Pain when going to the toilet

[Natalie1985]

I rescued a female guinea pig (Abbie) last Halloween as my other rescue piggie sadly had to be put to sleep, leaving my rescued male (castrated) piggie alone. He also sadly had to be put to sleep 20th February this year after a few months of illnesses. Now Abbie is alone. She started about 2 weeks ago whimpering when going to the toilet for a poo and I found blood around her bum but not in her urine. The vet suspected she may have not been eating properly due to grieving and I had noticed there wasn't as many poos as normal. The vets gave her 3 injections (which was horrible for Abbie), the first was a pain relief I was told is similar to morphine. The second was another type of pain relief and the 3rd was to stimulate the digestive system, I was also given some critical care and they also wanted me to book her in for an appointment the next day to see how she was getting on. The next day we seen a different vet who suggested it may be bladder stones so wanted to scan Abbie's bladder. The result came back that she had no bladder stones, and gave us 1 week of Baytril antibiotics and 1 week of Metacam pain relief. (The 2 trips cost just over £250). Abbie has now been whimpering again the last 2 nights but is still weeing and pooing and I haven't found anymore blood yet, has anyone had a similar experience? The 3 rescue piggies have cost us over £2,000 in the last 6 months in vets bills and so far we have ended up putting 2 to sleep. So unsurprisingly my partner does not want me to rescue anymore piggies as we can't afford their vets bills but I am worried she is lonely too. She was in a large herd at the rescue where she came from last October. The original 2 rescue piggies I had for 2.5 years. I have found an exotic vets about 10 miles from home I am temped to move her to as my current vet is just a standard practice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wiebke]

I rescued a female guinea pig (Abbie) last Halloween as my other rescue piggie sadly had to be put to sleep, leaving my rescued male (castrated) piggie alone. He also sadly had to be put to sleep 20th February this year after a few months of illnesses. Now Abbie is alone. She started about 2 weeks ago whimpering when going to the toilet for a poo and I found blood around her bum but not in her urine. The vet suspected she may have not been eating properly due to grieving and I had noticed there wasn't as many poos as normal. The vets gave her 3 injections (which was horrible for Abbie), the first was a pain relief I was told is similar to morphine. The second was another type of pain relief and the 3rd was to stimulate the digestive system, I was also given some critical care and they also wanted me to book her in for an appointment the next day to see how she was getting on. The next day we seen a different vet who suggested it may be bladder stones so wanted to scan Abbie's bladder. The result came back that she had no bladder stones, and gave us 1 week of Baytril antibiotics and 1 week of Metacam pain relief. (The 2 trips cost just over £250). Abbie has now been whimpering again the last 2 nights but is still weeing and pooing and I haven't found anymore blood yet, has anyone had a similar experience? The 3 rescue piggies have cost us over £2,000 in the last 6 months in vets bills and so far we have ended up putting 2 to sleep. So unsurprisingly my partner does not want me to rescue anymore piggies as we can't afford their vets bills but I am worried she is lonely too. She was in a large herd at the rescue where she came from last October. The original 2 rescue piggies I had for 2.5 years. I have found an exotic vets about 10 miles from home I am temped to move her to as my current vet is just a standard practice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi

Was the blood bright red or a duller dark red? Was it sheer blood or tinted urine?
Any sheer blood could have come from the reproductive tract (womb and ovarian cysts) whereas the second could have been porphyrin (natural dye) coloured urine that is characteristic for the onset of a urinary tract infection (either a bacterial urine infection UTI or a sterile/non-bacterial recurring cystitis (sterile interstitial cystitis or sterile IC). The dark red urine may or may

Sterile cystitis is usually diagnosed by either a much lower than expected bacterial count (only rarely entirely free of bacteria since most piggies pick up faecal bacteria when scent marking) or very often by excluding any other potential issues. Sterile IC can at the best only temporarily suppressed by antibiotics. It mainly affects the insulating glucosamine layer of the urinry tract that prevents highly corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue. It is managed by glucosamine (which is classed as a food supplement and metacam, both for its anti-inflammatory and painkilling qualities. For more severe forms there is cartrophen but that is not cheap.

We can help you further once you know what exactly you are dealing with but we cannot diagnose sight unseen and hands-off (not that we are qualified to do so in the first place).

All the best.

 

[Natalie1985]

Hi

Was the blood bright red or a duller dark red? Was it sheer blood or tinted urine?
Any sheer blood could have come from the reproductive tract (womb and ovarian cysts) whereas the second could have been porphyrin (natural dye) coloured urine that is characteristic for the onset of a urinary tract infection (either a bacterial urine infection UTI or a sterile/non-bacterial recurring cystitis (sterile interstitial cystitis or sterile IC). The dark red urine may or may

Sterile cystitis is usually diagnosed by either a much lower than expected bacterial count (only rarely entirely free of bacteria since most piggies pick up faecal bacteria when scent marking) or very often by excluding any other potential issues. Sterile IC can at the best only temporarily suppressed by antibiotics. It mainly affects the insulating glucosamine layer of the urinry tract that prevents highly corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue. It is managed by glucosamine (which is classed as a food supplement and metacam, both for its anti-inflammatory and painkilling qualities. For more severe forms there is cartrophen but that is not cheap.

We can help you further once you know what exactly you are dealing with but we cannot diagnose sight unseen and hands-off (not that we are qualified to do so in the first place).

All the best.

Hi thank you for your reply. I was sure it looked bright red when I took her to the vet but my partner thought it was dark red. Today there has been a little more blood which looked dark red. No blood in her urine though. And a week of Baytril didn’t work.