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guinea pig peeing blood

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oreoandcoco

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My pig coco is peeing blood, this has happened before and she was treated with antibiotics as it was a uti. Now it’s happening again , how can I prevent this from happening and is there any way I can help her until she can see the vet?
 
Please do have her seen by a vet again.

Is this a different piggy to the one who had the URI recently?
 
If she was peeing blood very recently - and it stopped with antibiotics but came back fast it could be the same infection but that you needed to have the antibiotics for a bit longer.
But if it was a while ago then yes she could just have another different UTI. They are not that rare and some of my girls have seemed to be more prone to them than others. The girls scent mark by wiping their back ends on the ground and I don't think that helps. Does she have other symptoms? Perhaps a wet or dirty bottom end? Or does she squeak when she pees or poops?

There are other things that can cause blood in pee but urinary infection would always be the first thing to consider. Sometimes there can be an infection in the female parts - the womb perhaps. If there is some bleeding from here you see the blood in the urine just like UTI. Again antibiotics would be the way forward - and if she has pain we also get prescribed a painkiller (meloxicam) here in the UK. With pigs there can sometimes be a stone or 'sludge' in the bladder or urethra which can cause blood in the urine or make infection more likely. If your girl has a lot of white 'grit' in her pee this is the first step towards sludge and stones. BUT all piggies pee out excess calcium so even healthy piggy pee generally looks a bit milky - don't panic! And with the girls they can often pee out the sludge or smaller stones.

We can try to reduce the chance of stones and sludge by using water filters for piggy drinking water to reduce the calcium, or by using bottled 'soft' water that has low calcium. Some bottled water actually has very high calcium so check on the label. In the UK the water companies show online the amount of calcium in the tap water. A very easy way is to check how much limescale build up you get in the kettle. Scummy kettle = high calcium water! We also limit the number of food pellets to about 1 tbsp per piggy per day. Pellets have calcium but no water so piggy has to drink lots to even things out. If you can add water bottles to encourage drinking - maybe near to the food bowl or hay area this also help to keep everything flushing through.

But the first step is to visit the vet - a straightforward urinary tract infection is not unusual. Good luck little Coco x
 
Piggies&buns said:
Please do have her seen by a vet again.

Is this a different piggy to the one who had the URI recently?
Click to expand...
It is a different piggy, I didn’t mean to sound like that or that it was too recent. She was at the vet in august. I'm calling when the vet is open
 
Free Ranger said:
If she was peeing blood very recently - and it stopped with antibiotics but came back fast it could be the same infection but that you needed to have the antibiotics for a bit longer.
But if it was a while ago then yes she could just have another different UTI. They are not that rare and some of my girls have seemed to be more prone to them than others. The girls scent mark by wiping their back ends on the ground and I don't think that helps. Does she have other symptoms? Perhaps a wet or dirty bottom end? Or does she squeak when she pees or poops?

There are other things that can cause blood in pee but urinary infection would always be the first thing to consider. Sometimes there can be an infection in the female parts - the womb perhaps. If there is some bleeding from here you see the blood in the urine just like UTI. Again antibiotics would be the way forward - and if she has pain we also get prescribed a painkiller (meloxicam) here in the UK. With pigs there can sometimes be a stone or 'sludge' in the bladder or urethra which can cause blood in the urine or make infection more likely. If your girl has a lot of white 'grit' in her pee this is the first step towards sludge and stones. BUT all piggies pee out excess calcium so even healthy piggy pee generally looks a bit milky - don't panic! And with the girls they can often pee out the sludge or smaller stones.

We can try to reduce the chance of stones and sludge by using water filters for piggy drinking water to reduce the calcium, or by using bottled 'soft' water that has low calcium. Some bottled water actually has very high calcium so check on the label. In the UK the water companies show online the amount of calcium in the tap water. A very easy way is to check how much limescale build up you get in the kettle. Scummy kettle = high calcium water! We also limit the number of food pellets to about 1 tbsp per piggy per day. Pellets have calcium but no water so piggy has to drink lots to even things out. If you can add water bottles to encourage drinking - maybe near to the food bowl or hay area this also help to keep everything flushing through.

But the first step is to visit the vet - a straightforward urinary tract infection is not unusual. Good luck little Coco x
Click to expand...
Okay thank you so much! Her only symptom right now is peeing blood.
 
There's not much we can do, but make sure she is able to freely drink water as much as she wants to keep any infection diluted down and to keep any sludge flushing through. Even if the problem proves to be something else this won't do any harm. Did your vet ask you to try and collect a urine sample before the visit? Sometimes they give you a little plastic bottle to take it in - although I've picked one up before from our local pharmacy (for people use) and just used it for piggies! You can sit her in a little plastic tub until she pees and then transfer it to the bottle and keep overnight in the fridge if you have to.

Your vet will probably give her a good check over and feel her bladder and kidneys (which might make her squeak or flinch), then perhaps prescribe antibiotics and meloxicam painkiller to start if they think it is UTI. Good luck Coco x
 
Free Ranger said:
There's not much we can do, but make sure she is able to freely drink water as much as she wants to keep any infection diluted down and to keep any sludge flushing through. Even if the problem proves to be something else this won't do any harm. Did your vet ask you to try and collect a urine sample before the visit? Sometimes they give you a little plastic bottle to take it in - although I've picked one up before from our local pharmacy (for people use) and just used it for piggies! You can sit her in a little plastic tub until she pees and then transfer it to the bottle and keep overnight in the fridge if you have to.

Your vet will probably give her a good check over and feel her bladder and kidneys (which might make her squeak or flinch), then perhaps prescribe antibiotics and meloxicam painkiller to start if they think it is UTI. Good luck Coco x
Click to expand...
No they did not ask for a sample, i do have some bedding that she has peed on should i bring that in or a sample?
 
oreoandcoco said:
No they did not ask for a sample, i do have some bedding that she has peed on should i bring that in or a sample?
Click to expand...

No, it won’t be able to be used
Any urine sample needs to be fresh and in liquid form in a container.

oreoandcoco said:
she has an appointment for thursday, what can i do to help her any way i can until then?
Click to expand...

There’s nothing you can do unfortunately
 
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