UTI/urine scald, question on washing and where to buy flamazine cream?

[Fluffbabies]

Hi all, back again!

TLDR:
- Vet diagnosed UTI and it looks like she has urine scald. She has hair loss around swollen lady area. The skin looks bald and it's only been two days
- How often should I wash the urine off her skin? I think she might need it twice a day because it's not long til she's wet again but I don't want to make her skin more sore.
- Is a damp cloth enough and better than bath when she's this saturated with urine?
- Where can I get flamazine cream from that @Weibke suggests? It looks like I need a prescription?
- Anyone heard of cystease and joint supplement causing urine crystals/grittiness?


Long Backstory:

Our Oreo is 6 and a quarter. A couple of days ago we noticed she is suddenly getting very wet with urine around her bottom, lady area and tummy. We gave her a bath and have kept the cage really dry. One day later she was like it again so I washed the urine off again the best I could. Her bottom half is all white so the hair is still a shade of yellow. I have trimmed it very short because of how bad it was the first day. I noticed yesterday that her urine is really smelly too so I realised this wasn't an isolated case of her laying in her wee which does happen.

Back in March Oreo was showing a lot of discomfort around her bladder. The local vet gave us Baytril. When we took her to the specialist in April, they got three stones out. She has never shown any VISIBLE pain signs or squeak when urinating but didn't like it when we touched her around that area. Since then, her urine has become permanently very cloudy white, and has now started feeling gritty. (This used to be an occasional thing after too much high calcium veg we would see a couple of patches from the herd. We haven't given any of our pigs high calcium veg since our late Nugget got stones at age 5 back in March. Now there's loads of patches all the time from Oreo). There has been some occasions of blood in urine noticed on white bedding as well.

I took her to the vet today and he also thinks she has a UTI. He emptied her bladder and is was obviously sore for her. He said he couldn't feel any stones but that doesn't mean she doesn't have some somewhere. He looked at her urine sample under the microscope and found small crystals, red blood cells, bacteria and white blood cells. He thinks the very small crystals/grit is irritating her bladder and causing the occasional bloody urine. Prescribed 0.35ml Baytril twice a day for a week then follow up if improved. She is to continue her 0.4ml dog Loxicom twice a day. I'm going to get vetbed even though she's getting wet with the bedding being dry which I guess suggests it's dripping and just going right on her skin?

The vet is going to ask colleagues whether continuing half a cystease capsule twice a day and 0.5ml Johnsons Joints4U supplement in evening is a good idea. She's been on the joint stuff since she started loxicom aged 4 when her arthritis started. Then we started cystease around March. He said they they contain similar ingredients and wonders if it's too much and contributing to the grittiness/crystals in her urine? The specialist in April knows she's on all of it and said it couldn't hurt to continue it all. Oreo's urine wasn't as white as much back then. There was only some cloudiness in it but it was smooth. Has anyone heard of that?

Oreo now weighs just under 900g as she has had more muscle wastage and is a scrawny arthritic old lady pig now. It makes us sad but apart from the past couple of days she has been so happy we try not to think about how skinny she is getting. She's still had that zest for life and food. She's a bit more withdrawn in the past couple of days but the vet hopes the antibiotics will help and said the urine scald/bladder discomfort could be causing her to stay in one place more. We give her a scoop of syringe feed most days as per specialist's advice but don't force her. To maintain her weight if she were ill she'd probably need 2.5 scoops but it's just getting some extra food into her. Somedays she loves it and has more than the one scoop.

She won't take it from the bowl yet she's very spoiled and asks for the syringe! As if she's to get her whiskers dirty!

P.S. Apart from the blonde on her face she's black and white. So all that dark yellow is urine on her white fur

 

[Fluffbabies]

Also are these the wipes I can use on her? Maybe we wash her with a wet cloth once a day and do these too?

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/douxo-pyo-antiseptic-dog-and-cat-skin-care-pads-30-pack

 

[piggieminder]

I can't comment on your questions but didn't want to read and run. Sending your poor girl healing vibes. Get well soon Oreo.

 

[Siikibam]

I would say avoid the wipes and just use plain water with a wash cloth as and when she needs it. I hope she does start feeling better soon.

 

[Fluffbabies]

Update... Oreo's not getting soaked with wee each day and seems less withdrawn since starting the antibiotics. She's active and running around for salad like she's a lot younger than 6 and a quarter. A lot happier in herself.

Her lower tummy is sensitive. We've been gently wiping her down with a damp lukewarm cloth once a day. She's been a lot drier but it's obviously not washing the yellow out of her white fur. She's lost a lot of hair on her tummy and there are big dry flakes which I'm guessing is skin that's peeled off though? Looking at the photo is there anything else we can do to care for this? So it's not sore and maybe grows back?

Her weight is down some more. We're not sure if it's due to the infection as she is a lot more active and eating well or if it's more decline due to her age and condition. New lowest weight of 840g this morning. Lowest before was 860g. She was 900g yesterday morning but her average has come down a bit more. She took her syringe food well this morning.

It's hard seeing them lose weight knowing they're old and it's only going one way. It reminds us a lot of when Ginger had cancer and we watched her lose weight continuously until the day she collapsed and passed away. She was so happy and active until the last second (literally!), running, jumping and popcorning. Apart from the weightless and puffiness you wouldn't have known she had cancer. Oreo's still a very happy pig. She's just very skinny like Ginger was. The vet couldn't believe her age though and said she's doing very well so that makes us happy

 

[Wiebke]

Update... Oreo's not getting soaked with wee each day and seems less withdrawn since starting the antibiotics. She's active and running around for salad like she's a lot younger than 6 and a quarter. A lot happier in herself.

Her lower tummy is sensitive. We've been gently wiping her down with a damp lukewarm cloth once a day. She's been a lot drier but it's obviously not washing the yellow out of her white fur. She's lost a lot of hair on her tummy and there are big dry flakes which I'm guessing is skin that's peeled off though? Looking at the photo is there anything else we can do to care for this? So it's not sore and maybe grows back?

Her weight is down some more. We're not sure if it's due to the infection as she is a lot more active and eating well or if it's more decline due to her age and condition. New lowest weight of 840g this morning. Lowest before was 860g. She was 900g yesterday morning but her average has come down a bit more. She took her syringe food well this morning.

It's hard seeing them lose weight knowing they're old and it's only going one way. It reminds us a lot of when Ginger had cancer and we watched her lose weight continuously until the day she collapsed and passed away. She was so happy and active until the last second (literally!), running, jumping and popcorning. Apart from the weightless and puffiness you wouldn't have known she had cancer. Oreo's still a very happy pig. She's just very skinny like Ginger was. The vet couldn't believe her age though and said she's doing very well so that makes us happy

Hi

Glad that the antibiotic is doing the trick and that she is better in herself.

You have to live with the urine stains. They will eventually fade but not even shampoo will get them out of any white fur.

Please contact your vet if the weight continues to go down further. Some antibiotics can affect the digestive bacteria in the gut more than others and some piggies are also more sensitive. However, there could also be an underlying cause. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for us to say what your skin flakes are without hands-on access. It could be caked on stuff or the uppermost layer of skin that has been affected by the urine scald coming off and leaving bald but healthy skin tissue underneath.

Flamazine cream is now classed as a prescription-only medication (POM). For a very short term limited treatment, you can use a very thin layer of sudocream (not on any open sores and not too much as it tends to dry out the skin and cause further cracks if overused) or ask your vet clinic what they would recommend.
For small open sores you can always make your own saline solution as a mild and safe disinfectant or use diluted hibiscrub.

 

[piggieminder]

Thank you for the update. It's lovely to hear she is happier.