# uti and baby food



## Crowley is loved (Aug 27, 2014)

okay, so Crowley is on her SECOND UTI and im sick of it! 

im thinking since the problem inst environmental than it must be dietary given what an extremely picky eater she is that it must be because she's missing alot of important nutrients in her diet that might help prevent alot of her health problems if i could get her to eat them. ( the vet told me last year her kibble should be enough but i dont think so anymore after a cold and two UTI's. 

she will only willing eat her kibble and a small amount of sweet potato baby food (and wont eat any other kind of kibble)- i tried switching multiple times...... she'd apparently rather starve to death than eat something different. iv tried hundreds of fruits and vegies and bugs both alive and dead and she just wont eat any of it. 

well iv recently figured out a way to syringe her medication that shes taken to well and was able to get her to eat her pumpkin this way too. 

so i figure i'll try to add to her diet by syringe feeding her some baby foods so that she'll actually eat them rather than just anoint with them. and she can't be picky that way. 

anyhow i was wondering if someone could give me a list of safe baby food flavors to give her ( like fruits and vegi wise) and if anyone could tell me about how much to give her a day? i dont wanna give her too soft and upset her tummy. iv seen most posts say about a table spoon? 

any and all advice would be a life saver! please and thanks in advance!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Have you tried wet cat food? UTIs can have various causes (possibly something to discuss with your vet to see if a main cause can be narrowed down to address), but not enough moisture can be a major factor. There have been several people that had urinary issues improve after switching their hedgehog to wet food. Soaking her kibble could help as well. What percentage is the protein in her kibble? 

I would go more with meat and veggies baby foods, light on the fruit. I wouldn't give more than a tablespoon a night, depending on how much kibble she continues to eat with it. The problem with feeding too much baby food is it isn't balanced. Feeding half or more of the diet in unbalanced baby food is liable to cause more health problems than you solve.

I'm not really sure that her health problems are necessarily due to a nutrition issue though, other than possibly with the UTI. There's not likely to be a common link between a URI and UTI.

Oh and one more question - you guys are sure it's a UTI right? Possible uterine issues have been ruled out?


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## Crowley is loved (Aug 27, 2014)

thank you so much  
i did try, she won't even touch it! i try the same kind as her kibble and 100's of diffrent flavors and she won't even go near the wet food! 

i don't have a bag on me to check but shes on pro plan savoir adult chicken (or chicken and rice?) kibble (despite my efforts to switch to something better) 

i managed to get a pee sample and the vet said there was both red and white blood cells in the pee as well as a bit of Bactria that her antibiotic seems to be handling okay because she hasn't peed blood in a few days but yeah im definitely convinced something else is wrong. her pee has been super dark and thick enough not to soak through the fleece and now all her poops are a really dark green slimy color. 

she's got another appoint for a follow up on the 31 but im going to look into other vets ...no offense this vet seems really nice but he dosn't really seem to know a whole lot about hedgehogs beyond basic treatment and i think your right and something worse is wrong than a simple infection. her last infection only involved the blood :/ 

she still eats and drinks like normal and has been taking her meds well but im 4 weeks solid into dealing with this and nothing but the blood thing is improving. 

the vet we saw in IL said she suspected cancer when we determined the UTI the first time as a second possibility if she didn't get better , but she responded well to the meds and the problem went away for almost two months so i kinda put that aside. 
any ideas on what it might be?? sadly medical health is one of the few things im mostly clueless about with hedgies and the internet is scary if you have no idea what to look for....(like Crowley has an eye issue and the only thing i could find was pics of monstrous infections that took over the face  ) it might help if i have some suggestions for the vet.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

I would get the vet to do a fine needle aspiration of urine directly from the bladder to either confirm or rule out a bladder infection and also have an ultrasound done to check for a uterine tumour.


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

I second Nikki's suggestion of the ultrasound and fine needle aspiration. Nico was having issues with blood in her urine that antibiotics wouldn't clear up. We had an ultrasound done and tried to do the urine draw but the little goober was on empty at the time, but the ultrasound came back with a mass in her uterus. Did a spay and the bleeding stopped right away. Aside from some unpleasantness during recovery involving some skin issues where they shaved her, it went really well and seems to have even improved her mood. I suppose not being in pain all the time makes a big difference.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Usually I agree with ruling out uterine issues but I honestly think it is urinary in this case. For one thing, the thick urine concerns me, it should be more diluted. That makes me think she's dehydrated or has something bigger going on. The other reason I really think it's urinary is the food. 40% protein is considered too high for hedgehogs in general - high protein, especially dry, is hard on the kidneys. I know she's very picky, but at this point, I think it's very important to get her switched to a lower protein food. I would really suggest soaking the kibble or giving her wet food (even if you have to syringe it) are least for right now too, and see if it helps dilute her urine more.

