bladder stone. The vet said that due to the cost or surgery ($800), her age, and the likelihood of the stone returning, surgery may not be worth it. The vet prescribed Hydrochlorothiazide 0.2 ml twice daily, and Meloxicam 0.2ml twice daily, and sent me on my way. On Saturday I noticed that Daisy had stopped eating her pellet food and veggies, so I began feeding her Sherwood recovery food for 2 days. This morning I woke up to see that she had eaten her veggies and some pellets (not sure if she touched the hay) last night, but I fed her some more recovery food incase she doesn’t eat throughout the day while I am gone. The vet didn’t give me any advice on what to do about the urine scald, so I have been giving her a bum bath twice daily and applying an antibiotic cream. I am curious as to why the vet didn’t prescribe an antibiotic, as there was blood in her urine and a foul smell, so I figure she must also have a UTI/cystitis. The vet also said that it is okay to return her to her cage mates, but due to the fact that I believe cystitis is contagious(and the scald must be painful), and I would have to clean their 5x3C&C cage twice a day to keep the odor down I am not sure if that is the best idea so I still have her on her own. Any advice on if I should call the vet asking about antibiotics, contact a different vet, and what to do about the urine scald and smell, and if I should return her to her cage mates would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

Hay is the largest part of the diet. Veg and pellets are supplementary and jointly only make 15% of the daily food intake. Seeing her eat veg or pellets doesn’t count for anything if she isn’t eating hay. By syringe feeding you are replacing the essential hay intake, not veg or pellets. You need to weigh her daily so you can monitor her hay intake and to ensure that you are giving enough syringe feed to replace the loss of hay intake. How much syringe feed you need to give in each 24 hour period depends on those weight checks.

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Bladder stones can form when there is an excess of calcium in the diet (there is also a genetic factor). You notice excess calcium being expelled (which in itself is normal) when there is white pee and if it is gritty it suggests something has gone wrong with the calcium process and excess calcium in the diet.
Most calcium comes in via pellets and drinking water so it’s important water is filtered and pellets are kept limited to just one tablespoon per pig per day.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Stones generally need to be removed via surgery. They cause pain and damage the bladder if left inside and generally won’t break down in their own.

It would be worth consulting another vet.

She does not need to separated from her friends. Separation causes stress so it is recommended that piggies are kept together.
You can use smaller pee pads in high traffic areas as they can be removed more frequently without the need for a full cage clean.

 

[Princess Dustmop]

Did the vet look at a urine sample? Blood in urine does not always mean infection, and if there were no infection, the antibiotics would not be treating the issue. The vets I've been to have always looked at the urine to assess whether antibiotics would help and did a urinalysis if appropriate to determine if the antibiotic should be effective.

 

[Wheekallweek]

I have nothing to add to what the others have posted, but I do agree she should go back in with her friends. The stress of being separated from them won't be helping. Good luck to you and your piggy!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome

I fully agree with the advice from @Piggies&buns . Please take the time to read the links; you will find them both very helpful. They contain all the detailed practical how-to tips and in-depth information that we cannot repeat in every post. The diet guide has a specific chapter for piggies with longer term urinary problems on tweaks to recommended our general diet to help minimise the risk of formation of new stones, unless they are very quickly forming ones the are caused by a problem in the complex calcium absorption process. Many stones thankfull do not fall into that category and build up more slowly over a longer space of time.

Unfortunately, stones can be broken up medically successfully only very rarely. The pain they cause can be excruciating and it will sadly only get worse from where you are now.
Have you been prescribed cat metacam (0.5 mg) or dog metacam (1.5mg/1 ml)? If it is the first, then dosage is very low.

Will it help you to know that I have had several successful bladder stones operations in 4 year olds and that my latest bladder stone (the first one in 8 years, most likely caused through problems with distribution and access of fresh veg during the first strict Lockdown and the need of us shielding) was in a 5 year old sow who is still with me, now aged 6 years with no new stone in the intervening 18 months.

You will however need to find a vet who is more confident in a successful operation; this will play into a positive outcome. Bladder stone ops in sows are generally an operation with a good recovery rate and very few complications. Usually the relief from the removed stone is immediate and will kick in as soon as the piggy is past the normal operation soreness in the first couple of days post-op before the healing process kicks in quickly. You will however find that the cost of an operation is about in that ball park for the USA these days.
A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.
Tips For Post-operative Care

All the best.

