[Gpdd] HEALTH: Another UTI !!! Why???

[pat schuett]

Hi everyone,
 
My poor little girl Olivia is having a terrible time with a urinary infection.  I took her in to the vet about ten days ago, and a urine test revealed she had an infection.  The vet put her on Sufatrim for three weeks, and for the first week, it seemed to be working very well --- she was eating much better than she had been and was active and bright.  
 
Then last Friday, I noticed her rear end was soaking wet.  It seemed better (dry) on Saturday, but yesterday she was wet again and that has continued.  She's also eating less than she was.  I called the vet yesterday (thank goodness she works Sundays) and she agreed we needed to see what was going on, so she had me collect a urine sample which I took in this morning and am now waiting to hear from her.
 
Unfortunately, a complicating factor is that Olivia is the most nervous and high strung of my four piggies.  Just scooping her up to give her the medication twice a day has been horribly stressful for her, and she has been even more unhappy about getting "butt baths" the past few days since I'm concerned about urine scald.  She just sits there frozen in terror and I feel like such an ogre, even though I know it's necessary.
 
The other thing that is bothering me is that virtually every piggie I've had has had urinary issues at one time or another (Virgil and Floyd haven't yet, but I'm thinking it's just a matter of time).  After the first few times, I did some research, switched to Cavy Cuisine pellets for everyone, stopped feeding high-calcium veggies and now give them only filtered or bottled water (our local water has very high mineral content).  I even use Brita filtered water to wash their greens.  SO WHAT AM I DOING WRONG????  I would gladly change anything about my care procedures to stop this from happening, but I can't figure out what that change should be.
 
Is this just something that piggies are prone to?  If you are not having this problem with your piggies, what are you doing differently?  Is it more prevalent in North American than England and Europe/Australia?  I've heard it might be linked to feeding pellets, but Olivia has never been much of a pellet eater so it seems if that's it. she should be the one who isn't affected.  I read a message on GPDD once also that suggested cilantro could trigger UTIs, but Apple (my piggie who had a bladder stone removed a month or so ago) hates cilantro and never eats it.
 
HELP!!!
 
                                                                                    Pat S. (frazzled again)