• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

ovarian cysts or uterus infection?

Status
Not open for further replies.
lynne.collins8

lynne.collins8

Joined
Feb 22, 2010
Messages
71
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Hartlepool
Hi, Iam wondering if anyone can offer any advice. One of my pigs,Gerri, has had a problem on and off for about 9 months. I adopted her, age3, from pets at home last january. After a couple of months i noticed that she became quite dirty on her bottom more than the others. I initially presumed that this was because she was white and she tends to sit in the same spot for a long time, so i presumed it was just urine stains. I started to bathe her more regularly and kept an eye on her. About oct this year i took her to the vets because she had a lot of brown staining on her tummy, lots more than usual. She was diagnosed as having 2 ovarian cysts and cystitis. After a course of baytril for a week everything cleared up. Since then over the last week or so, she has started to get a dirty back end again. I have had her checked out this morning and the vet said she could have cystitis again and gave her a week of baytril again. She said there is a possibility that it could be a womb infection. Has anyone had a piggy with this before? is it a serious condition? Also while the vet was examining her, her right eye started to bleed, and became bloodshot, the vet said she could have burst a blood vessel due to the stress of being examined. The bleeding stopped after about 20 mins or so. I'm quite worried about her and would like to hear from anyone who has had a piggy with anything similar. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
Cystitis/UTI is a tough customer and can take several rounds of antibiotics to get on top. A one week course of baytril at 0.4 ml twice daily for an adult piggy is usually not enough to clear it.

Please ask your vet to change to septrin (oral form of bactrim) 0.5 ml twice for at least 3-4 weeks if the second round of baytril doesn't do the trick. Septrin is not licensed, but is the best antibiotic for UTIs and is more and more widely used by guinea pig vets. It is also much more gentle on the guts! You can also help by giving unsweetened cranberry juice, either pure or mixed with water. Ocean Wave light is the brand that is most widely available in many supermarkets.

Here are some links from the best medical website for guinea pigs if you need to convince your vet to switch to another antibiotic:
UTI/cystitis:
http://www.guinealynx.info/uti.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html For pediatric septrin see entry under "bactrim"; they contain the same active ingredient (trimethroprim sulfa), but septrin is only oral form available.

Pyometra - infection of the womb lining is a condition that needs to be treated asap with antibiotics as it will very quickly progress to a state where a piggy can't be saved. It is most common in sows living in filthy surroundings who have given birth.
http://www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html, see entry under "pyometra"
 
Thanks for that. I've just had Gerri back to the vets this morning as she still has some discharge (sticky looking with what looks like blood in it) The vet wanted to book her in for an ultrasound scan but I asked about trying septrin first for a week. So she's on 0.1ml twice a day for a week and has to go back after that. If it's not completely cleared then she's getting booked in for a scan. I hope the dose is big enough for her as you said a larger dose was the usual. Maybe its a stronger one so she needs less?
 
While it is great that your vet has been open to the suggestion of septrin, that dose is very low for an adult guinea pig of average weight in my own expereince if your vet was treating for a urinary tract infection. The urinary tract is not one of the areas in the body that is easy to treat and dosages of antibiotics that are prescribed are usually higher than they would be for let's say a respiratory infection.

My guess is that your vet is keeping the dose deliberately minimal because he is not sure about what is causing Gerri's problem. But he is certainly not suspecting pyometra.

While I have plenty of experience with UTIs and some with bladder stones, I have thankfully never had a piggy with possible womb problems. A scan might bring clarity on that front and hopefully exclude those angles.

Please make sure that Gerri is drinking plenty.

I you wish, you could contact Laura-CCC4 on her new helpline website for more in-depth information on meds and scans: http://www.guineapighelpline.com/
 
Update on Gerri!

Well back to the vets again today. After a sad few days ( Gerri lost one of her cage mates, Custard on Sunday) RIP Custard x 8...8... But thats another story........Gerri no longer has blood in her urine and now has a white/cream coloured sticky discharge...so the vet has given her 0.5ml of septrin for 14 days to see if that will shift the infection completely, if that doesnt work we're looking at a scan to see whats going on. She said that one of her cysts is quite a large one and that she will probably need surgery if it turns out that she has a womb infection. I saw that this can be caused through living in filthy conditions, not that I think anyone was suggesting that I didn't keep my pigs clean,I would like to say that since I have had Gerri she had been kept in very clean conditions but maybe this has been going on since before she came to me. Anyway I thought I would update the thread so that the people who have been kind enough to offer advice will know how she's doing. Thanks again to everyone xxxxx
 
Thanks and all the best! I am so sorry that you lost Custard. The shock and stress of her loss won't make it any easier for any of you!

