# Possibly not a UTI?



## Mytheral (Feb 9, 2011)

So I am back again and the concensious was last time (Quoted Below) it was a UTI or stones/crystals.

I'm curious if this still sounds normal for a UTI...

My hedgie has had a week of Baytril and a week of Baytril & Amoxicillin and his progress seems to limited but he has hickups too...

He still seems healthy and active and over all his potty is improving, Most of his pee if less bloody but some times it's more bloody then before.

I made another vet appointment just to be safe but I'm curious on your feedback as well.

Thanks in advance.



> Mytheral said:
> 
> 
> > So here is the story, I've had my hedgie about a month or so now and I believe he has a UTI... but where he goes to pee on his paper towel is pink, like flamingo pink.
> ...


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## Mytheral (Feb 9, 2011)

Also when he gets a foot bath his pee is very dark when it comes out and it makes the water pink. Also it appears alot easier for him to go in the tub for some reason, when he's out and he does a butt dance then some times he can pee.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Perhaps the antibiotics given were not the right ones for the type of bacteria. You can have a culture and sensitivity done on the urine to see what antibiotics will be most effective. 

Did you put him on a urinary diet? With crystals or stones, the urinary foods are as important as the antibiotic. 

If he doesn't have crystals or stones, a urinary health diet changes the ph of the urine making it less hospitable for bacteria. Adding some Hills C/D to his diet may help and certainly won't hurt. 

Sounds like he is holding his pee which is typical with UTI's because it hurts to pee so they don't do it. Peeing in the tub is always easier. 

I'm glad you are taking him back to the vet. He obviously still has something going on. Start him on Hills C/D. 

My Kei had sporadic pink urine. Antibiotics did nothing and blood did not show up in her urine sample but because the blood could be here one day, gone the next, the urine sample wasn't considered reliable. Nothing grew from her urine sample either so we had her spayed assuming it had to be uterine blood. Nope. She continued to bleed yet still nothing showed up in her urine. Finally my vet suggested we try Hills C/D. Before she had finished the can the bleeding was gone and never returned. Now, whenever anyone has urinary bleeding I immediately start them on C/D.


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## Mytheral (Feb 9, 2011)

Well I have the report from the Vet, doesn't really pin down anything yet unfortunately.

On x-ray there may be 3 small kidney stones, the vet can't really tell because they appear to be very little. 

On the blood work there definitely are things alive in there, Along with some things she didn't recognize so she's sending it out for further analysis.


On the hedgie side he isn't appreciating the switch to wet cat food at all. Tonight I think I'll attempt crushing up his dry and mixing it in. I did mix in dry with his wet and he still wouldn't touch it.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Our Kenya had kidney stones. Her first sign of blood was red urine and I mean red. The vet did a fine needle draw of her urine and it came out looking like pure blood and tests showed bacteria and crystals. She was xray'd but nothing showed on xray but as time went on, we realized she had probably already passed the stone. 

Our vet said that what happens is, as the stones pass they irritate the urinary track leaving it open for infection. The infection gives the bacteria and blood in the urine. Kenya was put on antibiotic and the blood cleared up until she passed the next stone or crystals. For the first few months she was off and on antibiotic for the blood but then our other vet recommended Medical Dissolution which will help dissolve the crystals and stones. It worked great but it is supposed to be for short term use only but as soon as we stopped it, the stones were back.

We knew days before she would start bleeding because she would come to the bars of her cage and sit and huff at us so we knew the infection was back. We ended up putting her on a maintenance amount of dissolution kibble. Three or four kibble per night was all she needed and thankfully, she loved the food so ate them first. As long as she got the dissolution she was fine. 

Stubborn little guy. I've had many that won't touch wet food. You can get the urinary formulas in dry as well but for a hedgie the canned is more economical if it's found that it doesn't work. Maybe ask your vet if they have a bag of the dry open and could give you a cup of it to try. That's how Kenya ended up on the Medical version rather than Hills because they had a bag in use and gave us some to try. 

Hopefully the results will come back quickly with an easy cure and he will be back to normal soon.


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