best grain free nuggets for low calcium?

piggiemummy03x

piggiemummy03x

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not really sure what i should do in this situation so just looking for a bit of advice! my girl della has just had a bladder flush to remove a stone which we are pretty sure has worked!🤞🏻😊 i know stones are caused by a calcium build up so i’m trying to keep an eye on the level of calcium they have.. i’m wondering if i should maybe cut out pellets completely as i know they contain calcium or just keep to a tablespoon per pig? i don’t want to cut it out completely but i’m so worried about more stones so want to do everything possible to prevent them again. they are currently on burgers excel blackcurrant which they have only really started eating in the last week or so, after i hand fed them a few pellets! (i was mixing their old food with these pellets but they wouldn’t touch the new lot lol) and they really seem to like them now.. i don’t want to take away food if i don’t need to but at the same time i’m just so worried! maybe if i do one tablespoon for the both of them? i’m so unsure! any advice is appreciated, thanks! they are 13 weeks old today😌💞
 
There is a fine balance here as too little calcium is just as bad as too much and by reducing too low you run into other problems instead as it knocks that balance the wrong way.
One tablespoon per pig per day is the recommended amount.

This is an older thread but Wiebkes comments may interest you
Thoughts on Low Calcium Diet?
 
Piggies&buns said:
There is a fine balance here as too little calcium is just as bad as too much and by reducing too low you run into other problems instead as it knocks that balance the wrong way.
One tablespoon per pig per day is the recommended amount.

This is an older thread but Wiebkes comments may interest you
Thoughts on Low Calcium Diet?
Click to expand...
i see! this is what i was worried about.. ill keep to one tablespoon per pig!
thanks!
 
Now that you know you have a piggy with a tendency towards bladder issues, I would follow pretty rigidly the recommended diet with low calcium focus Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Having had this issue with other bladder piggies, let me tell you what has worked for us:
  1. Filtering the water. Using a water filter jug
  2. Switching to grain free pellets - mine all eat the Supreme Petfood selective naturals grain free pellets but they did also like the Versele Laga cavia complete grain free pellets
  3. Restricting veggies to the low calcium diet (as per guide above) and keeping to that without variation. Mine have pepper, cucumber, green bean and coriander daily. Do not give any other fruit or veg other than grass
  4. Dampening all veggies and grass - drenching in filtered water
  5. Cystease or other bladder support supplement.
These measures enabled my bladder piggies to live comfortably without regular flare ups and have kept things much more stable.
 
VickiA said:
Now that you know you have a piggy with a tendency towards bladder issues, I would follow pretty rigidly the recommended diet with low calcium focus Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Having had this issue with other bladder piggies, let me tell you what has worked for us:
  1. Filtering the water. Using a water filter jug
  2. Switching to grain free pellets - mine all eat the Supreme Petfood selective naturals grain free pellets but they did also like the Versele Laga cavia complete grain free pellets
  3. Restricting veggies to the low calcium diet (as per guide above) and keeping to that without variation. Mine have pepper, cucumber, green bean and coriander daily. Do not give any other fruit or veg other than grass
  4. Dampening all veggies and grass - drenching in filtered water
  5. Cystease or other bladder support supplement.
These measures enabled my bladder piggies to live comfortably without regular flare ups and have kept things much more stable.
Click to expand...
thankyou so much! i think i’m going to have to get some grain free pellets! already filtering water, ill take a look at the veggies recommended! thanks again!
 
