Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:11:32 GMT

Thanks!

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Mark Rowland — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:17:49 GMT

about 1/5 oj to 4/5 water, you can also use cranberry juice

Mark

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Mark Hedberg — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:15:24 GMT

How much orange juice to how much water?

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Mark Rowland — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:27:02 GMT

Im afraid you still need to xray this patient. I would be looking for calculi in the bladder or ureters (the latter are quite painful). With regards treatment, these cases can be frustrating. Calculi require surgery, but post op your best bet is fluids, fluids, fluids (along with abs and analgesia) in an attempt to flush the urinary system. I give post op s/c fluids for several days and get the owner to encourage as much drinking as possible (adding orange juice to the water, cutting down on the concentrates), even geting cooperative clients to inject saline themselves.

Goodluck

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Busybee — Fri, 13 May 2011 08:16:58 GMT

Very helpful, thank you!

[quote user="Emma Middleton"]How was the bladder flushed? Did you/your colleague pass a catheter? I know the guinea pig has already recovered but an x-ray would be useful to see if you've got a load of sludge or even more solid uroliths in there. [/quote]

The bladder was flushed initially with a IV catheter (minus stylet!) then a urinary cat catheter. We did consider an x-ray but the O is short on funds.

I will pass on the information regarding the diet

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:47:42 GMT

[quote user="Busybee"]Are there any other meds it could be on and should we recommend any dietary specifics to the owner? [/quote]

Any 'sick' guinea pig gets vitamin C from me. Make sure it's fed decent quality guinea pig food that's in date. The pelleted variety is better as they can't sort the ration.

Cracking pets are guinea pigs. So much better then rabbits, hamsters, rats etc.

[is this a suitable juncture to point out their edibility? ]

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Emma Middleton — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:32:16 GMT

[quote user="Busybee"] Could this be urinary calculi [/quote]

I'm not an exotics expert either but I'd say it could be a case of bladder "sand" urolithiasis which I know is sometimes seen in rabbits as a result of too much calcium in the diet. Sounds very similar from what you've described. Treatment can require cystotomy but from what I've heard this has a high success rate if the diet is changed post-op.

[quote user="Busybee"]The bladder was then flushed which produced more [/quote]

How was the bladder flushed? Did you/your colleague pass a catheter? I know the guinea pig has already recovered but an x-ray would be useful to see if you've got a load of sludge or even more solid uroliths in there.

[quote user="Busybee"]should we recommend any dietary specifics to the owner?[/quote]

If G pigs do get sludgy urine for the same reason as rabbits do, then a diet of mainly hay with a small amount of a variety of veggies is low in calcium and protein and high in fibre. Maybe they are feeding too much concentrate?

Re: Urinary calculi or nasty infection?

Richard Fox — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:08:04 GMT

Not an exotics expert but Guinea Pigs are like horses in that they excrete calcium carbonate (but can also shed ca oxalate) in their urine - But it depends whether it is in excess and not just sedimented out ? Sounds excessive to me given the texture and quantity? Over to an exotics expert