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White powdery spots

E

evymv

New Born Pup
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May 8, 2021
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Hi everyone,
I've been noticing lately a few white powdery spots in my guinea pig's cage. He's been suffering from gas for 2 years now so he's been on 3 medications a day and he only eats critical care. Food might make gas worse. I already booked an appointment but I was wondering if I should maybe consider changing his diet? Is critical care high in calcium?
 
I’m not sure how much calcium is in critical care. If it’s not gritty/grainy then it should be fine. The majority of calcium in their diet comes from water and pellets, and wee is how they expel the excess.

Is he eating hay at all? Did the vets manage to find what has caused this constant gas and how it can be managed?
 
Wow, yes - is he eating hay? Or any fresh grass?
What meds is he on?

Most piggies will leave a bit of white powder at some point but you are right to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get any worse. Does he have a piggy companion that you can try making poop soup from? Perhaps you have a friend with a healthy guinea-pig? It can really help gut disturbances. Or has he tried probiotics?
 
Yes we've tried the poop soup but nothing has come of it. It all started when he was put on antibiotics and I didn't know about probiotics then. Ever since then he's had gas and we've been able to manage it with Cisapride, Metoclopramide, and Metrodinazole. He eats lots of hay and drink lots of water which has been a concern in the past so I took him to the vet and they did blood work, x-ray, and urine sample and every thing came back fine. She did mention that his urine sample showed high volume of calcium but he only eats CC and hay.
 
:agr:
It could be worth filtering his water if you do live in a hard water area! A lot of a guinea pig's calcium intake comes from their water and nuggets.
 
The Metrodinazole is an antibiotic - how long has he been on it? Does he have to take it for ever? That could well be why his digestion is off.

You can still give probiotics even when on ABs and there are different types of probiotic. I've seen posts on here about piggies with sensitive tums that have a little probiotic every day (even when they are not on meds) because it helps them keep ticking over. In the UK we get Fibreplex (yeasts) or Bio-Lapis (also yeasts I think) but I know in the states they can get Benebac (bacterial mix of species)... we've had that too but it takes a few weeks to get here!

High urinary calcium is unfortunately pretty normal for pigs, but a pain in the butt. If it's in a soluble form at least it's not causing sludge or stones.
 
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