UTI or kidney disease or other

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alex117

Post   » Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:06 pm


Hi all,

I hope it’s ok that I’ve joined to ask for some advice.

I have a 1.5 year old female guinea pig, her name is Milktea. So let me first tell you her current situation, she is eating normally, drinking normally (she has a higher water intake than other guinea pig since she joined the herd), very responsive and her weight is super stable and show no sign of trending down (in fact she is gaining weight for the past 3 months). However, one thing that bothers me last week was that she made some soft wheeks when she pee (it is hard to heard that when she is living with 4 other guinea pigs and some of them wheeks 24/7 :D). So I took her to vet last week, did a x-ray, no stone, no tumor. Vet also said her lung and heart looks normal but she did see a very diluted pink wee, we sent the data to the lab and i just got the report back, here is the result:

Urinalysis
Collection Method Urine, Free-Catch
Color: Pale Red
Appearance: Cloudy
Urine pH: >=9.0
Sp Gravity: 1.010
Protein: 30 mg/dL
Glucose: Negative
Ketone: Negative
Bili: Negative
Blood: Large
Hyal Cast: None Seen
Gran Cast: None Seen
Bacteria: None Seen
Mucus: None Seen
WBC: 0-4
RBC: 5-10
Epith: None Seen
Crystal Type: Amorphous Phosph
Crystal Amount: Many
Comment Less than 5 mL of urine received. Interpret results accordingly. Small amount of fat droplets present.

A bit of back story, around 3-4 months ago, I did observed her to pee a pale pink urine back then and one time i did saw a very very tiny half-solid red stuff in the bedding (it may be a bladder stone), and other than that, everything seems normal to me (back at June she weighted at around 930g, she now weighted at 990 - 1010g (i measure her body 3 times a day and her weight is super stable right now).

The vet said since it is a very small amount of sample, bacteria may not be able to observe, so she is going to give milktea some antibiotic for 2 weeks first. She also mentioned that urinary crystals can sometimes be associated with infection, but are also very common in guinea pigs and don't always indicate a problem or require treatment. The fact that Milktea has some blood in her urine however means that her bladder is inflamed, so treatment for an infection is the first thing to try. Occasionally she also see urinary problems in a guinea pig with kidney disease. This can be harder to diagnose since it requires a blood draw, which is very difficult on guinea pigs and generally requires sedation.

I tried to look up on internet but i am not able to find information about guinea pig kidney disease, is there anyone in the group who has/had such experience, how does those symptom looks like (both UTI and kidney disease)? How kidney disease deteriorates the pig (assume she actually have it, she should have this for more than 3-4 month without any medication)?

Thanks in advance
Alex

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:17 pm


What antibiotic were you prescribed? I don't know if the links here would be helpful regarding kidney but perhaps:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... p?f=3&t=97

Blood in urine can also be due to interstitial cystits:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... p?f=3&t=21

It looks like you are very thorough and try to research issues that crop up.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:57 pm


It would be a little uncommon for a guinea pig that young to have kidney disease. What is her diet?

alex117

Post   » Tue Nov 03, 2020 1:53 pm


@Lynx i am going to pick up her antibiotic today, so i will update you shortly :)

alex117

Post   » Tue Nov 03, 2020 2:03 pm


@Sef, I have a total of 6 guinea pigs (all female). And their diet is the following:

the veggie's weight is measured after washed (so the water in the green will affect the weight as well)

Hay: unlimited

Pellet: 3 cup

Green:
Morning: 6 leaf of romaine lettuce (around 120g)
2 hours afterward: 1 baby carrot for each (around 10g)
2-3 hours afterward (afternoon): the rest of the lettuce (around 120g)
3 hours afterward (3pm): 0.75 pepper
2 hours afterward (5pm): 55g of cilantro (not all the time)
2 hours later (7pm): 0.25 pepper + 4 leaf of romaine lettuce (around 70g)
3 hours later (10 pm): 4 leaf of romaine lettuce (around 70g)
3 hours later (1 am): the rest of the lettuce (100g)

they usually share the green, however i usually measure some pigs before giving their green, and depends on their weight drop and gain, i will tune their diet accordingly (meaning that they will be isolated and have an fewer/more amount of green)

More information, their weight chart:
Nov: https://ibb.co/stHmDjL
Oct: https://ibb.co/w439qSC

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Tue Nov 03, 2020 7:37 pm


I ask because certain things in the diet *can* cause calcium deposits and/or urinary tract irritation in some pigs. Romaine lettuce is one of those foods. I had one male a few years ago who cried and passed a little blood any time I fed him romaine (took me a while to notice a pattern and eliminate the food). It might be worth switching to a different lettuce, such as green leaf, to see if it makes a difference.

Cilantro is also fairly high in calcium. That may not be the problem here, but again---might be worth adjusting diet to see if it helps.

What brand of pellets are you using?

alex117

Post   » Wed Nov 04, 2020 1:49 pm


@sef oxbow pellets

and let me switch to green leaf then :)

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Nov 04, 2020 2:34 pm


Three cups of pellets per day for six guinea pigs is WAY too many pellets. A more reasonable amount for adult GP's is 1/8 cup per pig per day.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Nov 04, 2020 8:42 pm


I didn't catch that when I read through the first time. Agree, that is a lot of pellets.

I'm also a little curious as to why you're weighing all of them so much throughout the day.

alex117

Post   » Fri Nov 06, 2020 9:22 pm


let me adjust their pellet. (to be honest, they don't eat those pellets, I just placed three cups of pellet in the cage, and I refill it occasionally).

GRE had pneumonia and a GI stasis awhile ago, so I weigh her quite a lot to make sure she is doing alright. Also, I am trying to collect a large dataset of weight movement and code an algorithm to predict their weight trend and spot of some deviation.

And actually, it works quite well on GRE, last week, I was able to notice her weight trending down throughout the day time, and when I switch to another hay brand (i was using SPS hay before, and I didn't know oxbow hay has a way better quality until I talk to a rescuer), her weight bumps up next day :)

they don't really get stressed out, they know they get some reward after getting picked up, so I never have to catch them, most of them just stand still and let me pick them up.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Nov 06, 2020 9:57 pm


If the pellets are sitting out for hours or even days, the vitamin C is likely becoming degraded. I really would recommend reducing the pellets as suggested.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Nov 06, 2020 11:03 pm


You're not recording weight loss if you're weighing multiple times per day. You're weighing the intake and loss of food and liquids, and there's no way of knowing which it is. Unless a guinea pig is really ill, they just don't lose that quickly. You'll get a much better idea of gains and losses by weighing first thing in the morning before breakfast, and tracking the weights over time.

Oxbow is not necessarily better hay than SPS. Both have very good quality hay, but the quality of any hay is very dependent on the growing conditions. Neither Oxbow nor SPS grows their own hay -- they buy from farmers, and the hay can vary quite a lot in quality from one area to another. For instance, hay grown in the northwest U.S., which is ordinarily a good hay growing area, is terrible this year because of the drought and the fires.

I stand by my recommendation of 1/8 cup of pellets per adult pig per day. Pellets are relatively high in calcium, and you may be risking the possibility of bladder stones by free-feeding pellets.

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