Possible UTI need advice

[Char.wilson]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately my first post is more of a stressed search for advice. (Also apologies if I’ve done this wrong). I have a male guinea pig named Dougie who is about 3 years old and he is my absolute world.

I’ve noticed over the past two weeks he has started straining when doing his business (I’ve attached a photo of his posture). Weirdly though it seems as though he is only doing it when he is passing feacal matter he wants to eat. I haven’t seen or heard him chatter his teeth or squeak when doing so AND I’ve also seen him pee and poop with no arching at all - it maybe only occurs 2-3 times a day. His weight has remained constant and he is eating, drinking and running around normally. I have noticed however that his urine has been darker with some calcium deposits in it (not gritty though) - again see image attached.

This was (as you can imagine) concerning to me so I took him to the vets on Thursday afternoon and they took 2 x-rays, did an ultrasound and did a urine analysis. (Cost me about £350 but worth it). X-rays and ultrasound show no signs of stones or sludge and urine analysis showed no signs of sediment build up, so I’m fairly sure it’s not stones (please let me know if there is anything else I need to do to rule this out). The dip stick test was negative for blood but urine analysis did indicate slightly higher protein levels. Further microscopic analysis showed there were red blood cells in his urine so he has been bleeding slightly and it also revealed some aggregated bacterial presence. As such he was prescribed 2x0.2ml Baytril daily and 0.23ml Rheumocam daily.

I started him on it on Thursday evening and since then I have maybe only noticed a slight decrease in the calcium deposit levels but his urine is still dark and he is still arching 2-3 times a day (it may be more but these are the number of times I have seen and counted in a day). I know he has only been on the meds for 3 full days (and I am glad there has been no further decline) but I was wondering how soon will these meds start to make noticeable changes to symptoms and what should I look out for? Also I wondered if there is anything I should look out for that means he is declining and needs to go back to vet ASAP. Finally, I am currently assuming he was struggling with a UTI after ruling out stones but I was wondering if it could be anything else that I should have checked/may need to take him back to the vets for?

Apologies for such a long (and less than cheerful) post but this is the first time my sweet boy has ever been ill and I know that guinea pigs are not the most resilient of creatures so I just wanna make sure I have all my bases covered. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as he is my first piggy and I wanna be sure I’m not doing anything wrong or missing anything!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately my first post is more of a stressed search for advice. (Also apologies if I’ve done this wrong). I have a male guinea pig named Dougie who is about 3 years old and he is my absolute world.

I’ve noticed over the past two weeks he has started straining when doing his business (I’ve attached a photo of his posture). Weirdly though it seems as though he is only doing it when he is passing feacal matter he wants to eat. I haven’t seen or heard him chatter his teeth or squeak when doing so AND I’ve also seen him pee and poop with no arching at all - it maybe only occurs 2-3 times a day. His weight has remained constant and he is eating, drinking and running around normally. I have noticed however that his urine has been darker with some calcium deposits in it (not gritty though) - again see image attached.

This was (as you can imagine) concerning to me so I took him to the vets on Thursday afternoon and they took 2 x-rays, did an ultrasound and did a urine analysis. (Cost me about £350 but worth it). X-rays and ultrasound show no signs of stones or sludge and urine analysis showed no signs of sediment build up, so I’m fairly sure it’s not stones (please let me know if there is anything else I need to do to rule this out). The dip stick test was negative for blood but urine analysis did indicate slightly higher protein levels. Further microscopic analysis showed there were red blood cells in his urine so he has been bleeding slightly and it also revealed some aggregated bacterial presence. As such he was prescribed 2x0.2ml Baytril daily and 0.23ml Rheumocam daily.

I started him on it on Thursday evening and since then I have maybe only noticed a slight decrease in the calcium deposit levels but his urine is still dark and he is still arching 2-3 times a day (it may be more but these are the number of times I have seen and counted in a day). I know he has only been on the meds for 3 full days (and I am glad there has been no further decline) but I was wondering how soon will these meds start to make noticeable changes to symptoms and what should I look out for? Also I wondered if there is anything I should look out for that means he is declining and needs to go back to vet ASAP. Finally, I am currently assuming he was struggling with a UTI after ruling out stones but I was wondering if it could be anything else that I should have checked/may need to take him back to the vets for?

Apologies for such a long (and less than cheerful) post but this is the first time my sweet boy has ever been ill and I know that guinea pigs are not the most resilient of creatures so I just wanna make sure I have all my bases covered. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as he is my first piggy and I wanna be sure I’m not doing anything wrong or missing anything!

