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guineapiggirlmom

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Hello all I'm new here and I need some help a few weeks ago my guinea pig daisy had an upper respiratory infection she was on critical care food and medicine she has since gotten better for the time that she was sick he kept her in a big clear bin with the top off and we kept her from her sister for an extra week to make sure her sister wasn't showing any of the same symptoms (she didn't) last night my husband and I were going to finally put them back together when i noticed on daisy's lettuce there was red liquid it looked like blood but was too watery we help off on putting them together and I ended up finding a few more spots I think it's blood in her urine she doesn't make any noise when she goes and she still seems like her normal self she still wheeks when she's getting her food and sometime she'll popcorn I looked her over she has no injuries I checked her mouth and she's fine there she is also stil eating and drinking regularly but I'm anxious and scared to say the least we are pretty low on money right now so I can't take her to the vet right away what could it be and how can I help her.
 
If it is blood, then she does need to go to the vet to find out what is going on and potentially get more treatment - there are a variety of conditions which can lead to blood in the urine.

All you can do is the routine home care of daily weight checks to keep an eye on hay intake and syringe feeding as appropriate. This will obviously not treat an illness though.

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

In terms of you having kept them apart during the illness, do note that it is not recommended to do this. Piggies should always be kept together, even when one is unwell.
Keeping them separately will not prevent the other from catching any transmissible illness because they would have been together before symptoms were showing in the first piggy and it may already have been passed on anyway.
Separating them causes a lot of stress to them which can lower the immune system and therefore make fending off and fighting any illness a bit harder.
Another issue why medical separations are not recommended is the impact it can have on a bond. They have the potential to cause two piggies to refuse to go live together again after the illness.

Have they been living side by side during their separation?

I would recommend you reintroduce them.
If they have been living side by side then with any luck their bond is still alive as they would still have been communicating. It does not guarwntee they will be able to share a space again, but it Is a staff.
If they haven’t been side by side, then I would put them side by side in separate cages for a few days to allow them to get used to each other again.

Either way, you must go through the proper neutral territory reintroduction rebonding process (after a few days living side by side in separate cages again). This always needs to be done on neutral territory to allow them to decide if they still like each other and are able to live together again.
Do not just put the piggy back into the original cage as this will be seen as a territory invasion and can cause them to fight.
If they go back together in neutral territory for several hours, then clean out the cage they are to live in and after a few hours, you can move them back to the cage.
If the rebonding does not work, they would need to remain in separate cages.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
Good luck with the rebonding and I hope you can get to the bottom of Daisy’s bleeding.
 
Respiratory infections can pass between piggies although as said above this may have already happened before they were split. BUT urinary infections don't really pass like that - I've had 2, 3 and 4 pigs at any one time and if any had had a urine infection the others have never caught it. Hope that reassures a little. Try and get them back in together and she'll feel better for the company at least. Good luck piggy girls x
 
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