Orange urine

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

Has anyone had a piggy with orange urine. Daisy (aged 4) is currently being treated for an ear infection and e cuniculi (she has shown real improvement since starting treatment). We are waiting for test results. However at the same time as having symptoms for ear infection and e cuniculi her urine has also been orange (not red, nor pink) in colour. She has had no foods which could discolour her urine. In my 20 years of guinea pigs I've never seen anything like it. Neither has our piggy-savvy vet. Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Siikibam]

Urine does oxidise once it hits the air so could it be that?

 

[Wiebke]

Has anyone had a piggy with orange urine. Daisy (aged 4) is currently being treated for an ear infection and e cuniculi (she has shown real improvement since starting treatment). We are waiting for test results. However at the same time as having symptoms for ear infection and e cuniculi her urine has also been orange (not red, nor pink) in colour. She has had no foods which could discolour her urine. In my 20 years of guinea pigs I've never seen anything like it. Neither has our piggy-savvy vet. Any help would be much appreciated

Hi! Do you have a picture?

Urine oxidises when it contact with air and goes from yellow through oranges to rusty shades, as it dries and the longer it is exposed.

However if you talk about a really intense shade of orange, then this can come from a bacterial overgrowth in the bladder when the iimmune system is suppressed. It is rare and usually seen in the wake of a bad cystitis or bladder stone damage and after the use of stong antibiotics.

But without any verifiable information and just your words to go by please accept that we can only guess wildly and may be well off the mark. We can only ever be as good as the quality of the information we have to go by.

 

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

I did look into this. But alongside the symptoms of ear infection or e culiculi. Maikes me doubt it. But thank you for replying

 

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

Hi! Do you have a picture?

Urine oxidises when it contact with air and goes from yellow through oranges to rusty shades, as it dries and the longer it is exposed.

However if you talk about a really intense shade of orange, then this can come from a bacterial overgrowth in the bladder when the iimmune system is suppressed. It is rare and usually seen in the wake of a bad cystitis or bladder stone damage and after the use of stong antibiotics.

But without any verifiable information and just your words to go by please accept that we can only guess wildly and may be well off the mark. We can only ever be as good as the quality of the information we have to go by.

I'll try and send a pic. However the urine is orange when wet and hasn't had time to dry. Also it was present before antibiotics. So timeline - noticed Daisy was showing signs of ear infection alongside orange urine. Also at same time she had a funny gait and couldn't hold her head up properly. she has been prescribed baytril, metacam and panacur. ATM she seems a lot better. Other than the orange wee x

 

[Wiebke]

I'll try and send a pic. However the urine is orange when wet and hasn't had time to dry. Also it was present before antibiotics. So timeline - noticed Daisy was showing signs of ear infection alongside orange urine. Also at same time she had a funny gait and couldn't hold her head up properly. she has been prescribed baytril, metacam and panacur. ATM she seems a lot better. Other than the orange wee x

If it is an ongoing problem, I would contact your vet whether it is worth checking the urine for blood, high protein (sign of infection), crystals (could point to bladder stones or sludge) and if necessary bacteria. There are always some. The kind of bacteria that causes the really intense discolouration is normally kept in check by a fully working immune system.

I can't see a direct link between the two issues other via the immune system. They are most definitely not directly connected.

 

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

Thank you for all your comments. Daisy is improving all the time. She is eating, drinking, wheeking for food. Her coat looks so much better. But her wee is still orange

I'll try and send a pic. However the urine is orange when wet and hasn't had time to dry. Also it was present before antibiotics. So timeline - noticed Daisy was showing signs of ear infection alongside orange urine. Also at same time she had a funny gait and couldn't hold her head up properly. she has been prescribed baytril, metacam and panacur. ATM she seems a lot better. Other than the orange wee x

 

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

I'm still getting to grips with this page. Hopefully you will have just seen the pic of the orange wee. This was taken shortly after Daisy had had a wee. When it dries it dries orange - like an orange. Today other than the wee Daisy is as bright as a button. Eating and drinking. Excited for veggies. Has gained weight. Much brighter than in the past week. She is in our bedroom ( so I can keep an eye on her). I hear her during the night. Eating and drinking. I've heard nothing that would indicate she is in pain when she pees

 

[Wiebke]

I'm still getting to grips with this page. Hopefully you will have just seen the pic of the orange wee. This was taken shortly after Daisy had had a wee. When it dries it dries orange - like an orange. Today other than the wee Daisy is as bright as a button. Eating and drinking. Excited for veggies. Has gained weight. Much brighter than in the past week. She is in our bedroom ( so I can keep an eye on her). I hear her during the night. Eating and drinking. I've heard nothing that would indicate she is in pain when she pees

It rather looks like the intense orange that can come with a bacteria overgrowth in the bladder unless it is coloured by something you feed in your diet - but that is not usually quite as intensely coloured, either.

 

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

thank you. therefore I'm hoping the baytril will soon kick in. We didn't think it was diet. Not (recently) beetroot, carrot etc xx

 

[Wiebke]

thank you. therefore I'm hoping the baytril will soon kick in. We didn't think it was diet. Not (recently) beetroot, carrot etc xx

Sometimes even lettuce can cause discolouration; it is not necessarily the obvious foods. But I also hope that the baytril will kick in and help your girl to get better!

 

[lisa loves guinea pigs]

An update on Daisy. She doesn't have e cuniculi. Symptoms therefore seems to have been a reoccurrence of an ear infection and it has been successfully treated. The orange wee has disappeared. But can anyone please explain why oxidisation occurs and causes wee to turn orange. Thank you

 

[Wiebke]

An update on Daisy. She doesn't have e cuniculi. Symptoms therefore seems to have been a reoccurrence of an ear infection and it has been successfully treated. The orange wee has disappeared. But can anyone please explain why oxidisation occurs and causes wee to turn orange. Thank you

There is always some bacteria in the urine. Normally they are kept under control by a fully operational immune system, so the discoloration is not as intense in colour. sometimes veg can also contribute. Anything that is orange and rusty in tone is usually OK unless really intense.

Blood or intensely red porphyrine colouring that is characteristic for the onset of a cystitis or sometimes UTI is red and drying to brown. Blood tends to separate out when drying and manifests either as reddish dots (brown when fully dried out after several days) in the middle of a pee or - if there is a real lot - as a red/brown ring in a different colour to the orange/rusty pee puddle (which has normally a darker ring in the same colour as the puddle).
Seemingly clear pee can test high in blood while intensely red porphyrine pees can test free of blood but clear and red pees can follow each other in the very early stages of a UTI or cystitis. Believe me, I've got that t-shirt more than once!

I hope that this quick practical guide through practical pee diagnosis will help you?