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Maggie's Bladder Problem.

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Midge&Panda

Midge&Panda

Adult Guinea Pig
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Maggie has had since the summer 3 lots of baytril for a recurring water infection. Pink urine but no discomfort or painful sounds while passing urine. She had an examination today and the vet has said she has a 'thickened ' bladder, That it could be sludge, stones or possibly something else. I'm presuming he meant cancer but didn't like to say so. She's to continue with her baytril as well as having a capsule of nutacys + daily until Wednesday - she's booked in for an x-ray. Can anyone explain what a 'thickened' bladder is. I'm guessing he meant the bladder wall. Many thanks.
 
A thickened bladder wall is often a result of a stone or sludge, but it can also be due to cystitis or interstitial (recurring) cystitis, which is not a water infection but an inflammation of the bladder walls that doesn't respond to antibiotics. There is actually quite a range of different issues lumped under the umbrella of urinary tract infections. Bladder cancer is still thankfully rather rare. Has your vet given you an anti-inflammatory/painkiller like metacam?

An x-ray is the logical next step after a course of antibiotics is not working. Baytril can sometimes not cut through a bacterial urinary infection, which is why vets have started to use septrin instead.
 
Thanks for that reply, She's just had her nutracys as well as her metacam. We will just have to wait till Wednesday with fingers crossed for the out come of the x-ray. One of my rainbow pigs - Sherbet developed bladder cancer at this moment in time Maggie is not displaying any of the symptoms that Sherbet did only the pink wee. If it wasn't for the wee I wouldn't know she was unwell.
 
Good luck. If it does turn out to be Interstitial cystitis then the Nutracys should help as this I think contains Quercetin which is good for helping with inflammation, as is Vegan Glucosamine. My Phoebe has IC and is on both.
 
Maggie isn't a big veggie eater she prefers the forages. She has gertie as well as excel would it be worth increasing her vit c?
 
Midge&Panda said:
Maggie isn't a big veggie eater she prefers the forages. She has gertie as well as excel would it be worth increasing her vit c?
Click to expand...

Yes, please. How good a drinker is she? many piggies with bladder problems are bad drinkers by nature; that means that their bladder is not flushed properly, which can lead to a build up of bacteria and stuff.

Does she like grass? Feeding her that on a daily basis can help if she is not into mildly diuretic veg like cucumber, lettuce or dandelion.
 
hate to sound dim... but whats nutacys? & whats it normally used for?
Sorry i have no advice, but hope Maggie has a speedy recovery, fingers & paws all crossed for her here xx
 
Ah-ha :)
Thanks @Jaycey never heard of that before only cystaid. This forum contains so much knowledge :)
Hope Maggies doing well?
Xx
 
Thickened bladder walls can be a sign of stones or bladder wall inflammation, but can also just be due to a really bad infection. One of my pigs had a thick bladder on palpation but no stones or other issues on x ray, just a nasty infection!
 
Hi, thanks for all your kind words it means a lot to me and Maggie. Well Maggie has had her x-ray and the results show that she has sludge rather than stones. The vet is reluctant for surgery at this stage so Maggie is on nutacys, metacam and baytril for a month to see how she gets on. The dosage for the medication are quite a bit higher than I've given before - 1ml metacam (dog) and 1.2ml baytril to be given daily. Would it be better for her to have the baytril split into 2 doses so it's not so harsh on her stomach. Any other advice to help 'sludgy 'pigs would be most welcome. Thanks x
 
Gosh, where do I start............ :) Petal has had a bladder flush, to be honest I don't think it helped at all, so was a bit pointless really apart from the cost & stressing me out. She has had Potassium Citrate for a bit, Cerenia for a short while, but always had Septrin or Marbocyl antibiotic instead of Baytril. She is on a 0.1ml Metacam once a day dose forever. She also has injections of Cartrophen once a month to help with her inflamed bladder. However she also had cystic ovaries & eventually her uterus became infected because of the bladder issues etc so 3 weeks ago she had to have a hysterectomy :( Until things settle down I am not sure how much that will help her bladder issues :)
 
Well now she has other issues like soft poops for the last month instead! :( I am so fed up with it all now, it's never ending :(
 
Sometimes a bladder flush can help to relieve the bladder sludge, but it really needs to be done by a knowledgeable vet, otherwise it can be fatal if the water is injected too forcefully and backs up into kidneys. I have seen several piggies on the forum suddenly die within 10 days of a bladder flush, but my Cariad had several successful ones by a specialist, which helped her to live another 2 years. If your vet is not confident, I wouldn't push for one.

Ideally, you give her as much fluid as she will take in one go to help flush out the bladder. if you syringe, please never give more than 0.5ml (half a small syringe full) in one go; this is about a mouthful. Wait until it all has been swallowed before you give the next lot. You can try and flavour the water with a bit of pureed veg or grass if you think that helps.

Please split the medication and give twice daily. You can up the metacam if there are acute signs of discomfort and pain. Give probiotics about 1-2 hours after the antibiotic. Ideal is avipro plus, as it doesn't contain any extra calcium. The baytril is likely to not make much difference, as you are dealing with an inflammation.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/...vitamin-c-overview-with-product-links.115404/

I would strongly recommend to look at protecting the bladder with a wall coating agent glucosamine or glucosamine based products like cystease, cystaid etc. (which is a food supplement for cats, but can be used for bladder piggies and be ordered prescription free online from several providers).

For long term treatment, I would look at a strictly low calcium diet, which includes low pellets and filtered water to minimise a further build-up.
We have got an example here, but you can also just restrict your piggy to the veg cited as "daily veg" in the balanced diet thread.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/low-calcium-diet-for-bladder-piggies.105930/
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/recommendations-for-a-balanced-general-guinea-pig-diet.116460/
 
Thanks for that reply Wiebke. Maggie isn't a great drinker so I will try syringing her water, at the moment she has an additional bottle of pro-c(she likes the taste). Off to p@h tomorrow to get her timothy and a tube of fibreplex. She's on nutracys + one capsule daily. As for the veg she's not too keen on that either but I have started to give her an additional 50mg vit c mixed into a syringe (1ml) fruit baby food. Now I'm off to research low calcium foods. :D
 
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