Urine White urine??? 4 week old

If there are white powdery or gritty spots in the places where the urine dries, that would be from calcium. What exactly are you feeding her? What kind of pellets, hay, and veggies, and how much of each?

It is recommended to weigh your piggy every week to make sure they are maintaining their weight, or in the case of a baby piggy, to make sure they're growing and not losing any weight. A kitchen scale that weighs up to 5lbs will do perfectly. Piggies hide illnesses very well, but weight loss is often one of the first signs of a problem, so this will allow you to catch anything before it's too late.

I just got her this afternoon and this is the first and only pee I have seen. Although maybe there was another and I just didn't see it. Have to admit I got the piggie fever and bought her a couple days before I was really ready and so I hadn't prepped my fleece yet. So her pee sat on top of the piece of fleece I have down for her. So I think I would have noticed if there were any more. It was very thick and creamy and white. I wiped it up and didn't let it dry.

She also had no poo at all 1:00-7:00 p.m. She then had one lil terd, tho it looked normal. She has eaten and drank well with us since about 4:00 and on. While I was off putting my daughter to bed around 9:00 I came back and she had a whole pile of poopies and they looked very typical to me, so I think we have a "go" in that dept!

I will see what I find in the am and hopefully that will give me some more info.

Don't worry too much about calcium in baby pigs. They need the calcium for their bones and teeth, and we generally only recommend restricting it when a pig is over six months old.

However, if the urine is thick, there may be something else is going on. Can you post a picture?

She should have unlimited hay, and she can have veggies any time. There's absolutely no reason to wait two months to give vegetables.

Thank you for your help bpatters. Here is a picture. Keep in mind I got a little attached to this girl when I went to "just look" and brought her home 2-3 days then I had originally been planning on. So I hadn't prepped my fleece yet etc. So I just stuck a new piece in there for her while I was busy washing and prepping the other pieces. So there was no wicking going on.

Regardless, I don't think this would have soaked in, it was quite thick and creamy. I have not seen anything like this since that first pee, so I am less worried now. Her poops look/seem normal to me (I have never had a guinea pig before but had many gerbils, hamsters, rabbits etc growing up as a kid and am pretty familiar with what a normal pellet looks like).

I am still on the high alert for any signs of any problems with her.
1) just because she is so new (have had her less then 36 hours)
2) because I know her conditions/diet did not look appropriate prior to me getting her and
3) she is so amazingly docile.

I have read how they are so good at hiding illness. So I keep watching and watching. Although I fell for her because she is so darn mellow, I also want to make sure I am not mistaking illness for calmness. But she has clear eyes and be alert. She is curious and eating well. Her feet and mouth (from what I've seen of it) and butt all look normal to my untrained eye, nothing major going on at least. Everyone else in the cage seemed well to me too.

But she is just extremely passive. I spent about an hour with them handling all of them and getting comfortable etc (I had never picked up a guinea pig before). I picked her because she is such a mellow pig, just the right speed for me and for handling a house with kids etc. I think. Of all the handling I did in that cage she was the only one who never squeaked when I picked her up, hardly kicked and didn't squeak when I flipped her over to check gender, etc. She was still fast...I had to work to learn how to catch her in the sea of buddies she was in the cage with.

But now since I have had her (we have handled her a ton in the last 36 hours) she doesn't even usually run off when I try to pick her up. She has seemed to have no problem with all the handling. We mostly do the piggie burrito thing with a piece of her fleece as I want my children to take things very slow and and learn over time how to properly hold her so they don't hurt her in any way etc. She will hang like that quite awhile while one of us holds her. After being patient with it on and off all day she showed her first dissatisfation with it the evening by wiggling and pushing off a bit inside the fleece and trying to burrow down in away from us. So of course I pointed out all of these signs to the kids and told them that is how she is telling us she is done.

