We just got back from the vets. Feather was an absolute darling and spent the morning in the vestry of our church singing along to the hymns (he was so cute LOL). Because of the timing he had to come with us as we didn't have enough time to get home from church collect him and go back in, so he went along.
The vet was fantastic. I gave him the urinalysis results I had done with the test strips, and he agreed that Feather was too young for kidney failure anyway and the results proved it wasn't that or diabetes. He thought that stones were unlikely considering his age as well. He also thought the weight loss was probably stress induced from the UTI. So he gave Feather an injection of Baytril and some Metacam (first vet I found who wasn't reluctant to give it to me) as well as another weeks worth of oral baytril and three days worth of metacam. He thought that the antibiotics should have kicked in, in three days meaning further pain relief wouldn't be necessary. And the best bit? he only charged me $31.90 as it was my first visit he waived the consultation fee. I was happy, I was prepared to pay whatever was needed but it's nice to not have a vet charge through the nose for once.
So Feather is now back in his cage with his cagemate and a snugglesafe. He's still eating fine, still pooping and peeing and looking like, well, Feather so we'll see. He was 818g this morning, I gave him 20g Critta Care before we left but he was down to 815g when we got home. So I'm going to keep the critta care up for the next few days in the hopes of preventing further weight loss. Hopefully once the antibiotics kick in he'll start gaining weight on his own. So the plan is three 'meals' a day for him of about 20g each (or more if I can convince him), plus constant access to some nice diuretic veggies (celery etc) to give his system a good flushing out as well as his usual dry feed, hay and fresh water. Plus a dose of baytril and metacam each morning followed by a probiotic two hours later.
And if all goes well he should be back to his usual weight within a few weeks. If not we'll go back in, in a week and get him xrayed and a blood analysis done.
Edited to add: I just gave Feather his 'lunch'. Have to say, it's a treat to hand feed a pig that hasn't lost it's appetite. Generally I end up trying to just get a few mL's into a sick pig. This time though I got 33g into Feather before running out of made up critta care. So I've left him munching on cucumber. He peed again and this time it was only light pink, which suggests the damage isn't too bad, so hopefully he'll heal quickly. I spoke to Mum and she held him on Monday and there was no sign of blood or pain, so what i noticed on Wednesday was probably the start of the bleeding, so he should be fine soon. Once his pee does become clear again I'll use the test strips to ensure his urine is totally clear of blood cells, once it is I'll assume he's fine.
Edited to add 2 - Feather just got his 'dinner' tonight at 8pm. So before his lunch he weighed 812g, after he weighed 845g. This was at 1pm. By 8pm he weighed 828g before and 853g after. This morning he was fed at 7am and was 818 (he ate 25g) and was down to 812 six hours later. So at least he lost less between lunch and dinner, only 17g rather then the 31g of before. So hopefully he'll keep the trend up. I'll phase hand feeding out once he can gain on his pre dinner weight up through the night. He is still eating at least. Fortinbras is being a pest so I've moved Feather to a carry cage with food, water and a snugglesafe near the fire. He's been slowly munching at things the whole time and is definitely drinking by himself. If I can get him back to 900g I'll be certain he's on the mend. So we'll just keep chugging along and I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for him. The cystitis doesn't worry me but the weight loss really does.
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