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1 year old male guinea pig, in pain when pooping and peeing. Blood in urine.

Mosesramses

New Born Pup
Joined
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Location
Denmark
Hello GPF, first post here.
Little info:
GF and i have 2 guinea pigs, Moses and Ramses, both dark skinny-pigs.
Ramses had a small zit-like growth removed, where he recieved anasthesia and was on some pain-killers and we had to feed him some liquid powder if he didn't eat.
He seemed to recover just fine, but about 2 weeks later, he started making distress-noises when peeing. The day after, we went to the vet, who believed it was a UTI. He found blood in the urine sample, but no bacteria. None-the-less we started on anti-bacteria medicine(Exoflox) and pain-killer(Loxicom). The painkillers definitely helped, as he became his usual cheery, curious and hungry self, but the blood didn't disappear for a while, and still returns once in a while. He is also still squeaking when pooping and perhaps also when peeing. We've been to several vets, scanned for bladder stones(none found), he had a catheter(nothing was blocked) and after 2 weeks he had another urine sample. No bacteria showed.

So, the problem is:
Nobody seems to know what is wrong. The vets, even the specialized exotic vets, doesn't seem very knowledgeable about guinea pigs at all, and advice us to drive around our country for new vets(we live in Denmark). They didn't even note that he was in pain when pooping too, until today, after 4 weeks...
I was hoping(not in a malicious way) that someone else might have experience with something similar, and might share their knowledge, as the vets and ours seem to have run dry.

Symptoms: Blood in urine, Pain when pooping/peeing, noise when pooping/peeing.
Diet: Pellets and plenty of hay. Greens are mostly cucumber, carrots and iceberg salad, celery. Snacks are mostly the same + compressed peas. Both pigs are a bit overweight(They're just so convincing).

Many thanks in advance to anyone who take their time to respond. We love our piggies very much and try our best to keep them happy and healthy.
Best Regards
Casper and Sofie
 
It might be sterile cystitis. This condition can’t be cured but can be managed with pain medications and finding out if there is the particular food trigger for your piggy. It’s recommended to give glucosamine to help coat the bladder.
I would ask your vet to look into it

As for the diet, ensure they eat mostly hay.
Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per pig per day as they are the least healthy component of their diet. They contain a lot of calcium which can contribute to bladder problems. Filtering the drinking water is also recommended

Carrots are too high in sugar to feature in their diet regularly. They should only ever be a very small and occasional treat.
Iceberg lettuce should be avoided and instead leafier versions of lettuce given along with herbs (except parsley which should only be given occasionally due to its higher calcium content). A high vit c veg such as bell peppers given daily.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
It might be sterile cystitis. This condition can’t be cured but can be managed with pain medications and finding out if there is the particular food trigger for your piggy. It’s recommended to give glucosamine to help coat the bladder.
I would ask your vet to look into it

As for the diet, ensure they eat mostly hay.
Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per pig per day as they are the least healthy component of their diet. They contain a lot of calcium which can contribute to bladder problems. Filtering the drinking water is also recommended

Carrots are too high in sugar to feature in their diet regularly. They should only ever be a very small and occasional treat.
Iceberg lettuce should be avoided and instead leafier versions of lettuce given along with herbs (except parsley which should only be given occasionally due to its higher calcium content). A high vit c veg such as bell peppers given daily.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Hello!
Thank you very much for your response! i'll look into it and reply when i have time! :)
 
It might be sterile cystitis. This condition can’t be cured but can be managed with pain medications and finding out if there is the particular food trigger for your piggy. It’s recommended to give glucosamine to help coat the bladder.
I would ask your vet to look into it

As for the diet, ensure they eat mostly hay.
Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per pig per day as they are the least healthy component of their diet. They contain a lot of calcium which can contribute to bladder problems. Filtering the drinking water is also recommended

Carrots are too high in sugar to feature in their diet regularly. They should only ever be a very small and occasional treat.
Iceberg lettuce should be avoided and instead leafier versions of lettuce given along with herbs (except parsley which should only be given occasionally due to its higher calcium content). A high vit c veg such as bell peppers given daily.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Hello again!
From what i can read, that actually sounds like a text-book example of what our piggy is going through.I've read some previous posts about IC and the corresponding low-calcium diets, and i believe we have room for improvement there. So we'll start by at least trying to optimize the diet.
Obviously we're going to consult our veterinarian with the suggestion that this might be the issue, and hear their opinion too.
Everyone seem to be suggesting Timothy-hay, so we'll try to find that.
What should i look for in pellets? I've seen alot of confusing responses when it comes to that.

