Badger's UTI????

[user 1946]

My Badger showed presented with a lump to the right of his sheath on Monday of last week. I compressed it, and it didn't change for a couple of days, so I decided to take him in to the vet.

When I got there the vet palpated the lump and got pus to come out from around the penis. It was vile smelling and bright green. She FNA'd the lump itself and got the same pus, so she opened it, flushed it, and sent me home with Baytril. That was Thursday night. The swelling decreased, and there looked to be slight bruising Friday.

Saturday, decrease in swelling, but increase in dark, bruised looking area.

This morning, no change in swelling still lots of bruising.

This evening I pulled him out to discuss the bruising with a vet med student, and noticed that there was a thick pus coming out of the area. With her assistance I was able to clean it and flush it with saline. Then we started to examine the dark area more, because we could hold him still better with two people. The dark area, almost black, is surrounded by a light green circle, and that by a bright red ring, which means that the tissue is most likely dead.

I'm taking him back to the vet tomorrow. On the plus side, he is still Bright, Alert and Responsive, and eats and drinks fine.

I was wondering if anyone has dealt with similar before and can lend advice. I know Clav works good on skin issues, should I see if they would be willing to switch or just stick with Baytril?

 

[victoria]

Clavamox, Chlorpalm, Septra/TMZ, and Metrodanizole are all supposed to be better on abscesses than Batryl. If you can I would suggest a culture to see which antibiotic would work best. Maybe get some Metacam too, and give it before flushing it so he's more comfortable. The only real bad abscess I had was Sophie and it was also necrotic... not fun for her. The Metro we got for her really seemed to help, even if only for a week.

 

[Unepuce]

I only have one experience, and it's a bad one - please be aware that if the abcess doesn't heal properly, it can turn into a tumour - that's what happened to my Mac and the abcess was around the same area.

 

[user 1946]

Okay, back from vet.

We tested the skin to see if it was truly necrotic or just dying. So far, its just dying. The vet decided to wait and see. If the area got bigger, bring him back in, if it did not grow and the area otherwise seems to be healing or the skin dies completely, just leave it. Hopefully this will prevent bacteria from getting in, and allow it to heal, and eventually the scab will fall off.

Otherwise, it looks great, and is healing well. The swelling is way down. Because of this, she wants to stay with the Baytril, and keep with it. Again if nothing improves, we will try clav.

She gave me some meta to help, because Badger will not leave it a lone which is part of the problem, he opened the whole used to drain it wider.

I can guarantee that I will be watching this like a hawk, and noting any changes. I hope this works.

 

[mamarat]

Hope your Badger feels good soon.

 

[jorats]

Hoping for a good outcome for Badger. It's really good news that he's still in good spirits. I bet if that was on one of us, I'm sure we'd be complaining a great deal. lol

 

[user 1946]

Yeah, I'm very happy that he still acts normal. He chased Wilber around ALL NIGHT LONG. I was so paranoid he was going to hurt himself worse. I'm glad that he is much better at handling this then I am. He still tries to lick and bite at it every few minutes.

And yeah, I love how they don't really complain.

 

[user 1946]

Still BAR and eating/drinking, but I noticed a couple of times he was shivering/trembling without any reason to be cold or scared. Any ideas what this could be from? His body temp seems normal.

I gave him some Metacam tonight to help with the pain, in case that was the problem.

 

[victoria]

I know twitching can be a sign of pain, maybe trembling is too?

 

[mamarat]

When I had Charlie and Luna on Bromo they were shivering too, I think it was pain in their bellies. But that's just my opinion. Charlie died but Luna stopped the shivering after she was off the Bromo.

 

[user 1946]

So, I'm back in my home state of Texas where I am working and going to my sisters graduation. I brought the boys with me and today, I noticed that there seemed to be red urine in thier cage. Wilber is fine, going 110mph constantly and doesn't seem to have any blood around his penis, but Badger seems more lethargic and thier looks to be a pink tinge on his fur down there.

So, who has experience with URIs, and what should I do about it. I don't have an exotic vet really close here, though I have a vet I am on very good speaking terms with that I could probably get meds from, but my time is really, really, really tight...

The fact that he also has that abscess in that region not so long ago compounds my concern.

Its definately red in the urine... is there anything else that could cause this? They switched to Regal Rat recently and of course, they have been stressed out a bit with the moving around....

I'm trying not to freak out too bad... but I've got a vet coming out tomorrow because both of my horses have issues, and then Wednesday I work out of town till Friday.... then its the weekend and I'm back in KS (which is where I prefer to be during rat emergencies, I like having a fully staffed vet school next door)

What should I do? Is there any holistic methods I should try? Is there another cause to this I am overlooking? I would appreciate any advice.

 

[hopefloats]

Did you check him for a plug? Just seems like a lot in the same area..maybe a warm soak....I duont know if cranberries work for rats or not for that.

 

[user 1946]

I checked for a plug, and to see if there was external damage that could cause the blood, but it looks good.

 

[victoria]

Is he still on Batryl? He definitely needs antibiotics before you get back home (to prevent the infection from spreading to his kidneys), maybe the vet you have a relationship with can consult with your regular vet back home.

Like in humans, Rat Guide suggests cranberry juice. Definitely worth a try.

 

[user 1946]

He is on Cranberry juice right now. I don't think I can get Batryil from this vet for rats... would Clav work? I could get some on Friday...