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High protein in urine

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnC131
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JohnC131

We have a 6 year old female who has always been problem free. Always alert and active. She still is but is losing weight despite everythiing appearing normal and eating well. She has been x-ray'd with nothing abnormal showing, her teeth are in excellent condition and no root problems, her dropping are normal but she does has slightly watery eyes with sometimes a milky discharge.

The vet has checked tear ducts and although the dye that is used doesn't run through quickly, it does eventually appear at the nostrils indicating that the ducts are probably not blocked.

The vet, who is really good with small furries is at a loss although she didn't take a urine test. We have done that now, although the sticks are not that new. The result shows 8.5 of protein, which we understand should be around 5? And blood test is on maximum indicating blood in the urine. Could this be something like cystitis? And would such a condition cause the weight loss?

This pig is cerytainly puzzling as she appears normal in every other way.

Any advice will be appreciated!
 
I can't help you with the protein problem sorry. Bloody urine can indicate cystitis or uri type problem. This problem would need to be treated with antibiotics - septrin is the best for this problem. It can also indicate bladder stones but if the x-ray was clear then that can be ruled out. When you say she has a milky discharge - do you mean that when she wees she gets a dried white substance around her area? If so that indicates that her calcium intake needs to be reduced. Hope this helps :)
 
Thanks for your reply rw3399.

The milky discharge is from her eyes, not when she pees. She does not squeal when she pees so am now wondering if this is a mentrual problem rather than an infection. The weight loss has all the hallmarks of worms although she lives in a very large hutch in a shed but I suppose could be contaminated through hay. She gets only the best quality but it obviously still comes from a field.

Am going to worm her first to see if that has any effect.
 
The milky discharge is perfectly normal. Piggies secrete this when they are cleaning their faces. :)

As far as i know piggies do not menstuate but having had a piggy (a male) with blood in his urine, who also did not make any noise when urinating it is most likely a UTI (which is like cystitis, as you say :) )
He too lost an awful lot of weight & whilst the UTI cleared up after 2 courses of antibiotics i never got his weight back to where it was before he became ill.

It is rare tho' i doubt unheard of for piggies to have worms but it is common for older piggies to lose weight.
I can't answer regarding the protein levels but i personally have nephritis (thin lining disease); my kidneys leak blood which is only seen on dipsticks. It's no detriment to the function of my kidneys but this could be a poss reason for the blood if no infection is present.

I hope you get a diagnosis & she's ok, let us know how she gets on :)
 
I have misled you all on one point. It is not high protein levels but High ph showing on the Labstix (right-hand dark segment)
 
I have misled you all. I was told it was high protein but in fact is is high ph, when I checked the Labstix.
 
JohnC131 said:
I have misled you all on one point. It is not high protein levels but High ph showing on the Labstix (right-hand dark segment)
Click to expand...

I can't find anything in relation to this for piggies only but have found this realting to dogs & cats tho' am not sure if this equates to piggies.

Consistent alkaline urine may also be caused by a urinary tract infection. Some of the types of bacteria that cause urinary tract and kidney infections produce an enzyme that breaks down to ammonia and turns the urine alkaline.
 
Don't worry about a high pH in guinea pig urine, 8.5 is perfectly normal. I am a veterinary student, and in our renal physilogy lab we just learned that carnivores like dogs and cats typically have a urine pH below 7, while herbivores like cows, horses, and cavies have a urine pH above 7. I actually just did a urinalysis on my own pig. She's a 1 year old female who is perfectly healthy in every way, and her urine pH was 8.5. Cloudy urine is also normal and has to do with calcium metabolism. Foods high in vitamin A will sometimes cause orange urine which is also nothing to worry about. Older kidneys will sometime get leaky and let a little blood pass through into the urine. The weight loss is probably just a sign of old age if she's still active and eating/drinking normally, and other than being a senior citizen your pig sounds perfectly healthy.
 
I had a 6 year old boar with almost the same story, he kept losing weight but eating masses! I am a rodentologist and spoke to Vedra at the CCT about him. She said if his teeth are OK then the main causes are likely to be a urinary infection (which the blood in the urine suggests) : a fungal infection of the bowel lining causing malabsorption, another possibility is chronic renal failure.
high ph is normal for guinea pig urine but there should be no blood or protein; food colourants in dried food can cause false positive glucose in the urine.
we put my pig on a course of an oral antifungal and his weight loss stabilised (although he didn't regain weight). he lived a further 6 months until dying peacefully in his sleep.
 
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