 

[Claire W]

I am sorry that your girl has a bladder stone Please put her back with her friends. I also suggest that you consult with another vet about her having surgery to remove the stone as 4 really isn’t that old x

 

[Jill5piggys]

Did the vet look at a urine sample? Blood in urine does not always mean infection, and if there were no infection, the antibiotics would not be treating the issue. The vets I've been to have always looked at the urine to assess whether antibiotics would help and did a urinalysis if appropriate to determine if the antibiotic should be effective.

I don’t believe the vet took a urine sample. The only appointment available was a drop off appointment, and he only called me for permission to do the X-ray (after saying that he noticed blood on her fur and how she seemed to be in pain when he touched her abdomen) and then called back with the X-ray results and told me which meds he will be prescribing. When I went to pick her up I was hoping I would be able to talk to him but he was busy with another patient.

 

[Jill5piggys]

I have nothing to add to what the others have posted, but I do agree she should go back in with her friends. The stress of being separated from them won't be helping. Good luck to you and your piggy!

It has been 4 days that they have been separated, I will have to do a re introduction later. I hope that they still get along, I only separated them because I feared she had something that could be contagious

 

[Piggies&buns]

It has been 4 days that they have been separated, I will have to do a re introduction later. I hope that they still get along, I only separated them because I feared she had something that could be contagious

You will need to carry out a neutral territory reintroduction. Don’t just put her back in the cage.
Are their cages still next to each other?

For future information, if a piggy did had something contagious by the time you see symptoms, the others would already have been exposed in any event so separating at that point would be futile

 

[Jill5piggys]

Hi and welcome

I fully agree with the advice from @Piggies&buns . Please take the time to read the links; you will find them both very helpful. They contain all the detailed practical how-to tips and in-depth information that we cannot repeat in every post. The diet guide has a specific chapter for piggies with longer term urinary problems on tweaks to recommended our general diet to help minimise the risk of formation of new stones, unless they are very quickly forming ones the are caused by a problem in the complex calcium absorption process. Many stones thankfull do not fall into that category and build up more slowly over a longer space of time.

Unfortunately, stones can be broken up medically successfully only very rarely. The pain they cause can be excruciating and it will sadly only get worse from where you are now.
Have you been prescribed cat metacam (0.5 mg) or dog metacam (1.5mg/1 ml)? If it is the first, then dosage is very low.

Will it help you to know that I have had several successful bladder stones operations in 4 year olds and that my latest bladder stone (the first one in 8 years, most likely caused through problems with distribution and access of fresh veg during the first strict Lockdown and the need of us shielding) was in a 5 year old sow who is still with me, now aged 6 years with no new stone in the intervening 18 months.

You will however need to find a vet who is more confident in a successful operation; this will play into a positive outcome. Bladder stone ops in sows are generally an operation with a good recovery rate and very few complications. Usually the relief from the removed stone is immediate and will kick in as soon as the piggy is past the normal operation soreness in the first couple of days post-op before the healing process kicks in quickly. You will however find that the cost of an operation is about in that ball park for the USA these days.
A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.
Tips For Post-operative Care

All the best.

I believe it is dog metacam. It says “1.5 mg/ml liquid” on the bottle. I will work on trying to find a better vet to further assess her and perform the surgery. The vet that I normally take them to who is amazing says that they are closed due to short staffing, and last Thursday I called about 10 vet offices before I finally found one that sees Guinea pigs and is open to new patients. I am glad that the surgery has worked well for your older pigs, I have heard of Nationwide Guinea pigs insurance which is $15 a month, I wonder if that would help at all with the cost of surgery. I will read the links that you posted. Thank you

 

[Piggies&buns]

I believe it is dog metacam. It says “1.5 mg/ml liquid” on the bottle. I will work on trying to find a better vet to further assess her and perform the surgery. The vet that I normally take them to who is amazing says that they are closed due to short staffing, and last Thursday I called about 10 vet offices before I finally found one that sees Guinea pigs and is open to new patients. I am glad that the surgery has worked well for your older pigs, I have heard of Nationwide Guinea pigs insurance which is $15 a month, I wonder if that would help at all with the cost of surgery. I will read the links that you posted. Thank you

