Any pet parent will be worried when they see their guinea pig bleeding.
But you shouldn’t freak out too much about it.
Of course, there’s a reason behind it and the reason may not always be menacing.
Why is My Guinea Pig Bleeding?
There’s not a single-word answer to the question of why is my guinea pig bleeding?
A guinea pig may bleed from the bottom, nose, mouth, or nails.
The guinea pig bleeding may occur because of bladder stones, infection in the urinary tract, epistaxis, rectal prolapse, tumor, abnormal functioning of reproductive organs, uterus infection, and other causes.
Let’s have an in-depth look at these causes and save your guinea pigs from suffering.
Epistaxis
In simple words, epistaxis means nasal bleeding, which is an issue of major concern and that needs veterinarians to fix the problem.
The guinea pig nose bleeds due to the following factors:
- Swelling in the lining of the nasal cavity and respiratory tract
- Frail innate immunity or immunity gets weak due to old age or other reasons
- Pathogenic or Viral Infection
- Any kind of physical damage to teeth
- Uncontrolled growth of cells in the nasal cavity
- Cluster formation of blood due to low levels of prothrombin
- Pus formation within the nasal cavity
Treatment
The treatment of epistaxis depends on the severity of the nose bleeding.
If the nose bleeds from one nostril or it comes in a drop or once in a week, then it can be cured at home by cleaning or disinfecting the nose.
Besides that, make changes in the diet of your pet and if required, nebulize the nose for easy breathing.
Keep pig in a dust and allergen-free environment.
If blood comes in a cluster or a flow, then go to the veterinary doctors and use anti-inflammatory medicines and antibiotics.
Uroliths
Stone in the urethra is also a reason for bleeding in guinea pigs.
Female guinea pigs are more prone to this than males.
The guinea pig may experience abdominal discomforts and blood in the urine or liquid discharge.
It may occur due to the following reasons:
- Fluctuations in the level of pH in urine
- Imbalance of calcium level in the body
- Improper dietary intake
- The rise in the graph of proteins
- Accumulation of different minerals rises. As a result, these clusters together to form stones
How Are Uroliths Detected?
The little cavies creak like loudspeakers while discharging wastes or you may find blood on their bottom or in their discharged waste.
Treatment
The therapy depends on the seriousness of the bleeding.
If it’s less severe, then you can cure it by giving them a balanced diet, increasing the intake of water, and use of such medicines that break the stone inside and make it pass through urine.
If the situation gets worse, then the only solution to this is surgery.
Most people worried whether their guinea pigs can survive the surgery or not?
The survival ratio is less as compared to other pets.
But you can’t stop a veterinary doctor from surgery because it gets difficult for your guinea pig to urinate, or there may be a chance of bursting of the urinary bladder.
So you’ve to choose surgery as a last option.
Mouth bleeding
Sometimes guinea pig starts to bleed through the mouth.
This may be due to facial injury, any kind of damage to teeth, internal bleeding due to any reason, or enlargement of teeth more than usual
Diagnosis
The sign that makes us aware of their mouth bleeding is their stressful behavior or avoidance of eating or blood in their saliva.
Cure
If the mouth is bleeding due to large teeth, then shorten their teeth.
Supply them soft meals like grass or hay.
Pyometra
Pyometra is a disorder known as pus deposition in the uterus.
This situation disturbs female health.
The guinea pig may face either closed pyometra or open pyometra mentioned below:
Closed pyometra
This condition characterizes as there’s no outflow of pus from the vagina that abnormally clogs up the uterus and causes it to break out.
It triggers a poisonous substance that travels across the body and ends up with the death of pigs.
Open pyometra
In this case, the vagina allows the pus to come out which is not a common situation also, but a less extreme condition than the closed pyometra.
Causes
It worries the guinea pig due to the following reasons:
- Bacterial infection
- Lack of WBCs in the uterus
- An uptick in progesterone levels
- Cystic endometrial hyperplasia (A situation in which the lining of the uterus swells due to some reasons)
Pyometra also happens in dogs and cats.
How is it diagnosed?
The signs highlighting their unusual actions involve pus dripping from the womb, over-drinking, waste disposal more rather than the normal range, or avoiding intake of food.
