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Milk of Magnesia for guinea pigs?

Hope4gem

Hope4gem

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My vet just prescribed milk of magnesia for my guinea pig, Penny. (It might be called cream of magnesia in the UK, but I'm not sure). Penny was most recently prescribed potassium citrate but the vet saw no reduction in the calcium in her urine. She's already on a low calcium diet so the vet said this is the next thing to try. Has anyone heard of this being prescribed to guinea pigs before?
 
My experience with this is limited, so someone with more knowledge will hopefully reply. One of my pigs is also on a low calcium diet which is managed through filtered water, grain-free, grass-based pellets and very few to no salad/lettuce leaves. The only treatments she's had have been Cerenia for anti-inflammatory and bladder issues, and Metacam for anti-inflammatory and long-term pain relief. However, these have been prescribed in response to cystitis rather than reducing calcium levels long-term.

My vet has never mentioned those meds, but our pigs' situations could be very different. I know that doesn't answer your question, but just putting this out there in case any of it is otherwise helpful!
 
I have totally no idea, it would seem the vet tried to raise the potassium, and now the magnesium levels proportionate to the calcium levels, but milk of magnesia is an osmotic laxative, which I wouldn't have thought would be great. But I don't know 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
Not sure how milk of magnesium is able to help lower calcium as it contains calcium. That stuff is for constipation relief.
 
HeatherW said:
My experience with this is limited, so someone with more knowledge will hopefully reply. One of my pigs is also on a low calcium diet which is managed through filtered water, grain-free, grass-based pellets and very few to no salad/lettuce leaves. The only treatments she's had have been Cerenia for anti-inflammatory and bladder issues, and Metacam for anti-inflammatory and long-term pain relief. However, these have been prescribed in response to cystitis rather than reducing calcium levels long-term.

My vet has never mentioned those meds, but our pigs' situations could be very different. I know that doesn't answer your question, but just putting this out there in case any of it is otherwise helpful!
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Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. There's a few things that you mentioned that I thought about doing. For example, I thought about filtering her water, but because I live in the city that's already done for me by the municipal authority. I don't have hard water so I think that should be ok. She is on Oxbow guinea pig food (no alfalfa) so I think that's ok, but I don't know if it's grain free. I could consider cutting out romaine lettuce, but since I'd already cut out all other high calcium veg I thought the lettuce might be ok. At any rate, you've given me some things to think about so thank you.
 
Black piggies said:
I have totally no idea, it would seem the vet tried to raise the potassium, and now the magnesium levels proportionate to the calcium levels, but milk of magnesia is an osmotic laxative, which I wouldn't have thought would be great. But I don't know 🤷🏼‍♀️
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Yes, that's what I was thinking too. I nervous about giving her a laxative as she does not have any issues with constipation.
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
Not sure how milk of magnesium is able to help lower calcium as it contains calcium. That stuff is for constipation relief.
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I did not realize that it contained calcium. Thank you for sharing it with me. Yes, I know it's for constipation relief that's why I was nervous about giving it to her.
 
I give my piggy cat cystease. I was told her wee was high calcium when she was young, she occasionally gets blood in her wee without infection, pain or stones.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. The phone call I got this evening was from a vet technician speaking on behalf of the vet. They are closed now for the day but I have decided to call back tomorrow for more information before I proceed with giving milk of magnesia to Penny. I want to understand what it's supposed to do and if there's any risk of GI upset before I administer it to her. I'll update this thread with what I find out.
 
When I was little and had a bad tummy ache my Mum would give me Milk of Magnesia tablets. She told me that the calcium in it would settle my tummy. The tablets were just like eating mint flavoured chalk and the chalky bits got stuck in my teeth. Maybe it's different where you are in The States and possibly in liquid form it's different to tablet form. I do find it odd though that a guinea pig who is suffering from too much calcium in their wee appears to be being prescribed yet more calcium. Let us know what the vet says.
 
Betsy said:
When I was little and had a bad tummy ache my Mum would give me Milk of Magnesia tablets. She told me that the calcium in it would settle my tummy. The tablets were just like eating mint flavoured chalk and the chalky bits got stuck in my teeth. Maybe it's different where you are in The States and possibly in liquid form it's different to tablet form. I do find it odd though that a guinea pig who is suffering from too much calcium in their wee appears to be being prescribed yet more calcium. Let us know what the vet says.
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I will keep you all posted on what the vet says. Thanks. :nod:
 
The problem with magnesium is that is not added to pellets and that naturally - as far as a guinea pig diet is concerned - it is only found in high calcium veg like cabbages, broccoli and kale etc. This is why I still feed a little higher calcium veg in moderation to those guinea pigs that don't have stone problems. You can do that if the rest of the diet is low in calcium.

The issue with a low calcium diet is that it can cause problems when it gets too low and the balance is just off. Since the balance very much depends on local factors like water hardness or pellet amounts/quality as well as the as hay and the veg selection, it is a very complex area that will never fit every case. :(

PS: I have never come across about cream/milk of magnesia being used for guinea pigs.
 
I have also never heard of milk of magnesia being used in any veterinary scenario except as a quick fix for ingesting toxic plants that might irritate the gut! For a horse or goat that binged on buttercups or hogweed for example which have a corrosive acidic toxin that needs neutralising...
 
I finally heard back from the vet and they say that they recommended milk of magnesia because it will increase the magnesium in the urinary system and therefore decrease the likelihood of formation of crystals in the urine. I asked about any risk of diarrhea because it's usually prescribed in humans for constipation. They say that this should not happen. They prescribed one drop per day. I'm supposed to call them if there are any issues. I want to follow my vet's advice, but I'm still very concerned about giving this to her since no one I've talked to has ever heard of giving this to a guinea pig. We had a guinea pig die from diarrhea in the past when we were brand new owners and knew nothing about what to do. So as you can imagine I'm very concerned about something like that happening again. The good news is I'm off for the summer so I can monitor Penny very closely, but still nervous. I'll update this thread with how it goes.
 
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