Urine Sporadic blood in urine - been to the vet 3 times!

[madelineelaine]

EEK! Those are not very good pellets. And the alfalfa in them is certainly not good for bladder problems.

Has your vet looked at the kidneys? Perhaps the pig still has some sort of infection?

I'm not super experienced with that, but I do know how those systems work, and If the vet hasn't looked into the kidneys perhaps that's it?

 

[Onetwo]

@MoesMom Shipping is generally 1/2 the cost of my purchase but by buying 50lbs of pellets they last me an entire year and I only pay $60 so that actually saves me almost $200 a year because the closest pet store is 60 miles away one way. Plus the 10lb bags of oxbow are around $16-18 so that is more than the cost what I spent not including the cost of gas and the time to go, buy and get back. Plus then I don't have to worry about getting it or running out for an entire year! I buy my hay in bales from a local farmer for really cheap. I spend about $12 a year for hay and I get 4 bales and the bales are 65lbs each If I were to buy KMs hay (which is not as good as KMs but prefered over oxbow hay) that same amount of hay would cost me about $300 a year. My biggest monthly expense for my guinea pigs is their veggies. Which I spend about $40 a month on 3-4 piggies, then laundry which is about $30 a month...

 

[cavy_jdas]

Pellet recommendations here are Kleenmama's hayloft first for hay and pellets. They a tie between Oxbow and another one I can't remember the name of...

Those other ones are Sweet Meadow Timothy Pellets.

It should be noted that the calcium source in Oxbow is different than that in KMS. Levels are comparable, but source is not. I believe that Oxbow and Sweet Meadow use same type of calcium.

 

[cavy_jdas]

In reading the various threads on Guinea Lynx, am I correct in understanding that the best management for interstitial cystitis is piroxicam for pain and inflammation (rather than metacam/meloxicam) and then simply additional water intake to keep the bladder flushed?

 

[MoesMom]

In reading the various threads on Guinea Lynx, am I correct in understanding that the best management for interstitial cystitis is piroxicam for pain and inflammation (rather than metacam/meloxicam) and then simply additional water intake to keep the bladder flushed?

I don't know a whole lot about these 2 medications, however I know that both of them can present serious side effects and should only be used if absolutely necessary - if the guinea pig is in need of pain management. I have also heard that Piroxicam does have some kind of cancer-fighting properties, so I guess it would be the better choice if pain meds were needed.

Since my piggie (Moe) and jDallas2's Oats are not currently showing any signs of discomfort, I am comfortable just trying to decrease calcium levels and increase hydration levels with extra water/veggies as mentioned above to keep the bladder flushed.

I do have a crazy theory... after reading SO many posts in different forums about piggies with this problem, I would say that at least 95% of the piggies mentioned as having chronic bladder problems are Abyssinian. Both of the piggies that I've had with this problem were Abyssinians. I've had Short-haired and Rex piggies who never had any troubles like this. I wonder if there is some kind of genetic pre-disposition to bladder problems with this breed.

 

[jdallas2]

I had no idea our pellets were a low quality brand - ughhh!!! I'm going to be ordering KMS brand timothy pellets to see how they do with those! I'd like to do a hay/pellet combo although I just bought a bunch of hay... I'm looking at their website right now so if I see a difference I will be sure to report back. Here's hoping that it helps them...

Thank you to everyone who has put their thoughts on here... I really appreciate all of you!