Pee Concerns

[piggl]

Hi all, I made a post a couple days ago about my guinea pigs increased amount of peeing - Too much pee? - as I was concerned at this sudden influx of water intake/output.
Since that post this has significantly decreased, at least in the speed their water bottle was going down.

Well today when I was cleaning up their run I noticed this brown-ish red coloured pee patch. I put a piece of kitchen roll to it and it kept its brown-ish red state on the roll.
I am aware of oxidization, but it was not dry and I have never really seen any of their pees oxidize, especially not to that shade of red/brown. I am aware of porphyrin as a harmless pigment, but this is as far as my knowledge extends. I have also seen that if it was blood it would be likely prominent in smallish, different circles of deep red (?)

I am not aware of any discomforting when peeing, but my boys are outside and I do not often catch them peeing unless they are out for a cuddle. My young boy did pee on me this morning and showed no signs of discomfort, as for the colour I could not tell as he was on a highly coloured towel.
I think I am going to take them both out tomorrow on a white towel and wait until they both pee to see if this is an ongoing issue. If it was porphyrin, can a one time occurrence be normal or is it always a sign of something else.

This is likely my anxiety speaking, but my older boy went for the wet cucumber before anything this evening, which is not like him. They both seem fine in themselves, weighing in well.
Of course this is concerning due to my worries with their peeing/water intake a couple days ago and now this.
The pictures are not the best, you can not really see much but it is more noticeable in the first picture. Often around half of their pees are that dark brown colour, which I assumed was oxidization, but the red-ness of these pees is very obvious.
Edit - No change in diet nor any notable food eaten which could slightly change the pigment of the pee.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all, I made a post a couple days ago about my guinea pigs increased amount of peeing - Too much pee? - as I was concerned at this sudden influx of water intake/output.
Since that post this has significantly decreased, at least in the speed their water bottle was going down.

Well today when I was cleaning up their run I noticed this brown-ish red coloured pee patch. I put a piece of kitchen roll to it and it kept its brown-ish red state on the roll.
I am aware of oxidization, but it was not dry and I have never really seen any of their pees oxidize, especially not to that shade of red/brown. I am aware of porphyrin as a harmless pigment, but this is as far as my knowledge extends. I have also seen that if it was blood it would be likely prominent in smallish, different circles of deep red (?)

I am not aware of any discomforting when peeing, but my boys are outside and I do not often catch them peeing unless they are out for a cuddle. My young boy did pee on me this morning and showed no signs of discomfort, as for the colour I could not tell as he was on a highly coloured towel.
I think I am going to take them both out tomorrow on a white towel and wait until they both pee to see if this is an ongoing issue. If it was porphyrin, can a one time occurrence be normal or is it always a sign of something else.

This is likely my anxiety speaking, but my older boy went for the wet cucumber before anything this evening, which is not like him. They both seem fine in themselves, weighing in well.
Of course this is concerning due to my worries with their peeing/water intake a couple days ago and now this.
The pictures are not the best, you can not really see much but it is more noticeable in the first picture. Often around half of their pees are that dark brown colour, which I assumed was oxidization, but the red-ness of these pees is very obvious.
Edit - No change in diet nor any notable food eaten which could slightly change the pigment of the pee.

Hi

This is well within the normal range of oxidisation and nothing to worry about.

 

[piggl]

Hi

This is well within the normal range of oxidisation and nothing to worry about.

It is the first reddish pee I have ever seen on their blanket.
I have seen bright yellow, pale yellow, brown and dark brown but never have they had a red-ness to them, at least not to this extent.

Can oxidisation also turn red/reddish?

 

[Wiebke]

It is the first reddish pee I have ever seen on their blanket.
I have seen bright yellow, pale yellow, brown and dark brown but never have they had a red-ness to them, at least not to this extent.

Can oxidisation also turn red/reddish?

Oxidisation is turning the rustier the drier it is; it ranges from yellow to orange tones on the way. Coloured pee from veg also dries a rusty shade.

Blood dries from pink to a clear mid-brown, no orange or reddish tones in it. Medium amounts of blood seem to dry in a brown spot in a pee puddle and large amounts in a brown ring around a pee puddle that is not just a darker rusty shade of pee. Anything that dries red is tomato juice.