Usually insurance will not cover already diagnosed medical conditions so getting insurance for it now would probably not help at all

 

[Wiebke]

I believe it is dog metacam. It says “1.5 mg/ml liquid” on the bottle. I will work on trying to find a better vet to further assess her and perform the surgery. The vet that I normally take them to who is amazing says that they are closed due to short staffing, and last Thursday I called about 10 vet offices before I finally found one that sees Guinea pigs and is open to new patients. I am glad that the surgery has worked well for your older pigs, I have heard of Nationwide Guinea pigs insurance which is $15 a month, I wonder if that would help at all with the cost of surgery. I will read the links that you posted. Thank you

Hi

Insurance will usually not cover pre-existing issues.

Yes, that is dog metacam; which is good. You have leeway to go up to double the dosage safely if the pain gets worse and she starts to really deteriorate.

 

[Jill5piggys]

I’m sorry to hear this.

Hay is the largest part of the diet. Veg and pellets are supplementary and jointly only make 15% of the daily food intake. Seeing her eat veg or pellets doesn’t count for anything if she isn’t eating hay. By syringe feeding you are replacing the essential hay intake, not veg or pellets. You need to weigh her daily so you can monitor her hay intake and to ensure that you are giving enough syringe feed to replace the loss of hay intake. How much syringe feed you need to give in each 24 hour period depends on those weight checks.

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Bladder stones can form when there is an excess of calcium in the diet (there is also a genetic factor). You notice excess calcium being expelled (which in itself is normal) when there is white pee and if it is gritty it suggests something has gone wrong with the calcium process and excess calcium in the diet.
Most calcium comes in via pellets and drinking water so it’s important water is filtered and pellets are kept limited to just one tablespoon per pig per day.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Stones generally need to be removed via surgery. They cause pain and damage the bladder if left inside and generally won’t break down in their own.

It would be worth consulting another vet.

She does not need to separated from her friends. Separation causes stress so it is recommended that piggies are kept together.
You can use smaller pee pads in high traffic areas as they can be removed more frequently without the need for a full cage clean.

When the 3 girls are together I normally have their hay in a big pile in a litter box and it is obvious that they eat a ton, but since I have had her alone in a smaller cage it is hard to tell if she ate any because it is all dragged throughout the cage. She did eat some grass that I gave her last night, but it’s hard to tell with the hay (I have been changing her hay pile twice a day because she has been dragging it around and peeing on it). I have been weighing and feeding her the Sherwood recovery food according to the instructions on the back of the package. I am not sure how she got this stone, I am very careful to feed them a low calcium diet. They each eat a huge pile of Timothy hay, 1/8 cup of oxbow essentials adult Guinea pig pellets, a couple leaves of lettuce, 1/8 bell pepper, and about a 1/2 inch slice of cucumber and tomato. Occasionally I will give them Kale, celery, fruits, carrots, etc but I didn’t think it was often enough to cause any calcium issues I always used to give them tap water, but due to moving into an apartment last year where the water tastes very much like bleach I have been buying gallons of water from the store to give to them (not sure if that’s better or worse than filtered?) I will work on trying to find a better vet. The amazing vet that I normally bring them to, when I call it says that they are closed due to short staffing. I don’t think there are many cavy savvy vets in my area, but I will continue looking around for somebody who can further assess her and perform the surgery. She has been separated from her friends for 4 days now, later I will work on re introducing the, I hope they still will get along fine. I only separated them because I feared that she may have something contagious. My boys do 90% of their potty in the litter box, but my girls tend to just pee wherever they feel like it so pee pads don’t help much, especially with daisy being prescribed a diuretic I’m sure the cage will be pee crazy, but I will just clean it more often it is no big deal. Thank you for the reply I will check out the links.

 

[Jill5piggys]

Hi

Insurance will usually not cover pre-existing issues.

Yes, that is dog metacam; which is good. You have leeway to go up to double the dosage safely if the pain gets worse and she starts to really deteriorate.

