Something to replace lettuce/spring greens? (IC diet)

stef.trg

stef.trg

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Pewter has just been diagnosed with IC so we‘re currently working on getting her diet right. We want to get her on the IC diet mentioned in the forum guides but we‘re doing it slowly to know immediately if something is triggering a flare up. She has been on coriander and cucumber for a few days and her symptoms seemed to improve almost instantly with a completely squeak-free day yesterday. I‘ve made a mistake and introduced her to little gem lettuce 2 nights ago (didn’t realise she shouldn’t have any!) and this evening she‘s had a few squeaky poos again. However, I’m not sure if it’s actually the lettuce or just coincide?

I‘d replace lettuce for spring greens but they make her quite gassy so I‘m very reluctant to doing that. Is there anything I can feed instead? Or should I just cut out lettuce & spring greens completely and give her a couple sprigs of coriander more? We’re very much at the start of our IC journey with Pewter so any advice is massively appreciated!
 
First of all, me and my piggies wish Pewter the best luck in recovering and the best luck to you also ! It can be overwhelming and painful to know there is something wrong with your piggy and hear them in pain! I would recommend some blueberries in their diet or grapes. But wait for the others to reply! I wish you and your piggy the best luck!
 
In my experience different things seem to be a trigger with different pigs and it's always been a case of illimination. I've mostly replaced my green leaf with grass, living in the south of the country I only missed a few days of grass this winter, as it's been quite mild our grass doesn't completely stop growing. I found with Spike celery was a trigger, where as with Peanut it was Romaine lettuce. Rusty who is the worst for IC seems to be sensative to most veg. Rusty also suffers with sludge and has had a stone removal operation, his bladder has been much better since being on a grass, pepper and cucumber diet with the occasional dandelion or sow thistle leaf.
I have heard of pigs on the forum being triggered by grass though so it's a tough one to sort out. I hope you can find a solution for Pepper and that she gets well soon.
 
piggieminder said:
In my experience different things seem to be a trigger with different pigs and it's always been a case of illimination. I've mostly replaced my green leaf with grass, living in the south of the country I only missed a few days of grass this winter, as it's been quite mild our grass doesn't completely stop growing. I found with Spike celery was a trigger, where as with Peanut it was Romaine lettuce. Rusty who is the worst for IC seems to be sensative to most veg. Rusty also suffers with sludge and has had a stone removal operation, his bladder has been much better since being on a grass, pepper and cucumber diet with the occasional dandelion or sow thistle leaf.
I have heard of pigs on the forum being triggered by grass though so it's a tough one to sort out. I hope you can find a solution for Pepper and that she gets well soon.
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Yes, I read about that; it definitely sounds like we‘re in for quite a journey. It’s awful hearing her squeak but I know it’s not an easy fix and will likely take some weeks/months to figure out. Thankfully, her squeaking seems to bother me more than it does her!

How long does it approximately take between feeding a veg and it causing an IC flare up in your experience? And how long should I wait between introducing veg? Sorry for asking so many questions, it‘s just all so very new (and a little overwhelming!). I‘m very grateful for your help!
 
stef.trg said:
Pewter has just been diagnosed with IC so we‘re currently working on getting her diet right. We want to get her on the IC diet mentioned in the forum guides but we‘re doing it slowly to know immediately if something is triggering a flare up. She has been on coriander and cucumber for a few days and her symptoms seemed to improve almost instantly with a completely squeak-free day yesterday. I‘ve made a mistake and introduced her to little gem lettuce 2 nights ago (didn’t realise she shouldn’t have any!) and this evening she‘s had a few squeaky poos again. However, I’m not sure if it’s actually the lettuce or just coincide?

I‘d replace lettuce for spring greens but they make her quite gassy so I‘m very reluctant to doing that. Is there anything I can feed instead? Or should I just cut out lettuce & spring greens completely and give her a couple sprigs of coriander more? We’re very much at the start of our IC journey with Pewter so any advice is massively appreciated!
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Hopefully your piggy feels better soon. I can’t say I’ve had to deal with this but I try to give my 5 pigs a high vit c low calcium diet. They get a tablespoon each of pellets per day but veggie wise they get corriander, romain hearts, bell pepper and cucumber daily. For treats they tend to get parsley, dill, bit of an orange, banana or carrot but that’s rare, maybe two-3 times per month if I’m feeling nice haha.

