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Excessive calcium pees

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dee10535

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One of my guinea pugs has been doing way too many calcium wees lately, although I'm not sure when it started. Today I actually found something that looked like a piece of chalk. When I pressed it it dissolved into a very smooth powder (not gritty at all) but why was so dense it actually formed into a block? I've limited their pellet intake to no effect, and their main veg diet is romaine lettuce. They get very little high calcium veg. They have lots of hay. Is there anything else I can do? Should I be concerned about the block I found, even if it was just really densely packed powder?
 
I wouldn't worry about the powder if it wasn't gritty. Guinea pigs only need one tablespoon of nuggets per pig per day and ideally, you should filter their tap water as tap water is high in calcium especially if you live in a hard water area
 
How long ago did you limit their nuggets?
How much nuggets were you giving, and how much as you giving now?

They only need one tablespoon but any diet changes can take many weeks to have any effect on the body
 
Their water is filtered. Maybe about a week or two ago I started limiting. Thing is, the instructions on the bag (Oxbow) say 1/8 cup per day per pig. I don't do meal times, they free feed, so I end up having to do 1/4 cup since I have two pigs, and they stay in a different room from me so I don't know if one is eating more than the other. Also, they are not used to eating that little pellet wise, and sometimes I give a bit more because it seemed they were hungry.
 
dee10535 said:
Their water is filtered. Maybe about a week or two ago I started limiting. Thing is, the instructions on the bag (Oxbow) say 1/8 cup per day per pig. I don't do meal times, they free feed, so I end up having to do 1/4 cup since I have two pigs, and they stay in a different room from me so I don't know if one is eating more than the other. Also, they are not used to eating that little pellet wise, and sometimes I give a bit more because it seemed they were hungry.
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1-2 weeks isn’t long enough for it to have had any effect.

So it is just one tablespoon per pig - so two tablespoons between them. 1/4 cup converted to imperial tablespoons means they are getting a little too much - it equates to 3.3 tablespoons.
We advise to not go by what the packaging says - they can say what they like to sell more of their product

Hay is the biggest part of the diet, and its also the piggies default position to seem hungry - they aren’t though, if they have unlimited hay they will never be hungry. Don’t give more pellets because of that - it isn’t doing them any favours and too many pellets can contribute to various health problems

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
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