Peeing blood v.s. dandelion?

[taurusgi]

Hi, I'm really worried about my Hermanns baby Panda George. She is one and half year old and 3 inches long, 94 grams.

She peed some blood looking thingy when I soaked her today. I totally freaked out and started doing research on the forum, since the vet is closed already. I saw people mentioned that dandelion could cause it?

My brother was babying sitting her when I was out of town from Aug. 1st - 7th. I gave him some dandelion greens (the green one, not the red dandelion greens) and endive, and he finished the whole thing within a week! Normally those food would last for 2 weeks when I feed them. Panda George had dandelion greens before, but I have never see her peed red. I'm hoping that it's just because my brother fed her too much dandelion within a week and that's why she is peeing red.

Could you guys take a look at the picture and let me know if it looks like the dandelion related red pee, or it's actually some blood? She hasn't had any dandelion green since Aug. 7th and today is the 11th already. Her diet this week is endive, radicchiao, rapini, and clover. Also she has been running around being active and pooping fine too.

Oh and not sure if it's related, I caught her eating her own poop twice this week! I've never seen her did that, but maybe i just never caught her doing that before. Also I caught her trying to eat the cypress substrate on Aug. 8th.

Thanks and any suggestion would help!

I'll try to make an appointment with the vet next Saturday, but just wanted to see if there is any need for me to take a day off from work and bring her in sooner!

 

[dmmj]

It's hard to tell from a picture, but to me it looks like it could be blood. Dandelions only tinge it pinkish usually. It looks like that is more than a tinge. Good idea on the vet visit they should be able to tell for sure.

 

[mctlong]

I hope Panda George is alright. Please keep us posted and let us know how the vet visit goes.

 

[Redstrike]

I'm agree with the Cap'n, it's tough to tell but looks like it could be blood. I'd bring her to the vet sooner rather than later because she is so small. Try to get a fecal before she eats it up and bring it to the vet with you. If it is blood, it could be a protozoan parasite bloom and they can prescribe Flagyl to clear things up.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[taurusgi]

Thanks guys for the suggestions and support! I will call the vet the first thing in the morning tomorrow when they open..

I'm thinking to bring in the poop for a fecal exam at the vet. If it's really the protozoan parasite causing the blood pee, would it show in the fecal exam? How would the vet find out about the parasite? I'm just wondering because Panda George's poop has been looking normal (not soft like if they got worms). Also she has been peeing creamy urate so we can assume that she is not dehydrated or having kidney stones?

Maybe someone who has experience with the protozoan parasite can tell me about what kind of abnormality would show? Because so fair I couldn't see anything wrong with her except for the blood from yesterday.

I'm secretly hoping maybe it's just that she ate some cypress substrate on Wednesday, and it was hard for her to pass it out, that's all. Coz the substrate would eventually get digested, right? I soaked her again this morning. She peed and pooped during soak but no blood again. I'll soak her again this afternoon just to see if it happens again.

This is driving me crazy!! I wish the vet is open on Sunday too!!

 

[Tom]

The substrate won't be digested, but if its just one small piece it should pass through. If its lots of pieces, she could be getting impacted.

Eating their own feces is pretty normal. That part doesn't worry me.

Your diet is okay, but grocery store greens are just not the best thing. Does she ever get any weeds, cactus, leaves or flowers?

This new propensity to be eating everything is worrisome too. What do you supplement with and how often? Sometimes if there is a mineral deficiency, they will start eating all sorts of weird things.

 

[taurusgi]

Hi Tom, thanks for the comments! She gets to have some of the weeds and flowers I grow (mallow, storks bill, clover, radish leaves, mallow flowers, and some weed seed mix I bought and grew in pots so I'm not sure exactly what are in it). She doesn't like clovers too much though, also the mallows and storks bill died and I have to re-plant them, so right now she eats mostly grocery greens.

I only caught her eating the cypress on Wednesday. Haven't seen her doing it this weekend. I moved her into a bigger enclosure on Wednesday. Do u think that's why she was eating the cypress? Just to explore? She has pooped 4 times since Wednesday. Does it mean she doesn't get impacted, or the substrate could still be inside her? I'm not sure how big of the pieces she ate when I wasn't there, but the ones I saw she ate wasn't too big.

I sprinkle her food with calcium powder twice a week, vit+D3 once a week, TNT twice a week, and occasionally Zoo Med pellet and Mazuri. Although when my brother had her for a week, she didn't get any supplement.

 

[Tom]

It sure sounds like everything is in order to me. The new enclosure thing may be a clue. What sort of lighting and heating equipment are you using? Any colored or infrared bulbs? And coil type cfl bulbs? What are you doing for indoor UV?

 

[taurusgi]

I didn't use anything new. I just switched her to a bigger enclosure, that all.

Everything is the same from the old set up:
Cypress substrate (although I got her fresh new bags since the old substrate was 7 month old already)
Zoomed mercury UVB light

My apt is so hot this week so I actually had to raise the light height. It was getting 100-110 degree! I raised it so it could stay in between 95-100.

I also got her a bigger water dish since the new enclosure is bigger. I've never seen her staying in the water dish for longer than 30 sec though.

Thanks again for the support! I can't wait to get an appointment with the vet! Hopefully they can see us on Tuesday. Please keep your fingers crossed for Panda George!

 

[Redstrike]

Thanks again for the support! I can't wait to get an appointment with the vet! Hopefully they can see us on Tuesday. Please keep your fingers crossed for Panda George!

No vitamin injections unless blood work (if they take any) shows a deficiency, which I seriously doubt.

 

[taurusgi]

update on the vet trip!

The vet told me that he thinks Panda George looks fine and perfectly healthy. She grows relatively slower than my older one - the vet said it could either be because she grows slower naturally, or it could be some parasite in her when she was born (maybe the mom had parasites).

Vet said I did a great job with keeping their shells smooth. I'm so happy! He also mentioned if there is no parasite shown in her poop, the blood could be from if she was trying to pass a little piece of something she ate (maybe the substrate) and that caused some tear from the anus. He said he wouldn't worry too much about it if the bleeding happened only this once and if there is no parasite in the poop now. He said base on the color of the blood -bright red instead of some dark red, the blood should be from the lower stream of the GI system, instead of from the stomach or something.

I called the vet in the late afternoon yesterday about the fecal exam on Panda George, and they said the result came out negative! Yay! Now I'm just gonna think that there shouldn't be anything too serious, and I'll keep an eye on her to see if there is any more eating substrate happening! Hopefully this is just a one time thing and she won't be trying to eat the substrate anymore.

Thanks again for all your help and support!

 

[Laurie]

Glad to hear

 

[Redstrike]

Good news, glad all is well!