Hi

Well here we are again, my family think I don't do anything else but stay on wee patrol with my two!!!! but these things do keep raising their ugly heads. Twice now when Molly has been a wee it has contained some black granules like tea, does that mean anything to anyone?
Thanks
Jane

Hi Jane,

What texture are the urates, are they thick and creamy or more runny? I know this might seem weird asking but a picture would help if you could get one at all?

Ali

Hi Ali

The urates are normal and are passed in the wee.  The Black granules are in the actual wee too, which is a milky colour. It does not have a strong smell or fishy at all. The first time it was on a  unit when I was weighing her, at first I thought it was pieces of compost soil that might have got stuck around the cloaca, but it happened again this morning with the same thing. I rubbed the granules and they just crumbled apart. Really strange isn't it? I have something in the back of my mind that I read about this somewhere, but cannot remember what it was or where I read it.
I will try and get a photo if I can
TFYH
Jane

Gosh, Jane, I have no idea what this is, but I think that if it happens again you should try and save the wee and the granules and take it to a vet for analysis. The wee shouldn't be a milky colour at all -- the urates in the wee should be a milky colour, but not the wee itself (and you should be able to distinguish the urates from the wee). Maybe someone else has heard of this and will come in with an answer. Could the second time it happened also be bits of soil that got stuck around the cloaca?

Nina

Hi Nina

That was exactly what I thought. It happened again this morning but she was in the bath so I couldn't get a sample. I am going to have to wait until I can get a sample and get it tested. This morning I actually picked the granules out and and really had a good look at them, they were very much like tiny grains of soil, but logic was saying that they could not be. very peculiar, Molly seems well in her self and is eating OK..

Jane

Hi
I got a sample of Molly's wee to the vet this morning. She had a good look at the grains and said they are definately clumps of substrate. As the wee and poo both go through the cloaca she thinks these have come from the intestine and come out along with the wee.  I have vowed to myself not to look at Molly's wee anymore!!!  anyway at least it is nothing to worry about and she is Ok that is the main thing.
TFYH
Jane

What a relief it must be for you.  I bet Molly wondered what you were up to scooping up her wee lol  Anyway much better to be safe and have it checked at least you know she's still in tip top form  .

Helen

HI Helen
The vet seemed more keen to know how I had managed to get such a good sample from a tortoise!! she was quite amused at my method.. I had her in the bath and waitied until she started to lift her back up and then scooped her out onto a sterilized area of the laminated flooring and let her go to the wee. I then scooped that up and put it into the sterilized pot I had bought, and there we have a success wee sample teehee

Jane