I did our first floor time tonight, just for a couple minutes. I think because I had hamsters and gerbils growing up, I am super paranoid about losing her in the house. Man, I used to lose them all the time as a kid and then have to work forever digging apart a room to find etc. Anyway, maybe this is typical piggie behavior but I thought she would dart off as soon as she realized she was free from me but she stayed right there. And even when I would reach out and pet her, she didn't jump or startle or anything. Again, this was only a couple minutes so I probably didn't give her long enough to really build up the confidence to feel "free" to tear around and away from me. I need to set up a more proper playpen this afternoon before I leave her down for very long.

Anyway, I am sorry this is so long and I appreciate your time. I just want to make sure I am doing right by her. If she really is just this mellow I have struck gold. She is a little dollface.

Thank you!

That's not normal urine. Nor is it normal behavior for a baby guinea pig.

First, is her urine always that way, or was it just the once? I'm wondering if it's not urine at all, but possibly the mucus plug that sows have in between heat cycles, but she's young for that. If she were a boy, I'd say maybe boar glue, but it's entirely too regular in shape to be boar glue, and s/he's also young for that as well. So I'd suggest taking her, and the picture, to the vet. It's not apparently an emergency, so it could wait until after the holiday unless she gets sick. But I'd want a good exotic vet to comment. Be sure to let us know what you find out.

Second, are you sure she can see and hear? Blind, deaf pigs tend to stay where you put them unless they're in very familiar surroundings. They also don't usually flinch when being touched, and seem to be more happy to be petted than other pigs.

Hmmm, I feel quite sure she can see. I will ponder on the hearing and try to "test" that out more specifically...that could be it! She does not get up when we all get up. I can tell by her cage she has been a busy little girl during the night so it is not that she is curling up and lethargic. And once she is up for the day she is busy and happy. But I have noticed that she does not stir as soon as we do and since I have 3 children and so it is not exactly a quiet time, I found that noteworthy as well.

It was just the one time she had the urine like that. When I got her the cage they were in (of about 10-12 or more) had no food dish that I could see and a dry water bottle. But I do have to say the lady is a nurse and said she was just coming off a 12 hour shift (NOT that I think that is an okay excuse but I just didn't want to give the impression that they were sitting like that and the person didn't care at all). And I do have to say they were all alert and seemed happy to me.

My little sweetie had no elimination at all for the first approx 5-6 hours that I had her which I found abnormal. And then she had this, pee I think, and then one little poo poo. I thought, one poo poo, that is it? Also seemed abnormal. I was out of the room when it happened...my daughter is 8 and she came and got me and said mom I don't know if she pooped or peed. I thought oh silly girl how could you not be able to tell...and then I saw it and realized wow I don't know what that is either. But then I saw that one little poo and that looked normal so I assumed it must be pee.

Once I had her about 8-9 hours then she started pooping plenty. She had been eating and drinking well since I got her...but not crazed like she had been starved either.

Like I said, although she is abnormally docile, she otherwise seems very happy and alert and eating fine etc, hair skin, eyes etc all look good as far as I can tell. I have also wondered if she will continue to get a little more frisky as she has proper food and continuous water etc.

I feel quite sure she is a girl, I checked several times the afternoon that I got her but will check again this evening.
I will also post a pic of her tonight that shows her with something next to her for a frame of reference size wise. I am no guinea pig expert but felt that the reported age of approx 4 weeks seemed correct when I saw her, however I am sure you all will know better.

Will watch her close over the holiday weekend and I do have a vet friend that was going to examine her next week for me anyway, but she is out of the country right now so I can't call upon her for an early visit/opinion. Also I am not quite sure her guinea pig experience so I will ask more questions about that and seek another vet if it seems there are concerns there. I had asked her to take a look at her when I originally thought it was just going to be a typical precaution.

Will keep you posted! Sincerely appreciate the support and knowledge found here!

If you want something to compare genitals to, look at www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm.

I wouldn't trust a non-exotic vet with a guinea pig opinion, friend or not. But maybe your friend would at least admit if she didn't know something rather than trying to bluff her way through.

I did find that it seemed clear she was female. However I will check again this afternoon when I get home from work and I will post a pic of that too.
Thank you!!!!

Hi,

Thank you for sticking with this discussion while I navigate new piggie ownership.

