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Newly castrated boar, now has pink/bloody urine

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Dave22

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Hi all

New to the forum but have owned guinea pigs for a few years now.

I have been given a 2 odd year old male guinea pig who's cagemate died recently from someone I know and they don't want to get another so we said we would have him and have him castrated so we can go to a rescue and get him some girlfriends!

We took him to be neutured at our exotics vet - Ashleigh in Manchester, (apparently a well regarded exotics vet in the area which I have used for years and have had another male neutured there in the past with no issue) last Thursday, and we were given metacam and co-trimoxazole AB, and seemed OK in the 3 days after untill Sunday eve where he started to hunch and squeak when weeing or pooing. It seemed like whenever he pood though rather than wee as there would always be a poo afterwards (I made sure to jump in and check haha) which he seemed to eat rapidly (and has done since).

So we took him back vets yesterday eve who felt his belly, checked his wounds, extracted his penis, felt his scrotum etc and she said all was fine. And he is acting mostly normal (as far as we know as we've only had him a month) eating hay and some veg but isn't interested in pellets or pea flakes (which he was when we first got him) they advised use a white towel in his cage (wish we thought of that the day we brought him back) which we did and they prescribed more metacam.

So today I've come back from work and there are a couple of pink wee stains on the towel, so I just checked the other towels that we used to line his cage through the week that luckily haven't been washed yet and they too have dark urine stains (they're are light blue towels so unfortunately I can't tell if it's the same pink and they're dry now so the stains will be darker) and there is literally only one poo in his cage today (every other day until today there has been plenty) so I've just rang the vets again and said all this who said carry on with metacam and just see how he is over the weekend.

Has anyone else experienced this? She suggested stones but he wasn't like this before his operation at all and he's actually always been an outside/shed guinea pig so has always eaten plenty of grass.

I work in cancer science and to me it seems reasonable that after having an orchidectomy that there would be some mild haematuria (blood in urine) as the tubes are connected down there at some stage, so I'm just hoping it's something simple like that and it will heal OK.

Suppose the other thing it could be is an infection inside the scrotum that can't be seen but the vet felt him quite firmly and he didn't squeak or flinch either.

Hes acting normal, still a skittish pig (after living outdoors to now living indoors) eating hay (but it's hard to say how much) he pipped around on the grass happily when I just put him out on it (in case he's not eating much hay) and walking as normal and only appears to be in pain when weeing/pooing. He has 3 types of unlimited hay (Timothy, meadow and a Oat hay) dried dandelion leaves, a choice of 2 different pellets and pea flakes aswell as a draw full of various veg.

Suppose I'm just seeing if anyone has had any experience with this to how it went with them as I feel really sorry for him and wish I could help more!

Thanks
 
Hi and welcome!

I am very sorry for any problems. It could be a developing infection but it is impossible for us to guess without direct access. It is still a little bit early for an abscess to form. Quite a bit can go wrong after a neutering operation. Indications are that something is not right but it has not fully manifested yet.
You can find a list of the most common complications in this guide here: Neutering operations: Considerations, post-op care and a successful recovery example

Are you weighing him daily (instead of the normal weekly) to check on his hay intake, which should make three quarters of his daily food intake and which you cannot control by eye? It is likely to have gone down quite a lot if he is not eating pellets. Pea flakes should only be an occasional treat.

Please follow the advice in these very practical and how-to guide links here to support your boy appropriately; your good home care can make a difference in the ultimate outcome. The kitchen scales are your best friend.
Tips For Post-operative Care
Weight - Monitoring and Management
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos)
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

All the best.
 
Sometimes there can be a little blood in the urine in the first few hours but if it persists get him back in to see the vet. Make yourself familiar with the operation area so if a swelling develops you will know it wasn't there before.

We have had two castrated boys come into our rescue in the last month and both had abscesses which cleared very quickly after a course if antibiotics
 
Wanted to post an update on Russel.

So after my last post we realised that he was actually squeaking when pooping and not peeing. His pee was clear when it was wet on white towels and dried to the rusty colour I mentioned.
We did weight him daily since the op and he hadn't really lost any weight.
His poos were quite soft during this time so I decided to do the poo soup which worked like magic - he stopped all squeaking when pooping and went basically back to normal, very happy normal eating popcorning pig. His weight went up slightly aswell so all good.
Took him back to the vets who said simply keep an eye on him (again) for another week and checked his scrotum which was still swollen but the vet wasn't concerned. Didn't mention anything whatsoever about probiotics despite his soft poos so I'm glad the information is on here about it.

