Concerned about urine colour

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Chin-ma

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2022
Messages
15
Hi there, found today stains on the floor and in the pee/litter box. The urine is reddish/ very deep orange, almost looks like its bloody. Definnitly not the usual colour. The chinchilla is not showing any signs of injury, didnt eat anything new and has unlimited access to water. Acts as usual, very active and has no issues eating. He lives with other chins but there was no fighting recently and no wounds among the gang were found. Still worried though. Care to take a look?
 

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It does kind of look like blood, but chinchilla pee is normally dark in color anyway since it's concentrated. Their pee can be anywhere from yellow to a red-brown color depending on what they ate, bark for example commonly adds a red tint to the pee, as well as be darker if dehydrated, and certain excess vitamins being peed out can also color the pee. I've never tried it, but I've heard people say plain urine doesn't bubble up when you pour hydrogen peroxide on it like blood does, you try that as a quick at home test is to see if it bubbles or not.
Here is a bit more info on pee discoloration for herbivores Chinchilla, rabbit, guinea pig urine discoloration-red, orange, white
 
It does kind of look like blood, but chinchilla pee is normally dark in color anyway since it's concentrated. Their pee can be anywhere from yellow to a red-brown color depending on what they ate, bark for example commonly adds a red tint to the pee, as well as be darker if dehydrated, and certain excess vitamins being peed out can also color the pee. I've never tried it, but I've heard people say plain urine doesn't bubble up when you pour hydrogen peroxide on it like blood does, you try that as a quick at home test is to see if it bubbles or not.
Here is a bit more info on pee discoloration for herbivores Chinchilla, rabbit, guinea pig urine discoloration-red, orange, white
Thanks a lot for your reply, my chins recently had freshly cut apple branches as a chew toy. If tree bark can discolour the urine that might be the explanation. I'll keep a close eye on him for a bit.
 
It looks within the normal colour range for chin pee to me. My chin's urine is that colour sometimes. It can be a little alarming, since it's a much darker colour than most animals' urine, but I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.
 
It looks within the normal colour range for chin pee to me. My chin's urine is that colour sometimes. It can be a little alarming, since it's a much darker colour than most animals' urine, but I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.
I just got worried becouse it was not the standard colour for him particulary. He is just fine btw. I guess i panicked a little bit. But i know that when a chinchilla is sick it can go downhill really fast. Better safe than sorry i guess:)
 
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