I think definitely female. Excuse her coat in this pic. I was in the middle of giving her a bath, something I had wanted to do since I got her, if for no other reason then knowing she was in such an overcrowded cage. And had my 7 year old playing photographer for me. Her coat does otherwise look good to me when dry. Except she did have one goobery spot on her right flank. But I don't know if it was just dirty and gummed up with something or if it is something wrong there. I couldn't rub it out with the warm water and wash cloth so finally I combed it out. It took some hair out with it to do so and she was not happy with me at all. I couldn't inspect the area well as I found that harder to do when wet. Going to try again today while she is fluffy dry and it is easier to part the hair so that I can make sure her skin etc looks okay. I really think it might have been something just caked in her fur right there but want to be sure.



Also, I have another pee pic to show you. This is calcium deposits right? However I should not worry about this too much while she is still so young (4 weeks), right?



I do know not to have her sitting on wet cardboard. She is still in a temporary cage. I was planning on getting a piggie perhaps this weekend and I jumped the gun when I got her on Monday so I've been kind of temporarily making due until all my supplies arrive. Everything has arrived except for the grids which should come tomorrow and then I can get building...praying they are the right size. I already bought some from Kmart only to find them wrong. So now ordered from Amazon. They are right in the online picture but holding my breath until I open the box. She didn't wet her cardboard until last night, usually goes in the corners of cage, so now it dawned on me if I am giving her a box to use as a temporary hidey then I cut the bottom out so the is still sitting on the fleece but just has the top and sides around her.

Lastly today is my son's birthday. He LOVES her. He sits over her cage talking to her saying "you're my good friend, you're my good friend" and she eats all her veggies by hand. So I thought I'd share a pic of that.

I will definitely update once we have a vet visit but I really believe in my heart that she is not sick but just has some flukey mellow personality. If she is sick it is definitely not something that affects appetite because she is a ravenous little thing!

The lighting on that picture makes it almost impossible to tell what s/he is, but that stuff looks awfully much like boar glue, especially if it's stuck to the hair.

The acid test of a male is whether or not you can extrude a penis. You should be able to feel the shaft of the penis if you rub you finger across the abdomen (side to side) just above the genitalia.

Just a word about your son, who's very young. As you know, guinea pigs startle easily, and can jump out of a child's hands. I would suggest having him ALWAYS be seated, either on the floor or in a very low chair, and someone put the pig in his lap. Once he's older, you can teach him to carry the pig with the pig in an upright position, back against your son's chest, one hand under the pig and the other across the pig's chest. That way, the pig doesn't have any leverage to jump, and is in a more secure position.

Also, keep a locked lid on the cage. The one time we nearly lost a pig to a visiting dog was when our seven-year-old, who certainly knew better, got the pig out of the cage, and dropped it when the dog charged. The pig escaped with only a mouthful of hair gone, but the rest of us nearly died of heart attacks. We always kept the pig cage locked, but were not quite finished cleaning it when the kid came by and picked up the pig.

Thank you for the good advice! We have 3 kids and none are allowed to hold her unless they are seated with me and I've wrapped her in a piggy burrito for them.

That sure could be boar glue that was in her fur but not necessarily hers...cage was overcrowded w both sexes.

I will try again for a better pic of her genitals.

Do you agree urine pic looks like calcium and that given her age that is OK?

When I got my girls they were 4 weeks as well. They also had the white pee for about a week after I got them. They are now 20 weeks and I haven't seen the white pee since. Just watch her and see if it continues.

Okay, I'm back. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Few things:

1) another pic of genitals although I am not sure if you will feel like you can see any better. I really feel sure she is a girl, I have checked a ridiculous number of times. But will feel better if I get more experienced opinion.



2) Pic for fun. I've posted her brown side before, here she is from the white side:



3) Here is a pic with her against my hand. I meant to have something else on hand to give a standard reference to her length (like a dollar bill or something) but forgot. So I guess you still can't tell for sure how big she is if you do not know how big my hands are hahaha. But at least some frame of reference. Also I weighed her today, she was 8 oz. Does this look/sound concurrent with an age of 4-5 weeks?



