Reoccurring bladder infections

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GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:23 pm


If there is no infection or stone please consider trying the chinese herb, Shilintong, for pain control.

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Trisha

Post   » Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:25 am


Hey Kallie,

Good thing you stopped the apple juice. The chalky stuff is not bad indeed.
As you have ruled out suture infections and stones at the beginning of January you might be looking at IC. It is a pity the Metacam is not having much effect anymore.

I think you are doing the right thing, have another xray as it has been more than 2 months since the last one I believe?

Also, ask your vet for Cystaid (this will thicken the lining of the bladder and has helped my Frenkie and Snoop, although Snoop needed add help with Metacam when she has flare ups) and read up on Interstitial Cystitis on the internet. With IC you will not find any bacteria when you do an urine test so therefore AB’s will have no effect. It is usually diagnosed when all other bladder related problems are excluded.

You were talking about irritable bladder syndrome? Did the vet say this? Ask the vet about IC and see what he or she thinks.

10-15 ounces? I get a weird amount in milliliters when I convert the 10-15 ounces…but maybe I am doing it wrong ;-)
He should be drinking at least 50cc daily, at least (!)
My Flatman (stone pig) drinks about 20-30cc during the day, which is not a lot and then I orally syringe 50cc daily to make sure he is peeing out as much excess calcium as possible.
I also syringe Snoop (IC) as she is not a big drinker either. The more she pees out anything that can irritate her bladder lining the better. Frenkie (IC) is a waterholic so no need to give her more water by syringe.
And watch any stress factors. (I remember when Snoop had flare ups recently, builders were making a lot of noise (bulldozers) at the back of our house during the day. They are now gone and Snoop has been fine since....coicidence? maybe..maybe not)

I do not have experience with Polycitra, but Becky has.

Shillington: did not have effect with my Flatman back then so I stopped, but many others have experienced good results. Ask
GP lover for the website in case you wish to order some. I believe there is several “types” of Shillington (different ingredients).

Pellets: try to reduce slowly, don’t take away his bowl all at once. He will hardly notice the decrease this way. It is really worth a try.

It must be horrible to hear him cry so much, and believe me I know !! You feel so helpless. Good luck at the vets Kallie.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:29 am


Info on shillington is on stones page (how to use, where to get).

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Kallie

Post   » Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:17 pm


Well no stones, no infection – so who knows what’s happening. He’ll be on AB’s for at least 2 weeks as preventative and we’ve upped his Metacam slightly to help with his pain. Things haven’t improved much over the last couple days except he is whimpering a little less, so the Metacam must be helping.

We haven’t been getting much sleep as we are up most nights with him, making sure he’s comfy, extra fluids etc. I think I am beyond exhaustion at this point. All we can do at this point is make sure he gets his meds, stay with him as much as possible and make sure everything remains the same with his diet. As I said, even the slightest change makes a big difference for him.

He goes back next week for a follow-up, and the vet and I will discuss in detail the medications everyone has suggested. She didn’t want to change anything right away incase it aggravates him even more. She wants him a bit stronger and the pain/bleeding under control first.

Keep your fingers crossed.

pinta

Post   » Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:52 am


Is he just crying when he pees or is there blood present?

I had a pig with a old back injury that cried when he peed and pooped due to the pain from arching his back.

Did the vet check for arthritis in the back when looking at the xrays?

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Kallie

Post   » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:51 am


It’s both Pinta. He always cries when he goes to the bathroom, but the blood is the majority of the time now. Normally when he isn’t flaring up like this, it’s just the crying every time he either pees or poops. When he’s not voiding, he is perfectly fine, playful, very active, cuddley, and no whining.

He had 2 fully body extras done, and the Vet looked at them very closely for anything from possible stones, spots in his bones, curves in bones that shouldn’t be there compared to old x-rays etc. I suppose that’s the advantage of having so many of his old x-rays to compare with. At one point she was even measuring parts of the x-rays to make sure all bones were still the same thickness, same curves etc. Even physically checked all his muscles and stretched his legs to make sure nothing was tight or tender, including along his spine and neck.

Hopefully he will improve enough soon so we can try some of the other meds on him.

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Becky

Post   » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:03 pm


If you've eliminated all other possibilites, (which, it seems you have) chances are it is IC. Chippy has had it now for over three years.

It does appear to happen when they pee or poop, but keep in mind, all of these functions take place in a very small area. Inflammation of the bladder due to thickening of the bladder affects all elimination.

