Cloudy pee - should i be worried?

[ysy]

Hello everyone, i haven't posted here for a while but yesterday i noticed one of my chins Becky peed a milky white pee. She takes her dust bath in a container while i clean out her cage everyday. I noticed the spot when i returned her to her cage. The odd thing was that she peed twice (not uncommon) and one puddle was normal pee, the other was milky.

As she did not have any change in behaviour, nor food/water intake, and poo seems fine and abundant. I wrote it off as a one-off but took extra care to observe her today when cleaning her out. She peed twice again in the dust container, the first puddle a little viscous but slightly yellowish this time, the second puddle was normal clear yellowish. She didn't seem to have any difficulty peeing.

Her diet consists mainly of oxbow pellets (3 tablespoons everyday but she doesn't finish it but pick and choose the ones she likes) and apd timolthy gold hay. Every 2 or 3 days, i throw in some alfafa hay or botanical (oxbow) to vary things. No treats or calcium chewing blocks of any kind, although she has been chewing her litter (pine, no additives). Since yesterday, she is on a pellets/timolthy hay diet.

Should i be worried?

Thanks for any advice you may have!

 

[ticklechin]

Does it stink? I would make a vet visit, it could be a UTI, if she pees like that before you go I would syringe up a sample to show the vet.

 

[Tanya]

Do you see white, chalky residue when urine dries? It should not look thick and pasty. The most common cause of cloudy urine is calciuria; white residue means that excess calcium is being excreted. It is not unusual to see some white urine residue occasionally. However, frequent white urine probably indicates a problem. In this case, calcium intake should be significantly reduced. Hight protein diets can increase calcium excretion, especially in older chins.

 

[ysy]

Thanks Dawn and Tanya!

Dawn - no it doesn't stink, i did have a sniff at both puddles and they smell the same, not overtly pungent, although the milky one does smell a tad stronger. But if i don't put my nose to it, i probably won't smell anything.

Tanya - i cleaned up the pee in the container, do didn't have a chance to let it dry. I wouldn't use pastry to describe it, but it seems a little thicker than normal water/pee if you know what i mean.

I'll probably see if she still does it tonight, if she does, i'll syringe up a sample and take her to the vet tomorrow.

Thanks! I hope she's okay.