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Spine & bladder issues

stef.trg

stef.trg

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Jun 6, 2020
Messages
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Location
Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria
Hi guys, me again! Now that Pewter has managed to get through the worst, Benito has taken on the role of being my „problem child“.

It all started yesterday morning when I noticed he was hiding more and not running around as much. Checked him over but didn’t find anything obviously wrong with him. I soon figured that he might be in pain because he was just sitting in his hidey, not wanting to move & not bouncing around like he usually is. He doesn’t sit puffed up and isn‘t grinding his teeth. He will eat hay if I get him out of his hidey & sit him into the hay tray/next to his veggies but won‘t come out and walk there by himself. I started topping him up with CC last night, which is when I noticed that he was dribbling single drops of urine almost constantly. No signs of pain when peeing or pooping though. This morning he had a super wet belly from all the pee and probably sitting in the same spot of his hidey all night.

Went to the vets this morning, it was our usual vet so that’s positive. She mentioned that his bladder was full but he was only dribbling, as if he couldn’t empty it. Did an X-Ray, no stones or anything else wrong with his bladder but it looks like he has a little dip in his spine a tiny bit after his shoulders. This also seemed to hurt him when she pushed onto said spot.

Now we‘re at a bit of a loss. He‘s clearly in some sort of pain but not puffed up, he is constantly dribbling urine, he doesn‘t want to get up to eat but will eat if food is placed in front of him or the other way around. He had a painkiller and Vitamin B injection 1,5 hours ago but so far no improvement, still hiding not wanting to come out.

I really don‘t know what to do or how to help him - if there‘s even anything I can do. I would really be so grateful for any tips or advice because I‘m really really worried about my little man 🥺
 
Sorry to hear Benito is not well. I’ve no experience of this but hopefully someone with more experience will be along soon.

Did the vet help him to empty the bladder? What did she think could be the cause of the retained urine?

Sending healing wheeks and hope he feels better soon.
 
Siikibam said:
Sorry to hear Benito is not well. I’ve no experience of this but hopefully someone with more experience will be along soon.

Did the vet help him to empty the bladder? What did she think could be the cause of the retained urine?

Sending healing wheeks and hope he feels better soon.
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Thank you for your reply. Yes, she did empty his bladder for him and showed me how to do it at home if he needs help with it again. She thinks it might be a neurological issue coming from the painful dip in the spine as everything else seems perfectly fine. She thinks he might have hurt himself jumping out of the hay tray or something and with hurting his spine also managed to hurt his nerve.
 
Has he been given painkiller for administration at home?
 
Siikibam said:
Has he been given painkiller for administration at home?
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He has, yes. We have 4 days worth of Dog Metacam dosed at 0,3ml every 12 hours. If he hasn’t improved by Thursday she wants to see him again although she‘s not quite sure what else she can really do for him if that‘s the case.
 
Fingers crossed he will improve with the metacam. It might be a good idea to switch to weighing him daily for now, just to be sure he’s eating enough. And put the hay/veg in front of him as it sounds like he doesn’t want to move much.
 
Siikibam said:
Fingers crossed he will improve with the metacam. It might be a good idea to switch to weighing him daily for now, just to be sure he’s eating enough. And put the hay/veg in front of him as it sounds like he doesn’t want to move much.
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I have already switched to weighing him daily, he was up 10g from yesterday this morning so I‘m happy with that. He has a pile of hay directly in front of his hidey which he seems to eat from every now and again and I‘m also topping him up with CC. Just hoping that with painkillers & rest he‘ll improve. His belly has thankfully stayed dry since this morning so I‘m hoping that’s a tiny step in the right direction.
 
Just an update from us: Benito is still much the same, although he did seem a little perkier this morning than he did the last couple of days. He decided to come out of his hidey all by himself this morning when I got up and had a little waddle around the cage and nibbled on some hay. So he's still eating by himself but not enough so I'm topping him up with as much syringe feed as he'll take. This morning we managed 8ml of syringe feed, a slice of cucumber and few pellets. He still can't pee, it's like his bladder just overflows so I have to assume there's some sort of nerve damage somewhere that's causing this. The metacam doesn't really seem to make any difference to his situation so I'm a bit at a loss there.

I have spoken to my vet again this morning and she wants us to see an exotic specialist to make sure we're not missing anything. Got him an appointment with them for 6:45pm today so hopfeully they can shed some more light on the situation.

I'm hopeful that he will recover as he's got some good fight in him but I'm very aware that we're not out of the woods yet. I will keep you guys updated!
 
Bless him. I have been thinking of you. I have 2 piggies with arthritis in their spines. I've noticed one of them has started dribbling urine, he making little damp patches round the cage rather than one or two wet patches. It's so worrying when we don't know what to do to help them. I hope the vet can come up with something today.
 
piggieminder said:
Bless him. I have been thinking of you. I have 2 piggies with arthritis in their spines. I've noticed one of them has started dribbling urine, he making little damp patches round the cage rather than one or two wet patches. It's so worrying when we don't know what to do to help them. I hope the vet can come up with something today.
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Thank you, it really means so much to know that someone is thinking of us. I feel like the only person under the sun caring for him all by myself.

It really is such a worrying time because I just have absolutely no idea what happened to him & what caused his symptoms. The fact that he weighed in at roughly 70g less than usual on Saturday morning makes me think that maybe he hasn‘t been eating properly for longer and I didn’t notice. I really hope we get some answers tonight.
 
