bladder stones in guinea pigs

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

Debedee — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:59:39 GMT

The cloudy/white urine will likely be the calcium being excreted,and its probably good that this pig drinks plenty.

Mine have spring greens/brocolli but in moderation. I'm trying to vary the diet more now, giving romaine lettuce,carrot,cucumber,coriander ,endive, fine beans etc. Be careful with Kale,parsley as they are high in calcium but again ok in moderation. Its all about the ca/phos ratio

I'm going to try the new alstoe diet too.

I've also been told that too much pellet/cereal diet can add to ca build up so have cut the amount mine have down. Plenty of herbage for them!

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

bongo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:01:06 GMT

My pigs only eat green veg, if i put anything in like strawberries, orange, tomato, basically anything not green they dont tend to eat it. They mainly have spring greens and brocolli. do you think i'm putting them at risk? They also eat excel although am prob changing to the new vet pet range (anyone else tried this? its new from alstoe) and they have as much timothy hay as they can eat. they are indoor pigs with access to a run and drink lots!

one of them has more cloudy urine than the other and this is the one who I tend to see drinking the most.

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

Debedee — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:50:54 GMT

I've found a really helpful website- the guinea pig forum.

The members give lots of helpful tips+advice to any questions you may have.

Apparently, the best way to prevent the calcium build up is to get the ca/phos ratio in the diet correct-this is quite complicated but again on the site they have done a simple diet plan (under the food section). Other things to help-get them drinking as much as poss, Timothy hay is better esp for older pigs (which you're doing anyway). Greens etc are ok in moderation,so is celery etc

Again take a look at the site-i've joined and have picked up loads of tips.

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

Emma Clark — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:21:06 GMT

I was wondering about this as well, my little piggy was in for a dental recently, and whilst he was in the incubator recovering he passed some cloudy urine which looked quite gritty, so want to see about counteracting this before i get any problems with stones. I've switched them onto timothy hay which is lower in calcium, they have always been given a variety of veg. I'm trying to cut down on the darker green veg and add in more celery/cucumber etc which have lower levels. I know they drink reguarly as they are indoors and i am able to see them drinking. Is there anything else i can be doing? They have access to the garden each day in the nice weather, so eat a lot of grass, will this make thing worse? I'm willing to try any herbs/ideas that anyone has. :o)

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

Debedee — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:50:55 GMT

Thanx for your help!

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

Cat Woman — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:47:21 GMT

Also important to keep up fluids (just like a cat with stones). There is evidence to suggest that GPigs prefer plain water to water that has had VitC added.

Re: bladder stones in guinea pigs

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:15:14 GMT

Hiya, we had a GP in recently that had bladder stones. We actually advised not to remove them as they can come back along the line of the incision if care isn't taken. As to diet, we advised them to cut back alot of veg containing calcuim. So loads and loads of good quality hay and straw and pellets. Avoid clover and alfalfa hay and stick to grass hay. Also restrict broccoli flowers and stem, dark leaf lettuce, watercress, Brussels sprouts, celery leaves, cabbage, and endive are good choices when trying to reduce dietary calcium. Turnip greens, broccoli leaves, mustard greens, kale, and collards greens should be restricted or eliminated depending on the severity of the problem. Hope this helps!