One of our pigs, James, hasn’t been very well for about six weeks now. He’s just over 2.5 years old and weighs about 1.3 kg.
He started squeaking when he was weeing and pooing and had blood in his urine at the beginning of July. An Xray showed that he didn’t have kidney / bladder stones but a urine test showed infection and blood in his wee and the vet diagnosed a deep seated UTI and a possible swollen bladder. The vet checked his stomach and has said that the squeaking when he’s pooing is when the poop passes by his bladder on the way out, which is inflamed. The vet said it could take a minimum of 10 weeks to go. He was prescribed 0.7ml Metacam painkiller/anti-inflammatory once a day and 0.6ml of Baytril antibiotic once a day. He had two doses of the Baytril but reacted badly. He became really subdued and inactive, sitting in the corner facing away from us. More worryingly it knocked his appetite and he just stopped pooing. However, it did seem to slightly help the infection. After a hasty visit to the vet again and some poo soup mixes using our healthy guinea pigs’ poos, he started to get back to himself again. The vet advised to stop the Baytril and he was started on Sulfatrim antibiotic at 0.3ml twice a day. After a couple of anxious days, he seemed to pick up again. However, we are now 8 weeks down the line and the infection still seems to be coming and going. Some days he’s not too bad but some days the squeaking gets louder again and he seems in pain. At the vets advice, we’ve restarted the Metacam again. He’s had two separate urine tests since the initial diagnosis to see if the infection is still there and if there’s blood in his wee and despite all our efforts, it is. As the Sulfatrim doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference we have just now started him on the Bayril prescribed originally, at a test dose of 0.1ml twice a day, to see if he has any reaction. If he doesn’t we were going to up his dose to 0.3ml twice a day to see if this helps. So far, after two doses he seems fine so we think maybe the initial prescribed dose of 0.6ml once a day, was too much all at once, which might be why he went funny.
Just wondered if anyone has any experience of a long standing bladder infection and any advice for us? The pigs C & C cage is cleaned out fully once a week and they are spot cleaned at least 2-3 times a day so there is no wetness in their cage and our other guinea pig, Jeremy, is totally fine. They have endless supplies of timothy hay, fresh water and veggies weighed out for them, twice a day. His weight has gone down during this illness, as prior to this he was about 1,456Kg. We’ve been weighing him throughout and the past 4 weeks, his weight has remained stable at 1,253Kg which is positive.
Also, any homemade remedies that we can give alongside the antibiotics to try to speed things along.
He started squeaking when he was weeing and pooing and had blood in his urine at the beginning of July. An Xray showed that he didn’t have kidney / bladder stones but a urine test showed infection and blood in his wee and the vet diagnosed a deep seated UTI and a possible swollen bladder. The vet checked his stomach and has said that the squeaking when he’s pooing is when the poop passes by his bladder on the way out, which is inflamed. The vet said it could take a minimum of 10 weeks to go. He was prescribed 0.7ml Metacam painkiller/anti-inflammatory once a day and 0.6ml of Baytril antibiotic once a day. He had two doses of the Baytril but reacted badly. He became really subdued and inactive, sitting in the corner facing away from us. More worryingly it knocked his appetite and he just stopped pooing. However, it did seem to slightly help the infection. After a hasty visit to the vet again and some poo soup mixes using our healthy guinea pigs’ poos, he started to get back to himself again. The vet advised to stop the Baytril and he was started on Sulfatrim antibiotic at 0.3ml twice a day. After a couple of anxious days, he seemed to pick up again. However, we are now 8 weeks down the line and the infection still seems to be coming and going. Some days he’s not too bad but some days the squeaking gets louder again and he seems in pain. At the vets advice, we’ve restarted the Metacam again. He’s had two separate urine tests since the initial diagnosis to see if the infection is still there and if there’s blood in his wee and despite all our efforts, it is. As the Sulfatrim doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference we have just now started him on the Bayril prescribed originally, at a test dose of 0.1ml twice a day, to see if he has any reaction. If he doesn’t we were going to up his dose to 0.3ml twice a day to see if this helps. So far, after two doses he seems fine so we think maybe the initial prescribed dose of 0.6ml once a day, was too much all at once, which might be why he went funny.
Just wondered if anyone has any experience of a long standing bladder infection and any advice for us? The pigs C & C cage is cleaned out fully once a week and they are spot cleaned at least 2-3 times a day so there is no wetness in their cage and our other guinea pig, Jeremy, is totally fine. They have endless supplies of timothy hay, fresh water and veggies weighed out for them, twice a day. His weight has gone down during this illness, as prior to this he was about 1,456Kg. We’ve been weighing him throughout and the past 4 weeks, his weight has remained stable at 1,253Kg which is positive.
Also, any homemade remedies that we can give alongside the antibiotics to try to speed things along.
