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Blood in Urine

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Brownie&Blondie

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Hi! Brownie is 5 1/2 and has a history in UTIs. I cleaned their cage last night and there was no blood, and I got home today and saw there was blood. It started off with little dribbles of blood, and then it was just full bloody pee. She is still really active, and without touching her bladder or peeing she is fine. Me being me I called the vet and going to have an appointment either tomorrow, Wenesday, or Thursday. Its happened a few time (Blood in pee UTI) and wondering if this has happened before to anybody else. Is there anything else I can do? Their diet is ALOT of hay, Parsley, Cilantro, Butterleaf lettuce, fruit once or twice a week... They are not on pellets, just because of her bladder. Her cage mate, Blondie doesn't have any issues currently. Thank you! If anybody here has this experience I would love to hear what you have done.
 
I don't have any advice, but wanted to send positive vibes your way. Glad you have something scheduled with the vet. Hope you get it figured out and your piggy is better soon.
 
Thank you! I think that once piggies get a UTI once, it is most likely that it will happen again. Really hoping that it will be a UTI so that Brownie doesn't need surgery.
 
Youre doing the right thing by seeing a vet. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon.

Just to add though, parsley is rather high in calcium so it’s recommended it be kept limited to once a week - although I have seen you aren’t feeding pellets at all and given pellets contain a lot of calcium, then feeding parsley more often may be less of an issue. Coriander/cilantro can be fed daily. Fruit should also only be given once per week in very small amounts - it’s too sugary to be fed more than once per week.
 
Brownie&Blondie said:
Hi! Brownie is 5 1/2 and has a history in UTIs. I cleaned their cage last night and there was no blood, and I got home today and saw there was blood. It started off with little dribbles of blood, and then it was just full bloody pee. She is still really active, and without touching her bladder or peeing she is fine. Me being me I called the vet and going to have an appointment either tomorrow, Wenesday, or Thursday. Its happened a few time (Blood in pee UTI) and wondering if this has happened before to anybody else. Is there anything else I can do? Their diet is ALOT of hay, Parsley, Cilantro, Butterleaf lettuce, fruit once or twice a week... They are not on pellets, just because of her bladder. Her cage mate, Blondie doesn't have any issues currently. Thank you! If anybody here has this experience I would love to hear what you have done.
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If it is is a regularly recurring issue then it is worth looking to Brownie having a sterile (i.e. non-bacterial) interstitial cystitis and not a bacterial urinary tract infection, which is caused by faecal bacteria getting into the urinary tract when scent marking (that is why most piggies have them) and causing an infection when the immune system is lowered or impacted for some reason (cold or large temperature swings, damp (especially on a lawn trip), underlying health issues etc).

Sterile IC has become a lot more common over the last decade but not much known outside vet circles that see guinea pigs on a very regular basis. Because it cannot be healed by antibiotics (although they can temporarily suppress milder cases), it can only be managed.
Sterile IC seems to specifically impact on the natural glucosamine coating of the walls of the urinary tract, which prevents the very corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue. Treatment is therefore mostly with glucosamine (which is not a medication but classed as a food supplement) and metacam (analgesic, dosage upped during the occasional flare ups). Sterile IC can eventually go away on its own but it is more a matter of years and not months or weeks. If this would help your vet; sterile interstitial cystitis in cavies seems to be similar to FSC (feline sterile cystitis) and treatment follows similar lines.

There is unfortunately not much information out there and your vet may need to dig around a bit. We see piggies with it on here very regularly; mostly from people like you at the end of their wits with a persistent UTI problem. This is the reason why sterile IC is often only diagnosed by default after all other bladder problems have been excluded. The give-away is usually no or a low bacteria count and the fact that repeated courses of antibiotics cannot get rid of the problem - but as explained above, faecal bacteria can be present but without being the cause of IC, which seems to be more common in guinea pigs (and cats) with a nervous disposition so it is not necessarily a sure-fire way of diagnosing sterile IC.

Here is a bit more information on it: Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig
Here are our diet tips for guinea pigs with urinary tract problems, including sterile (see chapter special diets): Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Ok, Thank you for the information! We probably will get an appointment tomorrow (Brownies normal vet isn't here today), and see what she has to say.
 
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