guinea pig with bladder infection

Question
QUESTION: Hi! I have 5 guinea pigs and am currently dealing with two of them with bladder infections. My six year old female is still spotting red urine sometimes. The vet doesn't think it's her bladder anymore but has us on another round of meds to make sure. She had a very bad case of bloat when she was on Baytril a few years ago. I have a four year old male that has been on two rounds of sulfa drugs and each time I have stopped, his bladder infection returns. He is now starting his third 10 day round of meds. I was wondering if you have experienced this before and what I can do to help him. He is being fed only timothy hay and pellets which, with water, are always available. I clean their housed daily so it is not a matter of hygiene. He is eating two cranberries daily and I have cut out most other fruits and veggies. The vet wants to xray by next week if the bleeding has not resolved or if the infection comes back after the meds again. I guess my questions are these:  
"Could a stone be causing this?"  
"What can I give him to help with gut flora as the meds have hurt his digestive tract?"  
"Is is possible that the sulfa drugs aren't strong enough?"
I am really worried about his digestive tract as I know that guineas aren't very good with antibiotics. Someone had suggested that I give him yougurt to help with his gut.
I appreciate any help/advice you might be able to give! Thank you!

ANSWER: Hello Kai,

UTIs can be difficult to beat and can take several rounds of antibiotics, so this isn't uncommon. Yes, a stone can cause this, so if it hasn't stopped by next week, I agree that they should get x-rays. For the tummy flora go to your local pharmacy and look near the vitamins for a supplement called Acidophilus. Crush the tablets and either mix with water and syringe feed each day (or you could sprinkle on veggies or mix with a mush if you are force feeding, however you choose to get it in them). Bactrim is a common treatment for UTIs, but it can take a while to work. I do not recommend yogurt. Guinea Pigs should not be given any dairy as it can do more harm than good, but the Acidophilus should work better anyway. I'm also going to send you a link to a page discussing UTIs and other possible diagnosises that may be helpful to you. I hope your piggies are well soon. Good luck!

http://www.guinealynx.com/uti.html

-kkat
http://www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Me again Kat...thanks for the great info.  The acidophilus I found had carrot juice in it...the only other option was one with goat's milk. Does the carrot juice matter? Do I give an entire capsule once a day? It's around 400 mg I think...just wanted to make sure I didn't give them too much. They take their meds twice a day. Should they get a capsule twice a day or just once a day? I tried to find Bactrim but with no luck..everything was for dogs and no one knew what a safe dosage would be for a piggie. I know I used that a few years back with a piggie but the vet had something that was safe for cavies. If you think the acidophilus is best I'll stick with that for now. Thank you so much for your time!
Kai
ANSWER: Hello Kai,

Bactrim is a sulfa antibiotic is all. I was just confirming that those should be ok. I'm sorry, I should have been a bit more clear. That's odd. I found mine in just plain tablets. The carrot juice should be fine, though you were right to avoid the one with goat's milk. I give mine a crushed tablet once a day. To my knowledge there isn't a "too much" to give them of it, though I wouldn't go over 1 or 2 capsules just in case. They shouldn't need more than two and more would be overkill anyway. They should get their acidophilus at a different time than their meds. One capsule would probably be fine but when mine were on a double dose of antibiotics, I double dosed the supplement too. The acidophilus should be given a couple hours or so after the antibiotics (or around noon if you opt for one daily dose). That way it will safely replenish the good bacteria without it getting killed off again before it's in there very long. It's great stuff and good to just have on hand. Check the label though. The ones I've seen all say refrigerate after openning, so if yours does, make sure you do. It helps keep it alive longer. Good luck! Hopefully they will beat this infection soon!

-kkat

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the great help Kat! I appreciate it. My poor little babies still have some blood but it's getting better and the antibiotics seem to help. It just comes back when they go off of it. They LOVE the acidophilus with the carrot juice..no trouble getting them to syringe that!  Sorry about the misunderstanding with Bactrim...I was actually asking around the pet stores for bacitracin..I think that's what it's called. I just typed the wrong name to you! Anyway...I'm giving them cranberries daily along with the acidophilus and if things don't clear up we'll be looking at x-raying this week or next. Oh..the vet said that she didn't see any crystals whatsoever in the urinalysis and that this was a good sign for no bladder stones. That's why she hasn't x-rayed yet. Does that make any sense? Or should I push for x-rays right away? Also my female has had bleeding before with no sign of a bladder infection and no stones. They think it might be her uterus. I have had one female spayed in the past because of this and unfortunately we lost her to an infection. She had abnormal cell growth in her uterine walls. Where this female is almost 6 1/2 years old I'm very reluctant to have her spayed just because of her age. Ok..I'm rambling...thanks again for your help!
Kai

Answer
Hello Kai,

The urinalysis results do sound good. Usually when they have stones there will be a severe build up of calcium in their urine causing "sludge", which is basically a large amount of calcium crystals in the urine. For the female with no signs of bladder issues, I would suggest treating her with the antibiotics and hope this helps. I would only go to surergy as a last result and if she was very healthy. You vet should be able to tell you her likelyhood for survival. Some 6 1/2 year old piggies do fine with surgery so it may be possible for her too. I would discuss it with your vet, she should be able to tell you how high the risks are for her. Good luck. I hope they will all be well soon and I'm glad the acidophilus is working out so wonderfully.

-kkat
http://www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs