Orange/red Urine?! What's Normal?

[Kirsty]

Hi all is this normal, my guinea pig biscuit urinated on the floor? I ready that sometimes it can be orange because of the air, but this looks a lot darker? What do you all think? Normal or not?

Thanks xx

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all is this normal, my guinea pig biscuit urinated on the floor? I ready that sometimes it can be orange because of the air, but this looks a lot darker? What do you all think? Normal or not?

Thanks xx

View attachment 59183

Hi! I would have your piggy checked out by a vet tomorrow.

Just to make it confusing, sometimes urine like that can test free of blood while clear urine can score high on the dip tester. However, it can be a sign of a developing UTI (urinary tract infection).

 

[Kirsty]

I have just read that spinach can inpact their urine colour? I gave him quite a generous amount of baby spinach yesturday. I'm cleaning both my
Pigs out tomorrow and will check their incontence pads underneath to see if it is red also, then if it continues I'll make a vet appointment. So far he isn't showing any signs of discomfort when urinating, and earlier I tried to introduce him to my other boar pig (trying desperately to pair them after the loss of speckles, but so far no luck) And biscuit was "spraying" and that also had an orangey red colour to it, as he was dragging his bits along the floor!

 

[Wiebke]

I have just read that spinach can inpact their urine colour? I gave him quite a generous amount of baby spinach yesturday. I'm cleaning both my
Pigs out tomorrow and will check their incontence pads underneath to see if it is red also, then if it continues I'll make a vet appointment. So far he isn't showing any signs of discomfort when urinating, and earlier I tried to introduce him to my other boar pig (trying desperately to pair them after the loss of speckles, but so far no luck) And biscuit was "spraying" and that also had an orangey red colour to it, as he was dragging his bits along the floor!

Hopefully, it was just the veg you've been feeding; just keep an eye on it. Stop the spinach for the time being and see if there is a change. If both piggies have this highly coloured urine, it argues more for feed than illness.

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[Kirsty]

Update this was his wet pads underneath his vetbed! I would still say it's more brown then red :-/ hmmm

 

[Wiebke]

Update this was his wet pads underneath his vetbed! I would still say it's more brown then red :-/ hmmm

View attachment 59231

It looks like rusty oxidised pee to me and not like any blood in the urine. I would not worry; my towels often look the same, especially when I am running a day late with cleaning.

 

[Kirsty]

yeah in all fairness I normallly clean them out every 3-4 days, but it has been 5 days due to it being a busy week! I'll keep an eye on him and if it starts to look more pinky then I'll get him to a vet, thanks for your help x

 

[Wiebke]

yeah in all fairness I normallly clean them out every 3-4 days, but it has been 5 days due to it being a busy week! I'll keep an eye on him and if it starts to look more pinky then I'll get him to a vet, thanks for your help x

Your bedding looks very normal for older pee stains.

When looking out for blood, you are looking for either small reddish dots or or reddish rings of a distinctly different hue to the oxidised urine stains. Blood has a different specific weight to urine, so it it doesn't dry evenly in a urine patch; whether it dries in small spots or in a ring depends on how much blood there is compared to pee.