Dire Situation... Please Respond!!!

Question
I have a two and a half year guinea pig named Gini. A little more than a week ago I noticed that her urine was pinkish/red- so I made an appointment with the vet and my girlfriend took her in. The vet informed her that it could be a UTI or stones- and prescribed an antibiotic to give to Gini for a week. Other than the urine- Gini shows no signs of illness. She is active, eats, drinks, and sleeps fine.

It has now been a week and the condition fluctuates. On certain occasions her urine is clear, on others it is red. The area underneath her anus was very wet so I used a damp towel to wipe the area then a dry one to dry it last night.

I have repeatedly tried to contact the vet for an update about what I should do now- seeing as though the condition hasn't changed- but he has yet to contact me. In the interim- I wanted to get your thoughts...

I love my guinea pig to death but my hands are somewhat tied by my financial situation. I am a recent college grad and do not have that much disposable income (part of the reason I bought a Guinea Pig instead of say, a dog). My concerns include 1. Going back to the vet, putting Gini through a battery of tests that ends up costing $300- and finding nothing or something very minor...or conversely 2. Going back and finding something major that needs an operation which could cost many hundreds of dollars which a small chance of survival...

Other facts that may have contributed- but I'm not sure... We recently changed the bedding from Carefresh to Aspen chips due to another guinea pig that we recently bought being allergic to Carefresh. We also took them off vitamin drops thinking it might be better just to give them fresh veggies- which we did but maybe not enough vitamin C... so we put them back on them yesterday.

At this point I just want to know what your thoughts are. I understand that this situation can be very serious- but Gini shows no signs of illness- should I wait longer and see if the meds have a delayed reaction? Should I give her cranberry juice? What are cost effective solutions and what are the chances that I can spend a reasonable amount of money and have her back to being 100% healthy.

Warm regards,


Answer
Hello Rick,

You can give her cranberry juice, diluted and unsweetened plain cranberry juice. I don't recommend multivitamin drops because they can be harmful. Try to give them veggies high in vitamin c instead or just vitamin c drops. I'll include a link to a list of veggies they can have with the high in vitamin c veggies pointed out. It usually takes 2 weeks or more for the antibiotics to clear up a UTI. Since she is showing no other symptoms, I would just continue her antibiotics. If the symptoms are still present after she completes her round of medication, I advise having an x-ray done to look for bladder stones. If their are no stones, have her urine checked for infection to see if it really is just a stubborn UTI. I would not let the vet just randomly do tests. I'm going to send you a helpful link about bladder stones and interstitial cystitis (a possible diagnosis if no infection and no stones are found). She is young so if you have a good vet, surgery should go smoothly if needed, although as you said it could be expensive. If cost is an issue but you really want to help your piggy and her only option is surgery (or other expensive treatment) talk to your vet and see if he might take payments. If it were me, if she's not having any other issues, I'd keep her on the antibiotics for another week at least before having anything else done. If she stops urinating or if the condition worsens before her antibiotics are finished, then take her back. If your vet will ever get around to returning your calls, I advise asking for his thoughts as well. Good luck. You and your little girl will be in my prayers.

bladder stones
http://guinealynx.info/stones.html

veggies
http://www.caviesgalore.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8792

-kkat
www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs