Not drinking water, urine gritty

[sarah298]

Bolt is 5 1/2 and he was back and the vets today with what I thought would be a uti. Last year he had quite a large calcium stone removed and the vet is slightly concerned as his wee is slightly gritty that he could be developing another .

We have never seen him drink since we got him at a few weeks old but always made sure we fed him cucumber to keep his water intake up. The seems to think the lack of water diluting his wee could be causing the build up of calcium again (which would make sense) and suggested trying different ways to try and get him to drink.

Does anyone have any suggestions? They have a water bottle atm and have tried him with a bowl in the past but has never been interested . I know it isn’t ideal but I was even considering buying the vitamin c to go in the water incase he likes the taste of that but I'm not sure?

Any help would be appreciated. He has been sent home with baytril and metacam. Told to go back end of the week if he hasn’t improved.

 

[Deleted member 129777]

Maybe he is tired of the taste of the water. My guinea pig always liked it but it has no vitamins and no real minerals. I read it on WikiHow. My guinea pig is named Colt and he is two months old. I hope I gave you good info

 

[Wiebke]

Bolt is 5 1/2 and he was back and the vets today with what I thought would be a uti. Last year he had quite a large calcium stone removed and the vet is slightly concerned as his wee is slightly gritty that he could be developing another .

We have never seen him drink since we got him at a few weeks old but always made sure we fed him cucumber to keep his water intake up. The seems to think the lack of water diluting his wee could be causing the build up of calcium again (which would make sense) and suggested trying different ways to try and get him to drink.

Does anyone have any suggestions? They have a water bottle atm and have tried him with a bowl in the past but has never been interested . I know it isn’t ideal but I was even considering buying the vitamin c to go in the water incase he likes the taste of that but I'm not sure?

Any help would be appreciated. He has been sent home with baytril and metacam. Told to go back end of the week if he hasn’t improved.

Hi! Please be aware that the need to drink is varies a lot in guinea pigs; some won't and you cannot make them. the more veg you feed, the less they will drink because they are not becoming any thirstier the more fluid in edible or drinkable form you throw at them.
All About Drinking And Bottles

Instead of overfeeding veg, I would rather recommend to give your boy two sessions a day in which you offer him as much fresh, cool water he wants to drink from a syringe. DO NOT squirt any water into his mouth (especially not more than he can swallow) and force him to drink more than he wants to! This will hopefully encourage him to make two larger pees to help flush the bladder better.

The other approach is to thoroughly check the diet (including water, pellets (content as well as quantity), and veg for a balanced low - but NOT entirely - calcium-free diet. Many people are not aware that most calcium comes often from pellets and water than high calcium veg.
You will find tips for a long term balanced diet for guinea pigs with urinary tract issues in our diet guide: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Please see a vet for a check-up and if necessary a scan.

 

[sarah298]

Hi! Please be aware that the need to drink is varies a lot in guinea pigs; some won't and you cannot make them. the more veg you feed, the less they will drink because they are not becoming any thirstier the more fluid in edible or drinkable form you throw at them.
All About Drinking And Bottles

Instead of overfeeding veg, I would rather recommend to give your boy two sessions a day in which you offer him as much fresh, cool water he wants to drink from a syringe. DO NOT squirt any water into his mouth (especially not more than he can swallow) and force him to drink more than he wants to! This will hopefully encourage him to make two larger pees to help flush the bladder better.

The other approach is to thoroughly check the diet (including water, pellets (content as well as quantity), and veg for a balanced low - but NOT entirely - calcium-free diet. Many people are not aware that most calcium comes often from pellets and water than high calcium veg.
You will find tips for a long term balanced diet for guinea pigs with urinary tract issues in our diet guide: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Please see a vet for a check-up and if necessary a scan.

Thanks for your replies.

When he was in for the calcium stone i done a lot of research into what foods were suitable etc and changed their pellets to grain free and they are limited. I did change what veg I was feeding as well but I might have another look and see if I can make better choices for him. Is grass high in calcium? Right now we feed them veg twice a day but I'm wondering if one of those meals could be replaced with fresh grass?

Thanks again.

 

[sarah298]

I was reading the posts on special needs diets and am a bit confused with what veg should be included in their diet? I’ve used the guinea lynx chart before and tried to pick foods from the lower end of the calcium chart but the post linked above suggested to cut out all lettuce? Could someone just post some safe vegetables for piggies prone to stones etc?

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for your replies.

When he was in for the calcium stone i done a lot of research into what foods were suitable etc and changed their pellets to grain free and they are limited. I did change what veg I was feeding as well but I might have another look and see if I can make better choices for him. Is grass high in calcium? Right now we feed them veg twice a day but I'm wondering if one of those meals could be replaced with fresh grass?

Thanks again.

If you have access to dog/fox pee-free grass, then fresh grass is a good option. it is after all what piggies have evolved on although they should still get unlimited hay.

