UTI or... ?

[minnow]

My lovely PEW girl Squirrel is very ill, and I can't figure out if it's something treatable or not. I felt that her bladder was hard last night, did some probing, and found out that she was blocked - with thick pus. Once I was able to get her cleared and express the urine that was in her bladder, there was even more pus. Toothpaste pus. This morning, she was blocked with pus again, and I don't think I've been happier to be peed on in my life.

So the question is, could this be a UTI, or is this more likely to be a situation of an infected tumor that has invaded her bladder? She's hurting, even with Metacam, so if it's most likely to be the latter, I don't want to extend her suffering for something that's just going to get worse.

Has anyone else had a situation like this, or am I just special in getting the atypical illnesses in my rats?

 

[jorats]

That poor girl... Nobody can really make that diagnosis with your girl. She really needs to see a vet and put on meds. Some meds could very well clear her out.

 

[minnow]

I have her on Baytril and Metacam until we can get her to a vet. Unfortunately, due to transport issues, the soonest I can bring her in is Thursday...

 

[jorats]

At least she's on meds now, that's good!

 

[minnow]

Well, she's doing a little bit better, and her vet's opinion is that it may be strict UTI or may be tumor related but it's too soon to really tell and give the abx at least a month to work on it, so... long haul, but it's looking more hopeful, and I'm happy as long as she's improving.

 

[Joanne]

I wouldn't make a decision to euthanize until the antibiotics have had a fair chance at trying to clear up the infection.....

 

[minnow]

That's where my vet's coming from on this one too, and I honestly agree with her in this case and in all cases where the infection isn't just secondary to a soon-to-be-fatal cancer.

Squirrel's getting a fair shot at antibiotics solving this, don't worry. She was hurting a lot more the first couple days, and I was also afraid she wouldn't make it through the night for a couple nights... that was the main reason I was considering sending her to the Bridge rather than continuing her suffering, if it turned out to be tumor-based. She's strong enough for shoulder rides now, though, so I'm breaking out the pink mush for her. :mrgreen: