# Recovering from UTI



## Tarynsgate (Sep 25, 2010)

Need a little advice, so here's the situation:

Roxie was diagnosed with UTI last monday (3rd Sept) and has been put on antibiotics (they didn't label the name) on 0.1ml a day for 10 days. Today is her last dose, but she's still bleeding somewhat and doesn't want to eat, but she drinks on her own, and she drinks a lot. I've been syringe feeding her for the last week, roughly 3-5ml of ground up kibble and Bugsy's Small Carnivore food powder mixed to a syringe-able consistency, which is pretty much all she allows me to feed her with before she gets bitey :x

However a couple of things are worrying me sick.

She's extremely weak, to the point that she just falls asleep sitting up and flops sideways while I'm feeding her (sometimes she struggles a little then gives up) and her stool (whatever tiny amount of it) seems to have turned gooey dark green. The scariest bit is when she lies down and splats, with her tail sticking out a mile, and attempts to 'pee' while lying down, but nothing shows up. She just twitches a whole lot and scratches the bedding with her hind legs : :? 

Its got me scratching my head on whether I'm doing things right. I'm sorely tempted to cart her back to the vet, but this is the 1st time she's ever gotten sick so I have no idea if this is just part of the recovery process or I'm being an idiot for NOT carting her to the vet. I really appreciate any advice.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

3-5ml really isn't a lot of food; 5ml is about a teaspoon. It's possible that she's so weak because she's not getting enough to eat. Have you kept track of her weight? With that kind of food intake I would expect weight loss. Also, have you tried feeding her several times a day? Often when they're sick and need to be fed by syringe, they don't have patience for very much at a time, so it requires several feedings a day. Since she's still bleeding, that most likely means she'll need another round of antibiotics to get rid of the UTI completely. However, the weakness (to my knowledge) shouldn't go along with a UTI. I would say get her back to the vet as soon as you can manage - and in the meantime, try to get more like 15ml of food in her per day at minimum. 15ml is about 1 tablespoon - personally I wouldn't feel comfortable with a hedgehog getting less than that a day, particularly not for ten days. If she's willing to take about 5ml at a time before getting bitey, just break that into 3 sessions (or ideally more than that).


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## Tarynsgate (Sep 25, 2010)

Dangit, I knew I was doing something wrong. (Sorry, I made a mistake on the 1st post, she has 3 days left of antibiotics to go, not one more dose, so she's been only eating that much for a bit less than a week) I completely forgot about the checking weight bit, argh! :x 

I'll try to get more food in her asap!  and that vet visit too! T_T

How long does it normally take for a UTI to clear up? D:


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

I haven't dealt with a UTI in particular, but I know it's not uncommon for something requiring antibiotics to need a second round. I'm actually dealing with that right now, probably going to be giving one of my girls another round of antibiotics for dealing with a bacterial thing that's causing a digestive/poop problem. Generally liquid antibiotics come in bottles that are more than you actually need, so you shouldn't have to buy any more, but still go by the vet's instructions for when/if to start it again.

The other thing with a UTI is keep her drinking a lot because that means more pee, which helps flush out bacteria. I also haven't heard it done for hedgehogs, but it works for humans and dogs, so you could also try buying some cranberry pills (nothing else added) and crush up some (maybe 1/4 of a pill a day) into the food you syringe to her. The pills are basically cranberry in concentrated form, which helps with urinary tract health and is an effective OTC remedy for UTIs in people. Cranberry is fine for hedgehogs, and it's often included in cat foods for the same reason, so it's worth a try. It also won't interfere or react strangely with the antibiotics she's already on.

Definitely get more food in her, even if she's being fussy about it. Good luck!


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

If the antibiotics aren't clearing it up, then it sounds like it could be a uterine problem, and she will need to be spayed.
Did the vet draw urine directly from the bladder to determine that it was a UTI? If not, then it's very likely that it's a uterine problem and she needs to see the vet asap if she's already getting worse.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

I was thinknig the same as Immortalia. Quinn just had a UTI which cleared up really fast with antibiotics. It will be 2 weeks tomorrow, but she finished her meds after 10 days. She's almost back to her normal self, still not eating as much but her activity levels are back up. I would think other hedgies with UTI would have similar results and I remember vet saying if this doesn't help then we would have to look to the uterus.


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## Tarynsgate (Sep 25, 2010)

moxieberry said:


> I haven't dealt with a UTI in particular, but I know it's not uncommon for something requiring antibiotics to need a second round. I'm actually dealing with that right now, probably going to be giving one of my girls another round of antibiotics for dealing with a bacterial thing that's causing a digestive/poop problem. Generally liquid antibiotics come in bottles that are more than you actually need, so you shouldn't have to buy any more, but still go by the vet's instructions for when/if to start it again.
> 
> The other thing with a UTI is keep her drinking a lot because that means more pee, which helps flush out bacteria. I also haven't heard it done for hedgehogs, but it works for humans and dogs, so you could also try buying some cranberry pills (nothing else added) and crush up some (maybe 1/4 of a pill a day) into the food you syringe to her. The pills are basically cranberry in concentrated form, which helps with urinary tract health and is an effective OTC remedy for UTIs in people. Cranberry is fine for hedgehogs, and it's often included in cat foods for the same reason, so it's worth a try. It also won't interfere or react strangely with the antibiotics she's already on.
> 
> Definitely get more food in her, even if she's being fussy about it. Good luck!


I made her drink more last night, and she seems to be taking to the multiple feedings quite well. She even ate a little bit of boiled egg yolk too. I didn't manage to find any plain cranberry pills yesterday either but I'll be trying another pharma after work 



Immortalia said:


> If the antibiotics aren't clearing it up, then it sounds like it could be a uterine problem, and she will need to be spayed.
> Did the vet draw urine directly from the bladder to determine that it was a UTI? If not, then it's very likely that it's a uterine problem and she needs to see the vet asap if she's already getting worse.


The vet did an x-ray after palpating (I think that's what the vet called it, I can't remember) her bladder and didn't find any lumps or growths. I didn't see any blood (hurray!) on her liners/paper towels today however her pee now has this weird faint smell (it could be just the food though...I'm hoping its just the food)

At the very least she doesn't look like she's getting worse, she's more energetic since I did the whole multiple feedings. I'm going to bring her to the vet anyway just in case.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

How is she doing? What did the vet say?


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## Tarynsgate (Sep 25, 2010)

I'm sorry, I would have replied sooner but for some reason I cannot view HHC from my home connection (I get some forbidden 403 something something)

Well, Roxie has passed away. She did early this morning. 

My (useless) vet had told me on Friday that she was only a little weak from recovery, after checking her over and taking a poo sample. They gave me some vitamins to put in her water and told me to simply ensure that she ate and 'got some exercise' :x 

Last night something protruded out from her urethra and there was a fresh gush of blood (the blood was almost gone by this time, so I panicked) but being in this dumb backwater country there are zero exotic vets open for emergency and I had to wait for 9am to come so I could rush over....but by then it was too late. 

Thank you all for all your support. I really appreciate it. My little pricklepig is in a better place now.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

I'm so sorry. She was well loved.


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## AngelaH (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm so sorry you lost your little one. You gave her lots of love and a good life, that is the best she could have hoped for.


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## Tarynsgate (Sep 25, 2010)

Thank you. Your comments mean a lot to me.


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