LMPigs
Junior Guinea Pig
An update in the ongoing saga of Marshmallow, and a question
Background: his kidneys are failing for as yet unidentified reasons. Currently symptoms has been weight loss and treatment has been subcutaneous fluid injections and supplementary feeding. Our vet is currently consulting with the RVC about whether there is anything else we could be doing on the kidney front and we are waiting to hear on that.
A few days ago, we noticed he was intermittently hunched and fluffed up, i.e. apparently in pain. Apparently metacam puts strain on the kidney's so we were prescribed an oral opiate. It's supposed to be slowly put into his mouth and absorbed through the mucous membrane but that's easier said than done!
In any case, last night we noticed he was a bit wet underneath and was hopping on his back legs rather than walking. He'd also gone down to 654g after a steady few days at 690-700g.
This morning when I went in he was in the exact same place he'd gone to when I dropped him back at the hutch last night, and soaked with urine as he'd clearly been weeing on himself and sitting in it. He's very reluctant to move with his back legs (although he can shuffle along to get to a bowl of oats, so I think its that moving is painful rather than impossible). He also seems to be slightly leaking urine all the time.
We gave him his supplementary feed this morning on a white tea towel and the urine is not red at all.
Anyway, we've been to the vet today and they've given him some Baytril on the basis it may be a UTI. Since it was a same day appointment it wasn't our usual person but a just graduated baby vet who first wanted to "wait 24 hours". I didn't think leaving the little guy stationary in a puddle of wee for a further 24 hours to see if he spontaneously fixed himself seemed like a good plan so suggested it might be a UTI (based on descriptions I've read on here, mainly)
So, my questions: does this actually sound like a UTI? Since the vet was pretty inexperienced (although he did go and consult with a colleague) and I feel like I talked him into it a bit, I'm just wondering if others feel like this makes sense.
Also, I recall that antibiotics can disturb guinea pigs's gut flora. We've been putting a pinch of Pro-C on Marshmallow's morning batch of recovery feed anyway, but should we increase amount / frequency in view of this? His brother seems to be in great health so we can also nick one of his poops for a poo soup if that would be recommended?
Thanks to anyone who made it through this long post! I wanted to make sure I included all relevant info. Really appreciate any advice.
Background: his kidneys are failing for as yet unidentified reasons. Currently symptoms has been weight loss and treatment has been subcutaneous fluid injections and supplementary feeding. Our vet is currently consulting with the RVC about whether there is anything else we could be doing on the kidney front and we are waiting to hear on that.
A few days ago, we noticed he was intermittently hunched and fluffed up, i.e. apparently in pain. Apparently metacam puts strain on the kidney's so we were prescribed an oral opiate. It's supposed to be slowly put into his mouth and absorbed through the mucous membrane but that's easier said than done!
In any case, last night we noticed he was a bit wet underneath and was hopping on his back legs rather than walking. He'd also gone down to 654g after a steady few days at 690-700g.
This morning when I went in he was in the exact same place he'd gone to when I dropped him back at the hutch last night, and soaked with urine as he'd clearly been weeing on himself and sitting in it. He's very reluctant to move with his back legs (although he can shuffle along to get to a bowl of oats, so I think its that moving is painful rather than impossible). He also seems to be slightly leaking urine all the time.
We gave him his supplementary feed this morning on a white tea towel and the urine is not red at all.
Anyway, we've been to the vet today and they've given him some Baytril on the basis it may be a UTI. Since it was a same day appointment it wasn't our usual person but a just graduated baby vet who first wanted to "wait 24 hours". I didn't think leaving the little guy stationary in a puddle of wee for a further 24 hours to see if he spontaneously fixed himself seemed like a good plan so suggested it might be a UTI (based on descriptions I've read on here, mainly)
So, my questions: does this actually sound like a UTI? Since the vet was pretty inexperienced (although he did go and consult with a colleague) and I feel like I talked him into it a bit, I'm just wondering if others feel like this makes sense.
Also, I recall that antibiotics can disturb guinea pigs's gut flora. We've been putting a pinch of Pro-C on Marshmallow's morning batch of recovery feed anyway, but should we increase amount / frequency in view of this? His brother seems to be in great health so we can also nick one of his poops for a poo soup if that would be recommended?
Thanks to anyone who made it through this long post! I wanted to make sure I included all relevant info. Really appreciate any advice.
