Ongoing bladder problems-advice?

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Sat Nov 12, 2005 9:07 pm


Kidneys either concentrate or dilute urine. Your vet was right...dilute urine means the water he's drinking is probably sufficient. I can't tell you if the subcues would help or not. I believe the more water he gets, the better it would be to flush out the bladder.

capybara
Supporter in '13

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:34 am


Well, last night I noticed Chester had yucky looking poops. They were very soft and greenish, misshapen, and some were really tiny. There had also been a little blood in his urine earlier in the day, and this was after being on the Baytril twice a day since Wednesday.

Since I was so concerned about the weird looking poop, and the fact that he hadn't shown any improvement, I decided we should switch him to Bactrim. Didn't like the idea of doing it without the vet's input, but of course no one is in on Sundays. I thought rather than risking bad GI upset or stopping the antibiotics completely, we'd try Bactrim until we can talk to the vet. The poops are still a little soft today, but larger, and formed into pellets--much closer to normal.

I've been thinking of taking Chester, and possibly Mims, since they seem to be the biggest "problem pigs" to the UW vet school. I remember their schedule seems a little harder to work with, and their prices seemed kind of high, but I heard they're supposed to be pretty good. Has anyone here in the Madison WI area actually used them before?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:57 am


The yucky poops you saw are most likely cacael droppings. They're soft, stinky and can be green. They're reingested by the guinea pig. There are various reasons you might see them, one is eating too many rich foods and producing more cacael pellets than he can or cares to eat.

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Amy0204
We miss our sweet Oreo

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 9:01 am


Lynx, what qualifies as a rich food?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 9:11 am


I would say alfalfa pellets and not eating much grass hay.

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ladyveg

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:33 am


capybara, I've used them, and they're great--and yes, expensive too! But since they're a teaching hospital, the way I understand it is that they'll only take an animal on if the animal's regular vet sends a referral. They want teaching cases. Your guys could qualify, I'd think, because of the chronic problems, but I'm almost positive that Dr. Erickson would have to refer them. Please let me know if that isn't the case!

capybara
Supporter in '13

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:17 pm


Chester's poops weren't quite as green as cacael droppings. I'm pretty sure they weren't, anyway, and they were tiny tiny poops. They were just lighter in color than normal, and soft. Peppi actually has left some of his cacael pellets lying around before, and did it recently. They looked different than what we saw with Chester. Thanks for the info, though, Lynx, I didn't know why Peppi was leaving those behind and not eating all of them. They don't get any alfalfa anything and eat plenty of timothy hay. Could he be eating too many pellets? We only give a couple tablespoons a day and he acts like he's getting veggies when we put them in his cage. He's nuts for them!

Oops, and I forgot: ladyveg, our old vet had recommended one of the vets at the UW school, so when we first moved here we called them directly to make an appointment. They were ready to take us, but their hours were inconvenient for us so we decided to take them to Dr. E instead. Could they have changed their policy since then? Or was I just lucky to get through somehow? I'll let you know what happens.

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Becky

Post   » Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:30 pm


Sounds like it could be an overgrowth of yeast.

capybara
Supporter in '13

Post   » Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:22 am


Yeast? In whom? Peppi or Chester?

I'm getting worried and frustrated! My husband talked to the vet today and he is pushing the Baytril. He wants us to switch back. I hate to switch drugs around, and we only switched without asking in the first place because the office was closed and we felt we were doing what was best for our pig based on his behavior and poop. It seems like the Bactrim is better on his stomach because the poops are totally normal now, but today there was blood in his urine. Again. So obviously neither medication is knocking out the infection. I think we'll be taking him back in for an x-ray and subcues. My husband didn't push for an x-ray the first time because of the urinalysis results, and we've had 2 or 3 x-rays done on Chester in the past when he has sludge and there have never been any signs of a stone. I guess there's always a first time.

So I need advice. What would you do? Switch back to the vet's drug of choice or go with my gut based on my knowledge of my pig? I hate to give him something other than what was recommended by our vet, but I have noticed that Baytril seems to be the first thing mentioned at this clinic. Thanks again for everyone's help. I really appreciate it.

pinta

Post   » Tue Nov 15, 2005 4:28 am


Cipro's good for UTIs I think. If he can't tolerate Baytril, he shouldn't be on it.

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ladyveg

Post   » Tue Nov 15, 2005 9:45 am


capybara, about the vet school, I must have misunderstood Linda. She works in a specialized department, and maybe only certain departments are referral only.

pinta, the vet is the same one who dug in and refused to switch from Baytril, which wasn't working for Maxi at all, to chlor. He finally told me chlor was illegal in the U.S. and could kill you just from touching it. He's just weird about meds, and hates to give anything but Baytril--even to my two pregnant sows with bumblefoot.

capybara, as much as I adore Dr. E, I have come to believe over the last year that he has a blind spot when it comes to certain meds. I feel really arrogant saying that considering his education and experience, and feel somewhat disloyal because he's been so good to us, but it's what I believe. You might consider getting a second opinion from the Verona? vet clinic. I did that with Dr. Chris Voss and really liked him. The other thing I like about that clinic is they can do dental x-rays and I am almost sure they have dental vets too. Do a search on Chris Voss vet clinic and I think you'll get Verona. They were also reasonable in cost.

capybara
Supporter in '13

Post   » Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:04 pm


ladyveg, I have been starting to notice the reliance on Baytril, too.

I've seen Dr. Voss before. He was the vet that was scheduled to do surgery to remove Peppi's phantom bladder stone. I really like him, too. He was very nice, and because it was so weird that the stone "disappeared" he did a FREE ultrasound to make sure there was nothing there!

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