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Orange wee

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Gemma McD

Gemma McD

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One of my girls has orange coloured wee. I read somewhere that carrot can cause this? Is this true as they've had carrot most days this week.
 
Is she on sawdust at all ? Sometimes it can make their wee look rusty coloured. Carrots are high in sugar so try not to give them too often.
Can you pop her onto a white blanket/towel to monitor at all - may need a trip to your vet to be on the safe side if you cannot eliminate the cause.
 
HairlessWillow7 said:
When she wee's, does it come out orange or turn orange later?
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I'm not sure as I didn't see them wee and was only aware when cleaning up after floor time, don't think it had just been done so possibly had turned orange later.
 
Guinea pig slave said:
Is she on sawdust at all ? Sometimes it can make their wee look rusty coloured. Carrots are high in sugar so try not to give them too often.
Can you pop her onto a white blanket/towel to monitor at all - may need a trip to your vet to be on the safe side if you cannot eliminate the cause.
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They are on sawdust at the moment, while I get some fleece to change them over. I have noticed sawdust in their wee corners is always darker, but this was on our laminate flooring when they were out for a bit of floor time. Will hold back on carrots and just monitor weeing, need to find out which piggy it was then I can try putting on a towel to check
 
If it turns orange later then its probably down to food colourings in thier dried food. It can react with the oxygen and turn rusty orange as an iron compound oxidises after time. We had this with one lot of gerty guinea.

If its coming out orange then a trip to the vets is advisable as that could indicate a bacterial infection or blood in the wee.

To collect a wee sample to check give the piggies lots of water or wet veg then pop piggie in a clean plastic container (bowl) till they have done the job.
Syringe the wee up into a sterile sample bottle and store in the fridge till vets visit.
 
Saw them both wee today during floor time and the wee had no colour in at all. It must have been old wee I spotted that looked orange. Maybe it was oxidisation caused by colourings in their food, they ared fed a mix of Waggs and Wilkos guinea muesli. All seems OK though, it was just me panicking :))
 
Good news, just worth keeping an eye on things then by sound of it. They aren't making any noise when weeing or pooing are they?
 
sport_billy said:
Good news, just worth keeping an eye on things then by sound of it. They aren't making any noise when weeing or pooing are they?
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I will be monitoring their wee closely :(|) It did have me worried yesterday so was delighted to notice a difference today. They don't make a single sound, I only know they've done anything when they walk away and there's either a puddle or a small deposit left behind :))
 
Vitamin A and Carrotine can turn wee orange to orangey-brown. If your piggy gets fresh carrot, this could do it. Fresh carrots should be avoided for many reasons, this included, but they also contain high sugar levels and vitamin A.

Another fresh food that can dye wee is dandelion. This again should be fed sparingly but if your piggies have dandelion in their hay mix (Burgess Excel Herbage) this is ok and shouldn't be enough to turn wee orange.
 
mikulinek said:
Vitamin A and Carrotine can turn wee orange to orangey-brown. If your piggy gets fresh carrot, this could do it. Fresh carrots should be avoided for many reasons, this included, but they also contain high sugar levels and vitamin A.

Another fresh food that can dye wee is dandelion. This again should be fed sparingly but if your piggies have dandelion in their hay mix (Burgess Excel Herbage) this is ok and shouldn't be enough to turn wee orange.
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They had been given a load of fresh carrots, so maybe that's what it was. Haven't had any orange wee since and I've stopped giving them carrots.
 
That's probably the cause then :)

In which case there's nothing to worry about. There have been a lot of posts on the food section about the advantages and disadvantages of fresh carrots. In all honesty, I would stay away from them. They can have them as occasional treats (a small slice or two) but they shouldn't make up the bulk of their fresh food. They're extremely high in sugar and vit A and can cause health problems. A balanced fresh foo diet built around high vitamin C, low vit A and calcium/sugar greens like carrot tops, parsley etc. will help you have a much healthier animal.
 
mikulinek said:
That's probably the cause then :)

In which case there's nothing to worry about. There have been a lot of posts on the food section about the advantages and disadvantages of fresh carrots. In all honesty, I would stay away from them. They can have them as occasional treats (a small slice or two) but they shouldn't make up the bulk of their fresh food. They're extremely high in sugar and vit A and can cause health problems. A balanced fresh foo diet built around high vitamin C, low vit A and calcium/sugar greens like carrot tops, parsley etc. will help you have a much healthier animal.
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Thanks for the advice. Have stopped feeding carrots to them, and now use cabbage in place of carrots in with their veggies. They enjoy the cabbage more than carrots, but much prefer cucumber :))
 
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