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Poor Winifred - now a UTI

I'm so sorry that you lost Winifred, you did everything you could. Unfortunately there's no 'how to' guide with these things. Sleep tight Winnie. Take care of yourself Qualcast&Flymo. We're here if you need us ♥️
 
HUGS

I am so very sorry. You have tried your very best and couldn't have done any more.
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
:td: :(
Poor Winifred, she hasn't been 100% since early last summer... First it was arthritis, we finally got on top of it with the right combo of drugs (0.2ml Metacam and 0.58ml Tralieve, each 2x a day). Then in November she got bumblefoot, the vet thinks it's better now, still scabs but the skin underneath looks OK. Then 10 days ago I realised that she was very smelly, and when I picked her up she was all wet underneath at her back end.

I guessed she has picked up a UTI, maybe due to lying too long in one place in her wee. I gave her a bum bath and waited for a scheduled vet appointment 3 days later. The vet agreed that it was probably a uti, she prescribed 0.19ml of Sulfatrim twice a day. (In addition to the pain meds she's already on).

Winifred has been on the Sulfatrim for a week ( which was what the label says she should have it for). But it doesn't seem to have made any difference. She is as pungent as ever, and possibly getting more wet underneath.

Could it be something other than a UTI? Is there anything else I can do/give her to make her better? Is 0.19ml of Sulfatrim the optimum dose for a 900-1000g piggy?

I'll continue with the Sulfatrim for now and email my vet in the morning (Weds). But if anyone has any ideas I'd be grateful!
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I am really sorry to hear about your lovely piggy and bumble foot. I am assuming that you have a rescue pig - sorry to be honest but bumble foot is very avoidable.
 
BabyBears said:
I am really sorry to hear about your lovely piggy and bumble foot. I am assuming that you have a rescue pig - sorry to be honest but bumble foot is very avoidable.
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I'm not sure what this post aimed to achieve? Are you accusing the OP of something like improper care? Just seems a bit insensitive given what the OP and the piggy went through and with the outcome.
 
BabyBears said:
bumble foot is very avoidable
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Vets see many piggies with avoidable bumblefoot but that does not mean that bumblefoot is always avoidable. Sometimes a one-off accident or injury can make piggy a bit more prone to it as they perhaps lean a little more onto one side. Sometimes a touch of arthritis can make the feet puffy and a little more tender. Sometimes you just get a nasty kind of bug that we struggle to deal with even with all our modern medicines. Older piggies can garner a range of problems as their immune system gently fails and we can't fight old age. Next time maybe check out the banner on the left... you will see the OP has been around a few years and has had a lot of interaction with the forum, so you can guess that they are an active participant in all the discussions regarding piggy health and wellbeing.

Oh, and if you feel a bit embarrassed about any comment you might have made at any point you can always 'report' yourself and ask the mods to remove it. I know I have done! x
 
BabyBears said:
I am really sorry to hear about your lovely piggy and bumble foot. I am assuming that you have a rescue pig - sorry to be honest but bumble foot is very avoidable.
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I adopted Winifred from a rescue over 4 years ago. I'm aware there are aspects of poor husbandry that can increase the possibility of bumblefoot, such as wire-bottomed cages. Winifred however had fleece bedding which was changed regularly. She was 6+ years old and since getting bad arthritis last summer had become increasingly less active and inclined to lie where she had wee'd or pooped. When I first noticed the start of bumblefoot, we went straight to the vet ( there is a whole separate thread about it) and went back again probably every 2 weeks for checkups and more medicine. She was on baytril and also I wiped her feet with antibacterial wipes and applied barrier cream twice a day. Before her final UTI, the vet thought the bumblefoot was better, or at least stable. I doubt it had any contribution to her passing except in so far as it and the UTI may have weakened a bit more an already frail body... Until the morning when I found her not having eaten her veggies and refusing food, she looked otherwise happy and healthy. So in the circumstances, I'm not sure I appreciate the criticism implicit in your comment :no: which is helpful neither to me nor to anyone else reading this thread later who may be worrying about their piggy and bumblefoot.
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
I adopted Winifred from a rescue over 4 years ago. I'm aware there are aspects of poor husbandry that can increase the possibility of bumblefoot, such as wire-bottomed cages. Winifred however had fleece bedding which was changed regularly. She was 6+ years old and since getting bad arthritis last summer had become increasingly less active and inclined to lie where she had wee'd or pooped. When I first noticed the start of bumblefoot, we went straight to the vet ( there is a whole separate thread about it) and went back again probably every 2 weeks for checkups and more medicine. She was on baytril and also I wiped her feet with antibacterial wipes and applied barrier cream twice a day. Before her final UTI, the vet thought the bumblefoot was better, or at least stable. I doubt it had any contribution to her passing except in so far as it and the UTI may have weakened a bit more an already frail body... Until the morning when I found her not having eaten her veggies and refusing food, she looked otherwise happy and healthy. So in the circumstances, I'm not sure I appreciate the criticism implicit in your comment :no: which is helpful neither to me nor to anyone else reading this thread later who may be worrying about their piggy and bumblefoot.
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I’m so sorry that I was so tactless and unfeeling. I got my info from a vet a few years’ back when I took one of my own pigs there with suspected bumble foot - it wasn’t, but the vet got into a bit of a rant about how some piggies are poorly housed and the causes of bumble foot - perhaps she was having a bad day.

I cannot apologise enough to you because you clearly took great care of Winifred. I have had piggies who have had to have a lot of medical treatment and care and very sadly sometimes it is just too much for their little bodies to take. RIP Winifred, and it’s important to know that you took such great care of her.
 
BabyBears said:
I’m so sorry that I was so tactless and unfeeling. I got my info from a vet a few years’ back when I took one of my own pigs there with suspected bumble foot - it wasn’t, but the vet got into a bit of a rant about how some piggies are poorly housed and the causes of bumble foot - perhaps she was having a bad day.

I cannot apologise enough to you because you clearly took great care of Winifred. I have had piggies who have had to have a lot of medical treatment and care and very sadly sometimes it is just too much for their little bodies to take. RIP Winifred, and it’s important to know that you took such great care of her.
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That's ok, apology accepted.

Maybe your vet had had to treat piggies that had been rescued from horrible situations and knew just how painful etc it must be for them if left untreated, and the mention of it by you "triggered" her into a bit of a rant. It must be difficult seeing animals suffering needlessly when you care about them as vets must do.
Unfortunately curing bumblefoot isn't easy either - my vet mentioned surgery to remove the scab and infected flesh, I guess they can do this when larger animals get their equivalent of bumblefoot, but she said it was impractical as piggies' feet are so small - and anyway at 6 years old surgery under GA would be more risky.
 
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