Urinalysis increased bilirubin / protein

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Delaine
Supporter in '14

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:45 pm


What did your vet say about the high bilirubin result?

I have to be careful because I always get into trouble when I start messing with my girls' diet. I would be weary of adding too many supplements to the diet and if you do try only one thing at a time. If you make more than one change you won't know what did good and what did harm.

My vet and I have talked about diet more than once and she says "Keep it simple, consistent, and focus on the hay." Her thoughts are guinea pigs don't do well with too many dietary changes.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:02 pm


hi Delaine, in first post I wrote word for word what our dr said, that the elevated bilirubin is seen in guinea pigs and not a problem at this point anyway. and re diet, as mentioned we keep balance with few changes at once, but have lowered the number of calcium-rich foods, and those with oxalate as well (though bpatters mentions oxalate may not be so much a concern). increased water foods (like melon, lettuce, cuke) for filtering organs, and they have always chosen what they want out of the pile, they seem to know what they need and leave the rest behind. they are served fresh hay upwards of 15-20 times a day, and they do love their hays (we have three, timothy as primary ordered from KMS Hayloft, and bluegrass (KMS Hayloft) and Timothy Hay (Sweet Meadow) as secondaries. we focus on hay for the fiber for intestinal health and for keeping teeth filed down (we've had malocclusion in two of our boys, one who was older and one who we adopted with the problem, so we are particularly keen on hay consumption).

I think what we are going to do is get urine test strips from a reputable company and test our other boys as well as our boy we are concerned about, in order to compare. If there is elevated bilirubin again in him or any of them, I would want to figure out the cause. It might be necessary to run bloods (check wbc's to be sure not an infection, verify the serum bilirubin, etc). It's important to me to keep them from unnecessary stress, and also important to try to mitigate a problem as early as possible to prevent worsening health. So am really focused on the nutritional affects on liver right now so that we might be able to think preventatively.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:14 pm


on a side note, while on topic of stones, one of my clients had xrays/ultrasound to confirm large and small stones in her girl and is scheduled for surgery this week to remove them. is there anyone who performs an ultrasonic breaking of the stones in order for them to be able to be moved through urethra more easily, to make for a less invasive surgery? EDIT: for her guinea pig

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:31 pm


From what I understand, it cannot be done in guinea pigs due to the heat generated when they would be broken up.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:37 pm


Ditto Lynx. As far as I have heard, that technique cannot be used (yet, anyway) in guinea pigs.

Liver support: silymarin or milk thistle:

viewtopic.php?p=902279#902279

From Carpenter's 4e: 4-15 mg/kg by mouth every 8 to 12 hours.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:56 pm


Okay, thanks for that information, Lynx. I hope it, or something similar that is safer, will become possible.

Thanks for this info on milk thistle, Talishan. I will read up...

Talishan
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Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:08 pm


They will sometimes grunt or squeal when bending to retrieve a cecotrope, too. The key to that is the "dive" they do at the end. If I see the "dive" and don't hear or see evidence of discomfort when peeing or pooping otherwise, I'm less worried.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:23 pm


I'll watch for this, Talishan. It's a deep and somewhat muted loud sound, it sounds like pain, but other indications are not there that might be with pain (hunched, teeth chattering...). it could be that the pain is more transient? i rush to get there to see him and what may be going on when i hear him, and cannot confirm (could be as he's passing a stool, but they are not ever dry, and even this possibility i haven't been able to pinpoint as cannot tell how recent stool near him is). have never had anyone make this sound before. We may try simethicone to see if it could be gas-related and the grunts decrease, maybe a longshot, but trying to think of any possibility. he is definitely motivated to eat (he's now 1110g, up from 1050g on 6/4/14).

Talishan
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Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:39 pm


If you could get a video of him (big if, but still), it'd be real helpful.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:01 am


Talishan, I've actually done that with our adopted boy who was showing certain behaviour that I needed our vet to see, when he wasn't doing it in the office. For our boy who grunts randomly, it is so very random, and he spends most of his time in his igloo to be able to get a clear action on video (he feels less bothered by the other boys by camping out under his igloo as the other two can get a bit bossy). I was thinking of setting up a situation with tunnels, additional canopies and other hidey spots to see if he would spend less time under his igloo. Maybe then I could be able to get a clearer view of what he is doing when he grunts (if I can get there in time to see what he is doing).

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:48 pm


It's worth a try. He'll enjoy it very much if nothing else.

We have a lot of hides for ours (all the time) and they enjoy it.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:06 pm


It just occurred to me, I had used Novalsan a week ago to clean the floor that our boys use. I don't usually use this solution, typically something quite mild, but I had done this while the boys were outside enjoying fresh air and waited for the floor to dry before bringing them in. Also, as extra precaution, I had lined the floor with newspaper and then on top of these baby blankets, so that they would not touch the floor. I don't think that this could be enough to cause changes to urine or liver function (and the one who visits that side of the room the least is our boy who we are concerned about, the others spend alot of time there and act fine). Just wanted to mention still.

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