Lettuce or not is not as important with a stone than when your piggy has got interstitial cystitis where some people think it may be one of the trigger foods that can cause another acute episode. If you'd prefer to keep it, then please do!

Unfortunately diet is a confusing minefield with constantly shifting parameters!

Our general advice in our sample diet is what has independently worked out to keep our long term members' piggies from getting any more stones and boost their general health and longevity. We all have a personalised diet that centres around the veg in the sample diet and have not had any stone operations in our piggies in a number of years now (5-7 years), so it basically works by practical experimentation and personal tweaking.
For that reason I think that it is not the worst place to start out from. You can tweak it to your own preferences; you shouldn't hopefully not go far wrong!

Our advice is undoubtedly continuing to adapt as new insights develop and are found to stand the test of time (or not!). We try our best to make sure that what we recommend is something that is as workable and as proven to work as much as we get feedback from or members' practical experiences with any new trends and recommendations.

PS: One very important factor in avoiding bladder stones seems to be either the filtering of water or switching to low calcium/low mineral bottled water; this has in many cases been much more effective than any veg tweaks; even in soft water areas.

 

[sarah298]

If you have access to dog/fox pee-free grass, then fresh grass is a good option. it is after all what piggies have evolved on although they should still get unlimited hay.

Lettuce or not is not as important with a stone than when your piggy has got interstitial cystitis where some people think it may be one of the trigger foods that can cause another acute episode. If you'd prefer to keep it, then please do!

Unfortunately diet is a confusing minefield with constantly shifting parameters!

Our general advice in our sample diet is what has independently worked out to keep our long term members piggies from getting any more stones and boost their general health and longevity. We all have a personalised diet that centres around the veg in the sample diet and have not had any stone operations in our piggies in a number of years now (5-7 years), so it basically works by practical experimentation and tweaking.

For that reason I think that it is not the worst place to start out from. You can tweak it to your own preferences; you hopefully shouldn't go far wrong!
Our advice is undoubtedly continuing to adapt as new insights develop and are found to stand the test of time (or not). We try our best to make sure that what we recommend is something that is as workable and as proven to work as much as we get feedback from or members' practical experiences with any new trends and recommendations.

PS: One very important factor in avoiding bladder stones seems to be either the filtering of water or switching to low calcium/low mineral bottled water; this has in many cases been much more effective than any veg tweaks; even in soft water areas.

Thanks for his information, it has helped a lot . Also managed to find a post listing low veggies which I will pin up on the fridge and stick to them. I didn’t know that about water last time and will try them with bottled water and see if that makes any difference getting him to drink.

Thanks again.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for his information, it has helped a lot . Also managed to find a post listing low veggies which I will pin up on the fridge and stick to them. I didn’t know that about water last time and will try them with bottled water and see if that makes any difference getting him to drink.

Thanks again.

All the best! I hope that it is working out for you, too. Please let us know; we strive to give the best possible advice and are always glad about hearing back from personal experiences. As water hardness and pellet availability changes from area to area and country to country, we cannot give one definite 'that's it' advice that fits everybody. Our sample diet is just a safe base of widely available foods you can then work out from what is right for you.

 

[Piggiepops]

Bolt is 5 1/2 and he was back and the vets today with what I thought would be a uti. Last year he had quite a large calcium stone removed and the vet is slightly concerned as his wee is slightly gritty that he could be developing another .

We have never seen him drink since we got him at a few weeks old but always made sure we fed him cucumber to keep his water intake up. The seems to think the lack of water diluting his wee could be causing the build up of calcium again (which would make sense) and suggested trying different ways to try and get him to drink.

Does anyone have any suggestions? They have a water bottle atm and have tried him with a bowl in the past but has never been interested . I know it isn’t ideal but I was even considering buying the vitamin c to go in the water incase he likes the taste of that but I'm not sure?

Any help would be appreciated. He has been sent home with baytril and metacam. Told to go back end of the week if he hasn’t improved.

My vet advised putting a little pineapple juice into the water to encourage drinking when my pig had gritty urine! We didn’t need to fortunately because she is a big drinker. My favourite way to make sure they drink enough is to either give them cucumber / watermelon or use the mist setting on my hosepipe to wet the grass then let them eat that

 

[sarah298]

My vet advised putting a little pineapple juice into the water to encourage drinking when my pig had gritty urine! We didn’t need to fortunately because she is a big drinker. My favourite way to make sure they drink enough is to either give them cucumber / watermelon or use the mist setting on my hosepipe to wet the grass then let them eat that

Will give that a go thank you I did ask about Ribena but she said no as it could mess with his stomach.

 

[Piggiepops]

Will give that a go thank you I did ask about Ribena but she said no as it could mess with his stomach.

Try and use fresh fruit juice straight from the pineapple as it will be less sugary and won’t mess with him xx

 

[sarah298]

I forgot to mention yesterday but the vet actually said Bolt is currently underweight any ideas how I could help him put on weight? He still has a great appetite, eats plenty of hay and pellets. Could the weight loss be due to whatever this issue is atm and possibly his age?