VickiA said:
Now that you know you have a piggy with a tendency towards bladder issues, I would follow pretty rigidly the recommended diet with low calcium focus Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Having had this issue with other bladder piggies, let me tell you what has worked for us:
  1. Filtering the water. Using a water filter jug
  2. Switching to grain free pellets - mine all eat the Supreme Petfood selective naturals grain free pellets but they did also like the Versele Laga cavia complete grain free pellets
  3. Restricting veggies to the low calcium diet (as per guide above) and keeping to that without variation. Mine have pepper, cucumber, green bean and coriander daily. Do not give any other fruit or veg other than grass
  4. Dampening all veggies and grass - drenching in filtered water
  5. Cystease or other bladder support supplement.
These measures enabled my bladder piggies to live comfortably without regular flare ups and have kept things much more stable.
Click to expand...
so can i please ask, pepper, cucumber, green bean and coriander is what your piggies get and thats it? i give mine these things daily as well as celery and lettuce - are these too high in calcium to give? i occasionally give them courgette too, again, i didn’t think these 3 vegetables had too much calcium in but should i be avoiding them?
 
Celery can be high in calcium - between the leaves and the stem one is higher in calcium but I’ve gone blank and can’t remember which one now.
The diet link has a specific section and explains what to cut out with bladder piggies
 
Piggies&buns said:
Celery can be high in calcium - between the leaves and the stem one is higher in calcium but I’ve gone blank and can’t remember which one now.
The diet link has a specific section and explains what to cut out with bladder piggies
Click to expand...
oh no! will stop that straight away then!
 
Piggies&buns said:
Celery can be high in calcium - between the leaves and the stem one is higher in calcium but I’ve gone blank and can’t remember which one now.
The diet link has a specific section and explains what to cut out with bladder piggies
Click to expand...
it said on there just minus the lettuce but i thought the dark greens would have more calcium than lettuce!
 
hi everyone, just looking for your recommendations on the best grain free nuggets as these seem to contain the lowest calcium.. don’t want to have to buy bags and bags again so figured if i just found out what the majority of piggies liked i can go with that one and see how we get on!
thanks!
 
Piggies&buns said:
They do, but my understanding is that lettuce can cause issues with conditions such as IC
Click to expand...
ah i see, so it’s probably best to avoid that too, god i feel awful taking away all these veggies but need to do everything i can to stop this from happening again!
 
All pellets have calcium which is why whatever you feed must be kept limited to one tablespoon.
Science selective grain free is amongst the lowest commercially available.
I personally use pellets from Haybox which is just grasses with no fillers like the commercial pellets have

Nugget Comparison Chart
 
Piggies&buns said:
All pellets have calcium which is why whatever you feed must be kept limited to one tablespoon.
Science selective grain free is amongst the lowest commercially available.
I personally use pellets from Haybox which is just grasses with no fillers like the commercial pellets have

Nugget Comparison Chart
Click to expand...
brilliant thankyou.. i think ss grain free had 0.6 of calcium, my current nuggets have 0.9.. is this drop of 0.3 enough?
 
All you can do is find the best ones for you.
We can’t know if 0.3 is going to be enough because any genetic issues will also have an effect and this is why all you can do is keep them limited, filter water etc. The calcium process is a complicated one
 
Piggies&buns said:
All you can do is find the best ones for you.
We can’t know if 0.3 is going to be enough because any genetic issues will also have an effect and this is why all you can do is keep them limited, filter water etc. The calcium process is a complicated one
Click to expand...
of corse! well i’ll try my hardest to do everything i can to reduce it down!
 
also because i’m now reducing the variety of veggies, should i be increasing the amount of each one i can still safely feed them?
 
Yes of course but please try not to overthink it - I’d be very surprised if mine was very accurate - sometimes it may be just under a cup, but usually they will be getting more than a cup. I don’t use any kind of measure anymore, I just chuck it in a bowl and take it out to them - if it looks about right, then that’s good enough for me! They eat more hay and grass than anything else so that’s really what matter
 
I've merged your 2 topics on pellets so we can keep all your advice in the one place. 👍
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes of course but please try not to overthink it - I’d be very surprised if mine was very accurate - sometimes it may be just under a cup, but usually they will be getting more than a cup. I don’t use any kind of measure anymore, I just chuck it in a bowl and take it out to them - if it looks about right, then that’s good enough for me! They eat more hay and grass than anything else so that’s really what matter
Click to expand...
okay thankyou!
 
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