Blood Or Coloured Urine?

[Leeni]

One of my six girls, 3 year old Tyllerö suffered recently from two bladder stones, her first one's (hopefully last ones, too). One the vet was able to remove from her urinary tract where it got stuck the same day and the other smaller one came out on it'sown during ab and painkiller treatment.

During the last days of ab and now already few weeks after she has been passing urine that turns slowly red. So it comes out normal but in a few minutes turns to red in colour. I tested it today with the urine test pads (I'm not sure what they are in English) and the result is a bit hard to read. The pad mostly just darkens in the end of 60 second time but doesn't turn from yellow to green which I think it should if there was that much of blood in it that would turn the whole big puddle of wee to bright orange-red. But I'm not experienced with the pads so can't be totally sure.

When i visited vet with Tyllerö the last day of ab she tested this coloured urine and it didn't have any blood in it, x-ray was clean and there was no sign of inflammation any more.

So I'm asking is it possible that ab changes the color of urine even after 15 days after?

 

[Wiebke]

One of my six girls, 3 year old Tyllerö suffered recently from two bladder stones, her first one's (hopefully last ones, too). One the vet was able to remove from her urinary tract where it got stuck the same day and the other smaller one came out on it'sown during ab and painkiller treatment.

During the last days of ab and now already few weeks after she has been passing urine that turns slowly red. So it comes out normal but in a few minutes turns to red in colour. I tested it today with the urine test pads (I'm not sure what they are in English) and the result is a bit hard to read. The pad mostly just darkens in the end of 60 second time but doesn't turn from yellow to green which I think it should if there was that much of blood in it that would turn the whole big puddle of wee to bright orange-red. But I'm not experienced with the pads so can't be totally sure.

When i visited vet with Tyllerö the last day of ab she tested this coloured urine and it didn't have any blood in it, x-ray was clean and there was no sign of inflammation any more.

So I'm asking is it possible that ab changes the color of urine even after 15 days after?

What you are experiencing, is not uncommon after a bad time with urinary tract problems, often in the wake of a major stone removal.
Extremely strong discolouration (mostly is a deep orange or rusty colour) is caused by bacteria, which are always present in the bladder but which can flourish when the immune system is no longer able to keep them in check. It can be accompanied by an invisiable trace of blood in the urine or not. Your vet may consider giving another round of a milder antibiotic and measures to strengthen the immune system, like increased vitamin C.

My Minx experienced that back in 2007 when she was suffering from recurring bladder stone problems.

 

[Leeni]

What you are experiencing, is not uncommon after a bad time with urinary tract problems, often in the wake of a major stone removal.
Extremely strong discolouration (mostly is a deep orange or rusty colour) is caused by bacteria, which are always present in the bladder but which can flourish when the immune system is no longer able to keep them in check. It can be accompanied by an invisiable trace of blood in the urine or not. Your vet may consider giving another round of a milder antibiotic and measures to strengthen the immune system, like increased vitamin C.

My Minx experienced that back in 2007 when she was suffering from recurring bladder stone problems.
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Thank you Wiebke! Minx's wee in the pic looks exactly the same as Tyllerö's. I'll call the vet on Monday. Poor girl has lost weight too though is very active and happy otherwise.

 

[Wiebke]

All the best!

 

[Leeni]

I thought to send an update about Tyllerö and her problems that started with a bladder stone stuck in her urinal tract. Now after two months her situation has remained mostly the same. I am feeding her mostly hay and very limited veggies, no pellets because she is passing so much sludge even without them. Her weight is now slowly going up which I'm very happy about because I almost lost hope with her just losing weight little by little though she was eating with great appetite. Maybe it was caused by the stress of shaken metabolism.

Below you can see three photos of Tyllerös coloured wee. The first (wood shavings) is from the beginning of November, second one (laundry basket) from December and the last one (towels) from yesterday. So the color has changed from bright red to murky brown. The color is not blood but a simple color pigment that vet said is coming somewhere along the way in her metabolism but couldn't say where. The wee changes color a couple of minutes after coming out so it's normal color to start with. It is still possible that her kidneys or liver has been damaged by the stone though it was stuck only a short time. We tried a long round of antibiotics (Fenoflox) but three weeks made no difference. Also as you can see there is a lot of sludge still visible in the last pic though I have tried to eliminate everything harmful from her diet.

What fresh food suggestions do you have for a piggy with problems like this? I have looked at all the charts etc but it is so hard to keep everything in check so I'd really appreciate some recommendations!
I live in Finland so fresh grass is unfortunately not available all year round (it's now -20 celsius) .

 

[Wiebke]

I think that the intensely coloured urine, which tends to happen when a piggy has got or is recovering from urinary tract problems and has had a fair bit of antibiotics, is caused by bacteria in the bladder, which are normally kept under check by a fully operational immune system. It should hopefully disappear as Tyllerö is recovering. I sincerely hope that the weight gain continues. It is at least a very positive sign!

Has your vet scanned for bladder sludge? That can also damage/irritate the bladder. You need an experienced vet who is doing a flush very carefully, slowly and not so much that the sludge is backing up into the kidneys (in which case it can be fatal) if that is the case. Calcium absorption is a very complex process. You can control only so much with diet - and it is very much a trial and error process to figure out and fine tune what works for Tyllerö. I have bee there with my Cariad who kept getting sludge in the wake of a major stone operation. Eventually I managed to slow down this process, but I could never completely eliminate it.

You might want to offer your girl filtered water via syringe, as much as she will take in one go, twice daily to encourage her to make one large pee to help empty the bladder. Do not give her more water than she will take and never more than she can swallow.

@helen105281 might advise you on the diet aspect.

 

[helen105281]

The veg I feed twice a day for my pig with bladder issues is:

1 sprig of coriander
1 slither of spring greens
1 piece of cucumber
1 piece of pepper (ideally rotate the colours weekly)
1 green bean
1 piece of celery

They have a very occasional small piece of carrot as a treat.

All my pigs have the same veg regardless of whether they have bladder issues though I do have one with Interstitial cystitis. She also has daily vegan glucosamine.

 

[Leeni]

Thank you @Wiebke and @helen105281 !

I will try these. It is so frustrating to fail all the time though I try so hard .. again today I heard a small sgueel from Tyllerö.