I did find that one of my pigs suffered from soft poo when I gave them all some curly kale so I stopped giving them thang and I’ve never given them any brascias types of food since.
 
stef.trg said:
Yes, I read about that; it definitely sounds like we‘re in for quite a journey. It’s awful hearing her squeak but I know it’s not an easy fix and will likely take some weeks/months to figure out. Thankfully, her squeaking seems to bother me more than it does her!

How long does it approximately take between feeding a veg and it causing an IC flare up in your experience? And how long should I wait between introducing veg? Sorry for asking so many questions, it‘s just all so very new (and a little overwhelming!). I‘m very grateful for your help!
Click to expand...

I think for us it was a slow penny drop type realisation. In normal times I go to my daughters regularly for 4 or 5 days at a time and leave the boys with my partner. I shop for veg before I go so leave things that keep well, this was the only time they had celery. I realised Spike did squeaky wee after I'd been away so it wasn't difficult to work out.
With Peanut I suspected Romain already so stopped feeding it. A few weeks later I tried it again and he squeaked again so I've stopped buying it.
Rusty just seems to have a very tender bladder, especially after his op. The vet told me to take him off all veg except pepper and cucumber (she thought they were unlikely triggers) for a week, then try a small piece of a another veg for 2 days, if okay add something else and so on. Grass was the first thing I added as it was easy for me, it's as complete a food as you can get for them nutrition wise without needing to add lots of other veg. Because he has sludge and has had stones she said to stay off high oxelate food like celery, spinich, kale, strawberries and beans, pellets containing wheat and soy are also to be avoided.
Good Luck!
I hope Pewter is better soon.
 
piggieminder said:
I think for us it was a slow penny drop type realisation. In normal times I go to my daughters regularly for 4 or 5 days at a time and leave the boys with my partner. I shop for veg before I go so leave things that keep well, this was the only time they had celery. I realised Spike did squeaky wee after I'd been away so it wasn't difficult to work out.
With Peanut I suspected Romain already so stopped feeding it. A few weeks later I tried it again and he squeaked again so I've stopped buying it.
Rusty just seems to have a very tender bladder, especially after his op. The vet told me to take him off all veg except pepper and cucumber (she thought they were unlikely triggers) for a week, then try a small piece of a another veg for 2 days, if okay add something else and so on. Grass was the first thing I added as it was easy for me, it's as complete a food as you can get for them nutrition wise without needing to add lots of other veg. Because he has sludge and has had stones she said to stay off high oxelate food like celery, spinich, kale, strawberries and beans, pellets containing wheat and soy are also to be avoided.
Good Luck!
I hope Pewter is better soon.
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That is really so helpful, thank you so much! Your piggies sound like such brave boys. We‘ve officially started our food diary today with cucumber & pepper, hay and Versele Laga pellets. So we’ll see how we go from here, hopefully her symptoms will calm down soon. I‘ll definitely try her on grass next, we don’t have a huge garden but it should provide enough to feed our 4 for most of the year if the winters are mild.

Strawberry is definitely a trigger for Pewter, she‘s had a couple of small pieces and that made her symptoms so much worse. So they are a definite no-no. I also still think that it was the SS grain free pellets that have started this whole mess in the first place! I really wish I‘d never fed them. Thank you so much again for your help, it‘s really appreciated! x
 
Ellie-May said:
Hopefully your piggy feels better soon. I can’t say I’ve had to deal with this but I try to give my 5 pigs a high vit c low calcium diet. They get a tablespoon each of pellets per day but veggie wise they get corriander, romain hearts, bell pepper and cucumber daily. For treats they tend to get parsley, dill, bit of an orange, banana or carrot but that’s rare, maybe two-3 times per month if I’m feeling nice haha.

