Urinary Issues

[StayGold86]

Hey guys,

I currently have a 4 or 5 year old female teddy pig that is having urinary issues. About a month ago, I noticed some very small blood droplets in her urine. Since then she has been to the vet multiple times. The first vet took an x-ray and said she had a stone. Second vet wanted to try to manage the stone and avoid surgery. Then finally I went to a third vet who is very experienced. He took more x-rays of her and did not find a stone. He also did a ultrasound and did not find anything (no stone or ovarian cysts). So, I decided to capture her urine and have it sent to a lab. The results said there were no calcium carbonate crystals, no bacteria, but there were traces of blood. The blood droplets seem to happen at night when she sleeps in her sleeping bag. The vet thinks that she has cystitis and has prescribed Metacam (I believe .2mL up to 2x a day). I will upload pictures of the x-rays and urine test results later today. Here is her current diet at the moment to try to help her Cystitis:

1. One Oxbow joint cookie per day (90mg glucosamine, will be switching to 1 capsule of Cystease per day).
2. Half Oxbow urinary cookie per day (~22mg glucosamine)
3. Bene-Bac (probiotic) pea size serving once a day.
4. Always been on Reverse Osmosis water.
5. Was on Sherwood pellets and no vegetables but she is currently not on any pellets.
6. Orchard Grass Hay mixed with Timothy Hay (no limit, they get as much as they can eat).
7. Sherwood Preventative Tablets (2 in the morning, 2 at night total of 88mg glucosamine). I grind them up and mix them with 5mL of water and syringe feed (they love it).

Things I have noticed that may help others possibly:

1. An all hay diet dramatically increases their water intake. They are constantly drinking water and this is helping flush out their bladders.
2. Removing pellets in the evening reduces the amount of sludge they generate during the night. My pigs are less active during the night and if they have access to pellets, their sludge increases. I would recommend removing pellets in the evening for any pig owner. It is a simple habit that can help urinary issues in the long term. If they are on a non vegetable diet, they will flush out the high calcium from the pellets (during the day) because they're drinking more.
3. Seed heads tend to cause sludge. Try to feed these during the day only.
4. Sherwood claims that calcium is not the sole culprit of calcium carbonate stones. It is the urine pH imbalance. Diets high in vegetables create an alkaline pH which lends itself to stones. Due to an alkaline pH, the body tries to compensate by creating carbonate. The carbonate then bonds to the calcium in the urine and creates stones.
5. Sometimes I try to separate the pigs at night to manage stress levels for the pig with Cystitis.

Currently, she seems to be very happy and she is eating, urinating, and pooping well. My plan is to have her get another x-ray, ultrasound, and urine test soon and see what the results are. I've learned that these piggies are tricky and nothing is certain. So for now, I am lucky to just have her in my life for another day. I wanted to post this, so that it can help someone else out.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[Swissgreys]

Hey guys,

I currently have a 4 or 5 year old female teddy pig that is having urinary issues. About a month ago, I noticed some very small blood droplets in her urine. Since then she has been to the vet multiple times. The first vet took an x-ray and said she had a stone. Second vet wanted to try to manage the stone and avoid surgery. Then finally I went to a third vet who is very experienced. He took more x-rays of her and did not find a stone. He also did a ultrasound and did not find anything (no stone or ovarian cysts). So, I decided to capture her urine and have it sent to a lab. The results said there were no calcium carbonate crystals, no bacteria, but there were traces of blood. The blood droplets seem to happen at night when she sleeps in her sleeping bag. The vet thinks that she has cystitis and has prescribed Metacam (I believe .2mL up to 2x a day). I will upload pictures of the x-rays and urine test results later today. Here is her current diet at the moment to try to help her Cystitis:

1. One Oxbow joint cookie per day (90mg glucosamine, will be switching to 1 capsule of Cystease per day).
2. Half Oxbow urinary cookie per day (~22mg glucosamine)
3. Bene-Bac (probiotic) pea size serving once a day.
4. Always been on Reverse Osmosis water.
5. Was on Sherwood pellets and no vegetables but she is currently not on any pellets.
6. Orchard Grass Hay mixed with Timothy Hay (no limit, they get as much as they can eat).
7. Sherwood Preventative Tablets (2 in the morning, 2 at night total of 88mg glucosamine). I grind them up and mix them with 5mL of water and syringe feed (they love it).

Things I have noticed that may help others possibly:

1. An all hay diet dramatically increases their water intake. They are constantly drinking water and this is helping flush out their bladders.
2. Removing pellets in the evening reduces the amount of sludge they generate during the night. My pigs are less active during the night and if they have access to pellets, their sludge increases. I would recommend removing pellets in the evening for any pig owner. It is a simple habit that can help urinary issues in the long term. If they are on a non vegetable diet, they will flush out the high calcium from the pellets (during the day) because they're drinking more.
3. Seed heads tend to cause sludge. Try to feed these during the day only.
4. Sherwood claims that calcium is not the sole culprit of calcium carbonate stones. It is the urine pH imbalance. Diets high in vegetables create an alkaline pH which lends itself to stones. Due to an alkaline pH, the body tries to compensate by creating carbonate. The carbonate then bonds to the calcium in the urine and creates stones.
5. Sometimes I try to separate the pigs at night to manage stress levels for the pig with Cystitis.

