Color of Urine

[zachdave]

I am a new GP owner and just noticed for the first time when I had Peanut out for some floor time that her urine was kind of milky color. Is that normal or is there something wrong? She is only about 2 months old and in addition to Oxbow Cavy Performance, Oxbow alfalfa and Timothy hay, I have been giving her romaine lettuce, green beans, cucumber. She won't eat any other fruits or veggies yet. I also crush an Oxbow Vitamin C tablet each day and put in on her lettuce (she won't eat it plain).

Any info is appreciated.

[wiggley_narco]

That is perfectly normal usually. Wait until the urine dries and examine it. If it's not gritty, then it's fine. If it's really gritty, you should cut back on calcium. But milky white urine is usually perfectly normal and nothing to be worried about.

[Ly&Pigs]

It's perfectly normal and should feel smooth when dried. She's only 2 months old and she's a bit young to be having problems with calcium or oxalate stones this early. Her body is just expelling the calcium it does not need, since you are feeding her both an alfalfa based pellet and alfalfa hay. I hope you aren't feeding green beans daily. They are fine for every other day use but not daily because of oxalic acid. Also cucumbers need to be every other day because of higher water content.

Keep trying her with other veggies and she will eventually start eating more of a variety.

[zachdave]

Thanks for the quick reply. One followup: I am a bit unclear about the amount of greens she should be getting. I know the guidance is generally about a cup a day, but how do you measure that when you are giving leafy greens? I generally have been giving her a medium/large leaf of romaine in the AM and PM along with the stuff she has never eaten (but I keep trying - one baby carrot, parsley sprig, small piece of red pepper, one slice of cucumber, one green bean, one blueberry, strawberry slice).

[Ly&Pigs]

I just kind of eyeball greens. A couple nice sized lettuce leaves will be good for each feeding. Since she isn't eating much else yet in the way of veggies, she needs the lettuce.

Try cutting the carrot into smaller strips. You can also try nibbling on these veggies yourself in front of her. Sometimes this method works and sometimes it doesn't but it's always worth a try.

[Sammy and Peanut]

When I first got my guinea pig I thought that there was something wrong with the color of urine too. Do you feed fruits everyday? It is not good to feed them too much of the fruit, but some for a treat is good.

[Ly&Pigs]

Guinea pigs can pee in a variety of colors from clear to milky white to pink/red. If you see pink/red urine, it could mean bladder problems like a UTI or bladder sludge/stones. Some pink urine can also be caused by things like beets.

Sometimes you may see brown to orangy colored pee spots. They didn't pee this color necessarily but after they pee'd, the oxygen in the air oxidized the pee making it turn these colors.

Most of the time though, a pigs urine color depends on what the diet is.