Protozoa in Bladder/Urine and Metronidazole

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DevoutHaruhiist
Supporter in '22

Post   » Mon Jan 10, 2022 1:40 pm


Hello all,

Long time lurker on these forums and first time poster. First of all thanks for all the great resources. I have used this site over the years to help many of my guinea pigs.

Today I went to my very trusted vet with my 5 year (almost 6) old guinea pig Margaret. She has always had a propensity for bladder infections and has been on Albon probably 5 times in her life. They've always cleared up but she does maintain some calcium carbonate crystals in her bladder. I saw a little bit of blood in her urine again recently so brought her in figuring she might need more of the same.

When my vet looked under the microscope, however, he found flagellates (protozoa) in there. He told me this is fairly rare to find in the bladder. He prescribed me Metronidazole but did caution that there could be bad side effects. Perhaps unrelated, she has had a bad reaction to Baytril before and ended up with near fatal stomach problems about a year ago from that.

Oddly enough, she does not seem to have any stool or stomach problems at the moment, which I've read is more common with these kinds of parasites.

My main question is has anyone here had experience with this issue and with the Metronidazole treatment for this issue?

Thank you in advance for your time.
EDIT: I should mention she really isn't exhibiting any other major symptoms, so my main fear is the cure being worse than the ailment. But that said I don't want to leave it and have it spread or get worse!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Jan 10, 2022 6:07 pm


I had a couple of guinea pigs on metronidazole with no problems at all. Never heard of protozoa in the bladder.

DevoutHaruhiist
Supporter in '22

Post   » Mon Jan 10, 2022 6:21 pm


Thanks for the reply, bpatters. My vet told me he has only seen it once before (and showed me the video under the microscope) so it seems fairly rare perhaps.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:59 pm


You might want to look this over:
https://www.guinealynx.info/diarrhea.html

With the UTIs you have seen, often Bactrim is effective and well-tolerated.

DevoutHaruhiist
Supporter in '22

Post   » Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:09 pm


That is good info. My vet was saying that the typical antibiotics he would use like that would not kill these non-bacterial parasites. That said I have noticed 0 symptoms of anything digestive (diarrhea, etc.) from my pig, just that occasional blood spot in the urine.

That said I am also afraid of leaving it untreated and having them just continue to multiply or possibly spread. So I guess I am a bit caught between starting the treatment immediately (with some fear about side effects) or watching. The vet seemed open to either.

It does sound like from browsing these forums that Metronidazole has been used fairly frequently as an anti-parasitic with good results, so that is encouraging.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:40 am


A guinea pig can definitely carry/harbor parasites and not show strong signs of illness. Skin parasites, for example, some guinea pigs don't have issues but can be carriers.

DevoutHaruhiist
Supporter in '22

Post   » Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:06 pm


Interesting. That is a good point. Yeah I am still stuck a bit on the decision to start treatment. Of course I want to treat it before it becomes something worse potentially. But I also have had pigs with bad reactions to medication that ended up almost dying from that rather than the ailment itself. It's a tough decision.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:37 pm


You're saying that giving metronidazole is a tough decision? I wouldn't hesitate one minute to give it to my pigs. It's one of the more benign meds as far as side effects are concerned, and there's no telling what an out-of-control parasitic infection could do to your pig.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:10 am


We had one with a chronic excess of normal protozoans in his stool (not the bladder). He had softish droppings but it otherwise didn't seem to bother him much.

Metronidazole is probably the safest antimicrobial you can give a guinea pig. We've used it safely many, many times over the years. That said, we had one that couldn't tolerate anything, metronidazole included. This is pretty unusual, but given the previous severe reaction to Baytril, I'd try it -- but watch very closely for any reaction.

Is she holding her weight, or losing weight?

DevoutHaruhiist
Supporter in '22

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:49 am


Thanks for the replies! From hearing all this I am much more comfortable starting the treatment. I think I was a bit nervous because my vet said he does not prescribe it that often. I'm glad to hear it has had good results for others and will start my pig on it (and watch carefully, of course). As you say who knows where it could end up if they keep multiplying in there.

Her weight has gone down just slightly over the last 2 weeks, but nothing too alarming yet as I have seen her weight fluctuate this amount before with no issue. Nothing really notable about the stool. Still seems solid and plentiful.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:10 am


Good luck to her and to you. Keep us posted!

DevoutHaruhiist
Supporter in '22

Post   » Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:18 pm


So far seems ok...a few days into treatment. She is still eating normally and acting normally, though I have noticed her poops seem a little smaller so I'm a bit concerned about that.

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