Please make sure that Gerri is drinking plenty (watered down unsweetened cranberry juice is good); sticky urine usually suggests that she could do with more water. How good a drinker is Gerri?

Creamy urine is indicative of extra calcium being excreted by the body. I have found that creamy urine is more frequent when there has been a cystitis or there is one in the making. But that is just my personal observation. Please make sure that there is no grit in any creamy deposits, just powder.
 
I can't offer you more advise than has been given, nor have i ever had a sow, but i have experienced Pyometra in Hamsters and it is not at all nice, so i hope for your and her sakes it is not that! It is very hard to shift with antibiotics as the womb is well ... a fortress, my hamster was spayed eventually, but passed away not long after thw whole ordeal broke my heart and i'll never personally have another female one again.

I'm also sorry to see you lost Custard.

Fingers crossed little Gerri will be ok.
 
Wiebke said:
Thanks and all the best! I am so sorry that you lost Custard. The shock and stress of her loss won't make it any easier for any of you!

Please make sure that Gerri is drinking plenty (watered down unsweetened cranberry juice is good); sticky urine usually suggests that she could do with more water. How good a drinker is Gerri?

Creamy urine is indicative of extra calcium being excreted by the body. I have found that creamy urine is more frequent when there has been a cystitis or there is one in the making. But that is just my personal observation. Please make sure that there is no grit in any creamy deposits, just powder.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice...It's not Gerri's urine thats sticky, its more of a discharge, i saw her do a wee off the end of a cushion on to the floor and it looked normal, where as last week there was blood in it. I'm presuming that its a vaginal discharge by the look of it, anyway, fingers crossed for septrin doing the job :) Thanks for any comments about Custard xx
 
Hi Lynne, sorry you lost Custard, it was so sudden wasnt it?
I have a pig who gets episodes of bleeding which seems to be from the uterus. She has never been ill and there are no urinary symptoms. She always responds to a course of septrin but we need to continue it for several weeks to prevent the bleeding recurring.
I have discussed having her spayed but as she seems so well we are just watching for now.
Barbara xx
 
Thanks Barbara, It's worrying when no matter what you do you can't seem to get a piggy better. Gerri has been on the septrin now for 12 days. She seems to be a lot better. I hadn't seen any discharge for a few days until today, tonight she has a little discharge again, I've been checking as she has her antibiotics twice a day. She has 2 more days to go and we'll have to see what happens after that. I've noticed that her coat has become a lot more shiny recently and she has become more active, she has been getting a viatmin c and probiotic additive in her water so maybe that has helped too. Also she has moved up a notch in the pecking order since we lost Custard and she has been getting handled a lot more than usual, so maybe she just feels more comfortable coming out now. I'm still battling on withBben too, he's had an eye infection since new years eve that keeps coming back after stopping his eye drops. Thank you Barbara for you help when Custard was so ill, you are such a fountain of knowledge and always willing to help, Thank you so much xx
 
Well.........its back to the vets tomorrow with Gerrikins. Shes been off the antibiotics since tuesday and her discharge is back already. I think they are going to give her an ultrasound scan. On the positive side she seems well in herself and is munching on her food just as enthusiastically as usual. Will update again tomorrow.
 
pig in the city said:
Hi Lynne, sorry you lost Custard, it was so sudden wasnt it?
I have a pig who gets episodes of bleeding which seems to be from the uterus. She has never been ill and there are no urinary symptoms. She always responds to a course of septrin but we need to continue it for several weeks to prevent the bleeding recurring.
I have discussed having her spayed but as she seems so well we are just watching for now.
Barbara xx
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice Barbara, Gerri has seen the vet again, he has suggested that she has an ultrasound and possibly an xray if needed to see if she has any stones and to confirm that the cysts aren't anything more sinister, my gut instinct is to keep her for longer on the septrin because she has only had 2 weeks of septrin at the proper dose and before that she was on baytril. I think that she should have another 2 weeks on it, what do you think Barbara? Also the price that he quoted me was shocking, i'll have to save up anyway to have it done. Also thanks for your condolences, it was very sudden and so upsetting, I'm worried for Bill too, if we lose Gerri he will have no cage mates left, he gets upset when I take Gerri out since we lost Custard, he walks around the cage and squeaks while checking all the hidey holes to look for her, poor Bill :( x
 
...

I know this is an old thread... but my guinea pig Squirdy is having the same issues. I am wondering what the outcome was with you and your piggy...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top