Blood in urine

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Godofgods

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
2,637
Location
Harrisburg PA
Poor Chico.. its always something with him :(

History: Chico is pron to seizures if he lays eyes on his girls and cant get to them. Therefor he is never allowed to see them again :(
He also has a heart murmur. Discovered when i brought him to the vet after the first seizure.
Earlier this year, he showed higher lvls of glucose in his urine and was diagnoses with diabetes.

And here we go again.... :tantrum:

Chico lives in a cage with his son. They have both been incredible when it comes to urinating in there litter pans. (My girls could learn a thing or two from my boys) A while ago i noticed that Chico wasn't always using his litter pan, and going on the metal bass pan instead. What started off as one puddle, became two, then 3. Then it became a large amount of small puddles.

He started becomes a little less active and was often retreating in his hut. I switched his food earlier in the year for his diabetes, both chins LOVE the new food. They are eating a lot of it. They went from 2tbls of old food with some left over up to 4tbls each of the new stuff for a while. Now they are both settled at about 3tbls each a day. - They rly rly like it. They would be waiting at the cage bars for there food all excited when i would enter there room. Lately Chico not only wasn't doing that, but he wasn't rly coming out of his hut even after i feed him. - That being said he would come out eventually. As far as i can tell, he is still eating and drinking normally.

On Saturday when i got up and went to there room to spot clean cages (mainly the girls since they like to pee everywhere) i noticed in the boys cage that there were puddles of urine with blood in them. Strangely enough, it wasn't like a blood/urine mixture. It was more like a puddle of urine with blood in the center of it. Like if someone took a puddle of urine and dropped some blood in the center and it didnt mix.

So that was of course the last straw. Time to see a vet. I went to Dr. Stern who was mentioned in this forum in the vets section, as well as some other vet/clinic places that didn't treat exotics.

Chico has a pathological fear of being picked up. He hates it with a passion. But if you know what your doing, you can manage.

Stern gave him a dose of something (flower scent?). Supposedly a homeopathic thing that helps clam them down. What i didn't like about that was, she told me this as she gave it to him. And she gave it to him fast. Not even enough time for me to say no to it. - It calm him down a little bit tho.

She felt his bladder and checked his privates. Tried to coax some poop and urine out of him. Got a small amount of poops, but his bladder was empty.

Stern said it could possibly be an infection, or something with the kidneys.
she said she could give antibiotics, but she doesn't like doing that. She wanted to try some 'natural holistic' things first. - All in all, i wasn't getting a good feeling there. For some reason i just didn't trust her. - I even found it odd that they did not weigh chins in grams, but only pounds.

THEN i got the list of things she wanted to do.... and the cost.

Exam - $99
CBC Chem profile (blood panel) $175
Urinalysis with sediment $21.5
Injection Plasma-lyte $20
Injection Vit C+B+B12 $29
Injection Bovine Thymus $21.50
BHI Formula (holistic stuff to 'help immune system and tonify all organs' $45

ESTIMATED TOTAL (for that first bit at least): $431.50

I already wasn't sure, after seeing that list i was inclined to get a second opinion. So i paid just for the visit ($99... ****) Got to my car and called another vet. They vet i had gone to a little while ago when my ferret was having seizures.

---

Dr. Jennings.
Carlisle Small Animal Veterinary Clinic.
25 Shady Lane
Carlisle PA 17013

So i called them to make an appointment. It was already like 5pm. When they said they didnt have any spots open for today, i wasnt surprised. I could get one today with a diff doc, but i chose to stick with Jennings. I asked for tomorrow, but they checked and she wasnt in tomorrow. They asked what was wrong - told them blood in urine - 2 min later they came back and said that Jennings said thats something that needs to be seen for today. And told me i can come at 6.50pm (there supposed to be closing at that point, no patients.) - Made worse that due to traffic/gps taking me to toll road/ roads closed/ battery dieing.. i should have arrived an hour early, i arrived at 7:05pm. And sure enough she was there waiting to see Chico. (gotta love just the fact that they did that)

I told her what was going on, she looked over what Stern had wanted to do, and then checked out chico. Said she couldnt feel anything that would point towards stones, and that his bladder was empty. She looked him over, even checked his teeth since he was there. - Also said she wouldnt think it was the kidneys first because of the way the blood in the urine was. (not all mixed up)

She gave me some antibiotics for him to start with. As well as a syringe to get a urine sample since his bladder was empty. (Since Chico is peeing on metal tray i can get it that way)

Treatment/testing could evolve from there, but we will see what the antibiotics and the urinalysis show first.

--

Ill probably start the antibiotics tomorrow. Chico is thoroughly pissed for tonight. So ill leave him rest. Hopefully ill get the urine sample tomorrow too.

Given the differences in the two vets, i was curios to see what others here thought. So if you suffered long enough to read all that (thank you!), any ideas/thoughts?

