Very discolored urine, bizarre

[rhianne]

Hi again folks. Some of you are familiar with my girl Matilda. She’s roughly 18 weeks. Some time ago I made a post about her urine appearing to be a dark pink color, but it seemed to have cleared up on its own, so I didn’t pursue medication. This is what’s actually happening and I’m at a total loss, hoping someone here has a better idea than I do.
When she urinates, it’s totally clear and normal. I have followed her around on several occasions, soaking it up with a stark white towel to be sure, never so much as the lightest coloring to it. However, over the course of a few hours, the urine slowly TURNS pinker and pinker until it is a dark red. I had to let her potty and then leave it alone to observe it several times to realize this. It is the weirdest thing. Can anybody help??
Note: she never has any urine on her stomach or anywhere on herself, and isn’t dribbling or anything. She has a pretty good diet I think. 2-3 HHB’s per day along with baby greens and arugula and kale and spinach, lots of butternut squash, touch of banana, broccoli, sugar snap peas, carrots, and sometimes an almond as a treat. She has constant access to fresh water.

[RockyPops]

I'd be interested to know what causes this myself!

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi Rhianne, I’m sure you know the first question I’m going to ask. :)
Has she eaten any acorns? Acorn tannins turn the urine red.

Is this a grey squirrel or a Fox squirrel?

[rhianne]

Hi Rhianne, I’m sure you know the first question I’m going to ask. :)
Has she eaten any acorns? Acorn tannins turn the urine red.

Is this a grey squirrel or a Fox squirrel?

Haha I meant to mention that in my initial post! Matilda has never had an acorn in her life. And she is an eastern gray squirrel :-)

[HRT4SQRLS]

Well, that rules out acorns. :grin2

The only other thing I was thinking about was an issue seen in Fox squirrels. Porphyria. It causes pink or red urine but I don’t know if it has been seen in grey squirrels. I suppose it’s possible but I haven’t heard about it.

I’m assuming that you don’t suspect a UTI. There is a red organism that has a bright red pigment.
No doubt it will cause red pigment in the urine. The name of the organism is Serratia marcescens.
Urine is sterile and shouldn’t have bacteria if there is no UTI. This is a pic of the bacteria on culture media.
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The only causes of red urine that come to mind are something in the diet like acorns, porphyria, blood, or a UTI with S. marcescens. Other than those, I got nothing. :grin2

[HRT4SQRLS]

Just curious, was Matilda an Esbilac baby? I just read that some urine porphyrins are associated with heavy metal toxicity like mercury, lead and arsenic. :thinking

[rhianne]

Just curious, was Matilda an Esbilac baby? I just read that some urine porphyrins are associated with heavy metal toxicity like mercury, lead and arsenic. :thinking

Yes!! Roughly three months straight on esbilac! I switched her to fox valley immediately after finding out about the esbilac disaster, but she ate that for maybe a week before weaning entirely.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hummm :thinking

I’ll do some research and see what I can find. I would be curious to know if any other ‘ Esbilac’ babies have had pink/red urine.

Did you treat her for MBD?

[rhianne]

Hummm :thinking

I’ll do some research and see what I can find. I would be curious to know if any other ‘ Esbilac’ babies have had pink/red urine.

Did you treat her for MBD?

Thank you so much, any help or insight is so very much appreciated 😭
No, but redwuff and I did talk about it extensively and we had her x-rayed, the doctor said she looked great!

[rhianne]

Additionally, if anyone has any suggestions for the diet I listed for her, please feel free!

[JLM27]

I'd get a culture done on the urine just to be absolutely sure there is no pathology.

Does the urine turn multiple white things pink or just the towels you are using? In other words could it be something about the towel?

I have to say that red beets can turn my urine pink and some vitamin pills turn my urine bright yellow. (B complex). Is she taking any medication?

Does this happen every day?

Can you tell us in detail what you are feeding her?

[rhianne]

Yes, the urine turns everything pink, and continues to darken to a reddish brown if left for long enough. She is not on any medication whatsoever. For her diet, again she has 2-3 hhbs per day. Her favorite foods so far are butternut squash and endive so I keep those on hand and she gets some with at least one meal per day. I also include a small handful of greens with every meal, baby greens were recommended to me so I give her baby arugula, spinach, and kale. As a small treat she gets either a couple of carrot chips or a couple of sugar snap peas with one or two meals per day. SOMETIMES I will give her a raw almond, or some mashed banana, or a small piece of pineapple. We have also tried fresh asparagus and radishes but those were not as well received, lol. Oh and sometimes I give her some baby food, it’s usually organic and contains only fruits and veggies, she has had the following:
Apple, avocado and kale
Banana and butternut squash
Pear, spinach and peas

[rhianne]

Oh and yes, it happens every day!

[JLM27]

Doesn't sound like what she is eating, especially if it happens everyday.

I'm assuming that when you say it turns everything pink to red you mean both stuff that goes through your laundry and stuff---like paper towels---that does not.

Can you get a urine culture?

[rhianne]

I absolutely can!! What is a urine culture? I can make a vet appointment if necessary?

Also, does it sound like I’m doing okay with her nutrition?

[redwuff]

Her nutrition sounds spot on! A culture is when you collect her urine and turn it into the vet. He will send it out to a lab who will see if it grows bacteria.

[rhianne]

Hi everyone! Just a quick update that Matilda has an appointment at the vet for Monday, they said they had to collect the urine on site, and then send it away for testing. Will keep everyone posted!

[RustyTiki]

I was worried about this as well. I asked an online Vet
Hello,

I would not worry about Jack as what you are seeing is common in the Fox Squirrel. It is called Uroporphyrin.



This is a medical explanation of what it is:

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/uroporphyrin



This reddish tint can come from foods, but is common in Rodents, but we also see this in Lagomorphs like Rabbits. Many small animals secrete this reddish tint from various orifices of the body. This article in PDF form Explains that the Fox Squirrel actually carries a higher amount of porphyrins and the excess is secreted in the urine:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC302231/pdf/jcinvest00177-0104.pdf



The botXXXXX XXXXXne what you are seeing is normal.



Happy Holidays,

Joan Vet. Here is the response