The color and the structure of a guinea pig’s urine are important to make sure if your pet is healthy or has some health issues. My cousin Lisa recently adopted a pair of guinea pigs and one of them – Cleo, yesterday had pink urine.
She started to panic so I realized that it would be helpful to explain her everything about the guinea pig’s urine colors, what’s normal, and when she should worry about and do something.
Normal urine of a healthy guinea pig can go from yellow, pale yellow to white. It can be clear but it’s not uncommon to be cloudy. Calcium compounds make the guinea pig’s urine cloudy. Dry urine may leave a powdery substance but shouldn’t be gritty in texture. Very young piggies can have an orange or even a brown tone in their pee which is quite normal.
Table of Contents
What Is The Normal Color And Texture of Guinea Pig’s Urine?
Normal guinea pig’s urine should be clear and pale yellow or yellow. White and cloudy urine is not uncommon and it’s tolerable but indicates the presence of calcium compounds.
When your pet’s urine dries, it shouldn’t be grainy in texture. Dry urine may be powdery or sandy in texture. You cannot feel the real texture of the urine and to determine if it’s ok or not until it dries out completely. When the pee is dried you can rub it between two fingers and try to feel its texture.
If you assume that your guinea pig’s urine changes the color but you are not sure, put some white sheets or towels and let your piggy run around for some time. On a white surface, you will easily spot any change in urine’s color.
Why Does My Guinea Pig’s Pee Look Like Milk?
Milky, white urine with powdery deposits indicates the presence of calcium compounds as well as ammonia phosphate crystals. This kind of urine is not a reason for panic but you should be careful. Excess calcium deposits may lead to bladder stone formation.
The thing is that guinea pigs in general and females, in particular, are prone to stones in the bladder but this is something to do with genetics. The guinea pigs’ urine is normally alkaline and therefore the stones are more common in them than in some other animals with acid urine.
Some people try to feed their piggies with sour food hoping to increase the acidity of urine but that is not possible. The only thing you will achieve is to create sores in your pet’s mouth.
However, white urine in guinea pigs is not uncommon but you should feed your piggy more with food that is poor in calcium. Avoid giving too often spinach, kale, basil, or fennel, all of them are rich in calcium. Always offer fresh water and control water intake. If the tap water is not good for you, it’s not good for your cavy as well.
If your piggy’s main food is pellets, change that. Include more hay (grass hay) in his diet as well as fresh veggies. Obese guinea pigs are more prone to stone in the bladder than those with normal weight.
Bottom line- if your piggy has white urine, that just calcium. But if you check its texture after it dries out and you feel that it’s a bit grainy, then you should consult a vet, as possibly your pet has a problem with sludge or stone in its bladder.
My Guinea Pig’s Pee is Pink/Red? Is That A Blood in Urine?
If your piggy leaves pinkish urine behind, it’s normal to panic. Naturally, you think about blood and the blood is never a good sign.
Fortunately, pink/red urine is frequently mistaken for blood. Often, blood in urine is hard to spot with the naked eye.
If your piggy doesn’t have any other symptoms such as weakens, frequent urination, lack of appetite then maybe its body is just expelling some plant’s pigment through the urine, making it pink/red.
Consumption of some vegetables/plants/fruit can cause pink urine (beeturia), such as beetroot or blackberries but also food high in beta carotenes such as carrots and spinach.
Beeturia is not something that will happen every time when your piggy eats blackberries or carrots. Maybe will never happen or maybe it will happen once. It depends on what else your pet ate.
If your piggy’s main food is pellets which are rich in synthetic vitamins and minerals, his urine may become red due to excessive intake of iron and vitamin B.
Some antibiotics can also affect the normal color of the urine making it pink/red.
If the normal color doesn’t return in a few days, you should seek the vet’s help and evaluate the urine sample.
If you notice signs of pain in your piggy while urinating or frequent urination you should check with the vet. If he finds the traces of blood in your furry pal’s pee that could mean that your piggy has some urinary or reproductive (in females) problem.
