White Creamy Discharge

[Steveyt]

Hey guys

Slightly concernered and looking for some advice.

I've got two guinea pigs, one boar and one sow. The sow is roughly about 15 to 18 months year old. This morning when I popped in to see them I noticed a white creamy discharge come from the sows genital area and the boar went over to investigate it.

The sow seems totally fine and her normal self. Wheeking for breakfast and zooming around the cage and popcorning.

I've google this but as normal there is a lot of conflicting information.

Their diet consists of constant supply of dry pellets for Guinea's and a constant supply of hay. They then get romain lettuce for breakfast with bell peppers.

For dinner they get the lettuce again with bell pepper and maybe a bit of cucumber. We do pop the odd bit of other vegie in there from time to time but they never eat it. Romain lettuce is defiantly their favourite

Anyway, I'm hoping its just normal but I am slightly concerned

Any ideas?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Is the discharge watery or gelatinous?

The gelatinous discharge is connected with a sow's reproductive cycle and is usually a rare one-off, but it needs investigating it there is a repeat.

Guinea pigs excrete any excess calcium via the urinary tract. This manifests as milky pee and dries as a powdery patch. This is a perfectly normal process and nothing to worry about.
In my own observation, it can occasionally happen that just before or at the onset of a UTI or a cystitis a piggy is making a few calcium pees as the volume of urine is increasing and washing out some of the debris that has collected in the bladder; this is more typical for guinea pigs that are not good drinkers and therefore not good flushers of their bladder. I would recommend to keep an eye out in the next few days whether there is a UTI or cystitis brewing and see a vet if and when that is the case.

Please be aware that most pellets are rather rich in calcium and that there is quite a lot of calcium in the water if you happen to be supplied with mineral and calcium rich water. We generally recommend to limit the pellets in adult guinea pigs to half to a handful (ca. 10-20g) per piggy per day.
Some guinea pigs can be very picky in what they or not. It is takes patience and persistence to introduce new veg, a bit like getting children to eat their greens.
In terms of diet, you may find these two threads here helpful:
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...or-a-balanced-general-guinea-pig-diet.116460/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...veg-and-fruit-list-with-vitamin-c-grading.42/