Help: Low Calcium Diet Plan Ideas

[elliot]

My guinea pig has been having powdery mineral deposits in her urine. I am taking her to the vets tomorrow. I have read that the best thing is to do for this is to reduce her calcium intake because it is probably too high. But I am not sure how to do this correctly.

Currently the pellets I give her are Burgess excel which have grass as the first ingredient. I also give her hay and a range of veggies like greens, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, celery, carrot and red pepper plus occasionally some melon or grapes. But in the past couple of days I have been giving her less green leaves to try to reduce the calcium but it doesn't seem to have worked.

Also in reading about how to reduce calcium I have come across information about keeping a 1.3:1 calcium to phosphorus ration in their diets, which seems to be really hard with low calcium vegetables.

Also, our tap water is not hard water, so I don't think she is getting excess calcium from there.

So, I am struggling to come up with a good diet with low calcium. Does anyone any have examples of combinations of vegetables for guinea pigs with these calcium deposits in their urine? Or any other idea as to what could be causing this?

Thanks

 

[RingoandOlly]

Hi, I feed mine burgess too. I would cut out the spinach for now. Parsley, basil and kale are high in calcium too, along with rocket. I would wait until you get expert advice from the vet x Good luck!

 

[sport_billy]

Hello, welcome to the forum

Urine when dried may leave powdery white calcium deposits, powdery is normal, gritty is not - Guinea Lynx :: What's Normal?

I believe the thought of the 1.3:1 calcium to phosphorus diet has shifted over the years it is very difficult to get the balance right and there is a school of thought switching towards a low calcium diet have a read of this thread here Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet

Could you add your location to your profile as it helps us tailor any advice if ever needed to your geographical location

Welcome again
Lee

 

[piggieminder]

Grainless pellets may help, mine have been on them for 2 weeks and I'm noticing the urine is not so thick white looking. As sport_billy has said white wees are normal you only need worry if it's gritty.