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What am I doing wrong? Sludge/stones

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danuutka

Junior Guinea Pig
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I feel like it can’t be a coincidence that the majority of my piggies have bladder/sludge issues... but I don’t know where I’m going wrong.



Miki had a big bladder stone at 11 months, and has recently been showing signs or returning bladder sludge. Both Lulu and Nelli (our rescued old ladies) have/had bladder sludge peeing since we brought them home - Nelli even ended up with a urethral stone. Ozzie shows some calcium in his wee, but nothing particularly concerning. Our new ladies (Nelli’s new friends to prevent pining) have been doing some thick, sludgy wees (can’t pinpoint exactly which one it is).



But I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong...



  • We have multiple water bottles (we tried bowls but none of the pigs liked them) - we have tried putting in different juices etc for flavour, but they just refuse them altogether
  • We only give them filtered water
  • They have cages that are above the minimum size requirement, and all pigs get let out for a run multiple times daily
  • They get about a tablespoon or less of Science Selective Grain Free nuggets per pig
  • They only get Timothy or meadow hay
  • Miki takes the Urinary Support by Oxbow tablets daily (a recommendation from our vet)
  • They get a big portion of veg on a morning, which I pour water over - daily they get cucumber, pepper, little gem/round lettuce, and then I alternate between carrot, celery, baby corn, coriander, and some fruit 1-2x a week
  • They don’t ever eat parsley, kale, spinach, dandelions etc
  • We don’t give them any supplements like Potassium Citrate or Cystease as our vet has suggested that the evidence just does not give her enough confidence to recommend either of those


Is there anything I’m doing wrong/anything else I could be doing for them? I can’t help but think it’s not a coincidence and that I’m doing something wrong.
 
It looks to me like you are doing everything you can. I don't believe it's anything you are doing wrong although I understand how you feel that way, I did too for a long time. I have a very similar story to your's. The exotic vets I have seen (3) have all told me it's not my fault. One of the vets has done a little research into the subject and the one thing she did say was to try stopping pellets that contain soy and see if that made any difference, it did! I was feeding the same pellets as you. She also said to monitor veg and see what I had been feeding in the days before a thick sludgy wee, one of my guinea pigs seems to react after celery so I no longer feed that. The vet did recommend that I feed veg twice a day so that the water content can help flush the bladder. Mine get a slice of cucumber in the morning with fresh grass about 2 hours later and then a veg mixture of mostly green leaves in the evening.
I do use cystease but only for a few days after a squeaky wee episode to help coat the sore bladder. I have used it for longer after bladder surgeries, the vets are quite keen on it. My vets see a lot of guinea pigs with stones, when Rusty went for a scan last year he was the 5th she had seen that week and it was only mid week! Stones are very common in guinea pigs and I believe them in most cases to be genetic.
 
Sorry for hijacking this thread - but I’m sure danuutka will ask as well - which pellets do you use, if any? I have a guinea with a very sensitive bladder who has been under the vet for a while so am interested in this. Thanks.
 
I mostly feed JR Farm and Versele Laga Complete Cavia (make sure to order the complete one the others seem to have addatives), unfortunately both have to be bought on the internet as they are imported. With Christmas and postal problems etc I have been feeding Burgess Mint for the last few weeks as I can get them locally. Burgess do contain soy but the vet told me she thought they had a better mineral balance? Rusty had a couple of squeaking episodes last week and has passed a lump of sludge like toothpaste, coincidence? Hay Box also sell a pellet that is just cold pressed hay but it doesn't contain extra vit C so you need to be extra vigilant with high C containing veg. I loved those pellets because I could order them with my hay subscription but after the first bag my fussy lot went off them!
 
I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. It does seem that way at times, but some piggies just seem to be prone to these issues.
 
Hi all,
This is exactly what I am struggling with too. 3 of my 4 pigs had bladder infection 2 months ago. One was peeing sludge all the time, he is now on hydrochlorinehiazide every day which helps him a lot.
One of my female pigs had a stone which was removed with a scope. Ever since she keeps having blood in her pee (no stone), had her 3 times on antibiotics but still..so now we stopped with that as my vet is sure it can not be bacterial anymore. She told me this is so common in pigs nowadays and somethimes they just dont know why they have bladder problems. I read a lot about it, but the one info is contradictionary to the other.. (especially what to feed).
One say low calcium, the other says feed (greens) should be low in nitrate and their pellets grainfree.

Now I am wondering, as I read about cystease protecting the bladder wall..how much do you need to give from that? Does anyone know please? (It is actually for cats right?) Thanks a lot in advance!
 
lindanoot said:
Hi all,
This is exactly what I am struggling with too. 3 of my 4 pigs had bladder infection 2 months ago. One was peeing sludge all the time, he is now on hydrochlorinehiazide every day which helps him a lot.
One of my female pigs had a stone which was removed with a scope. Ever since she keeps having blood in her pee (no stone), had her 3 times on antibiotics but still..so now we stopped with that as my vet is sure it can not be bacterial anymore. She told me this is so common in pigs nowadays and somethimes they just dont know why they have bladder problems. I read a lot about it, but the one info is contradictionary to the other.. (especially what to feed).
One say low calcium, the other says feed (greens) should be low in nitrate and their pellets grainfree.

Now I am wondering, as I read about cystease protecting the bladder wall..how much do you need to give from that? Does anyone know please? (It is actually for cats right?) Thanks a lot in advance!
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