Wet Dirty Bottom No Diarrhoea

[Suki&Indie]

Hi all! Totally confused so hoping someone will be able to help me out.
Today I woke up and found my 4yr old female piggy with an absolutely soaking wet bottom that was quite a dirty brown. She has a white coat so it was very noticeable. I immediately thought it was diarrhoea but found none in the cage and then she pooped in front of me and it was quite normal (a bit pointy but totally solid)
She has quite long hair so sometimes she gets a bit of pee on her but it’s yellow and not to this extent so I have no idea what’s happened. What’s really weird is her back end doesn’t even smell strongly of pee!
She’s also eating and acting quite normal.
She is booked to go to the vet but in the meantime if anyone has any idea please let me know!
Added some photos which aren’t the best sorry! I clipped off quite a bit of the hair too

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all! Totally confused so hoping someone will be able to help me out.
Today I woke up and found my 4yr old female piggy with an absolutely soaking wet bottom that was quite a dirty brown. She has a white coat so it was very noticeable. I immediately thought it was diarrhoea but found none in the cage and then she pooped in front of me and it was quite normal (a bit pointy but totally solid)
She has quite long hair so sometimes she gets a bit of pee on her but it’s yellow and not to this extent so I have no idea what’s happened. What’s really weird is her back end doesn’t even smell strongly of pee!
She’s also eating and acting quite normal.
She is booked to go to the vet but in the meantime if anyone has any idea please let me know!
Added some photos which aren’t the best sorry! I clipped off quite a bit of the hair too

Hi

Please have your piggy vet checked for either a urine infection or cystititis, kidney problems or an infection in the reproductive tract or arthritis (causing her not to move around as much, sitting in her pee more and not being able to clean her bum properly). The strongly smelling pee you mention is likely dried old pee and not necessarily fresh pee. Please also be aware that infections in the urinary can take several days to get fully going; until then it is a bit stop and go.

I would recommend that you switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time in the feeding cycle since you cannot check the hay intake by eye, which makes over three quarters of what a piggy should eat in a day. The poo output is always running 1-2 days behind because that is how long it takes to digest any food.

All the best.

 

[Suki&Indie]

Hi

Please have your piggy vet checked for either a urine infection or cystititis, kidney problems or an infection in the reproductive tract or arthritis (causing her not to move around as much, sitting in her pee more and not being able to clean her bum properly). The strongly smelling pee you mention is likely dried old pee and not necessarily fresh pee. Please also be aware that infections in the urinary can take several days to get fully going; until then it is a bit stop and go.

I would recommend that you switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time in the feeding cycle since you cannot check the hay intake by eye, which makes over three quarters of what a piggy should eat in a day. The poo output is always running 1-2 days behind because that is how long it takes to digest any food.

All the best.

Hi there! Sorry for taking a while to respond. She’s been to the vet and tested for everyone you mentioned and the vet found nothing wrong. She was given painkiller, antibiotic and fluids.
However today we noticed she’s almost constantly dripping (what I assume is) pee (I collected some and I’ll attach the photo)
She’s eating and drinking and very happy but I’m scared for her as it seems to be a total mystery. She’s heading back into the vet and I think I should request an x ray or ultrasound. Have you ever heard of this issue before?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there! Sorry for taking a while to respond. She’s been to the vet and tested for everyone you mentioned and the vet found nothing wrong. She was given painkiller, antibiotic and fluids.
However today we noticed she’s almost constantly dripping (what I assume is) pee (I collected some and I’ll attach the photo)
She’s eating and drinking and very happy but I’m scared for her as it seems to be a total mystery. She’s heading back into the vet and I think I should request an x ray or ultrasound. Have you ever heard of this issue before?

Hi

Milky pee is the natural way of the body to excrete excess calcium. It dries to a soft white powdery patch on any surface. In itself and unless you see lots of pees or patches on a nearly daily basis, calcium pees are nothing to worry about.

Are you weighing your girls weekly to keep an eye on their weight and food intake? Keep in mind that hay/grass make over three quarters of what a guinea pig eats in a day and that you cannot control hay intake just by eye.
If you have health concerns, regular weighing on your kitchen scales is one of your most important monitoring tools. We speak about weight loss from around 50g onwards.

All about weight and weighing: Weight - Monitoring and Management