Guinea pig losing fur and messy bottom

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:11 pm


If she drinks excessively, this may dilute the urine to such an extent that the bacteria is not killed. I am guessing that if there is a good reason, the vet might consider increasing the dose. See also:
https://www.guinealynx.info/patriciasimon_diabetes.html

amyfw

Post   » Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:23 pm


That’s a great point Lynx. I had not thought about how the water might dilute the meds.
One thing I am trying this week is using a hay rack. She hates racks and won’t eat her hay (huge problem) unless it is on the ground with her so that she can lay in it too. The main problem with this is that hay is not very absorbent and so she just sits in a pile of hay with lee all over it which means one all over herself. Silly girl. She has done this since I have recused her.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:55 pm


Ah yes. Hay rack may help. You may need to hang it fairly low at first so that she'll be more inclined to use it.

amyfw

Post   » Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:55 pm


Update on Butterscotch and new help needed-

Butterscotch has continued to struggle with her chronic UTI. She has three bacterial strains right now causing her problems along with tons of sludge that we just can’t knock back and her vets assume she will continue to have the uti for life because they think the sludge is holding on to the bacteria where the antibiotics can’t touch it.

She is on Doxy right now and has been for 7 weeks. It helped at first but then stopped. She was at the vet a week ago and they took a culture and the results are pending.

Anyway, what I am writing about today is different. On Tuesday Butterscotch started to act funny. She wouldnt eat (this is not u usual when her uti gets worse) but she seemed the same otherwise. Wednesday night I gave Butterscotch some Tramadol which she has been on several times to help any pain she might have been having. She then began to have extremely loose light colored stool. It is not watery but it sure is not formed at all. It is more like a paste. It did not smell the first 2 days but is starting to get a little stinky.

I called Cornell ASAP and let them know. She has had loose stool for a half day or so here and there as we switch up her meds but it is Saturday and she still has it. They told me to continue her on the Doxy (the only med she is now on while she gets over the stool issues) and have said two conflicting this- 1 is that if she were going to have a reaction to the Doxy it would have happened by now and 2 is that being on antibiotics so long could have messed up her GI tract but they still want her on the Doxy.

Well, the uti isn’t great but I know diarrhea can kill so....

Please help. I don’t know what to do. I took her off all veggies. She gets critical care 4x per day. She gets pro-bios probiotic for horses (benebac never seemed to help) 2x a day. I am giving her poop soup 3-4 times a day.

I am concerned that she may be getting close to developing a bad reaction to the antibiotic and continuing to give it to her will allow the bad bacteria to flourish until she gets watery diarrhea and dies of the toxicity.

Of note, the vet that handled her had been treating a sick bird before seeing her. Could she have this illness? What illness was it? She had a one time event with watery eyes this week and seems to have slight green boogers by her left nostril BUT she often gets critical care wiped on her and nothing is coming from her nose or up her nose that I can see. I am worried about a uri but she should be getting worse and instead nothing new is presenting. Well, she is hooting today but that’s usually short term and from getting hay up her nose. Her actual chest does not sound hooty.

Also of concern, I used a tiny amount of triple antibiotic ointment on her bumble foot (caused by the uti). It was the first time I used it. This was Monday night or Tuesday morning. I dabbed it in and wiped excess off and watched her for a bit as she drank. She doesn’t usually mess with her cream on her feet but if she did, she could have the life threatening Antibiotic-associated enterotoxemia. Did I accidentally kill my baby?

What do I do? How should I help? Day 4 of diarrhea is very alarming to me. I have to give her Doxycycline in 5 hours and I’m worried it could make it worse to the point of no turning back.

I can’t tell if she has a uri. I could get her to Cornell for emergency services now but the exotics tram is only on M-F and I have TMS here (she can’t go on baytril because it makes her sick)

I need to stop the diarrhea. I did order bio sponge Friday and laid overnight shipping but they did not get it out in time. I now expect it Tuesday.

amyfw

Post   » Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:14 pm


Just checked on Butterscotch for a 3rd feeding. She had clear discharge out of her left eye above where the crust is under her nose. No breathing problems. Reminds me of when her cage mate had a tooth root abscess which could explain the not eating and acting in pain and chewing her huts. Doesn’t explain the diarrhea though.

Meanwhile, her cage mate doesn’t seem to be eating either but maybe that’s because I keep checking on them and trying to get him to eat. Can’t tell if he is pooping because Butterscotch is eating all his poops to help her GI tract which does finally seem to be getting a little better.

Should I get her to Cornell emergency now (no exotic vet) or wait to have her seen Monday (with exotics)?

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:24 pm


Is this loose stools, as in soft and mushy but still with some form to them, or is it a watery mess?

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:47 pm


ETA: Apologies, I missed where you said that it looks like a paste. Are her stools still very loose this evening? How does she seem otherwise? Is she still active? Eating hay? Drinking normally? I would continue to aggressively push CC and hay, along with probiotics.

I don't necessarily agree that if she were going to have GI issues on Doxy, it would have manifested sooner.

Do you have access to any other exotics vet over the weekend?

amyfw

Post   » Sat Jan 11, 2020 8:36 pm


Her stools are thankfully starting to firm up some. She still has paste coming out that makes a blob shape like a cow patty but she finally after 3-4 days had a couple formed ones in the middle too. Thank goodness. Not out of the woods yet but that’s a good start.

