Cystitis / Wet Tail

Cookie Monster · 04-30-2013, 04:48 AM

Hi All,

My little lady is poorly. She's a female syrian, aged at least 14 months (we got her from a rescue 12 months ago, and all they could tell us was she'd been there "a couple" of months) and called Becky.

I was away on Saturday night so I didn't see her, although I'm sure she was ok when I left home on Saturday morning. When I got back, on Sunday evening she had some blood around her bum / tail. It was only a little bit, and my first thought was that she'd caught her tail on something. After about 30 mins, I noticed it wasn't drying / she was still bleeding so decided a trip to the emergency vet was in order.

When I got there, I saw a lovely locum vet, who said it looked either like wet tail, or some kind of water infection along the lines of cystitis. She very kindly produced 2 big poops for him, and he said since they were fine / normal looking it was probably the water infection. He gave her an injection of Bytril, with instruction to go and see our own vet the next day and either have another injection or get some to put in her food.

So off we went to the vet yesterday, and this time the lady who saw her sort of dismissed the idea of the water infection, and very much went down the line of wet tail. Becky was very good last night in eating her baby food with the medicine in it, but as of yet there doesn't seem to be much difference in her. She was always still active (read: trying to escape) and there is still some of this discharge coming out. It varies between a yellow-y orange and bright red.

What I haven't yet mentioned is that Becky is VICIOUS. We have tried to tame her, we've tried every trick going, but she will not be held. Stroking is fine, holding is not. Both vets advised us against trying to pick her up at the moment, saying the stress is just not worth it. The first vet did a good job of getting hold of her and cleaning her so he could check it wasn't a wound, but she screamed and screamed.

So what I really need to know is:
- How would you tell the difference between wet tail and a water infection?
- What would the prognosis be either way?
- She is taking 0.05mg of baytril, does that sound right?
- Is there anything else we can do for her? Certain foods or anything? I've already read that cranberry juice would be good, so I'm going to get her some later.

Thank you for helping, I'm a very worried hammy mummy!

csockman · 04-30-2013, 05:11 AM

Are you and both vets 100% certain that the bloody discharge is in fact coming from the anus and not from her "lady bits"?

Wet-tail = diarrhea induced by a specific bacteria in the GI of the ham. From your description, it appears that your ham has solid poo, so I am not so sure that this is an accurate diagnosis, but I didn't spend several years in veterinary school.

I would be more inclined to think that this is an issue relating to her reproductive tract.

Are either of the vets that you saw self-professed "exotics" vets? What do I mean when I ask this?

Avian & Exotic - Animal Medical Center - Miami, FL

Cookie Monster · 04-30-2013, 05:25 AM

I'm not 100% certain of anything! But the Locum vet showed us, and it does seem to be happening when she goes to the toilet rather than all the time.

The emergency vet (I don't think) was a specialist, but the lady yesterday was the vet who "does" small furries at our local vets so I think she is...?

souffle · 04-30-2013, 06:41 AM

Is there any bad smell around her? If she is passing normally formed poos it sounds more like something else is going on. It could be that there is a problem in the bowel such as a small tumour which is bleeding or more likely the blood is from the female vent and a discharge associated with a womb infection. It can be confusing as the vents are all close together in females. The antibiotic should act on any sort of infection however if it is in the womb it won't cure it and she may well need spayed to remove the infected womb. A urine infection normally only shows blood in the pee corner and it does not leak out all the time.
I hope she feels better soon.

Cookie Monster · 04-30-2013, 08:10 AM

Thanks for that Souffle.

She doesn't smell any worse / different than she's always done, she's always been quite a stinky lady. What would that indicate?

If it is a womb infection, would we continue the antibiotics anyway, or would there be a better course of action?

csockman · 04-30-2013, 08:15 AM

Regarding your Baytril question, there are 3 factors that are considered when arriving at a dosage for your ham. Weight Of Ham, Recommended Dosage (this is usually a range), and Concentration Of The Drug. On top of that, a vet may deviate based on the ham's age for certain medications. So unfortunately we cannot tell you if the amount you are giving her is correct or not.

Personally, if this were my ham, I would take her to an exotic mammal vet that would follow some sort of scientific process (i.e. tests) and treat accordingly. Your vet may have done that already, but it is unclear to me if this happened.

Your vernacular tells me you live in the UK. Is that true? Do you think you should get a second opinion? If you post your location (city or county), you may get some good suggestions for exotics vets in your area.

Souffle makes some good points about other possible root causes, and she poses a good question regarding the smell. Wet-tail is usually accompanied by a foul odor.

Cookie Monster · 05-01-2013, 02:52 AM

As of today, I couldn't see any any discharge / blood in her cage and I cleaned everything out last night. So, fingers crossed she is on the mend.

You're right Csockman, I am in the UK. I had a bit of a check and the vets surgery I took her to on Monday is a small animal specialist, the next nearest I can see is quite far away so I'm going to hold off taking her for now.

I think now I should just keep on with the medicine and maybe try to add a bit of extra iron to her diet? I've got some tofu and broccoli already, anything else I can try?