IC Questions

[Toffee and Oreo]

Hi everyone,

Here’s a little bit of a back story:
Toffee has been having blood in her urine off and on since May, the vets would prescribe her antibiotics for a week, but the blood would always come back a week to two weeks later. We have also had an x-ray to rule out bladder stones and ovarian cysts. After 4 bouts of blood the vets suggested we see an exotics vet, so after the 5th bout of blood started we took her to the exotics vet, and what a breath of fresh air that was. The vet was so knowledgeable and could tell that her bladder lining was quite thick and inflamed, and he said that we should just stop the AB and just give anti inflammatories to help the bladder lining heal and recover. He laughed at the low dosage of metacam that the other vets prescribed her as she was getting 0.2ml of cat metacam once a day, but he said that she can have 0.9ml of cat metacam twice a day. So now Toffee is on metcam twice a day for 2 weeks which can be extended to 4 if needs be, he also gave her some urinary support tablets to give her aswell. He also agreed that what she has is something like IC. I’m just so pleased to finally have some answers .


With regards to questions:

- He recommended a low calcium diet; Toffee has lettuce and red pepper daily, she also gets coriander sometimes, but that seems to upset her, so I’m not sure wether to give her that or just leave it out. Also cucumber seems to upset her as when I gave it to her a few weeks ago ( this was only 2 0.5cm slices ) she would get funny poops afterwards. What other veg can I give her daily that is low calcium to give her variety?

- In regards to long term urinary support, as the vet only gave me around 10 tablets. Having read threads on this forum, I read that you give glucosamine supplements and Felaway Cystease to IC piggies; now should you give both or is it just a matter of giving one or the other? Also if I gave her Cystease or Glucosamine, should it be a life long thing to help with her bladder lining? Also what is the dosage of Cystease for piggies? And if there is a different dosage for glucosamine supplements? Also is there any other good brands of urinary support supplements which are good for piggies?


Sorry for the long message

 

[Piggies&buns]

Does she get fresh grass? If you have access to it, then that would good to try her with.
Its about finding what suits her and if she is ok with lettuce and pepper but anything else is causing her issues, then stick to those.
These kinds of bladder issues tend to be more sensitive to changes in the diet so do anything carefully.
When you sat she has funny poops after cucumber, - what exactly was the issue?

Cystease is glucosamine.
Usually its something they are on long term and it’s about finding a maintenance amount which suits her - usually one capsule a day.

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

I do have access to fresh grass so I could give her that, I can’t put her out in her run at the moment as the lid is a bit broken, but I could chop some up for her.

With both cucumber and coriander her poops become really soft and squishy and abnormally shaped and when I stop feeding her them her poops return back to normal. I'm not sure if it’s because she just not used to it in her system, or wether it just disagrees with her. My other little piggy is absolutely fine with coriander and cucumber and never gets these types of poops with this veg.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes definitely try hand picking some grass for her and see if she is ok with that.

Yes it could be either - because cucumber and coriander doesn’t agree with her or she isn’t used to it and/or perhaps youre trying her with too much at a time?
If you are going to try it again, literally just give her one sprig of coriander, or one incredibly thin (almost see through) piece of cucumber and see what happens.

 

[Piggies2023]

I do have access to fresh grass so I could give her that, I can’t put her out in her run at the moment as the lid is a bit broken, but I could chop some up for her.

With both cucumber and coriander her poops become really soft and squishy and abnormally shaped and when I stop feeding her them her poops return back to normal. I'm not sure if it’s because she just not used to it in her system, or wether it just disagrees with her. My other little piggy is absolutely fine with coriander and cucumber and never gets these types of poops with this veg.

It could maybe be the amount your giving at once? Maybe try a smaller amount and slowly increase if she is okay?

Feliway cystease has more glucosamine in depending on how much your giving. Is your piggy taking the biscuits okay? Mine won't touch them

 

[eileen]

I use cystease for my two ic piggies.i split 2 capsules into an old medication bottle.place 2mls of water,shake the bottle vigorously to ensure its mixed.i give 1ml each day to each piggy.you can split the dose to twice daily eg 0.5mls twice daily.
I hope you can get the ic under control soon.

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

I’ll try her again with coriander and cucumber, but like you said I’ll start with tiny amounts and see if that goes down ok . And Toffee absolutely hates the urinary support tablets, i crushed up the tablet and added a couple mils of water to syringe It to her, but she ran and stuck her nose in the corner of her snuggle sack . I eventually managed to give it to her by putting some on the lettuce.