possible urine scald

meganmarie · Post » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:04 pm

Yes, he is. : ) He'd do anything for the pigs. And Lynx, i don't know if you were a part of the cavy health record book, but i wanted to thank you, anyway. It's an awesome tool and it's great to give to a vet that your going to. I can just hand it to my vet and he can see dates that things went wrong and everything.

Also, she is disturbingly fine. The blood cleared out of her urine after only 24 hours, and the incontinence in 48. I'm scared how...okay she is acting. Even now, she is laying in the hay rack(bad girl) lazily eating hay.

Post » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:48 pm

I designed and wrote the book so yes, I had something to do with it. Several people gave me feedback before I settled on the final version. Glad you find it helpful! People could also use a notebook to keep track of these things but the record book is awfully handy. There are also free pages to download and print if you want. gl/print.html

I am very happy to hear her urine is better and the incontinence is gone. You might want to weigh her daily for a week and a maybe twice a week thereafter.

meganmarie · Post » Mon Jun 29, 2015 10:31 pm

Oh, haha. I'm so sorry Lynx! Well, then, thank you so much! : ) and Thank you for those printables, i'm already pouring over them.

Okay, thank you for the advice. Getting the scale now! She's seemed a pretty stable weight, but that doesn't mean she is. :)

meganmarie · Post » Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:21 pm

Well, I've been home for a while, relaxed a little, and decided to post. My vet said Ginger looks to be in tip-top shape, but asked me if i'd still like to get a uranalysis done. I said yes, so it may be in Monday or Tuesday. He said that since the blood went away within two days, it does seem some kind of infection was present, but (of course) he can't tell now. Just to make sure the whole infection is gone, i asked for a little more antibiotic(bactrim), because before when she had a UTI, two weeks medication wasn't enough to kick it, and i don't need this thing coming back with a vengance. I also met a wonderful vet-tech that i've been working over the phone with, who has a 2 pigs also! She was wonderful, and she has a pig who's been damaged with some type of inner-ear infection as a baby. She's been hand feeding it every day with Critical care for 1 and a half years! Its a sweet baby(i met her!) But she is losing weight, even with proper amount of Critical care. As soon as i left, I was kicking myself for not mentioning Guinealynx! I think i'm going to call on Monday or Tuesday for her and mention it. So, i'd say things went really well today!

Talishan · Post » Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:01 am

Keep us posted. I think you're wise to ask for a bit more Bactrim to be sure.

Do call the vet tech and tell her about us. I give her tremendous credit for sticking with the little one for a year and a half. Maybe we can help her get over the hump here.

meganmarie · Post » Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:20 pm

So, I just got a call from the vet. Ginger has high calcium crystals in her urine, about 6-10 per. She also has epithelial cells in her urine, which the doctor said makes him think there are stones. They are also still seeing blood in her urine(microscopic), but no infection. Well...now i'm worried.

Post » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:20 pm

Could still be an irritant vs. stones.

meganmarie · Post » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:23 pm

Oh, i didn't know that...Do you know what kind of irritant it could be? Or could it be a lot of things...

Post » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:26 pm

Irritant as in sludge vs. stones. Increased fluids could help. Read up on interstitial cystitis.

http://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=21

Talishan · Post » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:35 pm

Ditto Lynx. Depending on the shape and form of the sludge crystals, it could be the sludge alone that is irritating her bladder lining, to the point of blood and epithelial cells appearing.

Without reading back, did the vet do an x-ray on the 11th?

meganmarie · Post » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:19 am

No, he didn't. We are going to go back in about a month to get x-rays. I'm kind of dissapointed he didn't, and i knew i should've asked for them. Hindsight is always 20-20...

Talishan · Post » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:47 am

Keep us posted. You already know this but you may need that x-ray sooner than a month from now. :-( In the meantime, let us know how she's doing, and best to you both.

meganmarie · Post » Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:06 pm

Well, we've just got back from a very long(and very expensive) emergency vet trip. The blood in the urine came back, with very little urine output. The emergency vet did an ultrasound, and found 'suspicious shadowing' in her bladder. I got an x-ray, and they couldn't see any stones. We now left with metacam, and baytril. Any thoughts?

Post » Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:23 pm

Are you saying she is not urinating much? Are you giving extra fluids? I'm sorry you don't feel you got answers. At the very least, the metacam should help with any pain.

meganmarie · Post » Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:11 pm

To be honest, i think i was just freaking myself out. She wasn't peeing much, and a tint of blood was back in her urine. But, about half way to the emergency vets, she EXPLODED pee on me. Which was good, but i still wanted to get her x-rayed just to be safe.

Talishan · Post » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:41 am

I'm going to take a guess that she passed a stone, or perhaps even more likely a clot of congealed sludge, when she exploded.

Is she urinating normally now?

You probably know this but use probiotics with Baytril. Please keep us posted on how she's doing.

The 'shadowing' could be more sludge, or possibly interstitial cystitis. Also possibly a tumor, but I'd consider that the least likely of the three.

The vibration from the car ride may have helped her more than anything else. Consider getting a vibrating massage pillow-type thingy for her. You could also just put her on a thin pillow or clean, soft folded-up towel, and hold her on top of your washer on spin cycle. If she'll tolerate it, it might help loosen sludge for passage before it gets into an uncomfortably -- or blocking-ly -- large clump.

Without reading back, does she drink well?

meganmarie · Post » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:03 pm

No, she does not. It's almost a running joke in my house. She'll wheek, and it'll be a sad, croaky wheek. We all yell, "Ginger, get a drink!". I've been syringing her about 10-12 CC's of water a day since this happened.

Talishan · Post » Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:51 pm

Try offering her some unflavored Pedialyte, if you haven't tried that yet. Many pigs love the taste of it and will drink more of it more readily than water via syringe.

Also, give her thoroughly, dripping, sopping wet greens, and the ribs (center stem) of leaf lettuces. Those have a lot of water in them.

jacqueline · Post » Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:56 pm

Aren't there oxbow supplements?

Talishan · Post » Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:28 pm

J -- which one, or maybe more properly, for what? There is a urinary-tract-support one, but I don't know if it helps with sludge.