I don't think you missed anything, in the scheme of things 70gm can be dropped very quickly. A poop and a wee can see them drop 30 - 50gm so they could easily drop 70gm in a day if they ate less hay and that's not something that's easy to spot straight away, especially if they have a cage mate. Try not to go over everything and blame yourself, you are a very attentive owner. You noticed quickly he wasn't right, he's seen a vet, had treatment and you are syringe feeding and doing all that can be done. Not all guinea pigs are so fortunate. Those of us who love our piggies so much are very hard on ourselves sometimes!
 
If he has hurt his spine he can have a higher dose of dog metacam.My fuzz was on 0.6ml but I was told she could go up to 1ml temporarily if she was still In a lot of pain .Obviously discuss with your vet 1st though.
 
How did the vet visit go? Hope you managed to get some answers.
 
We‘re back home from the vets who was very caring & knowledgeable. He did another x-ray, an ultrasound & checked his pee and there doesn’t seem to be anything of major concern. No stones, no sludge, no inflammation. He also paid special attention to his spine and couldn’t find anything that points towards an injury which I was very relieved to hear. However, when he examined his belly he noticed some swelling and pain response in the lower abdomen. So he thinks that rather than having hurt his spine he experienced some sort of trauma to his lower abdomen that caused some bruising & swelling to the area around his urethra and bladder which makes it difficult for him to pee, hence the overflowing bladder. He got another injection that should help with the swelling & the vet said he should usually be back to normal again by the end of the week. If he‘s not improving we are to come back for further investigation.

He is definitely perkier tonight and has been out of his hidey for an hour after coming home. He‘s also been more interested in his dinner veggies and almost gobbled up his half and then had a good 20-30 minute munch of hay. He has now crawled back into his hidey - not surprised though as it was a rather stressful evening for the little man.

I will let him rest for a bit and then give him his meds & see if he will take some critical care top up. Since his eating seems to have picked up significantly tonight I‘m not going to stuff it down his throat but he‘s usually quite happy to take around 8ml without forcing so I‘ll give it a try. So it looks like we‘re on the right track to getting better, fingers crossed!

I have to admit I‘m a bit disappointed with our usual vet as she‘s made it sound like he‘s got some sort of untreatable spinal injury with a 50/50 chance of being fatal when he‘s really got no problem with his spine at all. Now she‘s not an exotic specialist but that‘s a fairly serious misjudgment in my eyes.

Anyways, the little man is hopefully going to pick up properly in the next few days and will be back to normal by the end of the week. I will keep you posted!

PS: Benito says thank you for all the healing wheeks and positive thoughts.
 

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I’m glad the visit was more informative. Sending more healing wheeks to Benito.
 
Unfortunately, Benito was worse this morning sitting all fluffed up looking very sorry for himself. I managed to get a few ml of critical care into him and he had a little nibble of hay before hiding away in his house again. The vet did fully empty his bladder yesterday so maybe the squeezing led to some more bruising/swelling. Or it might also be from the injectino he got at the vets last night. His poos still looked normal this morning but will start him on Fibreplex at lunch, just in case.

Definitely feels like a setback after seeing him eating and looking almost back to his usual self last night. Not helped by me being at work all day & unable to check on him or syringe feed him. Having some distance to the situation feels quite good for my mental health though as it gives me some space to breathe & I know that that's necessary too because if I'm not well, I can't care for the little man.

I try to remind myself that recovery isn't linear and that he's young & healthy but god, it is draining.
 
It’s important to take care of yourself as well. Hope that Benito can get over this dip. Healing wheeks and hugs.
 
Siikibam said:
It’s important to take care of yourself as well. Hope that Benito can get over this dip. Healing wheeks and hugs.
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After a day of zero interest in any food and just some minor nibbles of his hay I can finally hear some more consistent munching coming from his hidey. He also just came out to the bars and had half a pellet when the others were getting their evening pellets. So I guess that’s progress. Will do his last syringe feed now and then get the little man and myself to bed for the night. Thank you for your all the healing wheeks & hugs ❤️
 
Every little positive is a good thing and hopefully continues. Sleep well b
 
It’s always reassuring to hear sounds of munching. I hope that he will continue to show signs of improvement tomorrow.
 
He was much the same this morning. No appetite but he‘s looking „fresher“ than he was yesterday and generally seems interested in what‘s happening around him. His belly is rather gurgly so I‘m assuming the meds have upset his digestion. Will call the vets later to ask what exactly he got on Monday evening. I was too out of it to ask while I was there.

He takes the syringe feeds very well - we manage about 15ml in each sitting, attempting to do 4 a day. So his intake is somewhere between 50ml and 60ml + the little bit of hay he nibbles during the day. We seem to be on the right track as his weight was actually up a little this morning, even with an empty bladder. His belly doesn’t seem to be wet anymore (it is shaved but his bum and feet also seem to remain dry) and he also doesn’t leak urine as excessively as he did. We have some funky looking poops but I‘m not complaining as long as there are some!

One question: I can’t syringe feed too much, can I? Like I‘m not preventing him from eating on his own by syringe feeding him because he‘s „too full“ or anything?
 
I’m glad he’s seems a little brighter today. No you can’t stop them eating on their own while syringe feeding. A well piggy will always want to eat for themselves. Good luck.
 
I had a piggy who completely stopped eat while he was on antibiotics. I syringe fed him for about 6 weeks. Once the antibiotics stopped he felt well enough to eat for himself. It’s not easy syringe feeding a piggy. It can be quite stressful. You’re doing a great job.
 
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