What is the most common Bladder Stone in guinea pigs please

[Shelley anne]

Out of interest, what is the most common bladder stone in guinea pigs please

 

[Swissgreys]

I am not sure I understand the question.
Do you mean the most common location (bladder, urethra, etc?).
Or type - stone, sludge?

 

[Wiebke]

Out of interest, what is the most common bladder stone in guinea pigs please

Hi!

Most stones are calcium hydrate based as far as I know. Oxalate stones are rarer. Guinea pigs can also develop mineral accretions.

Stones start in the kidneys, travel down the ureters into the bladder where they grow on or more rarely accumulate as tightly packed sludge of crystals that are not washed out. From there, stones can then sometimes be passed down the urethra. In boars, they usually end up in an awkward inglenook in the longer and thinner male urethra, which makes an operation much riskier. In sows, larger passed urethral stones usually end up just before the exit where it narrows to allow the muscles to control the flow of urine.
Smaller crystals and more rarely stones can embed in the walls of the urinary tract, which can complicate operations.

Can I ask why your question?

 

[Shelley anne]

I am not sure I understand the question.
Do you mean the most common location (bladder, urethra, etc?).
Or type - stone, sludge?

Sorry type of stone

 

[Shelley anne]

Hi!

Most stones are carbohydrate based. Oxalate stones are rarer. Guinea pigs can also develop mineral accretions.

Stones start in the kidneys, travel down the ureters into the bladder where they grow on or more rarely accumulate as tightly packed sludge of crystals that are not washed out. From there, stones can then sometimes be passed down the urethra. In boars, they usually end up in an awkward inglenook in the longer and thinner male urethra, which makes an operation much riskier. In sows, larger passed urethral stones usually end up just before the exit where it narrows to allow the muscles to control the flow of urine.
Smaller crystals and more rarely stones can embed in the walls of the urinary tract, which can complicate operations.

Can I ask why your question?

I was just making some notes about Guinea pig stones and heard conflicting opinions on what was the most common type of stone. Knowing what type of stone could give an indication of what causes it perhaps. I also have pet goats and have been reading about stones in boy goats which is also very common like it is with guinea pigs. This is mostly cause by an inbalance of Phosphorus to calcium, ie too much phosphorus and not enough calcium. The correlation was interesting and I was wondering if too little calcium was the main problem causing guinea pig stones. I have changed my piggies diet to leave out all Root and fruit vegetables which are higher in phosphorus and just give hay, grass and leafy vegetable which has been hugely successful to them and no bladder problems any more.

 

[Shelley anne]

Hi!

Most stones are carbohydrate based. Oxalate stones are rarer. Guinea pigs can also develop mineral accretions.

Stones start in the kidneys, travel down the ureters into the bladder where they grow on or more rarely accumulate as tightly packed sludge of crystals that are not washed out. From there, stones can then sometimes be passed down the urethra. In boars, they usually end up in an awkward inglenook in the longer and thinner male urethra, which makes an operation much riskier. In sows, larger passed urethral stones usually end up just before the exit where it narrows to allow the muscles to control the flow of urine.
Smaller crystals and more rarely stones can embed in the walls of the urinary tract, which can complicate operations.

Can I ask why your question?

So my question is, Are the majority of guinea pig stones, Calcium phosphorus or calcium carbonate.?

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

So my question is, Are the majority of guinea pig stones, Calcium phosphorus or calcium carbonate.?

Most stones are calcium carbonate. You can also find a lot of information about their composition on the Guinea Lynx website

 

[Shelley anne]

Most stones are calcium carbonate. You can also find a lot of information about their composition on the Guinea Lynx website

The interesting thing is saskia from LA guinea pig rescue says its calcium Oxalate but guinea lynx says calcium carbonate. ? I have discovered with my piggies that reducing calcium is the worse thing to do and reducing phosphorus a good thing to do, so wondered if calcium phosphorus would be the most common stone? I know it doesnt really matter because I have got it sorted with my piggies and they are doing well but my inquiring mind has to know! Lol

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

The interesting thing is saskia from LA guinea pig rescue says its calcium Oxalate but guinea lynx says calcium carbonate. ? I have discovered with my piggies that reducing calcium is the worse thing to do and reducing phosphorus a good thing to do, so wondered if calcium phosphorus would be the most common stone? I know it doesnt really matter because I have got it sorted with my piggies and they are doing well but my inquiring mind has to know! Lol

That's interesting about the different information. Your diet sounds as close as possible to their natural wild diet tho, so makes sense it works for them.
Just curious do you leave out all fruit vegetables including peppers and cucumbers or just some?

 

[piggieminder]

A vet told me calcium carbonate stones are the most common. She said not to cut out too much calcium but leave out the very high calcium foods like dill and spinach, avoid root veg except a tiny bit as an occasional treat and to feed leafy green veg and/or grass daily with a small slice of cucumber and pepper.
Rusty had a stone removed 2 years ago, so far so good! I've been avoiding foods high in oxelates and pellets containing soy as this is also high in oxelate.
Sadly guinea pigs are very under researched and you can never know if you got it right, they may never have got a stone anyway, or wrong because the stones they get aren't diet related. I was already being careful with diet when Rusty got his stone as I'd previously lost 2 boars with stones. There was really little I could change for Rusty except I stopped feeding pellets containing soy.

 

[Shelley anne]

That's interesting about the different information. Your diet sounds as close as possible to their natural wild diet tho, so makes sense it works for them.
Just curious do you leave out all fruit vegetables including peppers and cucumbers or just some?

Yes absolutely. I had one piggie that continually squeaked when she pooped and weed. I took her to the vets and her opinion was she was a vocal piggie. Now we all know our animals and I knew it wasn't that she was just vocal, so i was desperate to try something. What do you know, the squeeking stopped when I stopped giving fruit and roots, so this includes, capsicum, tomato, cucumber, carrot, squash. I have a large garden where I grow a large patch of grass and lots of variety of greens and I give predominately hay and grass and at least 5 diferent leafy greens per day, this includes guinea pig safe weeds, I give a hanful to the three piggie. Lola is doing so well now its a complete change around

 

[Shelley anne]

A vet told me calcium carbonate stones are the most common. She said not to cut out too much calcium but leave out the very high calcium foods like dill and spinach, avoid root veg except a tiny bit as an occasional treat and to feed leafy green veg and/or grass daily with a small slice of cucumber and pepper.
Rusty had a stone removed 2 years ago, so far so good! I've been avoiding foods high in oxelates and pellets containing soy as this is also high in oxelate.
Sadly guinea pigs are very under researched and you can never know if you got it right, they may never have got a stone anyway, or wrong because the stones they get aren't diet related. I was already being careful with diet when Rusty got his stone as I'd previously lost 2 boars with stones. There was really little I could change for Rusty except I stopped feeding pellets containing soy.

Thanks for that, that diet sounds good, giving predominately hay and grass with mostly leafy greens and just a slice of cucumber and pepper sounds pretty good for a piggie with these problems. I avoid pepper and cucumber because my girl was just so sensitive to it. but my other two would probably be fine with it. Glad to hear it is working for your piggie. My personal opinion is that lots of grass and hay as their predominate part of their diet is the best thing for bladder problem Piggies.