Blood in Urine

[Piggies&buns]

They also recommended to sprinkle a vitamin c tablet over her pellets each day to boost her immune system, is this alright to do? As i haven't heard of many other people doing it.

A short course (two weeks) of vit c can be given to boost the immune system but it’s not a good idea to routinely supplement for any longer than that. They get enough vit c in a good diet.
Giving more than they need long term -
- excess vit c is simply excreted in the urine so at some point it just becomes a waste
- long term supplementation means their bodies can get used to abnormally high amounts so if that level then drops below which they have become used to then it can cause scurvy

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

Ok, I was thinking about scurvy when the vet mentioned it, I will look into giving her a short course of vitamin c. Are there any ingredients that are considered toxic for Guinea pigs in vitamin c tablets that I should be aware of?

 

[Piggies&buns]

this will help you - Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

Hi,
Toffee has now been on AB for a couple of days and the blood she’s producing has significantly decreased, now she is only producing small amounts of blood, but I’m not sure if it’s coming from her urine, as her urine is clear. There was one blood trail which was a bit concerning to me, as it was a small trail of little droplets of blood, strung together and when I touched it, it was almost stringy/ mucusy. Also at the start of the trail was a poop, which was perfectly formed and normal, but underneath was a slightly bigger drop of blood, I’ll attach a photo as I’m not the best at explaining! Can infections happen anywhere else in that region of a Guinea pig?

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

Here is the trail.

 

[Free Ranger]

Ooh that's both confusing and impressive(!)
It's really a question for the vet... make a note of the day/time and how long she's been on her ABs. Keep an eye out for more.

I couldn't tell you where exactly that's come from but the mucous does seem suspicious - you get mucous from the bowl but you can also get it from the reproductive tract and it's pretty hard to tell the origin with pigs as everything is so close together: a dollop of something that has accumulated 'down below' might just get pushed out with the next poop. As long as the antibiotics seem to be reducing it that's something. I've seen 2 posts on here before where a piggy who's been behaving perfectly fine has suddenly passed a huge meaty-looking fillet of something and the owner has (understandably) freaked out but hasn't been able to identify the source and if it ever did happen again they didn't return to update us. I know it was twice because I linked the first post in for the second poster (it was a while ago now though and trust me this doesn't look the same as that!) I don't know whether you can get growths in the bowel or the womb that can detach... Your vet will likely say to complete the AB course and keep an eye on it from there. If she's behaving normally and doesn't seem to have any pain then whatever she's got - and it's obviously something - isn't bothering her.

When my pigs have had a slightly off tummy and started to do smaller poops I've seen little lumps of 'jelly' come away also, and I think it's just a normal part of the gut lining which renews itself and keeps everything sliding smoothly through (I hope you're not eating your brekkie - sorry!) so actually my money would be on bowel. But I'm no vet...

It's excellent news about the lack of stone and sludge. One less thing to worry about at least x

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

Hey everyone,
Toffee’s Cystitis has come back . She was on antibiotics for 2 weeks which finished on Thursday last week and it didn’t come back during that time, but 4 days later she’s bleeding again, I just don’t know what to do. I thought a longer course of AB would clear it, but it hasn’t. I’m starting to consider sterile IC, but I just don’t know why it would be that if the bleeding responds to antibiotics. It feels frustrating, I just want her to be better. I just don’t know what’s causing these repeated episodes, has anyone had any experience with this?

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

The bleeding has seemed to have stopped on its own without antibiotics, which I guess is a good sign. The vets gave her more antibiotics, but I’m on the fence wether to give it to her or not, now that there isn’t really any bleeding, and the fact that the cystitis always seems to come back. The vets aren’t giving her any metacam now with these episodes which is a bit strange, but I assume they thought she didn’t need it. They also said that she probably should now see a specialist vet.

I gave her 1ml of childs life vitamin C last night to hopefully boost her immune system now too, wether or not that will help, I’m not really sure.

She also has been getting an upset stomach recently, as she has been having very soft poops, not sure wether the 2 week course of ab has contributed to this, as it only finished last week, and I’d assume that that would have killed all the good bacteria in her gut. Anyways I am going to keep her off veg tonight and possibly tomorrow depending on wether her poops get better.

And regards to IC, would what I mentioned above and the fact that the cystitis is just not going away be signs of this?
Also here’s some other questions I have after reading up about IC:

- How do you find out the right doses for glucosamine, metacam and cystease to be given to them? Is it dependent of the piggy’s weight?

