Veg variety for sludge and normal piggy

[Grasspigs]

Hi, I have a piggy with calcium pees/ possible bladder sludge (Scribble) and a normal piggy (Custard).
They currently have 1 tablespoon SS grain free pellets, filtered water & low calcium veggies based on the forum sample diet.

This is daily:
•gem/cos lettuce- 1 big or a few small leaves each
• slice of pepper each
•slice of cucumber each
•chunk of celery- cut up small
•a few sprigs of coriander (only scribble will eat)
•small piece of broccoli and carrot each 1 day a week

+unlimited grass in the run on good weather days & a big handful of grass in cage on bad weather days.

I want to give them more variety of veggies as they are getting bored, while still being careful about scribble.
I tend to cut the veg up really small and scatter around the cage for enrichment, so it fits in a cup for both piggies. But would it be better, to feed them separate portions? I feel like I'm not feeding enough veg?

I think i will feed celery every other day, due to the high oxolates, and i may be able to feed spring greens occasionally, when i can get my hands on them, as we dont eat them often and with only 2 piggies, we wouldnt get through the big shop ones fast enough! I could add in green beans occasionally.

My questions:
+ is it ok to feed them more herbs to replace spring greens? As i can grow a lot of herbs (basil, mint, peppermint, lemon balm) is fennel a low calcium herb?

+ Is it ok to feed custard a small amount of another herb, as she doesnt like coriander? even though all the other herbs are higher in calcium (e.g. parsley, basil, mint) and could i give scribble a different herb maybe once or twice a week?

+could i vary the lettuce, with something different a couple times a week, E.g red gem, or red & green leaf lettuce?

+Would it be ok to occasionally feed a small amount of salad bag leaves with higher calcium, e.g. butterhead, chard, escarole, (but rarely spinach)?

+ive been looking at veg with a good individual calcium to Phosphorus ratio on guinea lynx, but is the ratio more important than individual calcium content?

+i have a lot of safe forage in my garden including, apple & birch tree leaves, raspberry & strawberry leaves, blackcurrent leaves, & dandelions? Do i need to look for the individual calcium of these and how often could i include fresh forage as part of their diet?

I need some advice as I want to feed more variety, but while being safe for Scribble and in right proportions.
Please help, I am quite confused, with all this diet stuff

 

[Piggies&buns]

If you are feeding one cup of veg once a day between them then it isn’t enough. They need one cup each per day.
A wet diet Ie lots of grass and veg is a good thing as it will introduce fluid and help keep the bladder flushing through.

- Feeding lots of herbs is fine. For my piggies herbs are the basis of their daily veg. Parsley is the highest calcium.
- You don’t want to overdo the high calcium veg particularly if she is struggling with sludge, once a week is ok.
- Yes, use a variety of lettuce. Anything except iceberg.
- We don’t recommend the use of calcium phosphorous ratios/calculators. They don’t take the whole diet into account so don’t give an accurate representation.
- Apple leaves are higher in calcium but are fine to feed

I feed more than one cup of veg per pig.
They get a handful of herbs each (the basis tends to be coriander but I grow mint and basil as well), a few lettuce leaves each (whether it’s little gem, butterhead or a handful from a salad bag), a good chunk of cucumber and a slice of pepper. They have around 12-14 hours on the grass. They aren’t constantly eating grass (they have hay in there too) but it’s quite a bit of grass that they get. I also give fresh forage including sow thistle, brambles, raspberry and apple leaves, cleavers etc. We can go a week without being able to gather any, and then other weeks it’ll be over a handful each for a few days.
Early in each spring when i am reintroducing grass slowly after a winter off of the lawn, I reduce their veg portion down when they get some grass in their cage/get out on the lawn for a short time. Once their digestion is used to rich spring grass again, their veg goes back up to normal sized portions.
They get broccoli perhaps once or twice a month. Occasionally they will get a green bean. I never feed carrot or fruit except once a year on a hot summers day.
.
So their ‘wet’ diet all comes to more than the sample, it also is very leafy. I believe that a ‘wet’ diet is a good thing. My piggies eat absolutely loads of hay still.
I only give pellets a few times a week, My two youngsters will actually choose hay over pellets. For my eldest two piggies, pellets are such a treat to them that they get very excited on pellet days!

 

[Grasspigs]

Ok, so ill increase veggies, more lettuce, I'm growing cos lettuce at the minute, but i think ill grow some salad leaves too. I think ill give custard, basil and mint instead of coriander and I might give scribble some occasionally. Would you say its best to include fresh forage as part of the daily veg, or as extra? They do eat plenty of hay though.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Ok, so ill increase veggies, more lettuce, I'm growing cos lettuce at the minute, but i think ill grow some salad leaves too. I think ill give custard, basil and mint instead of coriander and I might give scribble some occasionally. Would you say its best to include fresh forage as part of the daily veg, or as extra? They do eat plenty of hay though.

Well, grass and wild forage would make the basis of the diet.
Veg technically takes the place of grass and forage because as owners we don’t tend to provide enough.

In your case you should introduce anything new very slowly.
I give it as extra because my piggies diet is a wet one (they don’t eat pellets much)

 

[Grasspigs]

Hi, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought i read that coriander was the lowest but basil, mint and other herbs were higher in calcium than parsley, is this incorrect?

 

[joanneswift813]

I do believe that basil and mint are high-ish in calcium. I stopped giving them to my bladder pig with stones, although unfortunately it was too late and he didn't recover from the surgery to remove the stones.