5) I am thinking mites but interested in other opinions. Will be seeing vet next week either way. I never see her scratch. She has had this spot since I got her on Monday I am quite sure. I noticed it late Tues but you have to lift the hair to see it and I think I just did not notice it on Monday. I have, much to her dismay, checked every little inch of her otherwise and can not find any disturbance. I do not see any scratching and spend quite a good amount of time holding her or watching her. To be honest, I would not think that much of the spot unless I saw any worsening except those two dark spots. I am suspecting those are dried blood/burrowed mites...?
Since she is 8 oz, Revolution would be the correct thing, right?



6) And lastly, I know we have discussed in this thread that she seems too calm and whether that could be illness, deafness, etc. I thought I would post a video to show how she reacts (or doesn't). I started a new thread on that and will link it here but assumed it was not preferable for me to write it all out and post the video both places.

Thank you!!!

If she's not itching, I'd try an antifungal treatment first. If that didn't work, I'd try triple antibiotic, and then if that doesn't work, try the Revolution. For the antifungal, you can use Monistat or Nystatin, and triple antibiotic is available in several different brands.

Where on her body is that spot?

Oh, thank you so much! SOMEHOW I ended up missing that you responded to this. I was just about to come on here and beg you to. The spot was in the middle of her back. Although it has nice new hair growing into it now.

I am going to use Revolution no matter what I think, pending the vet visit this week. It seems to me with a new piggie from questionable conditions that it just may be the prudent thing to do. I know nothing can be known as completely safe but it seems the Revolution is widely accepted and so I shouldn't be risking harm to her just for my peace of mind.

If the spot is growing back in nicely and no new spots develop, do you think I should go ahead with the antifungal anyway or just keep a close eye? From what I have read here and on guinealynx it sounds like fungal is nothing to mess around with and can be very dangerous. But I don't think it could be if I see it improving right?

Maybe just getting out of her previous home and in clean and well fed conditions will take care of all?

Also, maybe an odd question, but could mites improve on their own? If the premise is that the mites are always there but poor or stressed conditions are what bring them out as a problem...could the reverse...improved conditions...bring about improvement?

As you can tell I can hardly wait to be able to discuss these things with vet as well!

Thank you for your continued support and education!

Can't believe she is growing so fast. I guess that is good since I am striking out on the vet options. My friend who is a vet was going to see her today but it didn't work out for us. That is okay, I generally see her every Tues and Thurs so we can shoot for Tues. The problem is that she works for a shelter and I just found out she has no way to dispense meds. She actually has to bring her own dog to a vet even though she is a vet because they have no ability to access meds from work. So then I stopped by my dogs vet to see if they were willing to sell me revolution for my baby piggy or if they would require to see her. They don't even carry revolution.

Meanwhile I have not been freaking out because I truly think she is okay. I know signs can be subtle so I am trying to keep a very very close eye on all but she seems to be a thriving happy piggie from all accounts I can figure out. Although the 2 spots I thought may be mites on her have healed up on their own, I am still keeping an eye. She does scratch, but nothing crazy, and some scratching would be normal, for any animal, including us humans, right?

At any rate, the way she is growing she will soon be 12 oz (she has already gone from 8 to 10 in 10 days I have had her!) so I can then do a pour on ivermectin to be on the safe side, right? I am going to stop by one more vets office by my office and just see if they will sell revolution to me (if they carry it) but if I strike out again I guess I will hold out another 2 weeks until she is big enough for something else as long as I don't see anything causing me too much worry or concern in between.

@boatters I don't want to sound dumb but I'm willing to if it means I get to learn something. The pee pic, I have seen similar when I'm holding my pigs and one of the kids has "dried the fleece" for me with dryer sheets. It just beads like that and takes the shape of the ripples in the fabric. I guess I'm wondering why you think that can't be the case? What am I missing? I truest want to see what you see so I can learn.

Also, I was wondering, can you see mites and things with a black light like you can lice and ringworm?

The urine picture on the blanket, or the one in the box?

Some mites will fluoresce under black light, others won't. But if the lesions you saw healed up ok, it's not mites.

On the blanket