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UTI? (photos attached)

Cooper & Chris Farley

Cooper & Chris Farley

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hey all, me again 🥴.
Just noticed one of my boys peed an odd color.. scared me and wanted to know if anyone thought it could be a UTI? I have been giving them some red pepper lately but I don’t recall either of them ever peeing this color in the past.. I have been giving each of them 1 mL of child life vitamin C to supplement and that is the only thing that has changed with their diet.. The photos make it look darker but it definitely looks red/pink on the paper towel..
Photos attached. Thanks again. Love this community & how helpful you’ve all been.
 

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Update: true red blood now. I’m so scared, crying like a baby. Taking him to vet in the morning.. Send all the love for my buddy.. Anyone have any advice what I can do until tomorrow morning?
 

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Update: true red blood now. I’m so scared, crying like a baby. Taking him to vet in the morning.. Send all the love for my buddy..
 
I'm sorry your piggie is giving you cause for concern, it's good that you're going to take him to the vet as soon as you're able.

I can't see very well as I'm on my phone, to tell if it is blood or not. Is it the consistency of blood? If it is blood, not porphyrine, if your piggie did a wee on kitchen paper, then the liquid would spread out leaving a ring of red - the patch wouldn't all be the same colour. You could try holding him on some paper until he produces a wee in order to check that.

Don't panic though - blood could be due to cystitis, which is painful but not life threatening and the vet would give you medicines for it. I would suggest that you weigh him in the morning before breakfast so that if he does have something wrong, you have a baseline to work out if he needs support feeding going forwards.

Sending healing vibes! 💓
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
I'm sorry your piggie is giving you cause for concern, it's good that you're going to take him to the vet as soon as you're able.

I can't see very well as I'm on my phone, to tell if it is blood or not. Is it the consistency of blood? If it is blood, not porphyrine, if your piggie did a wee on kitchen paper, then the liquid would spread out leaving a ring of red - the patch wouldn't all be the same colour. You could try holding him on some paper until he produces a wee in order to check that.

Don't panic though - blood could be due to cystitis, which is painful but not life threatening and the vet would give you medicines for it. I would suggest that you weigh him in the morning before breakfast so that if he does have something wrong, you have a baseline to work out if he needs support feeding going forwards.

Sending healing vibes! 💓
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Thanks so much for your response ❤️ It doesn’t appear to be the consistency of blood but it’s definitely bright blood red, which really alarmed me.. Have never seen that color come out of either of them.
 
:agr:
I hope you get on ok at the vet.

Do note it’s not recommended to routinely supplement with vitamin c. They get all they need from a healthy balanced diet and supplementing additional vitamin c above and beyond the diet can be detrimental (excess vit c is excreted out in the urine in any event, but long term supplementing above their needs can cause their body to become used to abnormally high amounts and can cause scurvy symptoms if that level then drops for any reason). It’s best to only give a short course (two weeks) of vitamin c to a poorly piggy whose immune system needs a boost during an illness
 
Freela said:
Try not to panic... UTIs happen and are treatable with antibiotics. Hopefully the vet can give you some guidance in the morning. ((HUGS.))
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Thank you so much 🥺 They’re just so little and fragile.. anytime anything happens I automatically panic. Thank you for your kindness.
 
Piggies&buns said:
:agr:
I hope you get on ok at the vet.

Do note it’s not recommended to routinely supplement with vitamin c. They get all they need from a healthy balanced diet and supplementing additional vitamin c above and beyond the diet can be detrimental (excess vit c is excreted out in the urine in any event, but long term supplementing above their needs can cause their body to become used to abnormally high amounts and can cause scurvy symptoms if that level then drops for any reason). It’s best to only give a short course (two weeks) of vitamin c to a poorly piggy whose immune system needs a boost during an illness
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Absolutely noted! thank you so much for the advice.. will definitely not supplement unless absolutely needed. Thankfully, it was only given for a couple of days. Vet wasn’t in today, so tomorrow they’ll be seen, thankfully. All love ❤️
 
Swissgreys said:
I hope you got to the vet and were able to get a diagnosis and some treatment for your boy.

Don't forget to update us - we are all here to support you. :hug:
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Thank you so much ❤️ Unfortunately, the exotics vet wasn’t in office today, so they’ll be seen tomorrow.. Will keep everyone posted. Thank you again for your love!
 
Hey everyone, thanks so much again for all the advice and love! Took both of my boys to vet today. They did blood work and an x-ray. My Cooper came out clean (as expected), but Chris’ x-ray revealed a small kidney stone 😢. Thankfully, he hasn’t passed any blood since my initial post and he didn’t pass any while at the vet.
So! First step is limiting any calcium in diet (no alfalfa hay, kale, spinach, etc.) and if it’s gets bigger I’ll take him for surgery.

If anyone has any more advice, please send it my way! I’m grateful the kidney stone is small and just praying it doesn’t get any bigger.. but wish it wasn’t there at all.

Thanks again, everyone ❤️ all love
 
***honestly, it’s looking like my boy will need it surgically removed eventually anyway.. does anyone have experience with kidney stones? not really wanting to wait to see when/if it grows, because I’m assuming the likelihood of it passing is well, not very likely. 😞 Just want to do what’s best for him.
 
I don’t have any experience of this but wanted to send you my support.
 
Is it a bladder stone or kidney stone?

What did your vet say about surgery?

Also make sure pellets are kept limited - one tablespoon per pig per day only - and that they are low calcium.
Also ensure drinking water is filtered.
However, diet changes take weeks to have an effect going forward but they will not have any effect on the stone already in existence.

Sometimes bladder stones can be passed but they must be incredibly small in boars to do so. Boars have an angle in their urethra which is where stones can get stuck and then that can become a serious situation.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Is it a bladder stone or kidney stone?

What did your vet say about surgery?

Also make sure pellets are kept limited - one tablespoon per pig per day only - and that they are low calcium.
Also ensure drinking water is filtered.
However, diet changes take weeks to have an effect going forward but they will not have any effect on the stone already in existence.

Sometimes bladder stones can be passed but they must be incredibly small in boars to do so. Boars have an angle in their urethra which is where stones can get stuck and then that can become a serious situation.
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Unfortunately, it is a kidney stone.. I’m pretty heart broken about it. Definitely explains why he drinks so much water.. Has since even before I adopted him. I have no idea if a kidney stone can even be passed..
The vet did recommend surgical removal and stated that the stone may or may not get bigger. I’m going to monitor him and have him x-rayed again in 2 months, HOWEVER, I will be reaching out to a couple of animal hospitals 3-4 hours away to see what they recommend, as they do surgery on piggies.. I do not want it to grow larger and would much rather have it removed than just monitor..
Thanks again.
 
I'm really sorry for this news - I hope things work out x

How old is Chris and has he lost any weight? This might give an idea of the effect the stone is currently having. I've seen threads where pigs have started to lose weight for no apparent reason but then a kidney stone has been identified - probably causing some degree of discomfort. The amount of weight lost over time can reflect how he feels - I don't know how these things work though. Maybe general low level discomfort or maybe periods of no trouble and then a flare-up. The other thing is there would be no way to know whether he's had this for months/years and it's just started to trouble him now! Did you get any pain meds in the meantime or does the vet want to see how he does without?

If you wanted to change the title of your thread to reflect the new diagnosis (eg. Kidney stone found - any experience of surgery? or something like that) the mods can do it. Post a request in the technical assistance section and this will flag it for any new viewers with experience of either kidney stones or kidney removal x
 
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