Follow up on the two guinea pigs with urinary problems.

Further to my earlier case study of 2 GP with urinary tract problems, the results are as follows:

1. GP with blood in the urine for 2 weeks. X-ray by Vet 2 showed several bladder stones and advice given was euthanasia. When the GP came to me, he was very thin and weak. The young lady got permission from her mum to get the bladder surgery done by me.

I advised against immediate surgery as the GP was not fit to be under anaesthesia. He would just die on the op table. The owner was to hand feed and make him well first. On the 2nd day at home, he passed away. In this type of case, the interest of the GP is paramount rather than the bottom line of the surgery, since the GP practically had no chance of survival on the op table.


2. GP not eating, had a grossly swollen bladder. Dr Daniel and I palpated the abdomen. Looked so much like ascites although I could feel the faint outlines of a very full bladder as big as an orange. Suddenly whitish cloudy urine dribbled out. More and more urine was released like a storm flood. I got the urine inside a syringe and sent to the lab. Came back with struvite crystals +++, bacteria + and urine pH = 9.0. Evidence of urinary tract infection caused by amorphous phospate or struvites +++. So what to do now?

"In dogs, acidify the urine or give S/D diet," I said to Dr Daniel and Dr Vanessa. "What to do for a GP with struvites in the bladder?"

The lady owner returned my text message this morning. She had left all medication to the sister who stays at home. After 3 days, the sister stopped the antibiotics and the pain-killer as the GP was eating and drinking.

"But he sits in a corner," the young busy career lady said. "When can I send him down for another check up?" I scheduled next week. She has only one GP and believed that her sister had increased the intake of Vit C tablets to 1.5 tab/day causing the GP to stop eating.

Overdosage of Vit C can lead to kidney stones in people. In this case, the GP had a UTI