Bladder Stones and Water

[Rebecca23]

Hi, all. What kind of water do you use for your bladder stone piggies? Is a Brita filter good or should I be using bottled?

 

[Free Ranger]

In the UK a lot of the tap water has high calcium and we can check on the web with our water company to get a reading for Ca levels.
Roughly:

• Soft water has less than 17 parts per million
• Slightly hard water has 17 to 60 parts per million
• Moderately hard water has 60 to 120 parts per million
• Hard water has 120 to 180 parts per million‌
• Very hard water has greater than 180 parts per million

My area has about 250-300. I have found a bottled water that has about 3... a back-up brand has 28ish. I prefer to use these but many people filter their tap water. It is a popular choice. A Brita filter is supposed to take about 90% of what is there - although I don't know if that is within certain limits of Ca but whatever the exact amount filtering out the bulk of it and restricting the amount of pellets (another high source of calcium) is recommended. I give slightly more than the recommended tbsp of pellets per pig but on my own head be it! I monitor their pee patches etc closely to check for a 'normal' amount of white deposit and make sure it isn't too thick or gritty. And we offer a lot of cucumber and bell pepper. Touch wood, none of these 3 have had a stone problem (yet) but pigs in the past certainly have. However, that was before I got all these water/nugget tips from the forum!

 

[Bradshaw Piggies]

I use a Brita jug for water. I also restrict calcium in the diet. A lot of bladder stone development can be due to lack of water intake, as much as high calcium intake. So several water sources and feeding veggies drenched in water can also help. Anything to increase hydration

 

[Wiebke]

I use a Brita filter, and it has made the difference of only having one stone in the last 9 years (and that was in the wake of all the fresh food shortages during the first lockdown when I was shielding with 27 piggies). But if you are in a difficult area or have a very sensitive piggy, then bottled water may be the solution for you.

It is worth noting that unless your diet is grossly overladen with calcium or out of balance, bladder stone piggies generally have other underlying risk factors that are playing into the complex calcium absorption process. Diet is just the way we can influence it but it is not like there is a fixed recipe that works the same for every piggy or every place on the globe.

Reducing the amount of pellets does really help since even no added calcium pellets contain more calcium per weight than even the veg highest in calcium (kale). In veg you are rather looking for veg and herbs low in oxalates and lower in calcium - but please do not go too low. Please keep in mind that pellets and veg/herbs replace the supplementary role that wild forage used to have in a mainly grass/hay based diet on which guinea pigs have eveolved on.
There is a kind of 'soft spot' where you want to keep your diet in but since water hardness, pellet brands and available veg varies quite a bit across the world, local factors vary and you have to find your own ideal diet until further research brings new insights. Too low can unbalance the diet and lead to stones again.

On the whole, our diet recommendations have stood the test of time after the long term owners on here found by trial and error what worked and what not and ended up with rather similar diets.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

 

[Rebecca23]

Thanks, everyone! My bladder stone piggy (Blossom) had a rough start to life so I always wonder if that is a contributing factor. She lived alone in a tiny cage for 3.5 years and was never fed hay, and she was only given the food laden with seeds and whatnot. Her cage was filthy, her nails overgrown, and she only had a broken tiny wooden hut to hide in. Her people didn't want her anymore and offered her for free online. I got her on hay and good pellets and she lives in a big C&C pen now with floor time. She's a big snuggle bug and watches tv with me every night.

 

[Free Ranger]

How lovely to have a happy ending

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

I don't use filtered water or bottled water and have never had a guinea pig with a bladder stone. However, I feed a very wet diet. I feed a lot of mixed salad leaves and grass (very much more than is normally recommended). I also use bowls of water, in addition to water bottles, distributed around the cage. I feed very few nuggets and unlimited hay.

 

[Bluebell]

Bowls and water bottles, never filtered or bottled!

BUT I do try to make sure that their diet is never more than half dry food, which is a lot easier in the summer than the winter. Mostly they hardly drink at all, and if I notice them particularly drinking then I know they are not getting enough fresh food - and the vegetable order gets bigger!

Like furryfriends' gps they get a huge amount of veg and grass daily - (and though there is of course a genetic component involved due to factory farming of shop pets) - I didn't even know until I started reading pet forums that guinea pigs seemed prone to these bladder problems, and I have owned them for decades with no problems.

BUT I was concerned that bringing them all indoors, which I was not happy about, was going to be a causative factor - so I should add that I'm waiting to see if I do start to get such problems as a result. Not a test I wanted to do on them, but such is life!

 

[WheekHearted]

I’m in the US but I think this forum is great!
Second I buy reverse osmosis water from a local grocery dispenser and it’s what mine drink and what I drink, too. I refill four 5-gallon jugs every week and I serve it to them at room temperature.

 

[Claire W]

I live in a soft water area but still use a Brita water jug to filter their drinking water. after having two piggies develop bladder sludge and calcium crystals. I also feed a wet, low calcium diet