- How do vets diagnose it?

- How do you figure out your Guinea pigs triggers in regards to it happening? Or can it just be set off randomly?

- Can a Guinea pig have a good quality of life even when living with IC?

Many Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

The bleeding has seemed to have stopped on its own without antibiotics, which I guess is a good sign. The vets gave her more antibiotics, but I’m on the fence wether to give it to her or not, now that there isn’t really any bleeding, and the fact that the cystitis always seems to come back. The vets aren’t giving her any metacam now with these episodes which is a bit strange, but I assume they thought she didn’t need it. They also said that she probably should now see a specialist vet.

I gave her 1ml of childs life vitamin C last night to hopefully boost her immune system now too, wether or not that will help, I’m not really sure.

She also has been getting an upset stomach recently, as she has been having very soft poops, not sure wether the 2 week course of ab has contributed to this, as it only finished last week, and I’d assume that that would have killed all the good bacteria in her gut. Anyways I am going to keep her off veg tonight and possibly tomorrow depending on wether her poops get better.

And regards to IC, would what I mentioned above and the fact that the cystitis is just not going away be signs of this?
Also here’s some other questions I have after reading up about IC:

- How do you find out the right doses for glucosamine, metacam and cystease to be given to them? Is it dependent of the piggy’s weight?

- How do vets diagnose it?

- How do you figure out your Guinea pigs triggers in regards to it happening? Or can it just be set off randomly?

- Can a Guinea pig have a good quality of life even when living with IC?

Many Thanks

A short course of vit c (two weeks) is fine to boost the immune system.

Antibiotics may well have depleted her gut bacteria. Is she on a probiotic?

You find the right dosage by watching symptoms. I believe one capsule a day of glucosamine is the normal amount.
Pain meds are given according to weight and clinical need - there is a sliding scale and piggies can tolerate quite high doses of twice a day painkillers when needed.
Both glucosamine and pain meds can be increased in the short term to deal with a flare and then dropped back down to the maintenance dose after the flare ends.

IC can only be diagnosed by ruling everything else out first. There needs to be no stones, no sludge, no bacteria in the urine but symptoms continue despite everything else proving negative.

Some piggies can have triggers but for others it is simply a change in diet that can cause a flare. A stable diet is much better for an IC piggy rather than the specifics of the diet.

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

Thanks so much for this, this is really helpful

She’s not currently on a probiotic, but I’m considering getting her either Fibreplex or ProC, which would be the best in her situation?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks so much for this, this is really helpful

She’s not currently on a probiotic, but I’m considering getting her either Fibreplex or ProC, which would be the best in her situation?

Either is fine.
Removing veg from the diet is something to definitely do though

 

[ceciliaxdee]

The bleeding has seemed to have stopped on its own without antibiotics, which I guess is a good sign. The vets gave her more antibiotics, but I’m on the fence wether to give it to her or not, now that there isn’t really any bleeding, and the fact that the cystitis always seems to come back. The vets aren’t giving her any metacam now with these episodes which is a bit strange, but I assume they thought she didn’t need it. They also said that she probably should now see a specialist vet.

I gave her 1ml of childs life vitamin C last night to hopefully boost her immune system now too, wether or not that will help, I’m not really sure.

She also has been getting an upset stomach recently, as she has been having very soft poops, not sure wether the 2 week course of ab has contributed to this, as it only finished last week, and I’d assume that that would have killed all the good bacteria in her gut. Anyways I am going to keep her off veg tonight and possibly tomorrow depending on wether her poops get better.

And regards to IC, would what I mentioned above and the fact that the cystitis is just not going away be signs of this?
Also here’s some other questions I have after reading up about IC:

- How do you find out the right doses for glucosamine, metacam and cystease to be given to them? Is it dependent of the piggy’s weight?

- How do vets diagnose it?

- How do you figure out your Guinea pigs triggers in regards to it happening? Or can it just be set off randomly?

- Can a Guinea pig have a good quality of life even when living with IC?

Many Thanks

Hello, I have an IC piggie who was diagnosed about 1.5 years ago. She’s now nearly 4 years old. We initially did a long (2-3 months) course of Septrin and it did not clear, the urine was then cultured and sent to a lab and came back with no bacteria. We also did ultrasounds/X-rays to rule out any bladder stones. Because of the irritation to the bladder lining it can turn into an infection and then back to sterile so best to get your vet to do an in house cytology when it’s a bad bloody flare.