Aw that is too bad that the insurance won’t cover it. I have no credit so idk if I could qualify for care credit (I’m not really sure what it is and if covers pre existing conditions but i have heard a lot about it) I have spent most of my savings on car problems recently plus this vet visit, so I hope she would be okay for a week or 2 before I can afford the surgery (and hopefully find a vet I am confident in) I feel so bad for her she is the sweetest pig. I think the meds may be beginning to help since she ate her veggies, pellets, and some grass last night/ this morning but I will be sure to reach out to the vet for a higher dosage if her pain seems to get worse.

 

[Piggies&buns]

When the 3 girls are together I normally have their hay in a big pile in a litter box and it is obvious that they eat a ton, but since I have had her alone in a smaller cage it is hard to tell if she ate any because it is all dragged throughout the cage. She did eat some grass that I gave her last night, but it’s hard to tell with the hay (I have been changing her hay pile twice a day because she has been dragging it around and peeing on it). I have been weighing and feeding her the Sherwood recovery food according to the instructions on the back of the package. I am not sure how she got this stone, I am very careful to feed them a low calcium diet. They each eat a huge pile of Timothy hay, 1/8 cup of oxbow essentials adult Guinea pig pellets, a couple leaves of lettuce, 1/8 bell pepper, and about a 1/2 inch slice of cucumber and tomato. Occasionally I will give them Kale, celery, fruits, carrots, etc but I didn’t think it was often enough to cause any calcium issues I always used to give them tap water, but due to moving into an apartment last year where the water tastes very much like bleach I have been buying gallons of water from the store to give to them (not sure if that’s better or worse than filtered?) I will work on trying to find a better vet. The amazing vet that I normally bring them to, when I call it says that they are closed due to short staffing. I don’t think there are many cavy savvy vets in my area, but I will continue looking around for somebody who can further assess her and perform the surgery. She has been separated from her friends for 4 days now, later I will work on re introducing the, I hope they still will get along fine. I only separated them because I feared that she may have something contagious. My boys do 90% of their potty in the litter box, but my girls tend to just pee wherever they feel like it so pee pads don’t help much, especially with daisy being prescribed a diuretic I’m sure the cage will be pee crazy, but I will just clean it more often it is no big deal. Thank you for the reply I will check out the links.

The only way to know she is eating enough hay is to weigh her once a day. Your kitchen scales are essential here to make sure she is eating enough hay and getting enough syringe feed if she is losing weight. Eating veg and pellets isn’t enough if she is not eating enough hay.
You can’t go by the packet, you need to go by what your scales are telling you about her food intake.

Its not just diet, there is also a genetic element and sometimes things can go wrong in the body.
Now she has got a stone, make sure you follow the bladder piggy diet in the feeding guide and don’t feed high calcium items such as kale or sugary items such as carrots. Make sure pellets are kept to just one tablespoon

Filtering removes the calcium. It’s recommended to filter in hard water areas. You would need to check the bottles of water as to their calcium content.

As I said above, if it was something contagious, by the time you see symptoms then the others piggies would already have been exposed so separating them at that point won’t stop the others from catching any transmissible illness

 

[Jill5piggys]

You will need to carry out a neutral territory reintroduction. Don’t just put her back in the cage.
Are their cages still next to each other?

For future information, if a piggy did had something contagious by the time you see symptoms, the others would already have been exposed in any event so separating at that point would be futile

Yes I have done a few introductions, I usually just do it in my large bath tub with a few fleece liners down. And once things are going good I give the cage a good scrub and put all fresh fleece, beds, etc in. Even if her condition wasn’t contagious, the urine scald looked pretty painful and i didn’t want the other pigs to bother her (kick her out of a bed or something, she didn’t seem to want to move much). The vet didn’t mention the scald at all it makes me wonder if he even looked. Hoping everything goes well with the re introduction later and maybe seeing her friends will get her moving around and eating some more.

 

[Jill5piggys]

The only way to know she is eating enough hay is to weigh her once a day. Your kitchen scales are essential here to make sure she is eating enough hay and getting enough syringe feed if she is losing weight. Eating veg and pellets isn’t enough if she is not eating enough hay.
You can’t go by the packet, you need to go by what your scales are telling you about her food intake.

Its not just diet, there is also a genetic element and sometimes things can go wrong in the body.
Now she has got a stone, make sure you follow the bladder piggy diet in the feeding guide and don’t feed high calcium items such as kale or sugary items such as carrots. Make sure pellets are kept to just one tablespoon

Filtering removes the calcium. It’s recommended to filter in hard water areas. You would need to check the bottles of water as to their calcium content.

As I said above, if it was something contagious, by the time you see symptoms then the others piggies would already have been exposed so separating them at that point won’t stop the others from catching any transmissible illness

Yes I have been weighing her with a kitchen scale, but I figured the recovery food would keep her weight up so I am not sure how that would tell me if she is eating enough hay. I will no longer be feeding the high calcium or sugary items. I don’t think this vet knows what he is talking about, because he sent me home with a list telling me to feed her kale, parsley, broccoli, spinach, etc and I know that all of those are high calcium and would not help her current situation at all.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes I have been weighing her with a kitchen scale, but I figured the recovery food would keep her weight up so I am not sure how that would tell me if she is eating enough hay. I will no longer be feeding the high calcium or sugary items. I don’t think this vet knows what he is talking about, because he sent me home with a list telling me to feed her kale, parsley, broccoli, spinach, etc and I know that all of those are high calcium and would not help her current situation at all.

If her weight is staying stable with syringe feeding, then it’s probable it’s the syringe feeding that is helping. if you stop syringe feeding and she loses weight then she isn’t eating by herself

 

[Free Ranger]

I'm just butting in here to add something. We've had UTI with and without stones but we've always had antibiotics and there has always been a difference because usually it's the infection that has caused symptoms to appear that we can see. I'm certain that some pigs can carry stones for a while without showing us any pain peeing, dripping urine, blood tint or smell. But stones make them more prone to infections as things are inflamed anyway.

You need a different vet. My personal priority would be to find a vet who will prescribe her some antibiotics - I know some folks can be wary of these in a pig with poor appetite but most pigs are absolutely fine with a short course. They one called Baytril over here in the UK is handed out for everything pig-related but there are others in reserve. Seriously, they take a day or two to kick in and pigs feel so much better and start eating more, then you can think about your options but she's not getting better on her own. Obvs I might be completely wrong here but a course of ABs to cover that shouldn't do her any harm.

Depending on the size of the stone she may be able to pass it on her own. It seems like a long shot but although I've had boars who've needed surgery (and sadly not made it) my sows have managed to pass stones around 5mm. One was stuck in the urethra and the vet removed it with fine tweezers - yes, it must have stung (it was all spikes!) and she was a bit traumatised but within a day she was fine and back to her usual self. Another girl passed one out of the blue and x-ray showed a likely second. This girl had a painkilling opioid injection that totally stoned her and then a massive fluid injection under the skin of the shoulders. She peed like a tap for the next few hours as this went through the system but I was freaking out because she couldn't eat and she looked awful. But guess what - no stone on follow up x-ray. And both these cases needed antibiotics because it was the infection that lead to the symptoms that took us to the vet to get the x-rays etc. And no one else 'caught' anything... I reckon it was just something in the cage environment anyway as these girls wipe their bits all over the floor to scent mark!

We tackled urine scald on back feet and ulcerated bits with (1) gentle bum bath in warmish water, (2) pat dry - don't rub or wipe, (3) very light dab to apply a little nappy barrier cream (we had sudocreme brand over here) which protects the skin and allows it to heal. Bed on fleece so bits of shavings don't get stuck in there! Long term this is not favoured by everyone as regular use is reported to thin the skin but we only had to use it for just under a week and my girls were fine.

So short-term find any vet for some ABs and longer term find one you can trust for the stone. Best of Luck - UTI is horrible for pigs and owners too x

 

[Jill5piggys]

I'm just butting in here to add something. We've had UTI with and without stones but we've always had antibiotics and there has always been a difference because usually it's the infection that has caused symptoms to appear that we can see. I'm certain that some pigs can carry stones for a while without showing us any pain peeing, dripping urine, blood tint or smell. But stones make them more prone to infections as things are inflamed anyway.

