Guinea Pig Urine Infection?! Please Help!

[Dannyr]

I have just posted a thread before on here, but this one gives a lot more detail.
I woke up this morning and I found a very small amount of blood in two corners of my Piggy's cage. I have two girls, and I still don't know which of them it is.
I waited the whole day, my Mum kept watching them, but there hasn't been any blood in their urine since then. They have had lots of pees, but they are perfectly normal. They piggies seem fine too, they still run around and play with each other, still eating as much as they usually do, so i can't think of what to do. I'm thinking about taking them to the vets tomorrow just to make sure, what do you think?
Also, how often do piggies bleed if they have a UTI, and how much blood is there?
I have got both of them out separately and checked if they have cut themselves on anything but it is most definitely not that. I have researched quite a bit, but I don't know how much blood they lose.

Thanks so much

 

[Wiebke]

Quite often, the amount of blood in infected urine is so small that it is not visible and can only be detected with a test strip. UTI is better distinguishable by what I call the "smelly pees" (very distictive stale smelling urine) or the "wet belly/back" syndrome accompanied with arching and sound of pain when peeing once it is full blown. Not all pees are actually red coloured.

One way to check for blood is putting each guinea pig in turn on a white towel/paper surface and wait until they have made about three pees. That way, you can hopefully get a clue.

UTIs, however, can be the sign that there is a bladder stone or some sludge in the bladder which causes constant irritation to the bladder walls. A bladder stone can cause some bleeding without any sign of infection. Because guinea pig urine is very alcaline, crystals, stones or sludge are not uncommon.

 

[gizzy]

Within this link you will be able to read about the most common causes of blood in the wee ,

http://www.guinealynx.info/uti.html right click !

To be honest I would be inclined to think it is just a heavy period if there is none of the symptoms Wiebke has described ,


but pleases let us know what progress they make

 

[daftscotslass]

Guinea pigs don't menstruate so I'd go to a vet and get it checked out as it may need antibiotics.

 

[Dannyr]

Hi, thanks for your replies. There still hasnt been any more blood at all and its been two days now. If it was bladder stones, or an infection, would there be more blood to come?

 

[Claire W]

If I were you, I would try and get a urine sample from BOTH piggies as you are not sure which one produced the bloody wee. You can do this by popping piggy in to a pet carrier and sucking up the urine with a syringe when he finally urinates. Keep the syringe in the fridge until you are ready to take to the vets.

One of my girls recently had a UTI. There was NO visible signs of blood in her urine, NO signs of pain when she urinated and NO other symptoms.

She was only diagnosed as having a UTI because she had bloody wee's in the past and because the vet used a test stick and looked at the urine sample through a microscope xx

 

[Claire W]

Are you sure that it was blood in the urine as some foods can colour the pee?

 

[Dannyr]

well i am 90% sure it is, because it was a verrryy dark red colour, looked just like human blood really. Food only causes a bit of red colour doesn't it?