Blood in pee, UTI/IC/cryst/tumor

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alex117

Post   » Sun Jul 10, 2022 6:26 pm


This is a long story, so bare with me :)

Hi, Ball is a female guinea pig with unknown age (>3 years old), at her baseline, she weighs around 1200g.

And this story began in late May, I spotted her to have a slightly reduced energy. When I weigh her, she was at 1140g and her pee contains some protein but no blood, so I took her to the vet. According to Xray, she had bronchitis, so she was given Baytril to clear her URI up. So she started to take Baytril for 3-4 days and she had diarrhea, so we switched to Bactrim, she had a couple more diarrheas when she was on Bactrim but it was somewhat manageable, but she dropped her weight down to 1150.

And 2 weeks later, on the following exam, the x-ray shows the URI wasn't cleared up, we don't know if it is fibrosis or infection, but given her sensitive GI, we decided to switch to gentamicin through a nebulizer for 1 week.

And 1 week was pass and I thought the story can finally end, then I started to observe the ball peeing some blood out (it was a tiny red dot in the liner), I thought it is a UTI [she had a couple of diarrheas, so it may be related] but back then she was still having a diarrhea so I delayed 3 days before giving her Bactrim. Unfortunately, in that 3 days, she started to pee more blood out and started to give painful wheek whenever she urinate.

I then brought her back to vet, did one more X-ray(nothing has change on her lung so it is more lightly to be fibrosis), and ordered a urine test, the test does confirm some inflammation, with a moderate amount of blood present but no overt bacteria or white blood cells (but the urine is somewhat contaminated) so the vet asked me to continue giving Metacam and Bactrim just to make sure.

After 12 days of Bactrim (6/20 - 7/1), we didn't see a huge improvement [blood did become less visible but she still had some painful wheek], so we switched it back to the Baytril and hope for the best. Ball then had 8 days of Baytril (7/1 - 7/8), and from what I saw on day 5, she started to complain way less than before, and the test paper also shows a reduced amount of blood and protein. However, her appetite and energy have decreased a bit (she weighs around 1060g), also she had some gas on her GI (she can fart to release it and I started to give her simethicone and more fluid [tried cranberries juice] as well), and I thought it is acceptable since she had a long course of antibiotics and it is a "Baytril", so I thought to continue the antibiotic for a few more days and I can get my happy ball back. And she was perfectly okay on Friday night (7/8).

However, yesterday morning she had a severe diarrhea, complete loss of appetite, and a lot of gas on her GI which caused an early GI stasis. And what is more interesting (nightmare to me) is she started to give me painful wheek when urinating and I saw blood again. So I paused the antibiotics and called my vet. With the critical care and fluid therapy, she showed improvement within 24 hours, and she passed some stool out again. But today, she started to pee more blood out as well. And that pain really knocks her appetite and energy down IMO.

And this is the full story of ball. And her story really troubled me, because:
If it is a UTI, she should have cleared it with a long course of antibiotics, and she won't have suddenly started to pee blood because of a diarrhea that onset within 6 hours (I don't believe bacteria can grow that quick)

If it is an IC, from what I heard, it won't pee that much of blood out and it should get managed by metacam, at her bad day, max dosege of metcam isn't enough to manage her pain.

If it is an ovarian cyst (that maybe the case since she lost some fur on near her lower spine symmetrically for awhile), but we had 3 x-ray and we can't see that, urine report also shows inflammation in her bladder.

If it is a tumor or cancer, I think she should be on the rainbow bridge by now, also she shouldn't have any good days (which she did last week).

What do you guys think about this?

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Jul 10, 2022 6:38 pm


The cranberry juice that you're giving her...is it unsweetened? If not, the sugars in regular cranberry juice could be contributing to her diarrhea/GI issues. When you say "early GI stasis," are you saying that she completely stopped producing feces? How was that treated?

Did the vet rule out bladder stones on those x-rays?

alex117

Post   » Sun Jul 10, 2022 6:59 pm


@sef, it is unsweet, also she doesn't really like it so I stopped it.

When I say early GI stasis, I mean she completely stopped producing feces for 16 hours, during that 16 hours, I gave her 5mL of water every 2 hours and 5 mg of critical care every 2 hours.

3 x-ray shows no stones

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jul 10, 2022 11:04 pm


Stones would have been the most likely condition. Look also into interstitial cystitis:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=21

The gut pain may be associated with the diarrhea. What is the vet's analysis?

alex117

Post   » Mon Jul 11, 2022 2:48 am


I thought about stone too, but we had 3 x-rays in the past 4 weeks, and we aren't seeing any stone.

I think the pain is about the bladder because she screams when she pees and I see blood coming out.

The vet's becoming more suspicious that Ball may have a chronic inflammatory condition in her bladder that is not related to infection. There is also the possibility that this could be related to something in her reproductive tract, or, in the worst-case scenario, could be due to a tumor somewhere.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:54 am


I encourage you to give shilintong a try. It can make the bladder more comfortable. More about it on the stones page:
https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html#shilintong

alex117

Post   » Mon Jul 11, 2022 9:04 pm


I will definitely try this. But all the x-ray that we took in these 3 weeks shows no stone. So, I am leaning toward IC, Also, fall is having a really painful pee and that really knock her appetite and energy down, can IC really make piggy be like this, or I am dealing with another illness?

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Tue Jul 12, 2022 6:33 am


Shilintong can be soothing to the bladder, regardless of whether or not stones are present.

IC can cause painful urination and blood in the urine. The pain can also greatly affect appetite. Do try Shilintong as Lynx suggests. It can't hurt and can possibly help if this is truly IC.

Otherwise, your vet will likely want to rule out something reproductive that could be causing the pain and bleeding.

What is her weight, and how much Metacam is she being given?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:43 pm


Actually, I thought that the action of shilintong is to relax the urinary muscles so that slightly larger stones could pass through the urethra. It also has anti-clotting properties.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Tue Jul 12, 2022 3:58 pm


I have used it myself for stubborn UTIs (along with antibiotics) and also for non-infection related urgency and painful urination, and it has often worked wonders for me. It's not a miracle cure, though, and I haven't had any success using it for bladder stones with our male pigs who have suffered from them, but I would recommend trying it in this case as I believe it does have anti-inflammatory properties that may help reduce discomfort.

alex117

Post   » Wed Jul 13, 2022 1:21 pm


@sef, she is at 1060 in the morning now. Her Metacam dosage is around .25ml (dog Metacam) per day.

And from my perspective, Metacam doesn't really do much to manage her pain, her pain is quite random. On Saturday, and Sunday she gave painful wheek when urinating, and I can see a red dot in the liner and quite a lot of blood on her butt while she was on metacam. Yesterday, and the day before she didn't give painful wheek when urinating even when I stopped giving her Metacam. As of this morning, she doesn't wheek painfully and has no visible blood in the liner or her butt, but the test paper shows blood and protein in the urine. Also, I can see she walks slower and when walking her body was closer to the ground (not crawling but wanting to stay lower to the ground).

We will see if we can get her an ultrasound appointment tomorrow, if not next Thursday. But here are my questions:
1. Will IC makes piggy peeing blood?
2. Can cancer or reproductive system illness can have this up and down?

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jul 13, 2022 3:57 pm


I believe blood can be present for interstitial cystitis. Possible with reproductive issues but the pee would be secondary for the reproductive issues - i.e. not originate in the bladder but be expressed at the same time she peed - so not as likely to be the cause as being a urinary issue.

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