Possible UTI?

[Essentia]

I picked up several chinnies during a railroad today and we are all finally in Florida. Yay! My two seem to be doing well, but I have a question that hopefully someone may know the answer to. I adopted a father and son pair. The baby is eating and drinking well and has perfect poo. His bottom is yellowed, like he has been urinating on himself. I thought because of how yellow everything down there was that he possibly has a hair ring and that's why he was doing it. There was no hair ring, no inflammation or anything. What I did notice though was his penis was very wet inside the sheath, and right outside. It seems like he is dribbling urine constantly instead of actually taking a pee. Could this be a UTI? I am going to bring him to my vet tomorrow for a check up to see what he says, but I was curious if anyone else had any ideas in the mean time.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

It could be UTI and/or a kidney stone.

 

[Essentia]

Would the best way to check for a kidney stone to do an xray? My vet is amazing, but I still always like to be informed when I go in.

By the way, the father I adopted is one of your chinnies. I just got done looking over the pedigree.

 

[ticklechin]

How young? Some chins can have bladder control issues and grow out of them.

 

[Essentia]

He's 5 months old.

 

[ticklechin]

A vet visit would be a good idea to rule out a urinary issue, he may be beyond the age of growing out of it unless its a birth defect.

 

[starleomach]

I have never had a male with bladder control issues, unless they had a UTI I guess when in doubt a vet visit is in order

 

[ticklechin]

I have not seen it personally but I have heard about it from the local rescue. Here is a article on it, I think she is a member here and is active in the chinchilla community.

http://www.azure-chinchillas.co.uk/pages/incontinence.php

one more

http://www.chinchillas4life.co.uk/health.html#inc

 

[AZChins]

I had a chin with control issues because he had surgery to remove a bladder stone and things just didn't seem to go back to normal. He came to me in rescue a few years ago. He would dribble here and there. The only other chins that have a problem are elderly chinchillas, but I have only had a few like that.

I don't know if I would say that chins that have issues controlling their bladder will grow out of it. Young babies sometimes can't hold it as long and will wet on humans holding them...they normally get really antsy about it, but it isn't a control issue - it's an issue with timing.

With this chin it could be a problem with maybe damage to the penis. If it's wet inside the foreskin, maybe he had a problem with a fur ring at one time that caused damage? It can happen. Having the penis restricted for an extended period can cause all sorts of damage to the interior of the penis. (Ick, I know.)

You'll have to let us know if the vet thinks it is an infection. If it is, I hope it is a very simple one...and one that isn't coupled with some type of bladder/kidney stone or a stone lodged in the urethra. It can be a real problem if that is the case.

 

[Claire D]

I have not seen it personally but I have heard about it from the local rescue. Here is a article on it, I think she is a member here and is active in the chinchilla community.

http://www.azure-chinchillas.co.uk/pages/incontinence.php

one more

http://www.chinchillas4life.co.uk/health.html#inc

Debbie (Azure Chinchillas) is a member here and on CHINformative if you want to try PMing her for more info, Essentia?

If you clean the little chin off does he become wet again immediately? Has he been puddle sitting? Have you actually seen him urinate yet?
My understanding is that true incontinence in chins is usually seen in young males and they often do not live to reach weaning age.

I hope you manage to get to the cause of the problem and that there is a solution for this little fella.

 

[AZChins]

Claire - do they know why the young males were having incontinence problems? I haven't seen it here with younger male chins. It's normally with much older chins. Poor little guys.

 

[Claire D]

Claire - do they know why the young males were having incontinence problems? I haven't seen it here with younger male chins. It's normally with much older chins. Poor little guys.

I have not looked into it in depth myself but I know Debbie did quite a bit of reading around the subject when she was writing her article - I am sure she will not mind me posting this excerpt: (taken from http://www.azure-chinchillas.co.uk/pages/incontinence.php)

I have also recently read of the condition in a 1960's Ranchers Handbook, where the kits are described as "wetters". It appears "wetters" were first documented in the 1940's on a ranch in Virginia, USA.

It is basically a genetic deformity of the urinary system, resulting in incontinence. The entire belly is usually soaked in urine. It is incurable, sadly.

......................................................................................


Hopefully this genetic condition will remain rare, but a rethink of breeding practices needs to be carried out if it crops up regularly in any breeding herd.

N.B. Mild incontinance can also be caused by infection (i.e. cystitis) or bladder stones. Veterinary treatment/diagnosis is essential. This type of mild (temporary) incontinence usually clears up on recovery.

If I can find anything more I will post it for interest.

 

[AZChins]

I hope that there aren't many chins with that type of genetic condition. That's a little scary, but hopefully those animals were not bred or it has been completely bred out by now.

 

[Claire D]

No I think it is very rare in the young ones (true anatomical incontinence) as opposed to temporary incontinence caused by a clinical problem like stones or a UTI.

 

[Essentia]

I really hope it is nothing too serious. I will get him into the vet ASAP. Hopefully tomorrow morning. I want to say I don't think it's a bladder or kidney stone. He runs around like crazy, jumps on everything, eating well, drinking well, and acting like he is absolutely not in pain at all. I know chins can hide it, but he is a seriously good actor if he is hiding his pain. I hope that means it may just be a UTI.

It does make me sad though that I didn't know about this before I took him. I knew he had a yellow bottom but I had no idea he was dribbling urine. I'll deal with whatever comes, I just hope it is nothing serious.

 

[Claire D]

My questions may have gotten lost in one of my earlier posts - Essentia, can you answer the following please? It might help us get a clearer picture of what is going on with the little fella.

If you clean the little chin off does he become wet again immediately?
Has he been puddle sitting?
Have you actually seen him urinate yet? If so, does he pee straight and does he hunch or anything? Show any signs of distress or squeak?

 

[Essentia]

He does become wet again almost immediately, just a bit. He isn't leaking a lot, just a tiny bit of wetness, but I'm not sure if this is a constant thing or not.
I am not sure about the puddle sitting. I just picked him up today, so I don't know about his past.
I have not seen him actually urinate yet, but I have been watching him. When he got here he drank a ton of water since he didn't have any for the drive, so it should be happening soon.
In terms of distress or squeaking, I haven't seen anything of the sort yet, but I have only had him for about 2 hours. He's jumping around and being a normal 5 month old kit.

 

[Claire D]

Ok I guess time will tell whether he can pee properly or not (chins never pee when you want them to either, I've discovered! ).
It might be worth giving him a bit of a wash - for a couple of reasons: (you may already know this but for others who might not).
1. to see if you can get some of the urine stains off him which will help you assess whether he is a lazy puddle sitter or not and whether he can stay dry by himself.
2. to also help you check his skin - urine scald can be nasty.

Please keep us posted on the little chap's progress *crosses fingers for him*

 

[Essentia]

I wiped him off a bit with a unscented baby wipe, but I'll go deeper. What's the best way to go about it? I was thinking damp washcloth with a bit of baby shampoo? From there making sure everything is rinsed really well?

 

[Claire D]

Yes I have used mild baby shampoo in the past and then rinsed it off really well.
A gentle pat dry with kitchen roll and/or towel should do the trick.
One of the problems with dribbly urine is that is can scald/burn the skin and then the skin becomes sore and infected - that's very unpleasant for the chin and not something you want to have to deal with as well as the incontinence problem