In short, i plan to try:
- Asking the Vet about IC, glucosamine and further pain-killers.
- Demineralized water(is this what you mean by filtering?)
- Serving bell peppers, cucumber, broccoli, green peas more, less cucumber
- Switch to timothy hay
- Limit pellets
- Avoid calcium-high veggies and sugary treats
- Track progress

How does that sound? Did i miss anything? Any other suggestions on veggies?

Thanks alot for your response! I've attached a picture of the two. They're supposedly unusually happy for eachothers company(compared to other boar-pairs). They do love to snuggle together! :)
 

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Hello again!
From what i can read, that actually sounds like a text-book example of what our piggy is going through.I've read some previous posts about IC and the corresponding low-calcium diets, and i believe we have room for improvement there. So we'll start by at least trying to optimize the diet.
Obviously we're going to consult our veterinarian with the suggestion that this might be the issue, and hear their opinion too.
Everyone seem to be suggesting Timothy-hay, so we'll try to find that.
What should i look for in pellets? I've seen alot of confusing responses when it comes to that.

In short, i plan to try:
- Asking the Vet about IC, glucosamine and further pain-killers.
- Demineralized water(is this what you mean by filtering?)
- Serving bell peppers, cucumber, broccoli, green peas more, less cucumber
- Switch to timothy hay
- Limit pellets
- Avoid calcium-high veggies and sugary treats
- Track progress

How does that sound? Did i miss anything? Any other suggestions on veggies?

Thanks alot for your response! I've attached a picture of the two. They're supposedly unusually happy for eachothers company(compared to other boar-pairs). They do love to snuggle together! :)

Any grass hay is fine, if doesn’t have to specifically be timothy - meadow hay is absolutely fine to use. I use a mix of meadow and Timothy hay for all my animals.

Pellets - keeping them limited to one tablespoon whichever brand you use. Pellets should only make 5% of the daily food intake. Look for a pellet which is Timothy or grass based and is ideally grain free (ie no wheat or wheat bi product based). Something like the science selective naturals grain free. They are low calcium and grain free.

Drinking water and pellets contribute most calcium to the diet. While a diet too low in calcium can also come with its own problems, limiting the pellets, choosing grain free and filtering water is all we can do as owners to help.

Veggies - the link I added in my first reply can help there with the things that need to be cut out for piggies with IC (if that is in fact what he has) in the ‘bladder issues’ section, such as cutting out lettuce but also finding what works for your boy.

They are gorgeous boys! I have a boar pair myself and they don’t like snuggling with each other!
 
Any grass hay is fine, if doesn’t have to specifically be timothy - meadow hay is absolutely fine to use. I use a mix of meadow and Timothy hay for all my animals.

Pellets - keeping them limited to one tablespoon whichever brand you use. Pellets should only make 5% of the daily food intake. Look for a pellet which is Timothy or grass based and is ideally grain free (ie no wheat or wheat bi product based). Something like the science selective naturals grain free. They are low calcium and grain free.

Drinking water and pellets contribute most calcium to the diet. While a diet too low in calcium can also come with its own problems, limiting the pellets, choosing grain free and filtering water is all we can do as owners to help.

Veggies - the link I added in my first reply can help there with the things that need to be cut out for piggies with IC (if that is in fact what he has) in the ‘bladder issues’ section, such as cutting out lettuce but also finding what works for your boy.

They are gorgeous boys! I have a boar pair myself and they don’t like snuggling with each other!
Oh, i may have missed the link in your first comment. I'll look into it! :)
I hope we can figure something out. We love them very much, and they seem to love eachother even more. Thats also one of the reasons we're determined to have him recover, as we believe they're some sort of soulmates :P. A new pig that didn't fit it would be a bit tragic...
How do you filter your water? :)

Again again, thanks! :)
 
Oh, i may have missed the link in your first comment. I'll look into it! :)
I hope we can figure something out. We love them very much, and they seem to love eachother even more. Thats also one of the reasons we're determined to have him recover, as we believe they're some sort of soulmates :P. A new pig that didn't fit it would be a bit tragic...
How do you filter your water? :)

Again again, thanks! :)

You can use a Brita (or equivalent) jug with a filter in it.
I personally have an instant boiling water tap which also has filtered cold water so I can’t really help with recommended filter jugs
 
:wel: :agr:

I have no experience with sterile cystitis/stones/sludge or any other bladder issues (yet) but my guys are on a calcium controlled diet by default.

I feed science selective grain free (naturals I think they're calling it now). 1tbsp per pig, per day. I feed meadow hay, but any grass hay will do. Avoid alfalfa (Lucerne) hay as it's super high in calcium. I personally don't feed broccoli/cabbages (even kale) as there's sensitive tums.

The jug I've been using for 5 months is this one:

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-...gX4jgJTzORFtmB2UmtcaApSlEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I quite like it. As I'm in a hard water area, the tap water tastes horrible. However this magic jug makes it delicious so would recommend. ☺️
 
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