Hi

There are two different infections of the urinary tract:
- classic bacterial urine infection (UTI), which is basically the overgrowth of faecal bacteria in the urinary tract; usually triggered by an immune lowering event, like the cold and damp from being put on the lawn too soon.
This is infection is curable with antibiotic.
- sterile cystitis (you may find more information under its old name, interstitial - ie. recurring - cystitis or IC). This is a non-bacterial infection that seems to mainly affect the insulating glucosamine coating of the walls of the urinary tract, which prevents highly corrosive urine from coming into painful contact with raw tissue. Since it is non-bacterial, antibiotics can at the best only temporarily suppress it. It cannot be healed but only be managed with analgesics like metcm for the pain and inflammation and glucosamine to support the affected wall coat.
It has been around for about 20 years now but it is not much known outside vet circles that see guinea pigs on a regular basis. It is much more common in indoors piggies with a nervous disposition and may be linked to the commercial mass breeding.
Sterile IC can run the gamut from the very mild to the really severe. It is mostly diagnosed by default after all other potential problems have been ruled out but it can also be diagnosed by the absence or more commonly a much lower bacterial count in the urine than expected (most piggies do have some faecal bacteria in their urinary tract since the scent gland used to for territorial marking by all guinea pigs is sitting right in front of the genitalia). You will get the raised protein levels that indicate an infection in either case.

Your vet is hedging their bets a bit with the medication since you have seen them very quickly before the symptoms have become consistent.

As to the dark red urine: it is not blood (which would be bright red) but a natural dye called porphyrin that makes the urine look bloody and that is characteristic for the onset of a either urinary tract infection. What most owners are not aware of is that deep red porphyrin pees can be totally free of blood while seemingly clear urine can test high for it. It usually takes about a week for symptoms to firm up so you get a mix of clear and red pees and a mix of pees that my or may not contain blood. I've got all those t-shirts myself, too.

If the baytril works and the infection does go down over the cause of the week, then you are dealing with either a UTI or a mild sterile IC; a severe IC would not react to an antibiotic at all. Please keep in mind that antibiotics take several days to build up to full efficiency before they gradually peter out over the same number of days after the and of the course. If symptoms come back after the course of antibiotics, then you are most likely dealing with a sterile cystitis. A bacterial lab test would bring clarity.

I hope that this helps you?

 

[Char.wilson]

Hi

There are two different infections of the urinary tract:
- classic bacterial urine infection (UTI), which is basically the overgrowth of faecal bacteria in the urinary tract; usually triggered by an immune lowering event, like the cold and damp from being put on the lawn too soon.
This is infection is curable with antibiotic.
- sterile cystitis (you may find more information under its old name, interstitial - ie. recurring - cystitis or IC). This is a non-bacterial infection that seems to mainly affect the insulating glucosamine coating of the walls of the urinary tract, which prevents highly corrosive urine from coming into painful contact with raw tissue. Since it is non-bacterial, antibiotics can at the best only temporarily suppress it. It cannot be healed but only be managed with analgesics like metcm for the pain and inflammation and glucosamine to support the affected wall coat.
It has been around for about 20 years now but it is not much known outside vet circles that see guinea pigs on a regular basis. It is much more common in indoors piggies with a nervous disposition and may be linked to the commercial mass breeding.
Sterile IC can run the gamut from the very mild to the really severe. It is mostly diagnosed by default after all other potential problems have been ruled out but it can also be diagnosed by the absence or more commonly a much lower bacterial count in the urine than expected (most piggies do have some faecal bacteria in their urinary tract since the scent gland used to for territorial marking by all guinea pigs is sitting right in front of the genitalia). You will get the raised protein levels that indicate an infection in either case.

Your vet is hedging their bets a bit with the medication since you have seen them very quickly before the symptoms have become consistent.

As to the dark red urine: it is not blood (which would be bright red) but a natural dye called porphyrin that makes the urine look bloody and that is characteristic for the onset of a either urinary tract infection. What most owners are not aware of is that deep red porphyrin pees can be totally free of blood while seemingly clear urine can test high for it. It usually takes about a week for symptoms to firm up so you get a mix of clear and red pees and a mix of pees that my or may not contain blood. I've got all those t-shirts myself, too.

If the baytril works and the infection does go down over the cause of the week, then you are dealing with either a UTI or a mild sterile IC; a severe IC would not react to an antibiotic at all. Please keep in mind that antibiotics take several days to build up to full efficiency before they gradually peter out over the same number of days after the and of the course. If symptoms come back after the course of antibiotics, then you are most likely dealing with a sterile cystitis. A bacterial lab test would bring clarity.

I hope that this helps you?

That is exceedingly helpful, thank you!
I’m so glad to hear it’s not blood causing his urine to be that dark as that was a massive concern. I will keep giving him his antibiotics until Thursday when I will reconvene with the vet and see if his symptoms improve - if they have not I will ask her to run another urine analysis to check bacterial counts.

Thank you so much for your advice!

 

[Char.wilson]

As a bit of an update (in case anyone is in a similar situation). Dougie was back at the vets on Monday (so after 10 days on antibiotics) and another urine analysis has revealed his protein levels are back to normal as is his urine pH. There is no more bacterial presence but there were still some red blood cells in his urine.

Vet has decided to take him off antibiotics and keep him on the anti inflammatory for another 7-10 days.

Dougie himself is still active and eating and drinking fine (and his weight has been pretty consistent). He is still straining occasionally but with no squeaks of pain etc and it’s not consistent. His urine is still a bit orange but no where near as dark as it was.

Keeping fingers crossed he will be right as rain after another week on the anti inflammatory meds.

If anyone has any other advice or warnings I anm all ears as he is my first piggie and I want him to be as happy and healthy as possible.