A week goes by and his swelling still hasn't gone down, took him back, it's an abcess, she couldn't drain it (needle would go in but she couldn't suction pull any out and tried a few games of needle)
She prescribes him 2 weeks of baytril and metacam which ended yesterday, his swelling hasn't gone down much (but he has been acting and eating totally normal throughout, as I have been giving him pro-c probiotic aswell)

Today he's in to have it lanced under GA, and I've just had a call saying its been lanced but he's not recovering from the GA well, he's not moving about much or eating. Said they've been temperature monitoring etc and she will ring me at 4pm to to see if he needs to be in overnight or whether we can bring him home.

I feel awful I'm so worried i hope he recovers OK :( miss he better at the vets overnight? I worry (even though they're an exotics vets) that they won't syringe feed him enough if he is there all night and he's get stasis. It's just that they didn't even mention probiotics when he was squeaking when pooing which actually sorted him out, they never mentioned syringe feeding when he first had his operation if he looses his appetite (I knew this already but they didn't know that I knew) and didn't think jis swelling was an abcess the first time I took him (to me it was obviously an abcess because it was so firm) so part of me is like are they competent enough for him to be there overnight.

Maybe being in the same room with his guinea pig friends at home might help him recover rather then being in the vets? I just don't know what to do and I feel really sad.
 
Wishing you and Russel the best for him to recover. You could ask them about taking him home, though I know many vets are reluctant to release a piggy when it's not doing well. You could also ask what their overnight care involves; if you don't want to insult them, just tell them that you want to know so you can assess whether you could manage it yourself).
I had one piggy that the vet released to us after GA, and she said she was only releasing her because 1) she trusted us specifically, and 2) she had birthday dinner plans and couldn't take care of her personally overnight (it was a small practice). We woke up every 2-3 hours to feed her; the vets were impressed with our dedication, so I don't think that's common.
 
Thanks that sounds exactly like me lol My Mrs is working from home tomorrow aswell so could syringe feed him during the day aswell all day tomorrow. But then the vets have gut motility drugs and everything else on hand whereas I don't.

The vets are best in Manchester and highly recommended I don't think there are any better vets out there it's just me worrying, as there is also a nationwide vet surgeon and vet nurse shortage aswell which makes me worry they won't have the staff to feed him all night as I know (at least a few months ago anyway) that they wernt taking on any new customers due to staffing
 
Fingers crossed Russel perks up soon. You sound like great owners who are doing everything you can for the little guy.
 
Hes back home they said he perked up a bit. But he's really lethargic and eating so slowly never seen a pig eat grass so slowly!

He's got loads of gel like stuff in patches on his fir and it has an orange tint he looks a right mess :(

His wound looks awful (we have checked so we know what it looks like as we notice any changes) -it looks worse then when he was castrated I thought it would be a quick drain over in 10 mins but they said he had some inflammation of some kind (I can't remember now exactly what they said but the jist was some kind of extra gunk/tissue that needed to be removed aswell as the drainage of the abcess (it cost 250 quid in total whereas his castration was only 120 so it goes to show this was clearly a more invasive/long procedure) and so he has a cut a few cm long.

The vets said they've syringed fed him a couple of times today with oxbow critical care "around 8 to 10ml in one a sitting" and suggested I do that too - 4 times a day she recommended to me but that seems alot in one sitting? I thought little and often would be best.

He also had a very wet poo dangling from his bum aswell so he's clearly feeling very rough, I hope the vets noticed what his poos were like aswell. I've just given him a bit of pro-biotic so hopefully that helps a bit.

When I syringed his probiotic he was so slow at reacting to it in his mouth he drooled some (I only push out about 0.1ml at a time) so its like he's just so lethargic. I put him under a towel with some grass and his girlfriend next to him for some company while we cleaned out his cage (beside him, not under with him,supervised and all she was interested in was the grass lol), and he did eat grass but extremely slowly, and was not interested in wooing his girl at all (normally he rumbles about when he smells them) I assume he's just very tired at the moment so I've put him back now and will leave him be for a few hours to sleep and relax.

Honestly, his wound looks even more swollen then it was, part of me thinks now he was fine before this maybe the abcess would have just gone on its own :(

They've given me 2 ABS aswell as metacam, she said I "can start tonight" but god I feel awful having to force feed him all that tonight when he's already been messed about with so much I don't really want to start him on them till tomorrow, she didn't say he had to start tonight, she just said "you can.." do you think that will be OK? (I'm trying to weighhup his experience of stress to the benefit of starting him tonight) ill give him the metacam for the pain but I don't know how he will react to the 2nd AB (Eradia?) The other is Baytril which he had been on the last 2 weeks and was mostly fine as long as he had probiotics or poo soup.
 
Orange could be betadine ... it's an antiseptic.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about Eradia, though it appears to be an animal version of metronidazole, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic (it goes by Flagyl as a human drug and is icky tasting).
 
