Oh The Cranberry Juice...

[Hoppsan]

Dear peer slaves, I have read so much about cranberry juice since Hoppsan had treatment to his peepee area (The vet never said it was a UTI but did prescribed antibiotics and painkiller, so I assumed it was, they also did the x-ray to make sure that Hoppsan doesn't have bladder stones. Hoppsan stopped squeaking while peeing or pooping after the treatment, yay!). I've learnt that most piggies like the taste of the cranberry juice; it destroys/dissolves the stones in the bladder if there were any; and it helps to kill the bacteria to help the healing process on the infection, so I thought it won't hurt to get him some.

Today we went to the store and got a box of frozen cranberry so that I can make my own juice without sugar. I did a quick search here and learned that cranberry juice might not be magic and even could make interstitial cystitis worse... Now since I don't have any confirmation on what Hoppsan had in the first place and I did see before that there were white chunky stuff after his pee dried, so I'm not sure if I should give him the cranberry juice at all...

May I have some reassurance from you guys? Should I give him cranberry as a treat or not? (since the illness is gone, I won't use it to "flush" his bladder) I would also like to know if i can just put thawed cranberries into his water bottle to just give a hint of flavor?

Will cranberry juice actually do more harm than good?

 

[Wiebke]

To be honest, I have never noticed that cranberry juice has made any difference for my own urinary tract problem piggies. It is one of these things where experiences from human urinary tract infections have been transferred to guinea pigs without proper research.

But I would certainly not recommend to flavour the drinking water as it puts off most piggies and promotes the growth of algae. I would also never use defrosted foods with guinea pigs, as they are processed and bacteria can multiply very quickly during that defrosting.

Personally, I would recommend to drink the cranberry juice yourself - it is high in vitamin C. Flushing the bladder with water and mildly diuretic veg is much more effective. I do not longer recommend cranberry juice for piggy UTIs.

 

[Hoppsan]

Thanks @Wiebke ! Yup, I withhold my cranberry juice plan and will serve the juice to the humen instead

 

[Claire W]

I agree with Wiebke

My boar has a tiny smaller than a pin head bladder stone that we opted not to have surgery due to its size and location.

A cavvy savvy vet suggested that we give him diluted sugar free cranberry juice via a syringe. We decided against it and a few months down the line and touching wood, Enoch is absolutely fine