Alfalfa hay for underweight pig...?

[Guinea Newbie]

Hi,
I recently re-homed (14 days ago) two boys who are 18mths. Sadly I don’t think they have had their needs truly met. One has been ill this week with a suspected UTI or bladder stones and seems much happier 2 days after starting medication. Hopefully it’s a UTI. He is also very skinny and underweight.
The vet suggested Alfalfa hay to try to help him gain weight. Given the high calcium content I would like some advice about if this is actually a good idea?
I don’t want to promote bladder stone growth! It would be temporary whilst he gains the weight he needs to.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I would never go against a vet’s advice, but feeding alfalfa probably isn’t the best way to go about this. As you’ve said alfalfa is high in calcium and isn’t a grass hay. Alfalfa is only really useful to pregnant sows and very young babies and even then it should only be in small amounts.
If there is no medical reason as to why he is underweight and it is purely bad diet up until now, then I would have thought giving him a good quality hay based diet (80/85% of their diet is made up of grass hay) going forward is probably the best way to get his weight to come up.

 

[Guinea Newbie]

Ok, thank you. I don’t want to cause potential problems further down the line. We hope it’s just a UTI he has but if symptoms return after the medication stops then we need to go down the stones route. It doesn’t make sense to me to give a piggie with bladder issues a high calcium diet.
His brother is over weight (I suspect a level of food bullying in their previous home) and he is under weight. The vet advised separate food areas. I am to give give my poorly one nuggets (his are low calcium) and cut them from the other ones diet altogether. They have plenty of ad-lib hay (meadow/Timothy mix).

 

[Piggies&buns]

No, it’s not a good idea to give a high calcium diet to any pig but particularly one with known bladder problems.

Boars should ideally have separate feeding areas anyway (and in fact two of every item - hideys, bottles etc) as it avoids the risk of fall outs.

 

[Siikibam]

I’d say keep the pellets to the limit (a tablespoon each per day) for both, and give them their veg in a bowl each. If you place the bowls at separate ends of the housing then the other can’t eat his and the other lot.

Another alternative is to hand feed them both. Or as last resort take the underweight piggy out at feeding time.

Hopefully once the bigger pig is on a ‘proper’ diet he will revert to his correct weight. What does his heft feel like? That’s the best way to tell whether he’s ok or not.

 

[Guinea Newbie]

Yes they do, we already have two of everything. The vet meant to keep them separate whilst eating veg and nuggets. Them way can be sure that trifle is being allowed to eat his food and crumble who is on the podgy side can’t eat any nuggets! They are also in a cage which is too small, new one should hopefully arrive by Monday . Then more space and easy to divide off for feeding times.
Thanks for you advice about alfalfa. I will steer clear of it and try to ensure trifle eat enough of his other foods.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,
I recently re-homed (14 days ago) two boys who are 18mths. Sadly I don’t think they have had their needs truly met. One has been ill this week with a suspected UTI or bladder stones and seems much happier 2 days after starting medication. Hopefully it’s a UTI. He is also very skinny and underweight.
The vet suggested Alfalfa hay to try to help him gain weight. Given the high calcium content I would like some advice about if this is actually a good idea?
I don’t want to promote bladder stone growth! It would be temporary whilst he gains the weight he needs to.

Thanks in advance.

Hi!

Alfalfa hay is very high in calcium and protein, and definitely not what I would recommend for a guinea pig with urinary tract problems abd suspected bladder stones. We only recommend it in small amounts for pregnant and nursing guinea pigs (in larger amounts only if the pregnant sows are very undernourished). otherwise it is too rich and too high in calcium for other piggies.

Please read the safe diet support tips in our 'underweight' section of this guide here: Weight - Monitoring and Management

I would also strongly recommend to read our diet tips for guinea pigs with bladder stones in the specia diets chapter of our diet guide: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Overall, for the long term it is important that your vet can get to the bottom of the weight loss and that your boys are on a long term healthy and sustainable diet; empty calories will come off as quickly as they have come on as they are converted into fat.