suspected uti? Or something more

[secretlifeofpiggies]

hello, I'm new to this website and I'm not sure if I'm posting on the right thing but I'm just looking for some advice. So my little guinea pig harry was castrated about 3 weeks ago, I wasn't worried about the surgery as one of my other boys has had the same procedure and was absolutely fine. However a different vet did harrys operation and she was a lot less experienced in guinea pigs especially, when I brought harry home I immediately knew something wasn't right as he wasn't moving and looked extremely lethargic, and uncontrollablely weeing, but it smelt extremely strong like a hamsters (if you know you know!) and I kept having to move his house every hour or so otherwise he wouldn't move, he was only on metacam at this point. After about a day or so his wound became extremely swollen and we took him up to the vets and they said its nothing to worry about, but he was not himself at all and I was very worried, about 2 days had passed and he had gotten worse rather than better so we went back up, and they told us to go down to the overnight vets as they suspected it was a hernia and it was. So he had that operation, and was put on more metacam and after about 4 days he seemed to be slowly improving. But about a week and a bit ago I noticed him squealing whilst weeing and hunching his back and I guessed it to be a uti, so we asked the vets for some medication, and they prescribed us a round of trimoxazole for a week, 0.6ml twice a day. He has just finished his weekly course and I see no improvement and I don't know what to do because there is no exotic vets specialised in small animals near me and I feel like there's more to it, if I could get some advice that would me amazing thank-you!

 

[Wiebke]

hello, I'm new to this website and I'm not sure if I'm posting on the right thing but I'm just looking for some advice. So my little guinea pig harry was castrated about 3 weeks ago, I wasn't worried about the surgery as one of my other boys has had the same procedure and was absolutely fine. However a different vet did harrys operation and she was a lot less experienced in guinea pigs especially, when I brought harry home I immediately knew something wasn't right as he wasn't moving and looked extremely lethargic, and uncontrollablely weeing, but it smelt extremely strong like a hamsters (if you know you know!) and I kept having to move his house every hour or so otherwise he wouldn't move, he was only on metacam at this point. After about a day or so his wound became extremely swollen and we took him up to the vets and they said its nothing to worry about, but he was not himself at all and I was very worried, about 2 days had passed and he had gotten worse rather than better so we went back up, and they told us to go down to the overnight vets as they suspected it was a hernia and it was. So he had that operation, and was put on more metacam and after about 4 days he seemed to be slowly improving. But about a week and a bit ago I noticed him squealing whilst weeing and hunching his back and I guessed it to be a uti, so we asked the vets for some medication, and they prescribed us a round of trimoxazole for a week, 0.6ml twice a day. He has just finished his weekly course and I see no improvement and I don't know what to do because there is no exotic vets specialised in small animals near me and I feel like there's more to it, if I could get some advice that would me amazing thank-you!

Hi and welcome

We cannot tell you what exactly is going on. The hunching is more likely caused by a neutering op complication (abscess at the back of the operated area?) than an infection. What you are describing is a more general symptom for some major pain in the wider anus/testicle area.
You have to be aware that the reproductive and the urinary tract are wrapped around each other and they are enveloped by the gut so any pain or problem can easily impact on the gut or urinary tract.
Signs of Pain in Guinea Pigs

Please take the time to read this helpful guide, which also includes a list of the more common post-op complications that can come with a neutering operation: Neutering operations: Considerations, post-op care and complications and a successful recovery example

Here is our very practical support care guide:
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

All the best. I am very sorry that you are having such a rough ride.