Cure
The only way to get rid of this issue is to do spay surgery that involves genital removal.
Nail bleeding
One of the causes of nail bleeding in your guinea pig is due to nail infection or its size.
The leading factors to nail blood are the following:
- Any kind of injury due to long nails
- Cutting of nails shorter than normal
- Venous lesions while cutting the nails
- Infections due to microbes
Diagnosis
The scraps of proof showing injury to the nail are bulging of the paw, soreness of the paw, or limping of legs.
Cure
To control this problem, be careful while cutting nails.
If the bleeding is due to the long nails, then it’s in your hand to trim their nails regularly.
Styptic pencils are also a good option to stop bleeding.
If bleeding is because of infection, then there’s a need to consult a veterinarian, whether it’s due to the most common disease bumblefoot, or other reasons.
Nipple bleeding
Nipple bleeding in guinea pigs is one of the most severe conditions that occur due to the following reasons:
- Swelling of the breast
- Abnormal growth of cells in the breast or tumor in the breast
- Unusual changes in birth control hormones
- Mastitis (milk gland swelling due to contagious pathogens)
- Unchecked Breast fissure (cutaneous bruises around the nipples, on the breast, or at the tip of nipples during breastfeeding )
Diagnosis
The guinea pigs get aggressive and depressed when suffering from bleeding nipples.
Being a bit observant can help us understand their condition.
Treatment
To treat the bleeding nipples, clean the nipples with diluted water or use antiseptics.
Give anti-estrogen pills to balance the hormonal level and get the tumor removed by surgery in case of severe breast issues.
Eye bleeding
Sometimes guinea pigs face the issue of bleeding eyes.
The factors that contribute to the bleeding of the eyes are
- Severe bacterial Infections cause the eye to bleed
- Tumor
- Physical damage to the eye while fighting with other guinea pigs
- Tearing of eye layer due to irritants or dust particles
- Abnormal growth of incisor that links to the eye through a duct
Diagnosis
The red spot near the eye is one of the signs of eye bleeding.
Apart from this swelling of the eye, continuous scrubbing or closure of the eye for a long time are also the signs.
Cure
The treatment of eye bleeding involves the use of medicine or eye drops.
Bleeding due to neutering
The guinea pig mostly bleeds after neutering which is defined as surgical excision of reproductive organs of male (testicles) and female (ovaries) due to some reasons.
It’s most dangerous for males as compared to females because blood collects in their scrotal sacs that don’t show warning signs and drop down their blood level.
The neutering causes an outflow of blood due to:
- Any surgical mistake by a doctor
- Incomplete castration
- Lack of care by their caretakers
- Hard moves or jump by a guinea pig
Cure
The bleeding due to neutering requires care rather than cure or treatment.
Treat the bleeding site with medicines, overlook their stitching area regularly and administer an ice pack on the affected area.
Tumors
The guinea pig, in some cases, may lose its blood due to tumors.
Uncontrolled growth of cells leads to malignant or non-malignant tumors.
As one of the symptoms of a tumor, blood flows out.
The bleeding due to tumors in the guinea pig is due to the following factors:
- Damage to normal tissues
- A weakening of blood vessels
Cure
To stop bleeding due to cancer the only solution is to treat that particular tumor either by medicine or by surgery.
Rectal Prolapse
The guinea pig may bleed due to rectal prolapse that’s one of the painful conditions for this innocent creature.
It’s a situation in which the rectum enlarges and hangs out of the anus.
As a result, the rectum is damaged and it bleeds.
It occurs due to the following factors:
- Weak condition of sphincter muscles
- Dysfunctioning of rectum nerves
- Constant constipation
- Infection in rectum
- Swelling in the lining of the rectum
Diagnosis
There is bleeding from the bottom of the guinea pig or the feces, difficulty in ejaculating the waste, and expulsion of red mass after discharging wastes are the signs that seek the attention of their caretaker.
Cure
This problem, depending on severity, can be eliminated by doing:
- Laparoscopic surgery
- Surgically pull the rectum back
- Cut off the particular part of the colon
If the condition isn’t worse, then the veterinarian uses drugs to get rid of this problem.