Dave22 said:
Hes back home they said he perked up a bit. But he's really lethargic and eating so slowly never seen a pig eat grass so slowly!

He's got loads of gel like stuff in patches on his fir and it has an orange tint he looks a right mess :(

His wound looks awful (we have checked so we know what it looks like as we notice any changes) -it looks worse then when he was castrated I thought it would be a quick drain over in 10 mins but they said he had some inflammation of some kind (I can't remember now exactly what they said but the jist was some kind of extra gunk/tissue that needed to be removed aswell as the drainage of the abcess (it cost 250 quid in total whereas his castration was only 120 so it goes to show this was clearly a more invasive/long procedure) and so he has a cut a few cm long.

The vets said they've syringed fed him a couple of times today with oxbow critical care "around 8 to 10ml in one a sitting" and suggested I do that too - 4 times a day she recommended to me but that seems alot in one sitting? I thought little and often would be best.

He also had a very wet poo dangling from his bum aswell so he's clearly feeling very rough, I hope the vets noticed what his poos were like aswell. I've just given him a bit of pro-biotic so hopefully that helps a bit.

When I syringed his probiotic he was so slow at reacting to it in his mouth he drooled some (I only push out about 0.1ml at a time) so its like he's just so lethargic. I put him under a towel with some grass and his girlfriend next to him for some company while we cleaned out his cage (beside him, not under with him,supervised and all she was interested in was the grass lol), and he did eat grass but extremely slowly, and was not interested in wooing his girl at all (normally he rumbles about when he smells them) I assume he's just very tired at the moment so I've put him back now and will leave him be for a few hours to sleep and relax.

Honestly, his wound looks even more swollen then it was, part of me thinks now he was fine before this maybe the abcess would have just gone on its own :(

They've given me 2 ABS aswell as metacam, she said I "can start tonight" but god I feel awful having to force feed him all that tonight when he's already been messed about with so much I don't really want to start him on them till tomorrow, she didn't say he had to start tonight, she just said "you can.." do you think that will be OK? (I'm trying to weighhup his experience of stress to the benefit of starting him tonight) ill give him the metacam for the pain but I don't know how he will react to the 2nd AB (Eradia?) The other is Baytril which he had been on the last 2 weeks and was mostly fine as long as he had probiotics or poo soup.
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Hi

I am very sorry; it sounds like a very rocky time at the vets. :(
Here are our post-op care and (new) syringe feeding guides with all the practical how-to tips and practical but precise information, which you may find very helpful:
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Tips For Post-operative Care

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Eradia (active ingredient metronidazole) is an antimicrobial dog suspension which can also be used for infections in the urogenital as well as in the gastrointestinal tract. It is a new one on me and I had to google it.

All the best.

PS: Have they left the abscess open so it can continue to be flushed and drained while it heals from the inside out to make sure that no infection is trapped inside or have they sewn it closed?
 
Sounds like the usage is similar to that in humans. Metronidazole is commonly used to treat abscesses that relate to/communicate with the reproductive or gastrointestinal systems in humans, and typically alongside ciprofloxacin, which is a fluoroquinolone similar to enrofloxacin (Baytril), so the combination would make sense in a human, though I couldn't say how that translates to piggies.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I thought the orange was most likely due to the antiseptic washes and things aswell.

Thanks Wiebke. No they have sewn the wound up, I also thought they would leave it open, but it sounds like it was complex (with surrounding or extra tissue inside it) and not a simple abcess. When she tried to drain it 2 weeks ago with a syringe she tried 2 gauges of syringe size and could not pull anything out.
The wound is a few cm long and not just a nice small abcess drainage hole sadly which I thought it would be (and have seen pics of on here)

I have oxbow critical care and pro biotic and plenty of syringes so will try our best to get him well fed.
 
Princess Dustmop said:
Sounds like the usage is similar to that in humans. Metronidazole is commonly used to treat abscesses that relate to/communicate with the reproductive or gastrointestinal systems in humans, and typically alongside ciprofloxacin, which is a fluoroquinolone similar to enrofloxacin (Baytril), so the combination would make sense in a human, though I couldn't say how that translates to piggies.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that I recognise the actual drug name now (hate it when they use the brand name on the bottles)

Metronidazole sounds like a strong one and I hope he will be OK on it.

We've decided to give him his ABS. The sheet they gave to me says all 3 (baytril, metro, metacam) should be started tonight
 
Poor Russel x
I think he will need your extra special care but at least he is at home. If they have a bad experience at the vet (and usually they are ill when they go so that's not unlikely) he will certainly feel safer in his own house. I've brought mine back before and you can almost see them relax as they come in. They don't realise the vet is just a short stay I think. They might just think this is where I have to live now... so coming home will be a relief. It will be a long night for you all though - we'll be thinking about you.