Edit: in addition to his eating a lot more of the new food, he has gained a good bit of weight. 2 months ago he was at 574.9g i think it was. And i weighed him before i left today and he was 685~g
 
If he was human it would scream bladder infection to me, diabetes also makes you more prone to infection. Blood from higher up (kidney, stones, or from diabetic damage) would indeed be mixed. Because it's separate it is probably close to the surface or coming out after the urine irritates the urethra.

I'd start the antibiotics as soon as you can, it can travel to the kidneys and it's quite painful. Pain fades quickly after treatment starts in humans (like a 24 -36 hrs).

If you gather urine from the tray it will be contaminated, anyway you can sanitize it or have him in a smaller clean cage?
 
If you gather urine from the tray it will be contaminated, anyway you can sanitize it or have him in a smaller clean cage?

How is it contaminated? I get whats on the tray could mixing, but would that rly effect the urine in terms of a urinalysis?

A smaller cage i dont have. At least not since the bottom half of the small cage he came to me in (back in 07-08ish~) disappeared while in storage before i moved. I did however just get done separating the Double FN which Chico on top and Houdini on the bottom, to make sure i get the right stuff if he goes on the metal tray.

If it effects/contaminates it that much, tomorrow i could take the metal tray out and wash it down with water/vinegar. That about as much as i can think of atm.
 
just for reminiscent here...
But Chico kinda took me by surprise today. He has always hated being picked up, and for the most part, held. But when either vet tried to touch him, he didnt try to run away out the room (door closed), he didnt try to run back to his animal carrier, he would run and hop straight into my arms.... And he did it several times. He would run to me and try to hide in my arms. I found it amazing. I remember back when i first took him in and he would freak out if i even walked NEAR his cage, much less doing anything to him. Now hes running to me for safety... :)
Even if i was the only thing he knew in the room... Its still awesome to have witnessed.
 
****... found more urine tonight. Urine and blood completely mixed.... Red puddles....
11pm, but i left a message on the vets machine.
 
I had separated my two male chins to make sure i was getting the right urine, and to make absolutely sure i had the right chin with the problem.

Yesterday there was no puddles for me to get a urine sample from. Which meant either neither chin went pee or they both used the litter pan. So i took chico's litter pan out at night. I woke up to a nice big puddle. Got a full serynge full and there was enough left to probably fill a few more. So i drove it up to the vets office today. (Just want i wanted to do after getting to sleep at 4am, but oh well. For my chico')

The urine had no blood today. It seems to be intermittent. It was a nice dark brownish color. Im going to leave the two guys separated a bit longer tho. See if that blood comes back. And if it does, ill be 100% sure whose it was. (instead of 98%)

I picked up aura-sweet (or however its spelled) to mix with his antibiotics. I will try giving it to him tonight and hopefully he will take it.
 
Just got a call from the vet. They looked at the urine a bit. Found it contained a bit of amorphis crystals (sp?) in there as well as some sugar content and calcium.

Not sure if the crystals have been there a while, or if they showed up with his current problems. Im going to call my old vet on monday and see if they have his old records. They ran a urine analysis earlier this year before i moved. Im hoping they have the detailed analysis and can tell me if there were any amorphis crystals in there at that time.

Got the aurasweet to start antibiotics tonight. And in 7-10 days ill take back another urine sample to get tested. See if there is a difference.

The sugar content might be from his diabetes, or maybe the food. Seems AMD is using Molasses in the food. Even so there sugar content is still much lower then any other ive found (And the boys love it).

Wondering if the Calcium is from the food as well or something else.

INGREDIENTS: Alfalfa Hay, Wheat Middlings, Beet Pulp, Soybean Meal, Molasses, Sodium Bentonite, Soy Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Yeast Culture, Choline Chloride, Soy Oil, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminosilicate, Banana Flavor, Monocalcium-dicalcium Phosphate, Ascorbic Acid, Magnesium Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Biotin, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, D-Ca

There are a few listed in there. Hard to say.
 
Has he had an x-ray? Ruling out stones would be a priority for me. Also, while he's under, they could draw a urine sample directly from the bladder, therefore avoiding any contamination issues.

I'd ditch the "homeopathic/holistic" vet too. What a crock. Any vet who "doesn't like doing" antibiotics, when faced with a probable infection, quite frankly shouldn't be a vet.
 
kind of a double sided sword there. Some vets throw antibiotics at everything. Some try to stay away from it as much as possible.

No x-ray yet. When she felt him up she said she didnt feel anything that would resemble stones. So we will see how he reacts to the antibiotics. If needed, i think she planes on an x-ray after that to be sure.

She said the urine sample i brought in had no traces of blood. So it seems likely that the problem is intermittent/or not showing all the time.

She also said they do take into account the contamination factor. That any sample not direct would pretty much be, so they account for it as much as they can. - While direct would be uncontaminated, last visit there with chico, he got scared and went all over in the cage. So he was empty and they couldn't go in to get any.
 
She wouldn't necessarily be able to feel small stones or granular "sludge".
If it was my chin, I'd insist on an x-ray ASAP.