The mortality ratio of guinea pigs is higher than in cats and dogs due to surgery.
Because they get more conscious and depressed during the surgery or sometimes anesthesia doesn’t go well.
Bleeding due to hemorrhoids
One of the causes of bleeding in the guinea pig is hemorrhoids.
Most people confuse hemorrhoids with rectal prolapse, but this is a different condition with slight differences.
In this, the veins of the rectum dilate.
The reasons that lead to hemorrhoids bleeding are most commonly similar to prolapse as discussed below:
- Pregnancy
- Accumulation of fats
- Dropping of the level of dietary fibers
- Lack of RBCs
Diagnosis
The signs that show us the abnormal behavior of guinea pigs or reveal they’re suffering from hemorrhoids bleeding are soreness of the bottom area, avoidance of food, or itching in the area outside the anus.
Cure
The treatment for this is either surgery or the use of medicines.
Hematuria
A guinea pig experiences hematuria or urine bleeding due to a large number of reasons.
The blood in urine comes due to the following causes:
- Untreated Tumors in the urinary bladder or urinary tract
- Abnormal functioning of the kidney
- Infection in the urinary tract
- Bladder stones
Diagnosis
The signs that indicate this issue are when they shriek while urinating, intake less food, become sluggish, and have certain blood drops in the urine.
Cure
The treatment of bleeding in the urine depends on the cause.
If it occurs due to kidney failure, then this problem can be solved by treating the kidney or removing the stones from the bladder.
If this is because of tumors then it needs surgery.
Anus bleeding
In some cases, anus bleeding occurs in guinea pigs.
There are a large number of factors that cause the anus to bleed.
Polyps, abnormal growth of cells or overgrowth of a membrane in the uterine wall, and papillomas, a tumor of the skin are some of the causes.
Diagnosis
The signs or stains of blood on the anus region help diagnose the condition.
Cure
The treatment of anus bleeding is the excision of intestinal organs.
Preventive measures
To protect this tiny creature from bleeding, other ailments, or the hard hands of veterinary doctors, keep them in hawkeye care.
Provide the guinea pig a house where they can get exposure to the sunlight.
Keep them in a large house with wide walls, solid base, open area, or high open rooftop, so that they can roam and amuse the fresh air.
Disinfect their cage or house and scrub it to give them an area that’s sanitized and dirt-free.
Focus on providing them with opportunities for playing to save them from loneliness and a depressing atmosphere.
Cover the rooftop in case of the cold breeze.
Supply them with clean and purified water and ensure to provide them with the amount that their body requires.
Clean their water and food bowl regularly to retain their immunity strong.
Give them fresh and pure fruits and vegetables as a portion of food.
Their body is unable to produce vitamin C.
There’s, thus, a possibility of lowering the amount of vitamin C that results in their energy level dropping.
So, provide them vitamin C supplements by mixing in food and water.
To fulfill their need for fibers, also give them hay to eat.
Keep them clean to avoid bacterial infections that are a source of bleeding in many cases.
Bath them once a week and use pet-related products to kill germs on their body.
Trim their excess hairs and clean their body with damp towels after every two days.
The microorganism may enter their body through the nails.
So, cut their long nails to avoid germs.
Provide your guinea pig opportunities for exercising to keep their immunity strong.
Give your guinea pig a visit to a veterinary doctor once a month to remain updated about their health.
Final Thoughts
Guinea pigs are the most active pets that love to play, jump, or interact with other members of their family.
Therefore, a little bit of change in their behavior comes in the eye of the caretaker and any type of bleeding is a major concern for their health.
Guinea pigs bleeding from the eyes, nose, foot, anus, rectum, nails, etc., may be due to many causes that lower their energy levels and make them super lazy.
Most of the time, they get gastrointestinal infections or reproductive organs-related issues because of the sensitivity of these organs.
The treatment involves medicine i.e antibiotics or anti-inflammation pills in case of mild symptoms.
And surgery is the last option in case of chronic symptoms.
Despite all of these, with proper diet management and care you can save your guinea pigs from bleeding, and for this, you must have in-depth know-how about their feeding, reproductive organs, and their needs to live.
