Squeaking when peeing/pooping

[guineabr]

Hi everyone! My female guinea pig is squeaking when peeing/pooping, she has been suffering from this for a long time, I visited 3 vets to resolve this problem, she did 2 ultrasound and 1 X-ray. For the first ultrasound she was with lots of gas, the second ultrasound and X-ray (both in the same day) they didn’t find anything than an inflammation, a cystitis.

I read some threads here and I’m thinking about the possibility of her having interstitial cystitis. The one symptom she has today is squeaking when peeing/pooping, nothing more. She hates that I touch her belly or around it, since I got her.

Her daily diet is the same: free hay, a small portion of pellets in the morning (it is a good brand specifically for guinea pigs) and around 12/1pm I give one escarole and 4 pieces of eggplant. Sometimes I give her cucumber, but that’s it.

What could I do to reduce her discomfort? I saw that the diet it the most important thing, but I don’t know where I’m doing wrong

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

Interstitial cystitis can only be diagnosed when everything else has been ruled out.
It affects the glucosamine layer in the bladder.

An IC piggy can still be fed the standard safe daily veggies of lettuce, bell pepper, coriander and cucumber. It’s not so much diet itself but more changes to the diet which seems to set it off.

Make sure you feed pellets in limited amounts - just one tablespoon per day.

An IC piggy will also require a daily dose of glucosamine to help coat the bladder, and probably painkillers. You need to find the right maintenance dose for your piggy to help ease her symptoms, and then they can be increased during a flare and then reduced down to maintenance level after it.

It would be a good idea to discuss IC as a possibility with your vet.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone! My female guinea pig is squeaking when peeing/pooping, she has been suffering from this for a long time, I visited 3 vets to resolve this problem, she did 2 ultrasound and 1 X-ray. For the first ultrasound she was with lots of gas, the second ultrasound and X-ray (both in the same day) they didn’t find anything than an inflammation, a cystitis.

I read some threads here and I’m thinking about the possibility of her having interstitial cystitis. The one symptom she has today is squeaking when peeing/pooping, nothing more. She hates that I touch her belly or around it, since I got her.

Her daily diet is the same: free hay, a small portion of pellets in the morning (it is a good brand specifically for guinea pigs) and around 12/1pm I give one escarole and 4 pieces of eggplant. Sometimes I give her cucumber, but that’s it.

What could I do to reduce her discomfort? I saw that the diet it the most important thing, but I don’t know where I’m doing wrong

Hi

Sterile (i.e. non-bacterial) cystitis can cause these symptoms. It is characterised by a much lower count of (rarely total lack of) bacteria in the urinary tract but more is more commonly diagnosed by default after any other possible issues have been excluded (bacterial urine infection UTI, stones and sludge).
In milder cases with no obvious other symptoms of an infection (intense red pees especially at the onset of a flare), the pain could also be caused by something pushing on or radiating into the area by the anus (like ovarian cysts or arthritis in the lower spine etc).

Sterile cystitis is characterised by flares that recur every few weeks. It seems to mainly affect the walls of the urinary tract and especially the insulating glucosamine layer that prevents highly corrosive urine from coming into painful contact with raw tissue.

Treatment for milder cases is with glucosamine (like for instance feliway cat bladder capsules - cats are the other common pet species prone to bladder problems) and with an analgesic (painkiller and anti-inflammatory like metacam brands). The latter is prescription-only in the UK so you will need to see a vet for a diagnosis. Please be aware that it will take a few weeks for the glucosamine to build up in the body and then it is a matter of finding the suitable maintenance dosage for daily long term support and the best maximum dosage for getting on top of any flares quickly. Sterile IC comes in the full spectrum from the very mild to the yet untreatable extreme; cartrophen is now used for the stronger cases and has pushed the treatable spectrum further out. If stones/sludge have been excluded, then you are more likely dealing with a sterile cystitis on the milder end of the spectrum. A urine test for signs of infection and bacterial count might bring clarity - there should be higher protein levels but a low count of bacteria. At the start of a flare, bleeding may or may not be present in a pee; it is spotty at first.

It seems to mainly affect guinea pigs with a very nervous disposition/high stress default setting, similar to FSC - feline sterile cystitis which your vet will hopefully have heard of. Treatment broadly mirrors that of cats.