Calcium in urine?

[Engel]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this so this can be moved if necessary.

While spot cleaning Chunk I noticed white patches where he pees. I first noticed it when he was sharing a cage with Oreo (when I thought they were both boars) and to be honest thought it was semen. Fast forward to now and there's white, almost powder on the fleece where he's peed?

Any ideas what it could be?

Here's his current diet:
1tbsp science selective grain free pellets
1 cup of veggies a normal day consists of coriander, pepper, celery, cucumber and 1romaine lettuce leaf.
Unlimited Timothy and meadow hay

He was being fed muesli mix with high amounts of grain and seeds before I got him. Also lots of apple. Could it be from his old food? He's only been on his current diet for a week and his urine has remained the same? Oreo is completely fine and her urine is clear.

Any ideas?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Do the patches feel gritty at all?
Excess calcium is excreted in the urine so seeing some isn’t abnormal but if you’re dealing with it a lot and it’s gritty then that can be cause to look into things and get a vet appointment.

do you filter their drinking water? If not, do start to do so as this, along with keeping pellets limited, does reduce the calcium intake (you can’t reduce it too far though as otherwise you cause other health issues).
Otherwise, any changes to diet takes a long time to have an effect so if things have been less than ideal up until now , then you’ve got a while before the benefits of a change in diet start having an effect on their bodies.

 

[Engel]

Do the patches feel gritty at all?
Excess calcium is excreted in the urine so seeing some isn’t abnormal but if you’re dealing with it a lot and it’s gritty then that can be cause to look into things and get a vet appointment.

do you filter their drinking water? If not, do start to do so as this, along with keeping pellets limited, does reduce the calcium intake (you can’t reduce it too far though as otherwise you cause other health issues).
Other, any changes to diet takes a long time to have an effect so if things have been less than ideal up until now , then you’ve got a while before the benefits of a change in diet start having an effect on their bodies.

No it doesn't feel gritty. No I don't filter my water. I live in a medium/hard water area, so I'll look into filtering the water.

That's what I'm worried about, reducing it too far especially as he's still growing.

How long until I start seeing a difference regarding food? In dogs they say to wait about 8 weeks. Would I be looking at a similar time scale?

I'll keep an eye on him. If it gets worse and becomes gritty or sludgy then I'll get in contact with the vet.

Is there anything else that can cause a white powder in urine? I'm just assuming it's calcium as it seems to be one of the main issues with pigs

 

[Piggies&buns]

calcium absorption is complex so I’d think a couple of months before you can be more sure the diet change has had an effect.
just follow the tips in the feeding guide - mostly hay, 1tbsp pellets, 50g veg - and they will get the nutrition they need.

it’s calcium when you’re seeing white powdery urine. I’ve not heard of any other cause

 

[Claire W]

I agree with @Piggies&buns It is excess calcium that you are seeing and if you follow our diet guide, filter the drinking water and if the urine doesn’t feel gritty, I wouldn’t worry

 

[Engel]

calcium absorption is complex so I’d think a couple of months before you can be more sure the diet change has had an effect.
just follow the tips in the feeding guide - mostly hay, 1tbsp pellets, 50g veg - and they will get the nutrition they need.

it’s calcium when you’re seeing white powdery urine. I’ve not heard of any other cause

Ok. I'll monitor him over the following months then.

That's exactly what I'm doing now re food so hopefully we will see a difference in the following months.

Ok I just wanted to make sure I wasn't jumping to conclusions and blaming calcium if there's other things it could be.

 

[Engel]

I agree with @Piggies&buns It is excess calcium that you are seeing and if you follow our diet guide, filter the drinking water and if the urine doesn’t feel gritty, I wouldn’t worry

Ok thanks.

 

[Wiebke]

Ok. I'll monitor him over the following months then.

That's exactly what I'm doing now re food so hopefully we will see a difference in the following months.

Ok I just wanted to make sure I wasn't jumping to conclusions and blaming calcium if there's other things it could be.

I can also second that filtering the water is the best measure you can take in preventing/minimising the long tem risk of bladder stones or sludge together with limiting your pellets to max 1 tablespoon per piggy per day. Even the no added calcium nuggets still contain more calcium weight per weight than the veg highest in calcium, kale.
The irony is that fresh grass is high calcium and that even hay contains enough to prevent scurvy (it is the reason why guinea pigs never had the need to make their own vitamin C), so by encouraging your piggies to feed as much hay as possible instead of pellets that are much higher in fillers and lower in fibre you won't deprive them of any necessary vitamin C.

If you are seeing calcium pees rather regularly I would strongly recommend to implement these changes. They can really make the difference between bladder stones and none down the line. They are more common in guinea pigs where diet is only one contributing factor in the complex calcium absorption process. Unfortunately it is the only one that we can control. You can't do anything about a genetic disposition or how much your piggy is drinking when you have a bad drinker. Or about something in the calcium absorption process going wrong.

The occasional calcium pee is nothing to worry about. It is the normal way of the body to excrete excess calcium. A cluster can sometimes be seen at the very start of a cystitis flare in the days before other symptoms set in. But on its own it is not an indicator.