Celery?

i<3piggys

i<3piggys

Junior Guinea Pig
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I was wondering if anybody gives their piggys celery ? I read they can have it on one website. Then on another it says to not feed it to your piggy if they have had uti's because it can cause stones? I dont want to feed my piggys anything i dont know for sure they can have.So i'm asking :)
 
My two get some celery every other week. I cut it small so they don’t have problems with the strings. My two prefer the leaves over the stalks but they do eat all.
 
Piggies&buns said:
My two get some celery every other week. I cut it small so they don’t have problems with the strings. My two prefer the leaves over the stalks but they do eat all.
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ok thank you . I feel more comfortable posting on here with all the more knowledgeable gp owners and getting advice before introducing new stuff to my piggys . Sometimes you get mixed info on different sites. (better safe than sorry :) )
 
My lot get celery once a week or so, they prefer the leaves over the stalks but they'll eat the whole thing. I give them about half a stick each, I dont bother cutting it up :)
 
Bill and Ted love celery, especially the leaves, I sometimes use a potato peeler to remove the strings if they are very coarse x
 
Mine have been been getting celery everyday ever since the news of romaine lettuce recall in the US. They get small amount along with veggies and herbs.
 
All of my lot love celery, so they get it a few times a week.
The leaves are the part that has the highest calcium content, so we avoid or minimise those, but do feed a lot of stalk, cut into 2 cm pieces.
 
My vet told me not to feed the stalk to my piggies that get sludge/stones but leaves are okay occasionally. It's interesting that @Swissgreys says the leaves have the highest calcium content as this is the opposite to what I have been told. I have noticed we get increased sludge deposits in the cage when they have been fed stalk.
 
piggieminder said:
My vet told me not to feed the stalk to my piggies that get sludge/stones but leaves are okay occasionally. It's interesting that @Swissgreys says the leaves have the highest calcium content as this is the opposite to what I have been told. I have noticed we get increased sludge deposits in the cage when they have been fed stalk.
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This is interesting.
After her bladder sludge incident earlier this year we immediately did a full review of Ruby's diet to try and see if there were any sources of calcium we could reduce to prevent a recurrence.
My vet recommended celery stalks (definitely no leaves for Ruby), and my own research backed this up (I love my vet, but I always double check).

For example:
'Leaves/greens (celery, broccoli, turnip, beet greens):While the celery stalks are full of fiber, those celery leaves are the real nutrient powerhouses. The leaves contain FIVE times more magnesium (essential for energy)and calcium (important for bone and muscle health) than the stalks. Similarly, beet greens are also richer in antioxidants, fiber, calcium, and iron than the sweet bulb we’re used to eating.'

This was taken from the article here:
Stems, Stalks, Leaves, and Peels « Food and Fitness
which although out in the uncontrolled world of the Internet, was written by a nutritionist.

Plus this would also tie in with the generalism that the darker and denser the foliage, then more nutritionally dense it is.
I have checked a few articles/web sites and can't find any that say the leaves have less calcium than the stalks, but maybe someone else has this info?
I would be keen to find out, becasue obviously keeping Ruby sludge free is my ultimate goal.
 
I've always thought the same as you @Swissgreys, that the leaves have more calcium than the stalks, so I feed it a few times a week (stalks).
Hope I've not been wrong as my Rupert's a bladder piggy and a bit restricted on veg nowadays! His lady Jess gets snuck the leaves occasionally.
 
Since we lost Willow to stones, Bracken's stone op, Spike and Caspy's sludge I'm finding it increasingly difficult to feed the piggies. They used to be eat a lot of grass when they could go outside but then got giardia and worms from the grass. I've lost my confidence really that I'm doing the right thing at all. My vet gave me a list of what to avoid, occasional treats only and good choices when trying to reduce dietry calcium. Too much to put all the lists here but the good list is Broccoli (not leaf), Cilantro, Dark leaf lettuce, Watercress, Celery (leaves only), Cabbage, spring greens, endive, pepper, fine green beans, cucumber. I get a lot of sludgy deposits on the fleece feeding any of this except the last three, lettuce and spring greens. I really feel like :hb:, when looking at these lists the only bad thing they'd had was occasional sow thistle and carrot tops but not enough to cause the problem. Pellets are limited, water is double filtered, on paper these piggies had had just about the best stone avoidance diet possible and yet we have 4 out of 6 piggys with problems.

Some abreviated notes from my vet.
It's not just calcium carbonate that's the problem either, there's oxelates to consider, (spinach, celery, parsley, strawberry are high). Too much vit C can help the formation of stones due to oxelate levels. With supplementation limited to 25-100mg/kg per day it's unlikely to result in excess oxelate levels.
She also stressed that diuresis is extrememly important and fluid intake needs to be increased to flush the bladder. Bracken is being syringed 10ml water 2x daily since his op. The other 2 sludge formers get 10-15ml twice a week to flush out any sludge. I've witnessed this work with Spike, I'd just given him 15ml and returned him to a pale green blanket on the floor he squeaked and weed 4 lumps that looked like cream cheese and 2 spots of blood. This was the first time I did it and he's not had a recurrance that bad since but does still wee thick sludge sometimes rather than just white wee.
 
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Mine love celery which I cut into chunks because of the string. They get all the central sticks while the coarser outer stalks get eaten by the humans.
They do love the leaves and I have to be careful to give each piggy a share of leaf
 
piggieminder said:
Since we lost Willow to stones, Bracken's stone op, Spike and Caspy's sludge I'm finding it increasingly difficult to feed the piggies. They used to be eat a lot of grass when they could go outside but then got giardia and worms from the grass. I've lost my confidence really that I'm doing the right thing at all. My vet gave me a list of what to avoid, occasional treats only and good choices when trying to reduce dietry calcium. Too much to put all the lists here but the good list is Broccoli (not leaf), Cilantro, Dark leaf lettuce, Watercress, Celery (leaves only), Cabbage, spring greens, endive, pepper, fine green beans, cucumber. I get a lot of sludgey deposits on the fleece feeding any of this except the last three, lettuce and spring greens. I really feel like :hb:.
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Yes feel the same @piggieminder!
My 6yr old Rupert had one stone surgery, got another that was thankfully tiny but reacted badly to anaesthetic just having the X-ray so Simon at Cat and Rabbit said he wouldn't be a good candidate for another surgery. So try my hardest but it's definitely a worry! Blooming vegetables!
 
Willow was only 10months when he was PTS as he had stones in in operable places, I was devastated and felt it was my fault, I'd been feeding the wrong things. My vet assured me I hadn't and it was down to bad genes. Bracken has had an operation, the vet managed to flush a stone out of his penis back into the bladder where she removed a tea spoon full of sludge and stones, he's only 2, the vet says it's very bad luck not bad diet, not that much so young it takes years normally to form a stone. Now I've 2 more with sludge one 4 years and one only 1 year, diet is the common denominator here it's really hard to believe I'm not doing something wrong.
 
@piggieminder don't blame yourself, I never had problems with my last two boys and they had more calcium rich veg, 'normal' pellets etc. Never had a problem with either of them.
Rupert one day sat and was squeezing a bit, like he couldn't poo or something, turned out was a stone stuck in his urethra, couldn't urinate at all, so either had to have an op to remove it (a thread of mine on here from ages ago) or I'd have to let him go. He's over 6 now, has Cystease daily and on a pretty strict diet!
Never had issues with his lady either so def different for different piggies. I freaked out yest as he was sat in a funny position and lifting his bum a bit, same as when he was ill, does worry you hugely!
I'm sure you do everything you can and should xx
 
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