Currently, she seems to be very happy and she is eating, urinating, and pooping well. My plan is to have her get another x-ray, ultrasound, and urine test soon and see what the results are. I've learned that these piggies are tricky and nothing is certain. So for now, I am lucky to just have her in my life for another day. I wanted to post this, so that it can help someone else out.

Any input is appreciated.

Welcome to the Forum.
It is nice to have you here and it would be interesting to hear more about your own piggies.

I wanted to add that you original post has been edited slightly to remove promotional material.

Our members are welcome to post about products they have found helpful, but we usually like to see more contributions towards the Forum as a whole before we allow material that is in essence just advertising a particular product.

 

[StayGold86]

No worries. I understand why you would do that. My intention was to provide resources to some of the information I posted. I do think that the youtube video is valuable to have. All of the nutritional facts for Sherwood products can be found on their website.

 

[StayGold86]

Here are the xrays that were taken. The second one and third are somewhat difficult to assert that there is no stone. However, the vet performed an ultrasound on her bladder and did not find anything. Also, that same day I caught her urine and sent it in for testing. I've included that picture as well. If you see anything out of the ordinary please let me know.

 

[alicehosten]

It's great that you found a solution! And save your pet! And then many write here and here about the loss of their favorites! Well done, you found a solution and now you are happy with teddy pig!

 

[StayGold86]

Thank you!

She has now been on Cystease for a couple days. Within the first 12 hours of being put on it, I noticed a decrease in the amount of blood in her urine. Today is the third day of Feliway Cystease and I haven't found any blood in her urine (knock on wood). I have been giving her 1/2 a capsule in the morning and evening mixed with the Sherwood preventative tablets mix. She is very lively and very communicative.

So for anyone reading this thread, here is a summary:

Diet (at least while having urinary issues):

1. No vegetables
2. No pellets
3. Huge piles of Timothy Hay mixed with Orchard grass hay in the morning that lasts her until the evening. In the evening, I clear out the hay and only give her a big pile of Orchard grass hay.
4. Two bottles of Reverse Osmosis water in the cage at all times.
5. 2 Sherwood Pet Health Preventative Tablets in the morning and 2 in the evening. I grind them up and mix it with .5mL of water and then syringe feed it to her.
6. Bene-Bac probiotic pea size in the morning.
7. Oxbow Timothy Hay cookie snack once a day.
8. Cystease (1/2 a capsule in morning and evening, total 1 capsule a day).
9. Metacam (.2mL once a day)

Important things I have noticed:

1. Vegetables raise the pH of the urine and will decrease the effectiveness of the preventative tablets.
2. The preventative tablets have all the ingredients of the Urinary tablets + extra important support (immune, digestive, joint, etc).
3. Preventative tablets and no vegetables help dissolve calcium carbonate stones (majority of stone types found in pigs).
4. After dissolving a stone, it is possible your pig will have some sort of inflammation/cystitis afterwards. This is when Cystease helps.
5. Pigs can do just fine without pellets and/or vegetables while trying to resolve a urinary issue.
6. Before/During antibiotics, my pig needed to be on a probiotic (Bene-Bac) and a motility drug. This kept her gut strong enough to withstand the antibiotic for a while. Still need to watch their poops very closely to determine how they're doing. Soft poops mean their gut flora is decreasing. Small poops mean their digestive track is slowing down. Hard poops mean they're dehydrated. It may be required to take the pig off of the antibiotics sooner than prescribed if they're starting to go down hill (no poops at all). I would give her the probiotic 2-4 hours before the antibiotic. The motility drug was given whenever the next dosage time needed was.
7. Hay only diet dramatically increases their water intake. Direct water intake increase how often the bladder is being flushed out. There is much less sludge in the urine as a result. Direct water is better than watery vegetables because it does not have to be processed first.
8. Pig reacted well to the painkiller/anti-inflammatory drug Metacam during Cystitis.
9. Use light colored fleece liners to identify urinary issues easily and promptly.
10. During the day, frequently change out popular hang out spots where pigs tend to rest and poop/pee in the same spot. This helps prevent a UTI. I usually sweep my pig's mansion 3 times a day. Since they're drinking more water and urinating more, I also now clean their mansion every other day (new fleece liners).
11. Remove pellets from the mansion at night. I noticed my pigs will generate more sludge when they snack on the pellets during the night and sleep. The lack of movement, less water intake, and pellet calcium seems to generate more sludge.
12. I will be keeping my pigs on the preventative tablets permanently to stay ahead of problems.
13. The glucosamine from Oxbow Joint/Urinary cookies was not as effective as Cystease.


I hope this helps someone in the future. I pray for a healthy and fast recovery for all the little pigs.