Where the blood fits in, we haven't been able to discover. It just shows up periodically, I treat with metacam for a few days and it goes away.

I've never used Shilintong since the metacam seems to do the trick.

Also, other than crying when eliminating, is he acting perfectly normal? No weight loss? No lethargy? As strange as this sounds, I've gotten used to Chippy's symptoms. I've watched her happily running around the room, stop, cry, pee or poop, then go right back to her activity. In other words, it really doesn't seem to be interferring with her life for the most part. And she's old--turned 7 in February.

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Trisha

Post   » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:15 am


Did you ask your vet about IC and Cystaid?
(I give Snoop and Frenkie half a capsule daily, each).
It will not hurt your pigster. You can put in an empty syringe and add water and than shake until dissolved.
Bear in mind it will take a couple of weeks to take effect.

Other then that I can only recommended to continue the Metacam, the additional water, and keep him away from as much stress as possible.

Good luck!

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Kallie

Post   » Wed May 10, 2006 3:45 am


On Sunday Chestnut stopped eating and drinking. We started hand feeding Sunday night & giving water and by Monday he was at the vets. We can’t figure out what is going on with him now. His tummy sounded gassy so he was put on 0.1ml of Cisapride 2 times daily to help get him eating and settle his tummy and his Metacam was doubled to 0.2ml. He ate his full dinner Monday night after his first dose. Tuesday morning he ate only half his breakfast, so I hand fed him before work. And my son came home at lunch to feed him. Didn’t eat much of his dinner last night either, so was hand fed 3 times before bedtime.

His teeth and bladder were checked and they seem fine. Nothing in his diet has changed and our other pig is fine, so I don’t think it is the food or a virus since they eat the same things and live in a large C&C cage with a divider. He has no other symptoms of being sick – no eye or nose discharge, no coughing, sneezing etc. His weight has dropped from 1127 down to 1050 despite hand feeding Critical Care 5+ times a day and giving lots of water. He’s to go back to the vets on Thursday if he isn’t showing any more improvements with eating on his own… sooner if he gets worse.

He still has quite a bit of energy for a little guy who isn’t eating much. Last night he was seen drinking from his water bottle and eating a little piece of hay on his own, which I am hoping is a good sign that things will turn around for him. Is there anything else I can get his vet to look for? We haven’t done blood work yet because she figured he’d bounce back with the Cisapride and hand feeding. He hasn’t been on his Nitrofurantoin for a couple of weeks either and doesn’t start that part of his AB therapy until the end of the month.

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Becky

Post   » Wed May 10, 2006 11:50 pm


Did they check his teeth?

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Kallie

Post   » Thu May 11, 2006 3:53 am


Becky, his teeth were one of the first things checked. No spurs or anything different happening there. Nothing regarding his teeth, roots, bones etc showed up on his xray. He did manage to eat 2 full meals yesterday, plus got some Critical Care, so I'm hoping we're coming to the end of this mysterious problem. We'll see how today goes.

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Kallie

Post   » Mon May 15, 2006 2:34 pm


We had Chestnut to the vets again this morning. He was doing so good with eating until last night. He ate approx half his dinner, and then this morning wouldn’t eat anything. He’s also been drinking a lot of water. Blood work was done and the results should be in tomorrow afternoon.

X-rays were done and we found out he has a rather large stone lodged in the tube from his left kidney to his bladder. Sorry I can’t remember what she said this tube was called.

She says he is most likely functioning on only 1 kidney and his not eating is most likely because of pain. She’s not sure if he can have surgery to remove the stone or not, so will be posting on her vet board to ask for advice.

My questions are:
1) What are the chances of a successful surgery with the stone lodged in this tube?

2) What are his chances of passing this stone into his bladder where it can be safely removed?

3) Will he ever recover or should be consider putting his to sleep now before his pain gets totally out of control?

Right now he is on 0.2ml of Metacam, 0.5ml of Vit C, and 0.1ml of Cisapride. Is there anything else I can do to make him comfortable or to help him, or even to get him eating regularly again? Like I said he is drinking a lot, is getting CC 5 times daily, we got his weight back up to 1027 grams. He seems to be pooping and peeing fine so far. We still leave his salad in his cage along with pellets and unlimited timothy hay. He seems quite lively for such a sick little boy.

Any help, info, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I really don’t know what to do at this point.

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