Low calcium food suggestions needed

Louise mckee

Louise mckee

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi, my piggies Joey is 4 years old and suffers greatly from bladder sludge and has done all his life being in and out of the vets because of it. He is on a low calcium diet, with getting plenty of cucumber and peppers daily and we like to switch between cherry tomato and blueberries a couple times a week. Not much or it's too much sugar etc. He has always been fussy with not drinking a lot of water daily and he is currently having a flare up of bladder sludge so I'm syringing him more water during the day until I can get an appointment with my exotic vet.

Though, he may need an x-ray to check for stones, then a possible surgery if there is any, I need any reccomendations for low calcium pellets in the UK, or anywhere that ships to Northeren Ireland. He is currently on the asda ones, but I don't think they are, or would be the best for him if he needs to get surgery for a stone as I don't want it to come back and for these pellets to be the cause.

So I'm sort of preparing myself for the worst case scenario and for the future for their diets, any good brands I could get asap?

Thanks Louise, and Joey :)
 

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We have a great chart here which lists calcium content of most pellets
Nugget Comparison Chart

I found going grain free helped reduce bladder issues, as well as switching to filtered water (we have a Brita jug).
I also wash all of Ruby's veg in filtered water and feed it slightly 'wet' to increase her water intake a little.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the link! :D
We use a brita jug too ahha! I live in a hardware area so it was always essential to filter the water, we use the water from the fridge then filter it threw the jug so it's getting two runs I guess lol
 
I feed Science Selective (ingrediants are apparently changing soon?), JR Farm, and Versele Laga. I have to get JR Farm and Versele on line. Pets at Home sell Science Selective. The JR Farm ones are large like the Woodlands but are only .5 calcium.
 
Louise mckee said:
The one that seems to be the best one is the Science selective grain free one that's Timothy based, it's also the one that we are able to ship.

Does anyone else use this?
Click to expand...

Yes, mine get that one mixed with some versele Laga to give them a bit of a choice. But they always choose the SS frain free pellets first.
 
Mine get Science Selective mixed either with Versele Laga or JR Farm, they always eat the Science Selective first too.
 
Sorry to hear about your Joey.
If he doesn't drink enough water, do you think that might have contributed to his decline?

My boy Finn doesn't always drink a lot of water but he loves to eat loads of veggies. He gets romaine lettuce daily, with variety of other veggies, herbs, and fruits along with it. I always hoped he drinks more water, but at the same time I thought he was getting enough liquid from veggies.
 
Seven7 said:
Sorry to hear about your Joey.
If he doesn't drink enough water, do you think that might have contributed to his decline?

My boy Finn doesn't always drink a lot of water but he loves to eat loads of veggies. He gets romaine lettuce daily, with variety of other veggies, herbs, and fruits along with it. I always hoped he drinks more water, but at the same time I thought he was getting enough liquid from veggies.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think it has, the less water they drink the less their bladder is flushed which causes the build up of calcium leading to stones or sludge. Though I think most of the calcium is coming from the pellets that's why I want to change them.

I'm hoping in Joeys case it's just sludge and some anti inflammatory meds can help him pass it all like last year when he had his first flare up. He is happy in every other way squeaking for food, eating etc I think he'll be okay he's at the vets on Thursday though to see what we can do.

Some pigs are just genetically more prone to gathering calcium like Joey I think it's cause he comes from the white haired family, I'm not sure it's just my guess lol There isn't really an explanation for why stones in piggies is really common.
 
We've filtered our water for a few years now. The initial change was noticeable within days. The only white spots we get now is when the get too much calcium content in some veg.
 
My boy had a stone removed two weeks ago and doing well. I have switched veggies and water to low calcium but he refuses to eat the low calcium science selective grain free! I’m based in the UK, can anyone provide any alternatives I can try? He was previously on burgess with mint.
 
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