Something else to maybe look into - I normally hate Science Diet. But I know Nancy has mentioned having success with using their urinary health formula (can't recall if it was kibble or wet) for a hedgehog with persistent urinary issues. Maybe something to ask the vet about, whether it's the same one or a new one.

If you do want to rule out uterine issues, it wouldn't be a bad idea at all. I just really think it seems to point more towards kidney problems from what you've said.


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Yeesh. I didn't have time earlier to check the analysis on the food, 40% is definitely too high. Ok, so kidney problems are a distinct possibility. On the plus side, at least the urine isn't green 

Ok, so we now have two avenues to explore with the vet. That's good! It's way better than going in completely blind.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I meant to add on to my post, the poop is likely due to the antibiotics. They kill good bacteria in the intestines along with any bad bacteria that they're meant to treat and cause green gross poops. You can help with that by giving her probiotics. Acidophilus can be found in pharmacies, near the vitamins, or you can get Bene-Bac, which can be found online, sometimes at pet stores, and from the vet.


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## Crowley is loved (Aug 27, 2014)

yeah i'll have to try the wet cat food, Crowley never eats on a set schedule enough for me to wet the kibbles and it smells horrible if it sits wet for more than 20 mins at a time :/ found that out the hard way. i usually put a 1/4 cup of kibbles in her bowl and it gets checked she ate than dumped at 11;30pm every night so she can eat whenever she wants. 

and yeah i know it's terrible! its what the breeder had her on and iv try switching 30 or so times but if i even mix her food with anything at all than she just simply wont eat until i clean the bowl and put just her food back in. two days is the longest iv let her try. i always crack first.

but yeah she's still eating and drinking just fine its the coming out part that she's having issues . i got the powdered bene bac stuff and have been giving it to her the last 3 days or so by wetting it and syringing it. i was gonna put her on it earlier but with how much it stresses her i didn't wanna make her take anything she didn't HAVE to but by this point i just want her well again.

*what kind of testing would need to be done if it is her kidnies? what kinds of treatment is there if that is the problem? i assume they don't do hedgehog transplants. 

iv found another vet, one that was actually recommended on this page and scheduled an apt for Monday so i'll make my list and ask all the questions. 
and this one's female so maybe she'll be better about exams with this vet. Crowley has a hard time with men and i think thats part of why she had trouble with the current vet.


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## Crowley is loved (Aug 27, 2014)

Lilysmommy said:


> Have you tried wet cat food? UTIs can have various causes (possibly something to discuss with your vet to see if a main cause can be narrowed down to address), but not enough moisture can be a major factor. There have been several people that had urinary issues improve after switching their hedgehog to wet food. Soaking her kibble could help as well. What percentage is the protein in her kibble?
> 
> I would go more with meat and veggies baby foods, light on the fruit. I wouldn't give more than a tablespoon a night, depending on how much kibble she continues to eat with it. The problem with feeding too much baby food is it isn't balanced. Feeding half or more of the diet in unbalanced baby food is liable to cause more health problems than you solve.
> 
> ...


nope. the didn't even mention uterine as a possibility . i said she was treated for a uti before and he immediately went to treating for it again than used the phrase 'well wait and see'


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Definitely try the wet food. Try the better brands first if you can - Wellness & Natural Balance are both at Petsmart, I'm not a fan of Blue Buffalo as a company, but the food has decent ingredients. But even the worse quality brands would be fine, IMO, if she'll eat them. At this point, getting more moisture into her seems more important to me. And while it's less of a concern with wet food, I would still double check the protein percentage, you have to calculate the dry matter percentage. I explain how to do so here - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/19-soft-food-recommendations.html Check the fat as well, because wet food is almost always higher in fat. I would still try to stick around 14-16% or less if you can.

Will she take the Bene-Bac if it's sprinkled on her food or will that make her avoid eating?

I don't have personal experience with kidney issues, mostly just what I know from research & such. The main test I would guess they'd do is a blood test, to check for kidney function. I'm not sure if there are any other kidney-specific tests. They may be able to ultrasound or x-ray, to see if there are any masses that could be tumors or stones. I'm not sure there is a treatment for tumors - I would expect that would be a difficult surgery, depending on the placement. For stones, I know surgery is also an option, especially if they're very big or there's a lot of them. After that, the key is prevention, which involves diet changes. The changes depend on what type of stones they are, there are two ways they can form, if I remember right. I can try to do some more research & find some links if you'd like. I don't have many plans for this weekend & would be willing/able to do some checking so you're prepared with questions for the vet on Monday.


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