S'mores Medical Forum

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pinkpanda

Post   » Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:03 pm


Last week, my guinea pig S'mores had a scab fall off her front left paw which resulted in bleeding. I also noticed that the foot was swollen a bit, so I made a vet appointment. Despite all this, S'mores was acting completely normal and had her usual large appetite. The vet said it could potentially be bumblefoot but they thought it would be an unusual case since I have a proper habitat set up for her (4x2 C&C cage with Carefresh), S'mores is not horribly overweight, and the location of the scab and swelling was more so localized to just under her one toe, which the vet said is not a likely place on the foot to be affected by bumblefoot. We also did full body Xrays which were sent to a specialist. As far as they could tell, nothing looked wrong.

My vet prescribed S'mores .1mL Baytril, .12 mL Metaloxicam, and silver sulfadiazine cream to be used every 12 hours for two weeks. I also asked about probiotics but my vet said it was not a necessity since S'mores had been eating. Her appetite was okay the first couple of days but today it has been the worst. She seems to only eat when I come over and offer her hay. She still eats her veggies as well. Yesterday, I bought her some powdered Benebac and have been giving 1/4 tsp of it on her lettuce 1.5 hours after I administer her medication.

I am extremely worried about the Baytril after reading about all its effects. I want to stop it tonight, so I was wondering what others thought about this? My vet is closed today so there is no way for me to talk to them. I just feel so absolutely horrible about this situation. S'mores had been completely perky but I know I could not leave her foot to swell. I just hate seeing her like this and I feel this situation is way worse because I know pigs have to constantly eat. She also HATES taking the medicine and I feel like this is also causing her to act so timidly.

If anyone has any advice on what I should do with the antibiotics or had a similar situation with foot swelling, I would love to hear it.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:04 pm


Have you already checked out the Foot page?
https://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html

Some people have had very good success doing foot soaks with Epsom salts, but we do caution to be extremely careful to avoid getting any into her eyes. Diluted Hibiclens can also be effective but can be drying.

I wouldn't continue with the Baytril if it is affecting appetite. Can you call your vet in the morning? We always suggest using a probiotic with Baytril and other antibiotics, because they can be so hard on the gut.

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pinkpanda

Post   » Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:55 pm


Yes, I have looked at the foot page and looked into doing Epsom foot baths but I wanted to hear a vet's opinion first and try their recommendations before doing anything extra. I think I will stop the Baytril for tonight and make sure to still give her the probiotics. I will try to call the vet tomorrow, especially if her appetite still does not look better. Thank you for the help!

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:31 pm


Sure thing. Keep us posted.

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pinkpanda

Post   » Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:23 pm


I did not give her any Baytril in the evening and around 9:30 tonight she started eating again. She ate kibbles and has been steadily eating hay this whole time. Would going off Baytril show an improvement this quick or could she possibly have had appetite loss just from the stress of taking the medicine?

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:10 pm


I would guess she was having some stomach upset from the Baytril, but not severe enough that it required being off it for days for her appetite to return.

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pinkpanda

Post   » Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:00 pm


An update on the foot issue:
Luckily, the cream was enough to heal her foot. I suspect she cut herself on the edge of the coroplast and it ended up getting infected after the initial scab fell off. I made sure to cover all edges of the coroplast and now spot clean two times a day to prevent this. I also added fleece pads where she sleeps to add more cushion for her foot.

New Issue:
Info on pig - Smores will be turning 5 next month and is 879 grams.
UTI Info - In May, I noticed blood spots on Smore's fleece pads. After picking her up, I saw it was coming from her urine. She had still been eating but was a little less perky than usual. I took her to the vet and had the following tests done:

Urine Analysis -
Cocci, rods, 0-2 wbc/40x, 0-4 rbc/40x
Protein trace
Leukocytes +/-
Bilirubin, urobilinogen, ketones, nitrite, glucose are all negative/normal
X-ray - No stones or hormonal issues were found

From these results, my vet prescribed .4 ml of Bactrim 48mg/ml and .13 ml of Meloxicam for 2 weeks every 12 hours. I also did Benebac 1-2 hours before or after each antibiotic dose and have added an Oxbow urinary support tab to her daily diet. We were instructed to retest her urine at the end of the two weeks. These were the results:
Ca oxalate TNTC, cocci 2++
Protein trace
Leukocytes 1+
Bilirubin, urobilinogen, ketones, nitrite, glucose are all negative/normal