I did find that one of my pigs suffered from soft poo when I gave them all some curly kale so I stopped giving them thang and I’ve never given them any brascias types of food since.
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Thank you! I haven‘t tried her on romaine lettuce yet, so that’s on my elimination list right after grass. Who thought that I‘d ever have a food diary for a guinea pig haha? I’m also trying to stay away from any brassica type veg as it makes her quite gassy. Poor girl really has a sensitive digestive system!
 
Coco+Olivia said:
First of all, me and my piggies wish Pewter the best luck in recovering and the best luck to you also ! It can be overwhelming and painful to know there is something wrong with your piggy and hear them in pain! I would recommend some blueberries in their diet or grapes. But wait for the others to reply! I wish you and your piggy the best luck!
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Thank you very much, that is very kind of you! It‘s awful hearing her squeak like that, but we‘ll get there eventually. And she‘s a brave (and feisty) girl so I‘m sure she‘ll be just fine! She usually does get the odd blueberry/grape as a rare treat. Currently she can‘t have them, unfortunately, as we are working out what makes her symptoms worse. But I‘d definitely like to reintroduce them again at some point if her IC allows!
 
stef.trg said:
That is really so helpful, thank you so much! Your piggies sound like such brave boys. We‘ve officially started our food diary today with cucumber & pepper, hay and Versele Laga pellets. So we’ll see how we go from here, hopefully her symptoms will calm down soon. I‘ll definitely try her on grass next, we don’t have a huge garden but it should provide enough to feed our 4 for most of the year if the winters are mild.

Strawberry is definitely a trigger for Pewter, she‘s had a couple of small pieces and that made her symptoms so much worse. So they are a definite no-no. I also still think that it was the SS grain free pellets that have started this whole mess in the first place! I really wish I‘d never fed them. Thank you so much again for your help, it‘s really appreciated! x
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I regret ever feeding SS grain free too. All our problems started with them. I lost 2 young boars to inoperable stones, one was only 10 months old, the other just made two years. I feel so guilty I didn't make the connection before I did, I was feeding them SS for years. Out of the 6 boars I have now 3 have bladder problems. They do seem to be more settled at the moment though on the new diet.
 
piggieminder said:
I regret ever feeding SS grain free too. All our problems started with them. I lost 2 young boars to inoperable stones, one was only 10 months old, the other just made two years. I feel so guilty I didn't make the connection before I did, I was feeding them SS for years. Out of the 6 boars I have now 3 have bladder problems. They do seem to be more settled at the moment though on the new diet.
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That’s just so awful, they were way too young, poor boys :( You don’t have anything to feel guilty for, though. They genuinely look like good pellets. And there’s so little research into the effect of soy on guinea pigs, you couldn’t have known. Without some posts on the forum it would‘ve taken me forever to make the connection & who knew where Pewters bladder would have been by then. We hadn‘t fed the pellets for very long either, it was only 2 and a bit months before Pewters symptoms started and Buttons suddenly started having white powdery wees (she‘s never had problems before!). It‘s now been about 2 weeks since we‘ve stopped the pellets & her wees are starting to go back to normal. So I‘m pretty confident the pellets were to blame! Fingers crossed Pewter‘s bladder will settle soon too.
 
I'm worried now. I feed my piggies on selective naturals grain free pellets. Was advised to go on these by a rescue, because one of my piggies had some bladder issues. He has no stones, no crystals, no infections, but per is sometimes powdery, & squeaks occasionally when peeing. They love these pellets. What can I buy instead?
 
Mclayton said:
I'm worried now. I feed my piggies on selective naturals grain free pellets. Was advised to go on these by a rescue, because one of my piggies had some bladder issues. He has no stones, no crystals, no infections, but per is sometimes powdery, & squeaks occasionally when peeing. They love these pellets. What can I buy instead?
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I switched mine over to Versele Laga Cavia Complete which they love. Pewter‘s bladder problems have never gone away again but we‘ve learned to manage them so she can live a mostly pain-free life. All the best to you and your piggies.
 
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