[Stones] UTI (due to bladder stone irritatoin ? ) not responding to either baytril or bactrim

[Joel Silverberg]

About 2 weeks ago our 5 year old female guinea pig (Star) started crying 
when she peed. The vet did an x-ray and said there were very tiny 
bladder stones, not blocking anything and perhaps that was causing 
inflamation and infection. She was put on 1 week of baytril and metacam. 
She stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. We started feeding her 
Oxbow intensive care, and afer a week on bytril showed no improvement, 
we took her off antibiotics for 1 week, intending to do a urine culture. 
half way through that week a second x-ray showed no stones but there was 
much more blood in the urine. At the end of the week an ultrasound 
showed(?) a bladder stone not visible in the x-ray, a possible mass on 
the pancreas and very small ovarian cysts. Vet says cysts not a problem 
now but may grow large later. says pancreatic mass might be tumor, or 
might be benign, or might be abcess. says the bladder stone is likely 
the cause of her current distress and hematuria (why didn't it show up 
on x-rays?)

We switched to bactrim ( 0.6 ml given twice a day , now on the 4th day), 
continuing with metacam (0.02 ml per day ... that's 0.02 ml, not 0.2 ml) 
and continuing with oxbow critical care. weight has dropped from 980 
grams when this started to 800 grams now. seems to be stable at 800 
grams for the last few days. she still eats almost no hay and no dried 
food. will only eat fresh greens (carrot greens, parsley, lettuce, 
cabbage, etc) and will only take critical care through the syringe -- 
(under protest). She is still alert and playful... just won't eat and 
squeals when she pees. I still see red in the urine ... some days just a 
little and some days a lot.

The vet says if we do decide to operate we should attack all three 
issues : bladder, ovaries, pancreas and says that is asking a lot of an 
elderly animal who has lost so much weight. On the other hand, she is 
not lethargic, but is alert, friendly, and playful, so it is hard to 
imagine putting her down. And on the third hand, if we can't get a 
handle on the infection and we can't get her eating again, will we be 
putting her in a position of pain and suffering?

Has anyone seen a similar case history and do you have some advice for 
one confused cavy owner.

P.S. The one other health concern is that she had a growth behind her 
ear about a year ago, which was removed (clear margines, 
adenocarcinoma). It came back about 4 months ago and was removed again 
(no pathology done at that time). So far there is no indication of any 
recurrence .

Thanks for any help, sympathy, or advice.