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Bladder Stone

E

evymv

New Born Pup
Joined
May 8, 2021
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Location
Montréal, QC, Canada
Hi everyone,

Last year my male guinea pig had a surgery to remove a bladder stone, it went well and he recovered quickly.
11 months later and he has another stone. He had it removed on Wednesday, he's now home with me and he's doing fine.
My boy sure is strong!
My concern now is that it might happen again and he's not so young anymore. He's 5 yo and has arthritis.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I give him filtered water, he eats radicchio, cucumber, green pepper and a raisin tomatoes every day and cilantro 2 to 3 times a week.
I don't give him vitamin C tablets bc the first time he had a bladder stone, the vet told me that it might be because of that.
Also, I figured he gets plenty of vitamin C in his green pepper.
Do you guys have any idea or suggestions on how to avoid this problem again?
 
How many pellets do you feed? Guinea pigs should only have one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day. Whilst tomatoes are not high in calcium, they should only be fed once a week maximum as they're very acidic and can cause mouth sores. Sadly, some guinea pigs can be prone to forming bladder stones :(
 
I’m so sorry your piggy has developed another stone. Some piggies are more prone to bladder stones. If you are filtering their water and not over feeding their nuggets there’s not much more you can do.
 
Please look at the amount of pellets you feed. Even no added calcium pellets have significantly more calcium weight per weight than the veg highest in calcium, kale. We recommend 1 tablespoon.

If your boy is not a great drinker, then it helps to feed more watery low calcium foods to encourage regular urination, which can also help to minimise stone formation. It is a complex process. Unless you feed a grossly calcium laden diet, there are often several contributing factors, like not drinking loads, a genetic disposition, suddenly something going wrong with the calcium absorption or the diet out of balance. You can't make your piggies drink more of they don't have a the urge to drink a lot; that is when the watery food comes in. Big drinkers are usually at a much smaller risk of stones. Some of the other factors you can unfortunately not influence.

We have a chapter on diet tips for piggies with urinary tract issues:
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Thank you all for your replies. It's been 11 days since his operation and I just heard him cry and I think he was peeing. Is it possible that a stone could form so quickly?
 
I'm so sorry your piggy is unwell. I don’t know if a stone can form again that quickly. I’d take them back to the vets to check. Maybe they could have a UTI. Good luck
 
evymv said:
Thank you all for your replies. It's been 11 days since his operation and I just heard him cry and I think he was peeing. Is it possible that a stone could form so quickly?
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do you have any update on your boy please? i hope hes okay!
 
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