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Wet Bottoms

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PipandPop

PipandPop

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hiya all,

I've noticed recently that sometimes when I get Poppy out for a cuddle she has a wet patch on her bum, and having sniffed it (not something I do very often - sniffing piggy bums) it smells like wee. I wondered why this has happened, as I changed their bedding yesterday and they had been on it less than 24 hours. I'd say it has happened 4 or 5 times in about as many months, so it's not very often, but can anyone suggest a reason, or does she just sit in her own wee? The bedding is very absorbent. Also, is there anything I can do to clean her up/will there be any bad effects if this happens again?

Thanks!
 
It can be because she is sitting in her own pee; has she been drinking more lately? Perhaps you might like to keep an eye on her daily water intake to see whether it has something to with that.

If it was UTI, you would notice a very strong stale smell in the room and lots of frequent pees in the acute phase, so I don't think that you are dealing with that. Some piggies start with a high volume of smelly pees and others with bloody/painful pees.

You can give her a little gentle "bum wash" in the affected area.
 
One of my guinea pigs, Milly, occasionally gets a wet bum. I mentioned it to the vet recently, who gave her a thorough check-over in the waterworks department, and she is fine. I have noticed that if Milly eats a dandelion, (which of course are a diuretic) she usually gets a wet bum, so now I avoid giving her those, although sometimes it still happens. What I do is get a bowl of warm, slightly soapy water, hold it between my knees, and hold Milly with my left arm, with her behind over the bowl, and with a large piece of cottonwool I just give a her a good clean up, then dry her off with a towel. She doesn't like it very much (can't say I blame her!), but then she is nice and clean again, after all, it can't be very nice to have a wet bottom! It's important to dry the piggie off thoroughly before putting them back in their cage.
 
She doesn't drink a lot normally and she hasn't started drinking any more recently, i'm wondering if it's just because she's a bit of a dirty pig that doesn't mind getting all smelly. I will try next time washing her bum in warm water just to get rid of the smell and bad stuff in the wee. Thanks everyone :)
 
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