Guinea pig peeing blood intermittently for over a month — what to do now?

[thw797]

Hi all! This is my first post here and after lurking and reading other’s experiences, I’ve decided to come here and ask.

My girl Daisy is around 3 years old. She has been peeing blood intermittently ever since the end of November. I took her to the emergency vet where they diagnosed her with a probably UTI (she had sludge and inflammation in her bladder). She was on SMZ-TMP for 10 days. I thought this helped, but then she started having blood again. The blood is a pink color and is never dark or bright red.

Originally she was squeaking while peeing, but she no longer does that. She is her normal self and eats well, comes to the bars for food, etc. She’s with her sister in a very large C&C cage.

The vet I have nearby gave her metacam to see if it would help, but her bleeding persisted. We did an x-ray and found no stones, my vet said the scans did not show sludge. My vet is not able to do an ultrasound or a sterile urinalysis.

I had her on glucosamine and metacam for around a week, and thought the bleeding stopped… but I’m not completely sure. I took her off of it a few days before her next vet visit and the bleeding showed itself again.

I now have more metacam and Baytril for her to try. I haven’t started the antibiotics yet. Could it be a stubborn UTI? I was given tablets for her which I can crush and syringe to her, and the dose is 22.7 mg per tablet (so around 11.3 mg to be given twice daily). My piggy weighs around 1.1 kg — is this dose safe to give?

Could this be a UTI that just hasn’t gotten worse for a few weeks, and has shown no other symptoms? Could it be IC? I’ve already spent $1,000 on her care for this, so if it is reproductive I would just be looking at comfort care and cannot afford anymore large vet bills (a spay would be at least $1,000). The insurance I have decided to not cover this.

Thank you for any and all advice given!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum and I’m sorry to hear this.

If it isn’t getting better with a couple of courses of antibiotics and all other issues have been ruled out, then IC is real possibility.

Glucosamine will need to be given consistently and for the long term at a maintenance dose to help if it is IC. (And can be increased during a flare and then go back down to maintenance dose).

It would be a good idea to have a discussion with the vet about IC being a possibility if another course is antibiotics doesn’t help.

 

[thw797]

Welcome to the forum and I’m sorry to hear this.

If it isn’t getting better with a couple of courses of antibiotics and all other issues have been ruled out, then IC is real possibility.

Glucosamine will need to be given consistently and for the long term at a maintenance dose to help if it is IC. (And can be increased during a flare and then go back down to maintenance dose).

It would be a good idea to have a discussion with the vet about IC being a possibility if another course is antibiotics doesn’t help.

Thank you! I did ask my vet and she was unfamiliar with IC.
Would a UTI always get worse if left untreated? She was on her SMZ-TMP almost a month ago but has not worsened.
Can a piggy respond to glucosamine within a week? Most sources say it takes multiple weeks to show any response.
Lastly, is her dose of 11.3 mg 2x per day okay to give? I thought about giving her half of it, because it's on the higher end/a bit more than the max dose she could receive according to GuineaLynx (max dose being 11.1 mg 2x daily).

 

[Piggies&buns]

Antibiotics will cure a bacterial UTI. An untreated UTI will not get better without antibiotics.

If it’s actually IC, then antibiotics will make very little to no difference to symptoms. They may temporarily suppress in some cases but symptoms will come back/or nothing will change. This is how you know you are likely dealing with IC.

It’s a condition the same as is seen cats.

Glucosamine will need to be a long term treatment to help fully protect the bladder. However giving it for week or so may help bring a flare under control (but then stopping glucosamine means the bladder loses its protection and symptoms return).

I’m afraid we can’t really comment on dosage, it’s something you need to discuss with your vet.

 

[thw797]

Antibiotics will cure a bacterial UTI. An untreated UTI will not get better without antibiotics.

If it’s actually IC, then antibiotics will make very little to no difference to symptoms. They may temporarily suppress in some cases but symptoms will come back/or nothing will change. This is how you know you are likely dealing with IC.

It’s a condition the same as is seen cats.

Glucosamine will need to be a long term treatment to help fully protect the bladder. However giving it for week or so may help bring a flare under control (but then stopping glucosamine means the bladder loses its protection and symptoms return).

I’m afraid we can’t really comment on dosage, it’s something you need to discuss with your vet.

Bumping this for some additional clarification— she has been on glucosamine now for a week and a half. I’ve seen improvement in the amount of blood, but she’s still having some pink in her urine (maybe once or twice per day, very faint). Still no other symptoms. This would rule out a UTI as her condition is improving, correct? The glucosamine would not do anything if it was a bacterial UTI?

Just asking because my vet said we could try antibiotics again and my vet knows very little about IC. I wish there were better vets near me.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Bumping this for some additional clarification— she has been on glucosamine now for a week and a half. I’ve seen improvement in the amount of blood, but she’s still having some pink in her urine (maybe once or twice per day, very faint). Still no other symptoms. This would rule out a UTI as her condition is improving, correct? The glucosamine would not do anything if it was a bacterial UTI?

Just asking because my vet said we could try antibiotics again and my vet knows very little about IC. I wish there were better vets near me.

Glucosamine coats and lines the bladder (assisting the natural glucosamine layer) so it may help with discomfort but it won’t cure a bacterial infection.

Pink urine isn’t always blood, it can be porphyrins.
A way to tell is how it dries - blood dries brown.

This recent thread may also help you with an explanation (so saves me typing out again!).

Is this a big flare up?

It may be a good idea for you to search this forum and find the relevant threads to show your vet.

 

[thw797]

Glucosamine coats and lines the bladder (assisting the natural glucosamine layer) so it may help with discomfort but it won’t cure a bacterial infection.

Pink urine isn’t always blood, it can be porphyrins.
A way to tell is how it dries - blood dries brown.

This recent thread may also help you with an explanation (so saves me typing out again!).

Is this a big flare up?

It may be a good idea for you to search this forum and find the relevant threads to show your vet.

Thank you for this. Unfortunately this morning she had bright red in her urine. I’ll attach a picture below. She is squeaking while peeing and squatting frequently. Think I’ll start antibiotics.