Please take a deep breath. Your pictures are still within the normal range of drying oxidising pee shadings and there is nothing to worry about.

 

[piggl]

Oxidisation is turning the rustier the drier it is; it ranges from yellow to orange tones on the way. Coloured pee from veg also dries a rusty shade.

Blood dries from pink to a clear mid-brown, no orange or reddish tones in it. Medium amounts of blood seem to dry in a brown spot in a pee puddle and large amounts in a brown ring around a pee puddle that is not just a darker rusty shade of pee. Anything that dries red is tomato juice.

Please take a deep breath. Your pictures are still within the normal range of drying oxidising pee shadings and there is nothing to worry about.

Hi,

The boys were out this morning for their nail trim and my little boy made a noise when he peed.
My little boy is only 11 weeks, so he is very talkative. He "talks" all the time, and when he is upset you can tell the difference, such as when someone new comes in or when he gets moved (he is very adventurous and often gets himself in sticky situations as he moves so quickly). Well he peed on me and made his upset squeak, when he was just talking normally beforehand. It was on my tan shirt and there was no signs of anything abnormal. He went straight back to normal but there was an obvious change in sound which I did not see yesterday morning when he peed. He definitely did not squeal or anything, but his reaction was heightened when he peed.

I have never had any urinary issues, so I do not really know what to look out for, or when it would reach the stage in which a vet should be consulted.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

The boys were out this morning for their nail trim and my little boy made a noise when he peed.
My little boy is only 11 weeks, so he is very talkative. He "talks" all the time, and when he is upset you can tell the difference, such as when someone new comes in or when he gets moved (he is very adventurous and often gets himself in sticky situations as he moves so quickly). Well he peed on me and made his upset squeak, when he was just talking normally beforehand. It was on my tan shirt and there was no signs of anything abnormal. He went straight back to normal but there was an obvious change in sound which I did not see yesterday morning when he peed. He definitely did not squeal or anything, but his reaction was heightened when he peed.

I have never had any urinary issues, so I do not really know what to look out for, or when it would reach the stage in which a vet should be consulted.

Hi

If it is the start of a urinary tract infection (either bacterial or sterile), then it will typically take between 5-7 days for intermittent symptoms to firm up and become diagnosable. In the very early days, pees with blood are interspersed with pees that test blood-free. Also be aware that seemingly clear pees can test high in blood while deep red pees may come back free of it; I've got all those t-shirts myself.

Right now, it is far too early. If squeaky pees make an appearance, then see a vet in the latter half of next week. By then, there will also hopefully be some protein in the pee to point towards an infection.
A vet will hopefully palpate the bladder feel for a stone and to see how tight/firm or relaxed it is in order to assess the nature and severity of it and then take it from there. A course of antibiotics is usually the first step. What you will be prescribed depends currently rather on what the clinic has on stock since production of the officially licensed UK vet brand for the old septrin, adult strength sulfatrim, is being discontinued and vets have to source it otherwise if they can. other antibiotics, including baytril will also work for a potential bacterial UTI. If it doesn't, then it goes down the ladder with urinary tract issues that all present with very similar symptoms.

Hopefully it is just down to you hovering.

 

[piggl]

Hi

If it is the start of a urinary tract infection (either bacterial or sterile), then it will typically take between 5-7 days for intermittent symptoms to firm up and become diagnosable. In the very early days, pees with blood are interspersed with pees that test blood-free. Also be aware that seemingly clear pees can test high in blood while deep red pees may come back free of it; I've got all those t-shirts myself.

Right now, it is far too early. If squeaky pees make an appearance, then see a vet in the latter half of next week. By then, there will also hopefully be some protein in the pee to point towards an infection.
A vet will hopefully palpate the bladder feel for a stone and to see how tight/firm or relaxed it is in order to assess the nature and severity of it and then take it from there. A course of antibiotics is usually the first step. What you will be prescribed depends currently rather on what the clinic has on stock since production of the officially licensed UK vet brand for the old septrin, adult strength sulfatrim, is being discontinued and vets have to source it otherwise if they can. other antibiotics, including baytril will also work for a potential bacterial UTI. If it doesn't, then it goes down the ladder with urinary tract issues that all present with very similar symptoms.

Hopefully it is just down to you hovering.

Great, thank you for your help.
I’ll keep an eye, but not too close!