[Gpdd] [Health] Twinkie is bleeding

[Penny Charlesworth]

Isn't it always the way, ME, that they need the vet at holiday time.

The blood on her rear end could well be a UTI, which your vet will be able 
to sort out with some antibiotics but there is another possibility, in that 
she may have passed a tiny piece of stone. Not enough to have caused her any 
trouble but just enough to scratch her  internally when passing through her 
body and making her bleed. I have seen this happen with sows and my 
Rodentologists say that it is not an uncommon occurrence. I even had it 
happen with a boar, who, when turned over for examination, expelled a tiny 
stone with some considerable force along with his pee.

In my experience, some piggies pass quite a lot of blood with a UTI, others 
seem only to pass a lot of urine.

Is she squeaking when peeing?  Is she wet underneath? I always keep some 
Cymalon in my piggy first aid kit. This is a human ladies' remedy based on 
sodium citrate and also works for piggies with cystitis. We have learned 
from Ann that this is only available by mail order in the US but would be 
worth ordering for the future if Twinkie is prone to UTIs. I like to try 
this first before resorting to antibiotics.

If you have some unsweetened cranberry juice, you could try giving her some 
to drink. Many piggies do not like the taste of this ( and I don't blame 
them ) so you might have to dilute it and syringe it to her.

I would suspect that the blood on her nose is her own and she has picked it 
up when cleaning her nether regions.

I would hazard a guess that she may have become stressed when being put into 
the colander, refusing to eat at that moment but when returned to her normal 
environment, she calmed down and ate the cucumber.

I don't need to say that you should keep a close watch on her and call the 
emergency vet if she seems to be suffering from more than a UTI. A diagnosis 
by email is not the easiest thing and nothing compares with being able to 
see the piggy! There are other possibilities when a piggy passes blood.

Disclaimer. I am not a vet and all of the above is from my many years of 
experience with cavies and information that I have learnt from Peter, the 
CCT ( Cambridge Cavy Trust ) and my wonderful Rodentologists.

Hugs for Twinkie.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.