She is otherwise healthy and I have managed it without having to give her daily metacam. She is happily living her best life now and fine aside from slight discomfort when peeing.

I buy a human vegan glucosamine capsule, empty powdered contents inside and mix it with filtered water and syringe feed to her. I’ve tried different doses but she is 1.1kg and 100mg once daily works for her. The way I mix is the capsule has 500mg and I mix 5mls of water so that each 1ml is 100mg. In bad flares you can give 200mg daily to help manage.

I also under my vet supervision trialled d mannose (this vitamin is meant to help prevent bacteria from sticking to the bladder and flush them out), also bought a capsule to empty and mix contents with water and I give 50mg daily.

Both of these supplements really help with her overall comfort and we haven’t had any bad bloody flares again. When she does eat a veggie that triggers her more, I normally do a few days of metacam and then stop.

Everything triggers stormie somewhat so I feed the same foods but don’t do kale and parsley as they trigger her bad. You’ll notice as the squeaking when urinating will increase after you feed the trigger foods.

I will call out that Stormie did go through a period where she was bleeding a lot and the vet thought it could be caused by her uterus so we had that removed and the bleeding stopped. But when the vet went in to remove the uterus, she also saw the bladder thickened and confirmed the IC diagnosis again.

Hope your piggie is okay! Condition is very manageable and the piggie can live a normal life.

 

[Toffee and Oreo]

Hi, thanks so much.

Did the blood in the urine seem to stop when on antibiotics, but return when not? because this is what happens with Toffee, and I’m just wondering wether the antibiotics relieve her symptoms but don’t actually get rid of the problem.

Also this may sound like a stupid question, but with the blood is it just constant, or does it stop eventually even if nothing is given, or is does it only stop when metacam is given and glucosamine?

Do most IC piggies have similar trigger foods? as I gave Toffee a bit of parsley with her veg to add a bit of variety to her normal (I hadn’t given her parsley for about a month) before the blood started, so I’m wondering if the parsley caused it or it’s because she had just stopped her course of AB a few days prior.

 

[ceciliaxdee]

Hi, thanks so much.

Did the blood in the urine seem to stop when on antibiotics, but return when not? because this is what happens with Toffee, and I’m just wondering wether the antibiotics relieve her symptoms but don’t actually get rid of the problem.

Also this may sound like a stupid question, but with the blood is it just constant, or does it stop eventually even if nothing is given, or is does it only stop when metacam is given and glucosamine?

Do most IC piggies have similar trigger foods? as I gave Toffee a bit of parsley with her veg to add a bit of variety to her normal (I hadn’t given her parsley for about a month) before the blood started, so I’m wondering if the parsley caused it or it’s because she had just stopped her course of AB a few days prior.

A lot of IC piggies have blood in their pees even if it’s not visible to the eye. My vet tested my piggies pee a few times and blood was showing in the sample even though I wasn’t seeing red. From my experience, mine goes in and out but I definitely haven’t seen any bad flares or red blood since she’s stabilised on the supplements. The blood can be from infection or from the bladder lining getting irritated, glucosamine helps with rebuilding the bladder lining. I found with mine it was on and off visible to the eye blood not constant during her flares.

I would definitely get the urine tested to rule out infection and if after a few tests they all come back sterile (you can do a lab test as this is most accurate and then also the in house dip stick for regular checking - my exotic vet was able to assess whether any signs of infection).

I’m not sure but I do have another piggie who gets some bladder sludge and irritation and she does seem to get set off by kale and parsley too. Stormie is my only IC piggie out of my 7.

You could give the glucosamine a go and see if it helps relieve any symptoms, even if it’s a bacterial uti, it’ll help the bladder lining rebuild.

Stormie does pretty much have some minor discomfort and wheeking when she pees compared to my others but as we’ve ruled out everything else and know it’s IC, the vet isn’t concerned and Stormie is fine (and has been for 1.5 years even though she wheeks a bit when she pees!).

I have tried to wean her off the glucosamine and d mannose at seperate times to test if they are working, and within a few days, I’ve noticed she is more squeaky and uncomfortable when peeing and then back on, within a few days again much more comfortable so it’s just what’s worked for her.