Plus they'd have to sedate him to get an uncontaminated urine sample anyways... I'd get both done at the same time.
 
she mentioned doing both at the same time as well. They were going to do another urine sample anyway. Since the first one contained no trace of blood they wanted to wait 7-10 days and do another one. So i figured thats the length of time for the antibiotics so id do the sample after he finished them. And she will probably do the xray then.
 
Well chico stopped eating for two days. Im not sure if it was the medication or the fact that he was sooo worked up from being picked up twice a day for meds he didnt like (pathological fear of being picked up)

Either way, i stopped the meds, and thus stopped having to pick him up. First night he ate a little. The following night he ate a good bit more. Almost 3/4 of his normal food. So thats good. And hes come out a bit, hoping around the cage, instead of hiding away scared.

I got a new med. This is supposed to be the same stuff he was on earlier at the begging of the year. He tolerated that quite well then. He would actually stick his head out of the hut, drink the syringe dry and that was that. Never had to pick him up or anything. So heres hoping for a repeat.
 
Is he getting critical care and probiotics as well? If he stops eating then he needs to be force fed.
 
She had mentioned the critical care. Which i already had thought of. She said they had some if i need it. But after stopping the antibiotics, he started eating again. Last three days he has been eating decently.

I gave him the new anitbiotic last night for the first time. Still took a little bit of work, but he was much more cooperative in taking this one. While i did have to encourage him a little bit, i never had to pick him up at all, and he liked the taste a lot better then the last one. Since i woke up incredibly early today, i was able to walk in there room and saw that he was awake and eating pellets. So thats good. Hoping it stays that way (and gets better)

Edit:
Is he getting critical care and probiotics as well? If he stops eating then he needs to be force fed.

I think that was kinda the problem actually. I think he might have not been eating more because of being picked up twice a day then the antibiotics. While he didn't like the old antibiotic, he is deathly afraid of being picked up. Not just a dislike like many chins, he is flat out terrified of it. I think that was getting him more worked up then anything. Thats why i waited a day to see how he would react without the antibiotics/being picked up. With out either he started eating again. And so far (only been one dose) he seems to be eating while on the new antibiotic.

If he stops eating again tho then ill have to get the critical care. But he definitely wont like being picked up for that. But not much choice. Hoping it doesn't come to that tho.
 
Last edited:
Woo! :hug2:

Second dose this morning and he got the picture. He popped his head out of the hut and drank the full syringe all on his own. No problems what so ever! :DDD Lets hope this keeps up!

(i guess he likes the cherry flavor of it. Ive personally always hated cherry flavor)
 
That's good to hear :)

Some chins will voluntarily eat the critical care off a spoon, or from a syringe, so if he did stop eating again, then you could give it a try.

Cherry flavour? What's the antibiotic?
 
That's good to hear :)

Some chins will voluntarily eat the critical care off a spoon, or from a syringe, so if he did stop eating again, then you could give it a try.

Cherry flavour? What's the antibiotic?

Apparently it goes by several different names. I know it as Bactrim. The label reads Sulfatrim Pediatric Suspension (Common Brands: Septra)

Last night i went to give him his meds and he nearly ripped the syringe outa my hand trying to get to it; like it was a twig or something lol

Edit: He ate all 3 tbls of his pellets last night. And i gave him a few more this morning since he was looking for more. Not eating much hay, but he never rly does to much.
 
ugh.. its always something.
All this over chicos issues, but now its his son houdini! ><
They share a two story FN cage, for now its split in two. Houdini has never lived alone before tho. He went right from nursing as a kit with mommy, to living with daddy chico. He is not taking kind to his current living arrangements. Whether its being along, not having access to half of his cage that he is used to, or a combo of both, i dont no. But he is not eating much pellets now. But is eating a decent amount of hay. (opposite of his daddy currently)
 
Well i took chico to the vet today. I also had to take my ferret buddy in as well. They wanted me to drop chico off and pick him up later, which i wasn't to enthusiastic about.

He went in for the xrays to check for stones, and another urinalysis now that the antibiotics have run there course.

Great time. The xray machine stopped working. The vet said she didnt see anything on the films that resembled stones, but the films were so dark that its useless. And chico's bladder was empty the whole time. They were unable to get a urine sample.

So nothing rly got done.
They will let me know when they figure out whats wrong with the machine and then see if i want to come back for xrays. Ill probably go for another urinalysis then too. Twice hes been dry tho. May end up have to syringe feed him some water there or something. But i did bring back a syringe to get my own urine sample. It wouldn't be as 'pure' as directly from the source but if they are unable to get a sample yet again, then it would have to do.

I haven't seen any blood in the urine for a while now tho. So im hoping that's good news.
 
well just got back from the vet again with Chico. He got his x-rays. They said the don't see any stones or sludge in there and they cant feel anything either. His sample was sent out for a urinalysis. So i just have to wait on the results for that. - But i havnt seen anymore blood in a good while now, so thats good.
 
Back
Top