Piper Med Thread

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:18 pm


Does it appear to be pink urine, or actual blood? If it's actual blood, and you only see it for maybe a day, I'd bet on breakthrough bleeding during her heat cycle.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:15 pm


It's not pink urine, it's actual blood. I hope that's what it is. I've had her for several years and never noticed it before, and there is no way I'd miss it. Sometimes there is quite a bit of blood. Like I'm surprised to see her still standing and moving around because it looks like a crime scene. There is literally never a change in her though. If not for the blood, I'd think nothing was going on.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:27 pm


Not rereading but you have had her checked for pyometra? (an infection of the uterus)

You also examined her to try to confirm the blood was from the genital area and not, for example, a torn toenail? They can really bleed.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:19 pm


Maybe cystitis? I think it was our Gracie who had cystitis & repeated blood in the urine but no bacteria. Grace had ongoing stone problems and on top of that was eventually was diagnosed with inflamed bladder. We got a product called Cystease on the internet from England and it seemed to help. Once she passed a long string of blood clots. Definitely bloody.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:38 am


When she was at the vet in January, they were able to express some bloody urine with some brown sludgy stuff. The vet wasn't 100% sure what it was. Stone didn't show up on x-ray. That's why they did the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory to see if that would clear it up. It did. There were several days of blood that time, but it cleared up. Then in June, there was the blood a few days before I went on vacation. She stayed at the vets during my vacation. I think she only had blood two days that time. Then this time she had blood only that morning in her cage when I woke up, but the rest of the day her urine was normal. I started her on the antibiotic that evening, but she had already stopped bleeding at that point. It's a week later, and there still is no blood.

I'm not sure if they checked her for pyometra. How would they check that? I'll ask about cystitis. How would they check for that? I think she had a small amount of bacteria in her urine the first time when they tested her, but I don't think it was high enough she thought that was the main cause.

The biggest frustration is Iowa State University, where I always took my emergency or odd cases, no longer has an exotics vet. And, so they won't see exotics anymore. The vet I have is fairly cavy savvy, but all the vets are limited the their equipment, and with ISU no longer seeing exotics I don't think the specialists up there are either.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:43 am


Continue to keep a detailed log of any blood you see that you can positively tie to her, along with a detailed description including quantity.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:55 am


I think cystitis is a diagnosis made by ruling out other things.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Sun Aug 29, 2021 10:52 pm


I went away for the weekend yesterday morning and got back home tonight. There is a spot of blood in her cage. I’m going to see if it resolves on its own and I’ll give her a few days. Cross your fingers.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Fri Sep 03, 2021 12:49 pm


We are now several days later, and I'm probably jinxing myself here but we have not had any more blood since that one spot. Maybe it is hormonal after all. Next time I will see if it resolves itself again. I just wanted to provide an update in case anyone else is experiencing similar symptoms.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Sep 03, 2021 8:02 pm


Thanks for the update. Record keeping is what it's about! The record keeping should give you a good picture of the issue.

My guinea pig that periodically spotted blood was not completely regular.

ClemmyOddieIndy

Post   » Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:59 pm


Just to continue to keep track. This morning there was a spot of blood in the cage. No behavior changes.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Nov 21, 2021 11:04 pm


It's nice to have a go-to topic to add this info to! Always seemed something of a mystery to me (the occasional bleeding), especially when stones or a UTI were ruled out. We speculate about it being reproductive.

Post Reply