We did another two weeks of the same dosage of antibiotics this time. Probably less than a week after she finished this dose, I noticed blood in her urine again. When I saw this, we did another urine sample and got these results:
Occasional cocci and red blood cells
Protein 3
Leukocytes +_
Bilirubin, urobilinogen, ketones, nitrite, glucose are all negative/normal

The vet told us we could try another two weeks of antibiotics or do a urine culture, though we already knew she cannot handle Baytril and the vet said the other types of antibiotics could damage her organs. Because of this, I opted for another 2 weeks of Bactrim. Around a few weeks after this dosage was completed, I noticed she was drinking more water than usual and her pee smelled a bit. I, unfortunately, figured the infection must be coming back and soon enough I saw blood in her urine again and noticed she was not coming out or eating as often.

We went to the vet for a recheck and did the culture this time. It found a greater than 100,000 CFU/ML of Acinetobacter Lwoffi and 10,000-50,000 CFU/ML of Escherichia Coli. Protein was at .3 and Leukocytes was ++. My vet said Bactrim was still the best antibiotic for this bacteria and said she did not know why the infection was not going away. Smores got put back on the .4 Bactrim and .13 Metaloxicam dose for two weeks. I know it is helping her because she is a lot happier now and is even doing zoomies around her cage but we are 1.5 weeks into the 2-week course and I still see blood spots. She is also still drinking a lot more water than normal. I would appreciate any advice from someone who has also experienced a UTI going on this long. I also have a few questions if anyone could answer:

1.) Dosage and timespan of Antibiotics
Is .4 ml of Bactrim a good dosage for this issue or should she have been put on a higher dose since the infection was not going away? I am also concerned about how we only get meds in two-week courses. My vet's office told me to do the urine test 24 hours after Smores finishes her meds. Then we have to wait at least a few days for results. This means Smores is always at least half a week off antibiotics between each two-week course. Wouldn't the antibiotics be more effective if she was just put on a long-term course without all these breaks?

2.) Ultrasound
My vet mentioned an ultrasound but also said it could be useless since it is so hard to do on guinea pigs. I have read about many pigs getting ultrasounds but also do not know what it would find? I thought ultrasounds are for hormonal issues or looking for a mass but would either of these cause bacteria in her urine? I guess I would like to know of any health issues besides a UTI that could be causing this?

3.) Long term antibiotics
If this infection never goes away, can she stay long-term on antibiotics? My vet said that is not good because they can become resistant but I am not sure what else to do if the infection does not go away. I just want her to feel good and be happy.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:01 pm


See:
https://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html#bactrim

This page yields a Bactrim dose of 0.549375 cc (all those digits not needed, 0.55cc would work):
https://www.guinealynx.info/dose_calculator.html

This page yields 0.549cc, rounded to three digits (also 0.55cc, easier to measure).
https://www.guinealynx.info/calculate_dose.html#dose

So perhaps a higher dose would have helped - or not. I don't know.

I take it the vet ruled out an infection of the uterus? Pyometra?

You might also want to read up on interstitial cystitis if there are actually no stones:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... p?f=3&t=21

Not sure if an ultrasound would be helpful. We tend to recommend xrays as the first move (which you have done).

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

User avatar
pinkpanda

Post   » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:46 pm


Yes, that is why I was questioning the dosage because I saw it should be higher based on that information. I have also been looking at other forums related to UTIs and it seems like the pigs always get a higher dose so I will mention it to the vet.

The vet hasn't mentioned anything about Pyometra. The blood is definitely from her urine and she doesn't have any signs of the typical hormonal issues for guinea pigs. The vet also mentioned specifically that the X-ray did not show any hormone-related issues.

For the IC, from what I could see, doesn't it have to be just blood in the urine and no bacteria? Every urine culture has had bacteria so far.

Thank you for all your help!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:09 am


You can reference Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary. I bet the higher dose would also be in Plumb's veterinary formulary too.

I think all your observations are correct. With bacteria, one certainly does figure it should be treated using antibiotics.

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