Too much calcium?

[Winniethepiggy]

hi! one of my guinea pigs wee is white on the fleece so I'm guessing it means theyre getting too much calcium in their diet? It dries white too on the bottom of their cage sometimes. What beg should i try limit on to not give them too much calcium? Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

Calcium pees are the normal way for the body to excrete excess calcium. So seeing the odd calcium pee is not a problem.
What is a problem is if it happens a lot or if the patches feel gritty when dried (rather than chalky.

Most calcium comes into the diet via pellets and water.
Ensuring pellets are kept limited to one tablespoon per pig per day, and filtering their drinking water are two main steps you can take.
You can then limit high calcium veg such as kale, parsley and spinach.

It is about finding what works for your piggies and your local situation (water hardness etc).
For example, live in a hard water area but I do not feed pellets daily (they only get them 2-3 times a week). Therefore I can feed higher calcium veg with less concern of calcium intake because they aren’t getting the higher calcium amounts from pellets.

It is also important to note that too little calcium is just as bad as too much. You will also see white spots, gritty pee etc when calcium is too low - the balance is still wrong and the body is reacting.