4 year old female is squeaking when urinating

kailaeve1271

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 10:50 am


“Fixed” meaning spayed. Unable to have babies due to a special surgery. Sludge is usually referred to a large calcium dopsit that is thick. It should be a major red flag that your guinea pig may have too much calcium in their diet and may be at risk for bladder stones.

I refers to Pyometra alone instead of grouping it with infections to point out it could be in the reproductive system or in the urinary system

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 10:52 am


It's not just calcium in the diet that causes it. Some pigs are prone to sludge/stones no matter how little calcium they get, while others will never have it even with a diet high in calcium. It's an individual pig thing, although lowering dietary calcium may help in some pigs.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 10:58 am


Thanks bpatters! I Learn something new every time I’m on here! Just to make sure, they are still red flags/a sign of concern for the pigs, right?

lils29

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 11:18 am


Hey Martin

I have been going through the same issues myself with our 4 year old Lola. What anti biotic are you using? Lola was provided with baytril multiple times and the infection kept coming back straight away and made her very sick. We found an exotic pet specialist and tried septrin and she didnt have any infection for 4 months after one course. Lola had one or two more since then and was put on further anti biotics and meloxidyl ( anti inflammatory/ pain killer) here in Ireland, She also had a urinalysis done and xray which both found her to be fine.Like your piggy mine was quite heavy and turned out she was diabetic which highers the risk of getting UTIs. Lola has been put on Glipizide for her diabetes and We removed all pellets and feed her solely on Timothy hay and fresh veg and she has now gone from 1.33KG to 1.08KG. In the past 2 months she would squeak slightly when urinating but not constantly so my vet has put her on Cystaid and meloxidyl only for when she makes a noise because she didnt want her on anti biotics all of the time and since then we have been ok! The cystaid seems to have worked wonders for her and she loves the taste! I have also made sure her fur is trimmed now and also daily i give a wipe around her private area to make sure its not dirty!

Its a really long , frustrating and expensive process but i hope something works for you :)

duskern

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 4:43 pm


She is not spayed. We are currently not using any antibiotics. It's a weird history for her, but long story short, the vet couldn't not really figure anything out and they didn't find any bacteria in her urin the last time they checked. They were not even sure her squeaking was due to pain. They also did x-rays that didn't show anything. She has had minor infections a couple of times that have been treated with Baytril though, but it's a while back. For a long period of time the squeaking have only been periodic, but now it has become more frequent.

From what I know, she has not been ill for a long time. It's always the same thing with her. An example could be her eating pellets or hay and suddenly she will start squeaking. When she's done peeing or making a poop, which is normally withing 5-20 seconds, she will stop squeaking and continue eating like nothing has happened. Like I wrote in my initial post, she seems healty. Have nice fur. Talks when we pet her and eats everything we give her.

We have three girls living together and they are all given the same food. Their diet consists of the following:
  • 35g of "Cavia Complete" every morning and evening.
  • hay morning, afternoon, and several times during the evening. Then a larger amount for the night. If we are at home they will just get smaller amounts, but more often.
  • cucumber twice during the afternoon with 1.5 hours in between (1 cm execept Abigail who gets 3 cm).
  • 3 cm of celery after the cucumber.
  • carrots, brocoli or beetroot every evening.
Do you think I should change anything in their diet?

duskern

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 4:56 pm


Also another minor thing. How do I recognize sludge? I have to have a talk with my vet during their phone time, so I need a list of stuff to ask about. So like kailaeve1271 wrote earlier, would this cover it?
  • sludge
  • stones
  • infections
  • Pyometra
  • Interstitial Cystitis

kailaeve1271

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 6:14 pm


This is an image of bladder sludge produced by a guinea pig:

https://sites.create-cdn.net/siteimages ... 976039.jpg

I personally think it resembles a very thick calcium deposit.
This is an image of a calcium deposit:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/at ... 54&thumb=1

Sludge = Thick
Deposit = Sandy

Deposits are normal in small amounts. Sludge, on the other hand, is not normal in most pigs. (At least the ones I've had).


