[Gpdd] HEALTH: chronic cystitis

[pat schuett]

Hi Ann,

I'm not sure whether my experience will help or not, but I was in exactly the same situation as you are describing only two months ago and today Doris (my own piggie who has been battling chronic cystitis) is happy and healthy --- so I definitely know how you feel, and maybe can offer some hope!

Doris has had UTIs regularly for the past three years or so; the vet always treated them with Sulfatrim and they *seemed* to go away, but in the last year the infections were coming back more frequently, often quite soon after treatment.  At first, the vet thought the answer was to give the antibiotics for longer, and we tried six weeks on the Sulfatrim.  Only two weeks after completing that course of drugs, Doris had another infection (and this was with me trying Peter Gurney's barley water and honey treatment on her at the same time). Then the vet prescribed Chloro-Palm; she had had very good results with other guinea pigs, but it was a complete failure with Doris --- again the symptoms went away while she was on it, but only a few days afterwards, she was even sicker than before.  

Finally the vet desided to do a culture and sensitivity test on the bacteria, and that was what seemed to me to make the difference.  We had to wait a few days (which was horrible, because Doris, like little Dart, was bleeding every time she peed and making the most heart-rending cries --- and this was even with metacam taking the edge off), but the results indicated that baytril would be most effective and we started her on that right away.

I was really beside myself at this point because I'd just found out that I was having surgery on my eye the next day and I was terrified that something would go wrong and I would not be able to get home afterwards to take care of Doris; also, after the other two antibiotics had failed, I was not very confident about this one, either.  FORTUNATELY, my surgery went fine and the baytril was the right thing for Doris; within even a few days, the bleeding had stopped and she was not squeaking in pain anymore.  By the end of the two weeks on baytril, she was better than she had been in a long time, and in the three weeks or so since she finished the course of drugs, she has shown no sign of recurrence.  (I know it's still early, but in the last six or eight months, she has often begun to show signs of another infection by this stage!)

So that's the one thing I can suggest --- to do the culture & sensitivity test, make sure what bacteria you are dealing with, and what drugs are effective against it.  When you get the right antibiotic for the right bug, the results will seem like a miracle!  And don't lose heart because of the awful pain she seems to be in right now; that can turn around almost overnight with effective treatment and Dart will go back to her happy little piggie life without a backward glance.  GOOD LUCK and keep in touch,

Pat (with piggles Doris, Audrey and Olivia)  






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