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Heart pig with stubborn UTI - not getting better

Cittycat

Cittycat

Junior Guinea Pig
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One of my guinea pigs, Hazel, really hasn't been right since last October. I posted then about what we thought was a URI, which was finally diagnosed as an enlarged heart in December. Around that same time in December, I noticed blood in her urine. My vet thought it was stress related at first but following more investigations (including cultures and x-rays to rule out stones) the vet has just found an infection that can only be treated orally with sulfatrim (otherwise it's daily injections), which Hazel had been on for about three weeks in early January, and which didn't seem to help. I guess the final straw tonight is that she's having a noisy snuffly breathing evening, and I just feel utterly defeated. We've been a constant feature at our vets for five months, but nothing seems to make Hazel better.
 
I’m sorry your girl is suffering. I’ve no experience but want to offer support.

How is her enlarged heart being treated and what was she on sulfatrim for in January and what was the dosage? Is the noisy breathing in the evening only or throughout the day? Have you ruled out dusty hay and other possible irritants?

There’s no harm in taking her to the vet for a check on the noisy breathing.
 
Hi @Siikibam thanks so much for replying. Her sulfatrim dose is 0.37ml twice a day. She’s on vetmedin for her heart, quarter of a tablet twice a day. She has previously taken frusol for her heart too, but my vet didn’t want to keep her on that long term. The noisy breathing is intermittent and can strike at any time. It’s the first symptom that led me to take her to the vets in October. My vet doesn’t really seem sure what’s causing the noise... At one point she had pneumonia which caused the typical crackling sound in her lungs. We did get that cleared up, and now the noise seems more centred in her nose or upper airways. My vet has said it’s possibly caused by the irregular beating of the heart… he’s said it’s not distressing her, but it distresses me no end!

She and her sister have dust extracted hay from HayBox, they live inside on a combination of fleece and fitch, but if you can suggest anything else that might be an irritant I would gladly explore that option!

She was on sulfatrim in January (prob late Dec/early Jan) because of the blood in her urine. My vet automatically started treating for a UTI as soon as I noticed the blood, but when the issue didn’t clear up with the antibiotics he thought it could be stress related, so for a while she was just having metacam, and when that didn’t fix the problem that’s when she had her x-rays and a culture done.
 
Your vet seems to be on the ball. Definitely a bonus when you have so many things at play.

Irritants can be things such as perfumes, candles, air fresheners etc. But by the sounds of it you’ve nothing like that in their room.

Someone with more knowledge will be along in good time. I just didn’t want your thread to go unanswered. Sorry I can’t offer help.
 
It's been a big help just being able to talk to someone to be honest @Siikibam

Truly, thank you so much for your kindess in answering me.

(Oh, and no, definitely nothing like candles or air fresheners in their room. :) I got rid of all my lovely candles when I got my girls!)
 
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