Blood in the urine may occur as a consequence of physical trauma ( if your piggy fell from the same height).
Why Does My Guinea Pig’s Pee is Dark/Brown?
Guinea pig’s dark yellow or even brown urine may also leave you puzzled. The same as excessive intake of iron and vitamin B can make red urine, it can also make brown one.
Brown urine in piggies is usually not a problem. For young piggies, it’s quite normal to have dark orange or brown pee.
Adult piggies may also have brown urine and if you haven’t noticed any discomfort or pain ( squeaking) while urinating that most probably the color comes from something he ate.
Pay attention to how that dark or brow urine dries. If it dries uniform brown and your piggy doesn’t show any symptoms, you don’t have to worry.
But if there is blood in urine, when it dries, you will be able to see a darker outer ring or darker center, as blood separates from the rest of the urine. In that case, do visit a vet.
Darker urine ( orange to brown) will also appear if your piggy is dehydrated. The color intensity will depend on the level of dehydration.
Check how much water your piggy drinks. It’s not an easy task but it’s very important. Increase the intake of high water content veggies such as cucumbers.
Bear in mind that piggies in most cases, will not drink the water with added medications, vitamins, etc, and also they will refuse to drink stale water, always offer fresh one.
One more thing- make sure the water bottle is clean. Not just bottle but pay special attention to the nozzle as if it’s not clean, piggy will not drink water. If your pet has a water bowl, check if he was urinating there, as if he was, he won’t drink it.
What Are The Signs of UTI in Guinea Pigs?
Urinary tract infection( UTI ) is fairly common in guinea pigs.
If you notice that your piggy has difficulty while urinating, feels pain, squeaks and you can notice blood residue in dried urine then it’s time to rush to the vet, as most probably your pet has UTI.
There are other conditions ( all require vet attention) that have the same symptoms. These are:
- Pyometra ( uterus infection in females)
- Bladder stones
- Arthritis ( this condition will not cause blood in urine but can cause a painful squeaking while urinating
- Sperm plug obstruction ( if boar glue is hardening within the penis, the male piggy may experience difficult urination
Your vet will perform a physical examination that will include palpation of the lower abdomen. If he assumes that your piggy has a stone in the bladder, he will perform an x-ray to remove that doubt.
Of course, your vet will collect urine and if the blood is not visible, he will test the urine sample for blood. As in humans, the urine culture test will help to decide which antibiotic will be the best treatment in this case.
Bear in mind that piggies need some longer time to clear up the infection and recover. If bleeding happens after your pet finished the course of antibiotics you should rush to the vet immediately. If the vet didn’t perform an x-ray looking for stones, now is the time to request that.
To prevent UTI, you should keep your piggy as dry as possible. That means that if you have a long-haired cavy keep the butt hairs short.
Also, you should change the bedding more frequently, especially when you do the spot cleaning. If you use fleece bedding, look for polyester fabrics that permit the pee to drain through but stay dry.
Although antibiotics are a must when it comes to UTI, a cranberry juice between two infections ( if your piggy has recurrent UTIs) may cut down the number of infections to 50%.
It’s super important to offer only plain, unsweetened cranberry juice with added water. The water must be added as plain cranberry juice without sugar is really bitter, strong, will not be appealing to your piggy.
Don’t mix this juice with juices humans drink. Look for it in health food stores.
Conclusion
Always check your piggy’s pee as you can learn many things about his health from it. Guinea pigs urine should be clear, yellow to pale yellow. It’s not a great concern if it’s cloudy white, although it’s a clear sign that you should decrease the calcium intake.
Orange or brown pee is also not a big deal but you should check the amount of water you Cavy takes on a daily basis in order to prevent dehydration.
Red urine is to worry about if it turns the color to brown when it dries as it can contain blood.
The texture of the dry urine can be powdery but shouldn’t be grainy as that indicated the presence of stones in the bladder.
