[Gpdd] HEALTH: It's startiing over again with Eve.

[pat schuett]

Hi Lynn,

I suspect I may be the member Penny was referring to who had dealt with FAR too many UTIs among my piggies --- I have certainly gained much more experience than I wanted in treating them!

As Penny and Sandy have already said, sometimes it does take an extended period of treatment with an antibiotic before a UTI can be completely eradicated, and my experience has been that often the first UTI diagnosed in a particular piggie is very stubborn.  Some piggies are especially stoic about putting up with discomfort and it may be that Eve had the UTI for a while before showing symptoms; this would have given the bacteria a chance to get firmly dig in and will need a longer spell on the drugs before you can get rid of it completely.  It could also be that Baytril is just the wrong antibiotic for this particular bug --- if you can, it's not a bad idea to have the vet do a culture & sensitivity test on the bacteria in Eve's urine to make sure Baytril is the best drug to treat it. 

I have also dealt with bladder stones and in sows, they are usually not that awful.  Many times they pass on their own, but if they do not, the vet can usually extract them without surgery by going up through the urethra (my vet has done this several times using a tiny little scooper that is normally a tool for laproscopic knee surgery in dogs).  As Penny says, Ann Evans and her Piggyville site are a wealth of useful information on stones and UTIs.   I had several loooonnngggg phone conversations with Ann in the midst of my UTI troubles and she was wonderful!

I can't stress enough that with both UTIs and stones, PAIN RELIEF IS CRUCIAL.  There is no reason for a piggie to suffer and if she is tensed up from pain, she is much less likely to pass the stone (if there is one) and more likely to try to avoid peeing, which will just encourage the bacteria growth.  The children's ibuprofen (.2 ml twice a day to start) is easily available and comes in piggie-friendly flavours.

I would start the barley water with a bit of honey right away, at least until you can get in to the vet (I often give it along with the antibiotics --- it does seem to keep them more comfortable).  Just boil a few tablespoons of barley in a cup of water for 20 minutes, cool and use that.

GOOD LUCK!!!  I know how distressing it is to hear those heart-rending squeaks of pain, but there are many things you can do to help Eve and I'm sure she (and you) will be feeling much better soon!

Pat S. & the Prairie Piggies