Piper Med Thread

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:38 am


When she was at the vet in January, they were able to express some bloody urine with some brown sludgy stuff. The vet wasn't 100% sure what it was. Stone didn't show up on x-ray. That's why they did the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory to see if that would clear it up. It did. There were several days of blood that time, but it cleared up. Then in June, there was the blood a few days before I went on vacation. She stayed at the vets during my vacation. I think she only had blood two days that time. Then this time she had blood only that morning in her cage when I woke up, but the rest of the day her urine was normal. I started her on the antibiotic that evening, but she had already stopped bleeding at that point. It's a week later, and there still is no blood.

I'm not sure if they checked her for pyometra. How would they check that? I'll ask about cystitis. How would they check for that? I think she had a small amount of bacteria in her urine the first time when they tested her, but I don't think it was high enough she thought that was the main cause.

The biggest frustration is Iowa State University, where I always took my emergency or odd cases, no longer has an exotics vet. And, so they won't see exotics anymore. The vet I have is fairly cavy savvy, but all the vets are limited the their equipment, and with ISU no longer seeing exotics I don't think the specialists up there are either.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:43 am


Continue to keep a detailed log of any blood you see that you can positively tie to her, along with a detailed description including quantity.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:55 am


I think cystitis is a diagnosis made by ruling out other things.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Sun Aug 29, 2021 10:52 pm


I went away for the weekend yesterday morning and got back home tonight. There is a spot of blood in her cage. I’m going to see if it resolves on its own and I’ll give her a few days. Cross your fingers.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Fri Sep 03, 2021 12:49 pm


We are now several days later, and I'm probably jinxing myself here but we have not had any more blood since that one spot. Maybe it is hormonal after all. Next time I will see if it resolves itself again. I just wanted to provide an update in case anyone else is experiencing similar symptoms.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Sep 03, 2021 8:02 pm


Thanks for the update. Record keeping is what it's about! The record keeping should give you a good picture of the issue.

My guinea pig that periodically spotted blood was not completely regular.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:59 pm


Just to continue to keep track. This morning there was a spot of blood in the cage. No behavior changes.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Nov 21, 2021 11:04 pm


It's nice to have a go-to topic to add this info to! Always seemed something of a mystery to me (the occasional bleeding), especially when stones or a UTI were ruled out. We speculate about it being reproductive.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:33 pm


Again keeping track. Drop of blood in the cage tonight. No change in behavior.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:39 pm


It certainly sounds cyclical like reproductive issues.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Mon Mar 04, 2024 4:58 am


Tonight Piper passed away after surgery to remove bladder stones. They called me at 11PM and said the surgery went well and then again at 3:00AM to tell me they’d found her passed after checking on her. She was doing great until yesterday when we noticed crusty eyes and lethargy. Took her to the only vet we could find who could see her and they said teeth needed trimming, and we’d need to find a vet who could do it. She was bleeding again today (she hasn’t done it for over a year) and so we took her in to emergency and they x-rayed and found a bunch of stones and said she had GI stasis (which was surprising because she was eating, even at the vet). They also thought they saw a mass in her uterus. So we approved exploratory surgery and removing the stones. When they got in all they found was the stones. The vet sounded so optimistic but did say she was just starting to come out of anesthesia. It sounds like she never fully came out of it. Either way we have her the best shot we could.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Mar 04, 2024 10:55 am


Oh, I am so sorry, ClemmyOddieIndy. You wrote she was your last guinea pig. It is so hard to lose one of these little pets. You have all our sympathy.

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