As for your diet, I don't measure mine the same way you do so it's a little confusing but, keep in mind: Hay should be unlimited. It is necessary in their diet to have constant access to hay. Celery has a choking hazard if not cut properly. Celery and cucumber both are very high in water content. Some people have overfed this and found their pig has runny poos. Brocolli is known to cause gas (gas can cause bloat). Carrots should be fed in small amounts because it is full of sugar and actually has little nutritional value. Beetroot contains a LOT of calcium. It should really only be fed once or twice a week. Also, everyone I've met has recommended feeding leafy greens to a guinea pig. Guinea pigs should be fed 1 cup of veggies per day. As for the pellets I never tried them myself, but I've been told they aren't very good.

If you decide to change your diet, I have my guinea pigs on a low calcium diet to prevent stones, sludge, and other urinary problems. You don't necessarily need to feed them this exact thing, but I always find it helpful to see an example:

Each pig gets this every night-
2 leaves of Red or Green Leaf Lettuce (If it is really big the get one ripped in half
2 Slices (about half a centimeter wide each) of Green Bell Pepper
2 thin slices of cucumber
Half a Cherry Tomato

They also get dehydrated carrots, apples, or pear slices twice per week as a treat.

The pellets they get are Sherwood Guinea Pig Pellets (THESE ARE AMAZING, but hard to get ahold of). I also highly recommend Oxbow Essentials Guinea Pig Pellets and KMS Hayloft guinea pig pellets. They only get enough to hide the bottom of their bowl (the bowl is technically made for a hamster. Think small handful).

And they get Unlimited Orchard Grass Hay and Timothy Hay.

Hope this helps!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue May 01, 2018 11:06 pm


You need to start using this site first! The link you gave to a bladder sludge picture is Tracis' photo that she gave permission to use here!
https://www.guinealynx.info/normal.html#urine

It is really irritating to find members' photos being used without the permission of the photographer on random sites (not likely they got permission from the photographer).

And please do NOT push the false information that carrots are high in sugar! See: chart.html for a comparison.

duskern

Post   » Wed May 02, 2018 5:14 am


So should I stop feeding my pigs beetroot? I couldn't find it on the nutrition chart though. Regarding the celery, what is this choking hazard you are refering to? We normally only give the girls brocoli once a week.

Are the Cavia Complete pellets we use really that bad? I had them recommended by someone a while back. The pigs really like them, but I have to figure out if we should change.

I would really like to give my girls a good healthy diet. I actually thought we did. It seems a bit overwhelming.

I usually give them a pea flake and a parsley pellet for a snack every night. Is this ok?

kailaeve1271

Post   » Wed May 02, 2018 8:01 am


Sorry, Lynx! I didn’t realize I had to use photos from the site I was just using what I could get to actually load. I’ll keep that in mind for the future. I was also told on THIS site that I shouldn’t give a lot of carrot so I was just going off of what I was informed. I’ll keep all of this in mind for the future! Also I did have permission from those other sites they were both on different forums? I asked there, but they may have taken what they found on the internet. Sorry everyone! Should have done a little more research on the photos
Last edited by kailaeve1271 on Wed May 02, 2018 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Wed May 02, 2018 8:11 am


Beetroot should be cut down to about twice a week at most is what I’m told. Celery has long strings that are known to get caught on your pigs teeth and have a choking hazard so if you do feed them cut them into thin slices. I’ve always been pea flakes are a piggy favorite and my pugs love parsley, I’m pretty sure both go in moderation. I found something on the pellets, but please allow me a moment to clear with Lynx that it is okay to posts since I seem to be breaking rules :( Completely by accident though guys. I’m sorry

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed May 02, 2018 8:38 am


Yes, you are right that you should not give a lot of carrot. My complaint was when you said it was high in sugar. This is a myth that has bee kicking around for a while. I don't know much about beetroot.

I don't mind if you reference Guinea Pig Cages. They are great. But I wanted to know where you got Tracis' photo from because it appears it was stolen from this site. If you instead referenced her photo here, you would not be supporting someone who takes photos without getting Tracis' permission.

Post Reply