[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Guiness, towels and urine

[Dr Kay Dudman]

Hi Lisa

I found that one of my piggies, Bess, used to have her urine dry a darker
colour, and reddish.  What I found is that when I removed all the coloured
rusk from the dry mix that the discoloration stopped. Vedra
Stanley-Spatcher of the Cambridge Cavy Trust said that the E-numbers
(approved additives such as colorings) can make various readings go off
the scale, and even make piggies appear diabetic when they are not.  So
what I do now is sift through all the Gerty Guinea Pig dry mix to remove
all the colored rusk, then mix in Guinea Pig Goodness and Burgess Supa
Guinea (both these last two are all-in-one mixes to prevent selective
feeding, with pro-biotic added).  No more discolored urine.  Maybe it's
the same for Guinness.

Best wishes

Kay

>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 14:43:35 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Lisa Choiniere <lmchoiniere at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Gpdd] HEALTH: Guinness and towels
> To: gpdd at gpdd.org
> Message-ID: <20050710214335.6024.qmail at web30805.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am sure you all remember Guinness, my permanently snuffly foster pig. Well, recently his eyes were running and his little nose was running and it was all clear fluids so the vet confirmed it was not infection but most likely allergies.
>
> So I was thinking, well great, now what do I do for the poor guy? We had tried Carefesh (which I will say is not any less dusty than the pine shavings I normally use!) and he had been of course on pine shavings at some point too. So I thought, alright, we are going for the towel method. I cut up a shoe box, lined it with paper and put his hay in there which is primarily where he pees. I put down a couple layers of towels. It has been two days now and his eyes have stopped running! He is still snuffly, but the vet thinks he has permanent damage to his sinuses but he "seems" better to me. So I am quite happy about this so thanks to all the towel users out there for the idea!
>
> What is also odd about Guinness is the red spots on the newpaper and the towels. When he first pees, it is normal looking but then as it dries it becomes red. I have had three urinalyses done on him and he does not have any blood in his urine at all, no infection, he is perfectly healthy as far as his bladder is concerned. What is really weird is that while it was in the centrifuge tube, you could see it starting to turn reddish-orange at the top. So I am thinking as it oxidizes it changes color since he is healthy.
>
> Never, in my life as a pig slave have I ever seen this (nor my vet) and would like to know if there is anypig out there who has this too.
>
> Guinness was apparently meant to come to me to teach me all these lessons and I am saddened that his previous family did nothing to help him earlier.
>
> You can see pics of all my foster babies and their stories on my petfinder site so you can see who it is I am talking about. Plus all the new babies are on there, both sets under a month old. They are soooo adorable! Well, all pigs are adorable as we all know but you gotta love baby piggy faces!
>
> www.wheeksandsqueaks.petfinder.com
>
> Thanks,
> Lisa and the gang at Wheeks and Squeaks
> Zippy and Jack in our hearts
>
>