Incidentally do you know how the neutering was done: was it one cut on each side, if you know what I mean, or one larger more central cut to access each testicle. I ask because there has been some debate on here about the various merits of the two methods. Two cuts seems to be more traditional and one a bit more modern - saying this I don't know whether vets have switched methods or if it's just that they are taught one of the ways and that's the one they stick with. The only male I ever had done myself was such a long time ago and such a fluffy boy that I can't actually remember seeing the wound at all.
 
Dave22 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I thought the orange was most likely due to the antiseptic washes and things aswell.

Thanks Wiebke. No they have sewn the wound up, I also thought they would leave it open, but it sounds like it was complex (with surrounding or extra tissue inside it) and not a simple abcess. When she tried to drain it 2 weeks ago with a syringe she tried 2 gauges of syringe size and could not pull anything out.
The wound is a few cm long and not just a nice small abcess drainage hole sadly which I thought it would be (and have seen pics of on here)

I have oxbow critical care and pro biotic and plenty of syringes so will try our best to get him well fed.
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Please read the links; they tell you in detail how you assess/monitor the level of care needed and what the different levels are so you can adjust your support accordingly at all times. ;)

We just cannot repeat it all in full in every post and answer as many threads as possible in our free time.
 
Wiebke said:
Please read the links; they tell you in detail how you assess/monitor the level of care needed and what the different levels are so you can adjust your support accordingly at all times. ;)

We just cannot repeat it all in full in every post and answer as many threads as possible in our free time.
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I have thanks :)

I was up with him till 11pm and gave him his last syringe feed. He was so lethargic like he wanted to eat but his head kept dropping slowly like when a person is really tired at on a chair and their head nods off all the time by the end of session so I left it at that.

Then was up at 3am, he seemed less lethargic, took the syringe food a bit better and managed to give him 8ml and ate grass in between syringes that I had put in front of him.

And this morn he's had all 3 meds and some water that he took better then the 3am feed again, and he's still on the sofa now with his girlfriend eating grass happily, he purred when he knew she was there too and they're sat side by side. I think she knows he's not feeling well because she's not eating any of his grass (she normally does) and just sat there she normally gives him a few kicks because he's nornally being a pest haha but she isn't kicking him off atm haha.
 
Though there are no poos or pee (that I know of as it could have dried) in his cage as of yet :s
 
I’m sorry to hear he is going through all this.

Surgery and recovery will disrupt poop output. Poop output is 1-2 days behind food intake anyway so any disruption in his eating is going to cause a lack of poops or odd poops but it isn’t real time information. The only way for you to get real time information on his food intake is through weighing him every day.

All the green links Wiebke added above explain what to do to monitor recovery. Please speak to the vet if you are at all concerned
 
Dave22 said:
Though there are no poos or pee (that I know of as it could have dried) in his cage as of yet :s
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It takes 22 hours on average for poos to pass the system - and they do it twice as pigges eat quite a number from the first run. You have to think of the digestive system as a big conveyor belt; what you are now seeing is the gap of feed intake at the vet's yesterday and the first poos afterwards will be funny. If your boy is eating and drinking/accepting support feed and water, then the internal conveyor belt is still moving and post-op poos will eventually turn up. ;)
That is why monitoring just by poo output only has a serious problem - it runs well behind event. Kitchen scales will give you an instant update on whether your piggy is getting enough feed or will need topping up/feeding round the clock, depending on whether they eat on their own a little or not at all.

You can find that kind of helpful information in our post-op care and syringe feeding guides in my last post, which you may want to read so you are better braced for about what to expect and what you can do when a recovery is not as smooth as you'd like.
 
It's good that he's eating grass by himself. The syringe top-ups are necessary but the fact that he's showing interest in eating on his own and even starting to rumble his lady again is so encouraging 💕 Well done Russel, stay strong x
 
Hope he’s on the mend soon and hope you’re doing okay too, it’s always such a worry isn’t it.
 
Just thought I would post an update on piggy.

Hes recovered OK now and back to his normal self after an evening of syringe feeding till 11pm, once in the night at 3am and then through Friday all day from 6am (when we get up for work). He slowly perked up during Friday which was great such a relief.

Hes tolerated his abs OK but just today he's started squeaking when pooing a bit more with bottle shaped softer poos, he has bee given pro c probiotic an hour after every time he has had his meds but have given him poo soup today too and a few extra proC/water syringes to try and help with that. He's off the ABs on Sunday so not long left.

Fingers crossed now he doesn't get any more complications or another abcess because I really don't want to put him though any of this again!
 
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