Female neutering

[saggy]

It is definately worth adding a large varierty of herbs and seeds also as some of them are naturally antibacterial and may help :-)

[winic1]

when you go to the vet next, perhaps suggest he swab and culture her vulva, not just urine? perhaps it isn't a urinary problem at all, maybe an infection in her female parts, either bacterial or fungus, and so that's why it's never clearing up, they're treating the wrong part of her for the wrong problem.

[moletteuk]

You should be able to either ask the vet to give you some urine test strips to do at home, or take a sample of urine to the vet in a syringe.

Ultrasound could potentially be really useful.

Your current vet should be able to refer you to an exotics specialist - a good vet will usually offer this once they get out of their depth. Alternatively, local small animal rescues should be able to give you a recommendation to a specialist, or it could be worth checkin other small animal internet forums for recommendations.

[emmalb]

I've booked her an ultrasound for next week and she is still on her medicine. Her lady bits are looking much better but she still has the staining. Apparently she already had an X-ray while she was at the store and nothing showed up. I'm hoping something will show up on the ultrasound. I still cannot get a sample from her so I'm going to ask while she's at the vets next week if they can get something. I've now added more veggies after sending a fortune on veggies she only likes coriander and I've added a foraging mix into her diet.

[Emziedee]

When Garf has some weetabix, he almost always follows this with drinking lots of water as its dry I guess. Maybe if you give some weetabix it will encourage her to drink loads of water before you take her to the vet. Could get a sample then maybe?

[yasmin]

When I needed to get a sample of my degu Makoto's urine for the vet to look at, I lined a part of the cage with wax paper and confined him to the area. When he peed, I took a clean dropper and drew in the urine and then put it in a vial (with a lid). I did this until I had enough urine to bring to the vet.

[emmalb]

Thanks for the ideas I shall try them

[emmalb]

So my little one had her ultrasound today and it has shown that she has an infection of the uterus and the vet has said the only way to treat it is to spay her. Now I'm really scared because I don't want her to die

[moletteuk]

At least it's a good step forward to have a diagnosis. Take some time to think it over. If you trust the vet, let them guide you, perhaps it's worth trying another antibiotic before the surgery, or maybe surgery is the only way forward, talk it all through with the vet.

[deguconvert]

So glad you had the ultrasound, and that it has given a clear indication of what is going on! That is a blessing. I hope you can do as Moletteuk suggests and through doing so come to a decision you will have peace with. Just realize that you need to not delay as the infection has been going on for a while now and her health will be really compromised the longer she has to fight it.

[emmalb]

My vet seems pretty confident in doing the surgery he even said if she was his he would get her spayed. I know she needs it to be done. I'm just so worried for her

[deguconvert]

I totally get that you are worried, and really I think the vast majority of us would be feeling the same way, were we in your place!! It is really hard place to be because I don't think she can last very long if she doesn't have the surgery. Hang in there Emma. It is what she needs. Part of me wonders what was happening in her previous home that brought about such a severe uterine infection. Do you know if she has ever been pregnant?

[emmalb]

She never had a previous home. She came to the store as a baby around 3 months old to be sold as stock. She was with a group of degus all girls. Two got sold. Then her and her partner began to fight my degu starting the fights. We then noticed my degu had discharge and discoloured fur around her bottom area. We took her to the vets. They gave her antibiotics and she has been on and off them all her life. I don't know what happened to her while she was at the breeders but I don't think they would use a baby degu for breeding

[moletteuk]

This is very common in syrian hamsters (pyometra), so presumably will be a familiar thing in small furries for the vet, so hopefully that can give you a little more confidence. It's often fatal in hamsters, so even though your degu is trooping on sort of OK at the moment, I think you probably do need to bite the bullet and risk the surgery.

[emmalb]

Just an update on little Darcy. She was spayed a couple of months ago now and it was the best decision. I can definitely tell she feels a lot better and she smells a lot better. She did really well during the surgery and healed really well. She hated being not being able to jump around and managed to escape her "hospital cage" that I made. That waking up at 1am with little paws on my face.

[bouncy]

"mum, I'm feeling better, let's play!"

So glad it's all gone so smoothly  

[deguconvert]

Me too!! Well done!!

[moletteuk]

thanks for updating us

How long did it take for her to recover? Did you have to do any aftercare, were there any complications?

[emmalb]

It took about a couple of weeks for her scare to heal but she just back to her self in a bout three days. She felt ever sorry for herself. After the 5th day that's when she escaped so I'm guessing she felt much better. She was sleepy for the first couple of days. It took her ages to go under as she was fighting against the anaesthetic. The vet even showed me her uterus it was so tiny I'm amazed he managed to take it out. Like was like a piece of thread. She did really well. She had a post op appointment a week after to check on her stitches which her dissolvable ones. She had 10 days on antibiotics and pain relief. I was told to check her wound in case it got infected or sore or she ripped it open. She was really good and didn't get a cone of shame as she wasn't licking at it.

[bouncy]

What an angel! I'm trying to imagine being woken up in the middle of the night by goo paws on my face, opening eyes to find myself nose to nose with them