Now on to the other big issue- she had watery eyes tonight and I am almost certain the small green dried speck under her nostril is dried snot. I was convinced for 2 days that it was critical care but I get critical care on myself all the time and while it dries green at first it then turns green/tan and starts to flake off (I have some on my pants every day including now so I know this very well) and hers wouldn’t come off at all when I tried brushing it off with a wash cloth. It seemed more dried like glue like nasal discharge does. When I look up her nose with just my plain eye everything looks normal but today when I saw the leaky clear eyes she seemed to have a tiny bit of clear discharge from her nose but only when I squeezed each nasal cavity to see if anything came out and pushed my finger up her nose and all noses should be a little wet so maybe that was nothing.

What’s weirdest is that when I held her I wiped her eyes and she was fine but then when I put her in her cage her eyes started leaking on the right side right away. When it dries the crust is grayish/blackish (not scary black but black like the rims of her eyes)

I also can’t connect any of this to the diarrhea. Which made me start to think....could there be something in her hay (fairly new bag, started about a week ago) like mold spores that was causing her diarrhea but not her cage mate because he is in better health and an allergic reaction ala the watery eyes.

It doesn’t explain everything like the pain she seems to be in or her cage but chewing which is usually a pain response (which leads me back to an abscess) but I’m so lost and confused and the vet won’t really know either.

I got to Cornell for all her needs and see the exotics team there. I told them all week about the diarrhea and they said it didn’t sound like a concern, no need to bring her in, and keep her on the Doxy.

At the time I did not know about the watery eyes or nasal discharge. Both of those happened today. Actually, the nasal discharge I knew about but thought was critical care because I saw myself drop it under her nose and didn’t think anything else of it until I saw it wouldn’t flake off like it should have and tried cleaning it.

I have brand new TMS on hand and brand new Azythromyacin plus her doxycycline and also metronidazole but that may be older. I feel like I have on hand what I need. I just need a vert to look her over and tell me what to do. It’s complicated because of the uti because Doxy is the only thing the bacteria is resistant to and yet if she got a uri on it then it must not be what the uri is affected by.

The Cornell emergency department is available for me to call and discuss this over the phone but I do that every few weeks for over a year so I am almost certain what they will say- they will say bring her in if you think it’s an emergency but when I have the pharmacy is closed until Monday anyway so they couldn’t give me meds and same for diagnostics and they often don’t know and tell me to come back when exotics is on unless it’s clearly an obvious illness that all animals get like pink eye or something like that.

I think what I will do is call Cornell and leave a message about this for the exotics student on call and let them check with the doctors on staff and at least see if they think this is an obvious thing to bring her in for. I also check on her every 4 hours to make sure things are not progressing.

If anything she seems better but if it were a uri she should not be getting better. Maybe it’s just that the diarrhea is better but the eyes are worse. If she has clear nasal discharge that will decide it for me and I will race to Cornell immediately. I know URI’s can not wait. If it is a tooth abscess I hope it can wait until Monday when exotics reopens.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Jan 11, 2020 10:45 pm


I told them all week about the diarrhea and they said it didn’t sound like a concern, no need to bring her in, and keep her on the Doxy.
That, in itself, would be reason enough for me to find another vet. I seem to recall that you have had issues with Cornell in the past.

I would agree with you that a URI wouldn't get better on its own, and it also seems unlikely (but not impossible) that she would develop a secondary infection while on Doxy. In the absence of any other typical URI symptoms, I would definitely want to rule out teeth issues.
...Doxy is the only thing the bacteria is resistant to
I think you instead mean "sensitive"? Nevertheless, I'm a little surprised that they would prescribe Doxycycline for a UTI. I read something a few years ago (can't recall the source) which stated that Doxy is not as effective in treating urinary tract infections because it is eliminated through feces and not via the urinary tract. SMZ is generally the drug of choice.

**If it were me** I would discontinue the Doxy for now and call the vet on Monday unless you see a worsening of either the diarrhea or the other symptoms.

amyfw

Post   » Sun Jan 12, 2020 12:00 am


Well, the loose stool is back. At 4:30 pm we had a couple formed stool and now we are back to paste. I did give her the Doxy 2 hours ago. Could Doxy pass through her in that amount of time and start the diarrhea again or was it that she is still fighting this off and having formed stool with bouts of the loose stool? I am concerned the Doxy is the problem but I did take her off of it for 24 hours to try to rest her gut and it didn’t help then and she had it this morning but was able to form stool again.

I am worried prolonged use of the Doxy while she has lose stool (if it is causing the problems) will possibly worsen and cause the Antibiotic-associated enterotoxemia that is almost always fatal but if she is fighting a uri and we know she needs it for the uti that it will make things even worse in those regards.

The Doxy was used after TMS, Baytril, and azythromiacin failed. Actually, what we do is each month she goes in for a urine culture. We find the bacteria causing the uti and then test for sensitivity (your right, I meant that instead of resistance. I also say I need to ice the driveway when I mean I need to salt it to keep the ice off. Smh. ) and then give her the drug that is ok for guinea pigs that is also going to help with what ever bacteria are found. This past time she had 3 bacteria that were all sensitive to Doxy so this is her second time on it.

amyfw

Post   » Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:51 am


Update- clear eyes this morning. Clear nose. No sign of discharge at either site. Still has pasty poop. Weight is up from 920 to 990 in the past 4 days. Seems excessive, especially with diarrhea. Any ideas? Yes, she has cysts. In fact, one was drained 2 months ago but maybe it grew back and is pressing on her GI tract and causing the diarrhea. She feels plump and squishy (not hollow from bloat)
She was eating today but also acting a bit subdued still and not herself. Chewed in her cage all night which is usually a sign of pain. Giving her meloxicam but holding off on the Tramadol only because that’s what seemed to start the whole diarrhea/loose stool. Any ideas on the weight gain?

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:04 pm


Well, I wouldn't expect weight gain with diarrhea. Are you weighing at the same time every day? -- preferably before feeding her anything?

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