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Poorly Piggy

Zezeria

Zezeria

New Born Pup
Joined
Apr 10, 2021
Messages
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Location
Whitefield, Manchester
Hello,
I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment and have paid about £350 in consultations from two veterinary practices and a 3-plate x-ray (Beginning of Feb) on my girly Mable (2.5 year old). She has been given metacam for some bouts of pain and strain she's been having, but nothing showed up on any of the x-ray takes.
Since Feb she's only had 1 short lived bout, about 30 mins with metacam. But tonight is going through it again, but the metacam doesn't seem to be having any effect.
She's still straining and twisting/crying. I have a short video that I have sent to my vets emergency WhatsApp but nothing back yet.
 
Zezeria said:
Hello,
I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment and have paid about £350 in consultations from two veterinary practices and a 3-plate x-ray (Beginning of Feb) on my girly Mable (2.5 year old). She has been given metacam for some bouts of pain and strain she's been having, but nothing showed up on any of the x-ray takes.
Since Feb she's only had 1 short lived bout, about 30 mins with metacam. But tonight is going through it again, but the metacam doesn't seem to be having any effect.
She's still straining and twisting/crying. I have a short video that I have sent to my vets emergency WhatsApp but nothing back yet.
Click to expand...

Can you please copy the video across? It needs to be on a public setting, though.
We don't have a video upload facility because we run entirely on voluntary member donations.
 
https://imgur.com/Q7BBjWA

Hi, hopefully this will work - she's calmed down somewhat since I last posted but I worry that given she's had 2 bouts over the last 2 days that we'll get more with her.

Apologies it's dark, I was worried I wouldn't get the clip
 
What did the vet think was wrong with her? Was she given anything other than the metacam?
 
They said they at the time it was like grit (sludgey) being passed but since then, she's still been like it but no sign of sludge/grit. There was nothing, no stone on the scan. We altered their diet immediately, although at the time it was still under the minimum amount recommended on the bag the pellets they have should only be a tiny amount. They were having their veggies each evening and hay. Sorry I missed this out yesterday!
 
They only have a very small amount pellets since Feb, usual veggies (normally a mix of cucumber, pepper and spinach small bowl like few pieces of each) and hay.
 
Spinach is high in calcium. Pellets and water contribute the most amount of calcium in their diet, even more than high calcium veg. Hence recommending only a tablespoon of (grass based) pellets and filtered water.

Did they consider a UTI? Is the vet experienced in treating guinea pigsv
 
Flippin heck this has turned into another huge post so bottom line, ponder - (1)SIC (2)bowel issues (3)videos

I've had pigs with stones and pigs with UTI (and pigs with both!) and there has usually been obvious blood in urine when somebody first starts complaining enough for me to hear when passing. The other thing is that once we've started showing symptoms we don't stop until we've had some effective treatment (like antibiotics) or got rid of the troublesome stone. There is something called sterile interstitial cystitis (SIC) which we've not experienced (there are threads on the forum though - some member's piggies have it) which can be addressed with diet modifications (bladder support with cystease(?) I think, and identifying trigger foods) but as I understand it piggy can be fine for a while then have occasional flare-ups.

I've recently had issues with a new arrival (age 3) who turned into a pellet-monster when she got a taste of a new type and was peeing tiny sludgy puddles all over the fleece and really freaking me out. Now she's had extra water bottles put into her hiding places and she's calmed down with the pellets a bit everything looks a lot more 'normal'. It's made me think about how often vets must x-ray, see sludge and think "Aha, there's the problem"... but as this is naturally how they excrete their excess calcium there's often a bit in there anyway. Where do they draw the line, so to speak, between normal and troublesome? If there are times when your girl is peeing normally and not squealing perhaps it is worth keeping an open mind about the cause? I've looked at your video a few times and I'm wondering if they are just now looking for bladder related issues... I mean they are pretty common so that's fair enough. But when the squeaking stops your little girl bobs her head down in the video as if she is going for a fresh 'soft' poop to eat - could it be something to do with her bowel being inflamed rather than her bladder? They often pee and poop at the same time so it can be hard to tell. It might be worthwhile getting this video - and any others you can get of her symptoms - into the vet so they can have a good look at how she behaves. If they have 3 or 4 vids they might be able to spot a common feature. It's also interesting how she's positioned herself in that corner facing the window/wall... I don't know if she's there regularly or if she was about to go into that tunnel perhaps? Mine poop all over (obvs) although they do tend to 'unload' just before they go into somewhere - into a hidey, into a covered bit of the cage etc. What I mean is they don't go somewhere especially to toilet. Is that corner a favourite position generally? Or could she perhaps have felt pain coming on and tucked herself away. This to me would make me think more of bowel than of bladder as the bowel can start to move painfully before anything emerges. If I've had cystitis (like me personally, the human) it doesn't hurt beforehand at all, not until I actually pee - then oh does it sting. But if people have bowel pain (some relatives with IBS-like symptoms) there is a build up and some warning that things are going to be painful. It might be hard to spot the difference with a piggie though - whether she seems to feel pain coming on and tucks herself away, or whether she just gets caught unawares. I hope she feels better soon and I apologise if this is just a confusing mess of not very helpful thoughts!
 
Hi both, apologies for the delay! We have her booked in to see the vet this weekend. Her old vet passed her onto our new vet (who did the scan) because she specialises in Guinea pigs and other small animals. Each time she's had a flare-up she is in the corner facing into it. Pooping and peeing fine, and she's not had any dark leafy greens since this last awful bout - she hasn't had another (*fingers-crossed) she's comfortable at the moment and due in over the weekend for another check over. They have the video (and a few others) to review.

I'm going to try filtering their water before bottling it too.

Thank you these were a lot of really helpful comments and thoughts/ideas!
 
We noticed she was pooping after each strain, so will see what comes of it.
UTI was also mentioned on the phone - I will mention all of the above! I need her to be a happy healthy Mable.

I'm going to try filtering their water before bottling it too. They have been on about a tablespoon pellets since Feb vs what was recommended on the bag. I'm really hoping a combination of all these changes will help them both too.
 
That's good to hear that she has been OK since her last bout - and no need to apologise for 'delay' in posting... life is busy! And sometimes things take a looong time to sort out. As long as you post on this same thread we should all get a prompt :tu: Fingers crossed for you, little fluffy girl!
 
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