g-pig pain on defecation

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

HMC — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 19:03:30 GMT

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]Can you review the GI tract for any thickened mucosal regions?[/quote]

Not that I could see - this is my first CT interpretation so low confidence that I'm getting it right but my boss is helping.

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]If there is significant blood present then it is likely to be lower GI in origin in most cases as caecal bacteria will happily feed on upper GI blood passing through reducing detectable quantities. Gastric ulcers are still a differential and with a tentative positive I would consider using sucralfate until further results are back.[/quote]

Faecal occult blood has just come back as negative, despite my attempts at in-house analysis.

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]Stifles don't show up clearly on the rads here - on the originals is there any evidence of new bone formation?[/quote]

I've just checked again on the original images and I cannot seen anything abnormal.

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]Can you localise area of discomfort on palpation? [/quote]

No, not at all. Guinea pig exam is unremarkable (except the minor flatulence).

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]Any concerns re: diet Vit C content? [/quote]

No, nice varied diet.

I am wishing I had referred this in the first instance now! I am thinking potentially zantac or antepsin plus tramadol liquid? I am a bit reluctant to reach for metacam given the first faecal occult blood result.

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:38:49 GMT

I will confess to not being confident in CT evaluation. Can you review the GI tract for any thickened mucosal regions? If there is significant blood present then it is likely to be lower GI in origin in most cases as caecal bacteria will happily feed on upper GI blood passing through reducing detectable quantities. Gastric ulcers are still a differential and with a tentative positive I would consider using sucralfate until further results are back.

Stifles don't show up clearly on the rads here - on the originals is there any evidence of new bone formation? On the Xrays there is no significant excess of gas in the GIT and I can't see a clear reason for discomfort. Can you localise area of discomfort on palpation? Any concerns re: diet Vit C content? They can become acutely painful after 2wks deficit without the hallmark radiographic changes being present.

Marie

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

Glenn Hodgson — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:18:28 GMT

Loising wt?

I'd have on fiberplex, infacol, a ticky liquid p while waiting for faecals. Also make sure that they are feeding it hay and not bird food.

I had one like this last year..... nothing worked..... died acutely, pm declined. Was rather old.

let us know how you get on with yours!

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

HMC — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:31:57 GMT

And the in-house faecal occult blood seems to be positive, by my reading anyway! So I will hold off with the metacam and send a sample to Idexx for them to test properly.

Do gpigs get gastric/duodenal ulcers?

Cheers,

Hannah

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

HMC — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:13:23 GMT

And the x-rays:

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

HMC — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 15:56:00 GMT

CT image including bladder:

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

HMC — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 15:54:03 GMT

Hi,

I have tried to work this case up as best I can.

I could not see anything orthopaedically wrong on xrays, though I could not see a bladder at all. I'll post the xrays here shortly.

She urinated on gas induction so I collected a urine sample- all normal (pH 8.5, blood/prot/ketones etc neg; don't know what the usg was...). I am in the process of doing the in-house faecal occult blood, as suggested.

We decided to try doing a CT (very new toy here) and the main things I could see on the CT was that she does in fact have a bladder and there were no calculi, that her guts are really really full of gas (see 1st image below- just caudal to the kidneys) and the pelvis looks symmetrical (2nd image).

I'm thinking of just trying her with metacam.

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 17:11:13 GMT

Hi,

pretty common presentation with any abdominal pain cause however mild, guinea pigs are exceedingly pathetic! I agree rads are good next step as orthopaedic pain (look at stifles, hips and lumbar spine) and urolithiasis are in my experience the most common reason for this and are easy to rule in /out on rads. The flatulence and altered defaecation are again non-specific signs of GI slowdown in a stressed/ill/painful GP and cause is likely to be the same.

If rads are unexciting then often you can get a urine sample with gentle bladder expression and testing faecal pellets for occult blood just using a urine dipstick is a quick way to check if colour is down to slow GI motility (odd shaped and dark, small poos are common with this) or true blood - rarely is blood present in faeces in herbivores though.

Marie

Re: g-pig pain on defecation

HMC — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 14:58:12 GMT

Thinking about it, x-rays sound the most sensible. But any contributions gratefully received!

Hannah