Pissy and potentially ill guinea pig(s)

[GeorgianMumto5]

Help! I have two lovely male guinea pigs. I don't know the exact age of either as both were adopted but Pig 1 would be about 3 or 4 and Pig 2 is not yet 1. Although they are not siblings and were acquired at different times they get on very well. They ahve never fought and seem to enjoy each other's company. Prior to Pig 2 we had Pig 1's brother (let's call him Pig 1.5). He eventually started to wee a lot and it STANK! My house smelled like the gents. He then lost weight but remained happy. A few days before he died he became lethargic and handed over his Alpha-pig crown. Pigs 1 and 1.5 are/were Himalayan. Pig 2 is an abbyssinian in tortoiseshell colour.

Now I'm worried because one of the others is drinking a lot (bottle gets emptied every 1-2 days) and weeing a lot. They both seem happy and active but I am concerned that whichever one it is will go the way of Pig 1.5.

They live indoors at the moment. Once the weather gets realiably warm they will be on the grass/in a shed at night. They eat twice a day - dry food and salad. The following appear frequently in their diet: carrot, celery, cucumber, broccoli (stems for Pig 2 and florets for Pig 1 - they are picky!). Less often they have sweet romaine lettuce or some leaves from a salad bag, pieces of apple and the occasional blueberry or raspberry (these are rare treats). They have dandelion when it grows in the garden. They have parsley as a very occasional treat.

I give them a full clean out once a week and clean all the patches as needed in between. At the moment I am cleaning the 'pissy patches' every day. They live on woodshavings and meadow hay as bedding. I tried Pig 1 on fleece when he was alone for a short while but found it exaecerbated my allergies and I do not trust Pig 2 not to eat it!

Both pigs seem happy and healthy but I'm sure all this drinking and weeing can't be right. They get plenty of liquid from their diet so it's not like they are otherwise dehydrated. I bought them a new water bottle, in case the other was just leaking but the same pattern has continued and they really stink of wee.

Help! Can I do anything to save them? I suspect it is Pig 1 but can't be sure.

Smelly wee is a possible sign of cystitus.

KRITIQS GP (male) had it, she put a post on "GP food list thread" recently, there are some foods that will aggrevate them.

Can you try taking away the woodshavings? They have an irritant in them- anything is worth a try.

Was the pig who dies 3-4 yo? It's a decent but not "Old Age" age for GPs, maybe he was just more prone to kidney/bladder problems.

My boars don't drink at all- they have a bowl changed daily but none of it goes. They do pee plenty but it smells normal GP.Mine have had fleece but they've never bothered to eat it !

Might be worth a vet visit if your older boar has changed his drinking habits drastically.

Oh for your Guinea Boy.

70isalimitNotaTarget, thank you. I'll check out the list. I'm reluctant to put them on fleece as brushing the hair off it really set off my itching. It could be that Pig 1.5 (they do have real names, honest, but they are quite distinctive and I'm worried I'll 'out' myself) was prone to bladder probs and so 3-ish was a good age for him. Perhaps it was a genetic fault which his brother shares. I guess I'm just used to my 5,6,7 year old piggies. I hope not thoughm because then I'll be a hutch mate down and have to scout about for a suitable hutch mate for Pig 2 - not easy with boys! Plus these two are such good friends that I think Pig 2 will be really sad. I swear Pig 1 was depressed after Pig 1.5 died. He didn't really cheer up until we got Pig 2. :(

I may take Pig 1 to the vets. I haven't taken a piggy for a very long time as it seemed to be the case that vets knew lots about cats and dogs and not so much about piggies. However, this may be a case where I just need to.

You need to phone round the vets to find a rodent savvy vet (I took 2 of my pigs to the vet when I was a child.One had stress related eczema due his 'wifey' attacking him. One was an elderly lady, last of 4 sows who had to have her teeth trimmed). But thankfully, I've had no dealings with vets since our cat. I don't know how much faith I'd put in cat/dog vets with my boys.

It might be that your pig would need antibiotics and a change of some of his diet.
Do you give them Vit C ? Alot of rodentologists recommend it, but I've never done so personally . (Mine don't drink water anyway)

Try CambridgeCavy for advice. It's a yearly fee, but that covers your guinea-pig family and they are highly recommended.

(I dread the thought of when one of my boys goes.Mine are 1 yo brothers and really dependant. Though they'd never admit it)

Oh, bless your boys! Isn't it sweet how well they get on? It's one of the many reasons I love piggies so.

Ah, I've heard of Cambridge Cavy. I'll look them up - thanks. I'll also phone round the local vets but I suspect they'll all just say, 'Yes, we do guineas!'

Hiya,

Sorry to hear about your boar passing away and that you're concerned about your piggies now. CCT can let you know if there is a rodentologist in your area and/or hopefully a vet who knows something about guinea pigs.

As an alternative to fleece, perhaps you could just have hay on top of newspapers. CCT definitely do not recommend woodshavings due to the chemicals in them. There are other new products on the market that might also do a good job of absorbing the urine (and the odour) without the irritants.

If wee is smelly when fresh, it probably means there is a problem - be it in human or beast! So, it might need a short course of antibiotics to sort it out. Septrin paediatric suspension at 0.5 ml twice daily was what Griff was on recently (up to 1 ml twice daily can be given for severe or stubborn infections.) They may want to take a urine culture to find out what the bug is first though, and that usually requires a general anaesthetic to insert a needle into the bladder or catheterise the piggie. If the pig isn't in a great condition, the anaesthetic itself could be riskier than trying Septrin as a first course of action, then if that doesn't work, maybe a different antibiotic like Baytril.

CCT will be able to advise - I think you need to be a member first but it's not that expensive. Best of luck!

You could really do with getting a wee sample. If you suspect older Gp, feed him cucumber and run around the kitchen floor until he has a call of nature. Then all you need do is syringe it up and squirt it in a sample pot you can get from the chemist. If its smelly you've got the right pig. The vet can test for infection and check for calcium deposits and I expect sugar levels.

As a matter of interest. What dry feed are you using and how much a day? If you don't mind me asking.

Vedra at the Cambridge Cavy Trust told me a while back that it is good for pigs to drink water. Be careful the water should be changed every day not every 1-2 days as bacteria build up. Also clean out the water bottle with a bottle brush just for your GPs.

There is a fabulous GP savvy vet in Hertfordshire and a good one in Kent....

you can shove a GP in the direction of the water but you can't make it drink!

I give mine fresh water daily that I make sure isn't too chilled. But I've never seen them near it.And the water level doesn't change.

Maybe in the hot weather they'll slurp some.

Thanks everyone. Well, I mentioned the vet to him and he got better. I'm not sure how that works as, to the best of my knowledge, he has never been to the vet. (Not while I've had him, anyway).

I worked out which piggy it was when I saw that his rear end needed a bath, whereas the other one was all nice and clean. He still drinks a fair bit but nothing like he was. He seems healthy and happy and his pee does not stink as it did before. They do sometimes give off a piddly smell, but not like before.

I keep the cage clean and change the water daily. I feed them about 3/4 of an emty Organix fruit puree pot (sorry for non-standard measure there!) twice a day and they vary between Gertie Guinea, Gloria Guinea and Wagg, depending on where I shop.