You need a different vet. My personal priority would be to find a vet who will prescribe her some antibiotics - I know some folks can be wary of these in a pig with poor appetite but most pigs are absolutely fine with a short course. They one called Baytril over here in the UK is handed out for everything pig-related but there are others in reserve. Seriously, they take a day or two to kick in and pigs feel so much better and start eating more, then you can think about your options but she's not getting better on her own. Obvs I might be completely wrong here but a course of ABs to cover that shouldn't do her any harm.

Depending on the size of the stone she may be able to pass it on her own. It seems like a long shot but although I've had boars who've needed surgery (and sadly not made it) my sows have managed to pass stones around 5mm. One was stuck in the urethra and the vet removed it with fine tweezers - yes, it must have stung (it was all spikes!) and she was a bit traumatised but within a day she was fine and back to her usual self. Another girl passed one out of the blue and x-ray showed a likely second. This girl had a painkilling opioid injection that totally stoned her and then a massive fluid injection under the skin of the shoulders. She peed like a tap for the next few hours as this went through the system but I was freaking out because she couldn't eat and she looked awful. But guess what - no stone on follow up x-ray. And both these cases needed antibiotics because it was the infection that lead to the symptoms that took us to the vet to get the x-rays etc. And no one else 'caught' anything... I reckon it was just something in the cage environment anyway as these girls wipe their bits all over the floor to scent mark!

We tackled urine scald on back feet and ulcerated bits with (1) gentle bum bath in warmish water, (2) pat dry - don't rub or wipe, (3) very light dab to apply a little nappy barrier cream (we had sudocreme brand over here) which protects the skin and allows it to heal. Bed on fleece so bits of shavings don't get stuck in there! Long term this is not favoured by everyone as regular use is reported to thin the skin but we only had to use it for just under a week and my girls were fine.

So short-term find any vet for some ABs and longer term find one you can trust for the stone. Best of Luck - UTI is horrible for pigs and owners too x

Thank you for the reply. I am glad to hear that your female piggies have been able to pass stones. I am pretty certain antibiotics would help her as online all cases I have seen with smelly urine have been from uti type infections. My usual vet that I bring the pigs to is closed due to short staffing, and he is amazing. I only brought her to this other vet because they were the only ones who would see her on short notice. I will try contacting this vet about antibiotics, but if he says no I will continue looking around for another vet. I have been doing almost the same as you with the urine scald, I let her sit in about 1” of water and kind of splash it around to make sure she’s getting clean, let her sit on my lap on a towel for a while to dry (this morning I didn’t have much time so I used a blow dryer on a “low, cool” setting, I don’t think she liked it much but I figured it’s better than letting her be wet all day) and then I applied a triple antibiotic ointment, I don’t have any of the diaper rash cream yet but I plan to pick some up later. The scald looks to be getting a little better, the first day that I saw it I could barely look because it was so bad and I felt so terrible for her. I do primarily use fleece, though I do use kiln dried pine pellets in their litter box and they don’t seem to stick to them at all. Maybe if I let them turn to powder like others do, but I just dump out the whole litter box and put fresh pellets every day because they are so cheap. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Free Ranger]

I forgot to add - I also use bottled water because our area here in the UK has high calcium tap water. But some types of bottled water -esp if they are labelled 'mineral water' can have very high Ca as that's why people like it. Our tap water has around 300mg/L Ca so is classed as Very Hard - anything less than 60mg/L is Soft. Filtering leaves you with around 10% of what you start with but our local bulk buy supermarket brand water is 30mgL and the posh stuff we treat the piggies to is about 4! I did actually notice an increase in drinking when we coughed up for the fancy water too. So just check out the mg/L of Ca on the label

 

[Princess Dustmop]

A urine sample is what would dictate whether there is a UTI to treat with antibiotics, and the urinalysis would confirm which antibiotic to use and for how long. There's no way of knowing whether any antibiotics are needed without checking. So if you think that your piggy may have a UTI in addition to the stones, you'll need to get a vet to check a urine sample. Be aware, also, that antibiotics can affect a guinea pig's appetite ... happens in people, too, so not a piggy specific reaction. Antibiotics should only be used if they are definitely necessary, as they kill all the fauna/flora in a piggy's gut, good and bad; if there are no nasty bacteria that require treatment, you're disrupting the digestive system for nothing.