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Piggy has had blood in her urine a lot and for quite a while

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Claire Evans

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Hi. Our piggy Lilly has an ongoing issue with blood in her urine and squealing in pain :( we have been treating with metacam and sulfratrim for quite a while on and off and it’s not resolving. Vet did a scan and said there are no stones. But she has found lots of crystals in her urine so we moved to a very low calcium diet. She is also now getting cysts on her ovaries every few months and weighs around 800 grams instead of the 1200 she weighed this time last year.

we’re going back to the vets for another check next week but wandered if anyone has any ideas what this may be in the meantime? Our vet is brilliant, has guineas herself and is very knowledgable, but I’m wandering whether I should take a trip to the cat and rabbit care clinic to try to get to the bottom of this.

thanks for your help, really starting to wander what’s wrong and just want to help her get well!
 
Aw, poor Lilly and you, it’s a worry when you piggies are poorly. I‘m afraid I cannot offer any advice but I can fully recommend Simon and Kim at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Northampton, they are both very experienced when it comes to guinea pigs. I used to travel from Cornwall for my dental piggie Ted, he gave him an extra 2.5 years plus, when my local vet was talking about PTS because of his dental issues. I have also had mammary tumours removed and neutering done with fab results too.
They are always very busy so book as soon as you can, good luck x
 
Claire Evans said:
Hi. Our piggy Lilly has an ongoing issue with blood in her urine and squealing in pain :( we have been treating with metacam and sulfratrim for quite a while on and off and it’s not resolving. Vet did a scan and said there are no stones. But she has found lots of crystals in her urine so we moved to a very low calcium diet. She is also now getting cysts on her ovaries every few months and weighs around 800 grams instead of the 1200 she weighed this time last year.

we’re going back to the vets for another check next week but wandered if anyone has any ideas what this may be in the meantime? Our vet is brilliant, has guineas herself and is very knowledgable, but I’m wandering whether I should take a trip to the cat and rabbit care clinic to try to get to the bottom of this.

thanks for your help, really starting to wander what’s wrong and just want to help her get well!
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Hi!

Has your vet considered sterile interstitial cystitis? It is a non-bacterial bladder infection, which has become rather common over the last decade but is not well known outside vet circles that are seeing guinea pigs on a regular basis.

Antibiotics don't work well or at all on it. It seems to affect especially the glucosamine coating of the urinary tract walls that prevents the corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue. Sterile IC cannot be healed, only managed with plenty of glucosamine (which is classed as a food supplement and not as a medication) and metacam for the pain, especially until you can get it under control and during the typical flares every few weeks or months. In milder cases, feliway cat bladder supplment capsules are easiest to use while the very severe cases profit from relatively new use of cartrofen injections. Treatment roughly follows that of FSC (feline sterile cystitis).
The red pee is typically caused by porphyrine; the blood may or may not test for blood.

The Cat&Rabbit are aware of interstitial IC. They have seen my current IC piggy, Breila.

Links - Interstitial Cystitis - Guinea Lynx Records
 
Thank you both. I’m giving Lily Oxbow joint tablets which have glucosamine in (on our vets advice) but maybe the amount in those isn’t enough if she does have this other type of cystitis. I shall suggest this to the vet on Monday and then probably book an apt with Kim or Simon if she’s not sure how to treat. Thanks again x
 
Claire Evans said:
Thank you both. I’m giving Lily Oxbow joint tablets which have glucosamine in (on our vets advice) but maybe the amount in those isn’t enough if she does have this other type of cystitis. I shall suggest this to the vet on Monday and then probably book an apt with Kim or Simon if she’s not sure how to treat. Thanks again x
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I feel for you 💕💕

My 4.5 year old Buttercup has the same issues! We have been giving her those same Oxbow tablets (she loves them!). I mentioned IC after being given the same advice here. With Buttercup, though, the vet said it wasn't that because there was bacteria present.

So she goes on antibiotics for 4-6 weeks at a time (SMZ-TMP) and then we hope it doesn't come back, but no longer than 3-4 weeks and the blood and pain is back.

Actually, the vet is consulting with a specialist to see if she needs to stay on abx permanently, or if the "pulse therapy"
is better.

Crystals - Buttercup's urine was like a "snow globe" so she is on potassium citrate and hydrochlorothiazide for life, and it's really helping!

And finally, the ovarian cysts. She had the classic crusty nipples, hormonal behavior, and fur loss on her sides, and has responded really well to lupron injections!
 
You’ve already had amazing advice above.

My IC piggy did very well on twice daily cystease and a low calcium diet.
Sending lots of love and healing vibes!
 
Bill & Ted said:
Aw, poor Lilly and you, it’s a worry when you piggies are poorly. I‘m afraid I cannot offer any advice but I can fully recommend Simon and Kim at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Northampton, they are both very experienced when it comes to guinea pigs. I used to travel from Cornwall for my dental piggie Ted, he gave him an extra 2.5 years plus, when my local vet was talking about PTS because of his dental issues. I have also had mammary tumours removed and neutering done with fab results too.
They are always very busy so book as soon as you can, good luck x
Click to expand...
Bill and Ted May I ask if there’s a general guinea vet you recommend in Cornwall please? I’ve found a good one in Penzance but it’s about 1hr 15 away from me so am desperately seeking another a bit nearer if possible. Thank you.
 
Just an update on Lilly...I took her to Cat and Rabbit care clinic as an urgent referral from our local vets as she dropped a lot of weight earlier this week. She had an x ray and then a bladder flush for a small stone, which was removed. She’s still weeing blood (which we were told is to be expected for a little while) but bladder wise is hopefully getting better.

She’s still struggling so much though. It seems the treatment for the cysts isn’t working and she’s showing symptoms within a week of the last injection. She doesn’t want to eat grass, which she usually loves and instead wants to chew cardboard and the vet bed fleece we have down in her hutch. we don’t feel she’s well enough for surgery to be spayed and just don’t know what to do :(

She now weighs 660 grams, is looking really skinny and I’m just so sad for her that she’s been poorly since February and we still haven’t been able to get her better
 
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