Cystitis diagnosis - help!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:28 am


I think the choice of silver sulfadiazine was a good one. It should both protect from the bad effects of constant urine and help heal. I recall one of our longtime members, Talishan, promoting it and I used Silvadene on my chicken to help heal a bad parasite attack (maggots).

I agree with Sef's advice. Possibility of undetected stone but taking into account your situation and the skill of the vet. I know you care about your guinea pig a lot.

flean

Post   » Tue Apr 12, 2022 11:07 am


Thanks @Sef. It's such a hard decision to make. It may well be an undetected stone. Of course 4.5 years isn't geriatric, but I am loathe to spend another £150 on xrays to get to the point of operations, which she may not make it through.

Of course I may well entirely change my mind if she goes downhill! Even seeing her in this much pain makes me in pain.

JJGiebz
Make Good Choices

Post   » Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:33 pm


Depending on the capabilities and equipment your vet has, if the xrays were recent and came back clear, an ultrasound may provide you with more information. Both of my pigs have been "diagnosed" with cystitis and one of them went through a bout of particularly heavy bleeding last summer. Xrays came back clear, but some small masses/possible stones and heavy sludge were visible on the ultrasound. I think any type of cyst or small tumors would be easier to see on an ultrasound as well, if present.

flean

Post   » Wed Apr 13, 2022 5:13 am


@jjgiebz what was the course of treatment following the ultrasound?
The vet did say that the previous xrays weren't that clear - I think they saw the gut stasis and went hell for leather treating that to be honest.

flean

Post   » Wed Apr 13, 2022 2:05 pm


She's lost 100g in a day which is extremely worrying. She didn't react very well to the pain killer I think as she barely moved or ate yesterday. She is now eating but obviously not enough and her bum is no better and possibly worse. I'm now back feeding her critical care to rehydrate her and seriously considering my next steps as I am not sure I can bear to lose her.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Apr 13, 2022 2:36 pm


Opiates can be extremely zonking, and it's not good if it caused her to not move around or eat yesterday. I would most definitely get aggressive with handfeeding and making sure she is staying hydrated. The handfeeding is important not only for hydration but also to try to keep her weight up and keep the gut moving.

This is so worrying, I know. Without having a better idea of what's going on with her, it's going to be harder to know what your options are and what the next step needs to be. Do you know if this vet has ultrasound equipment, and is experienced in interpreting U/S images?

I'm pulling for you both.

flean

Post   » Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:15 am


Update - she is still severely underweight but also still crazily seems happy - running around and climbing up the side of the c&c to get the veggies first etc. Her bum is getting worse and she now has sores on her tummy, unsurprisingly. I've decided to try and find a vet for a second opinion and with the right imaging equipment who will allow a payment plan as I couldn't rest if I didn't do everything possible for her. Thanks everyone for their help and wishes.

JJGiebz
Make Good Choices

Post   » Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:06 pm


Glad to hear she at least seems happy! That is heartening.

The course of treatment after the ultrasound for us ended up being no change from what we were already doing - increased fluids, shilintong, and pain management. Long, expensive story short - a professional review by an 'expert' determined that what my vet feared was a stone attached to the bladder wall was severe inflammation/scarred tissue as a result of chronic inflammation "due to cystitis" which we already knew. But I felt better having conclusively ruled out the stones.

So for that pig, his treatment is twice daily metacam and shilintong, an because he doesn't drink enough daily syringed fluids to make sure he is keeping things flowing (I mix a tiny bit of carrot juice with about 50ml of water and periodically offer it to him). When he goes through bad flare ups or if he starts to drop weight/exhibit additional pain behaviors, he gets twice daily gabopentin, too. He does not like the gabopentin, and it does make him drowsy, so I try to limit that, but for him it is all about pain management. He's been on this regimen for almost 2 years now.

His cage-mate's cystitis is managed with shilintong and a lower dose of metacam. She drinks a lot of water on her own. I did have trouble with her constantly being wet and some mild (nothing like your photos) scald last summer - the vet got her on a round of SMZ which I think Sef suggested instead of Baytril. That cleared her incontinence up and so far so good there. Maybe something else to ask about if/when you seek a second opinion.

I don't know if shilintong would help, since I honestly don't know how it works. My sow used to have episodes of screaming pain, following which she would pee out a lot of blood, and then act like nothing happened. The shilintong was the only thing that stopped those. If you do want to try it, this website seems to sell it from Amazon US (basing that off the fact that I see my own Amazon review on the page). Google suggests the website is legit, just over priced - 16 GBP is about double what I pay on Amazon, so that tracks. https://www.u-buy.co.uk/product/1EU7H97 ... ong-b1-yc5

I don't understand why it is so hard to get in the UK. I guess maybe the company that imports it in Los Angeles doesn't ship to the UK? At any rate, I hope you're able to get some better answers re what is going on with her, and I hope she starts packing the grams on again soon!!

flean

Post   » Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:50 am


She continues to utterly confuse me. Her tummy is now largely bald (she has been grooming a lot) and her bum is showing improvement with the silver sulfadiazine. It is now very lumpy but her wetness has stopped! Whether this is because I'm not bathing her, just using water wipes, or because it's just stopped I have no idea. We're back to the vets tomorrow though as I'm running low on metacam, I'm going to ask about better imaging equipment and see if they can help further or refer. She is very underweight despite eating a ton (750g, I'd say a healthy weight for her is prob more 1100g). I now suspect some sort of tumour but I do want to know what is going on so I can be clear on what I should be doing! At present she's still obviously in pain (hunching and making pained squeaks) but equally still enjoying life, happy running around in the run and chasing after and defending her veggies from her sister. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better answers soon.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:38 am


So glad to hear the urine scald seems to be improving with the use of Silvadene.

Look over this page too, as there may be something that applies that you and/or your vet have not considered:
https://www.guinealynx.info/hairloss.html

flean

Post   » Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:04 am


She's back for xrays and ultrasounds tomorrow. Vet is going to sedate as last xrays were taken without sedation and possibly meant they couldn't see a stone. Either way I'm not sure I want to operate but I want to know! I'm definitely thinking tumour given how her symptoms have progressed. Hopefully I'll have an answer soon!

@ lynx I've sent a further pic. Hopefully this thread might help others if I do end up with an answer!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Apr 21, 2022 7:27 am


Here is your updated picture. Still looks like a lot of healing is needed!

And I agree, so important to have information to make informed decisions. How is she feeling these days?

Image

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