White powdery urine in cage liner & possible underweight?

[PiggieSushi]

Hi there, I found this white powdery stuff on my cage liner when I cleaned it this morning. When I pressed it, the granules were soft and turned to powder. Should I be concerned about it?

Both my sows seem healthy. They eat their pellets and hay well. They also (always) finished their veggies. I gave them varieties of veggies in rotation: green lettuce, tomato, mustard greens, bell pepper, carrot, cucumber, apple. Around 100-150gr daily for both pigs. Only thing is, the water bottles were giving out very little water as I noticed 2 days ago. I fixed it and added two new bottles that work better. They are drinking from any of these bottles just fine now.

I just got them for a week. At first, their poop were smaller, which as I read might be due to lack of hay. They were transported by plane in the afternoon, and I picked them up around 8.30pm. I was guessing that might contribute to their abnormal poop. But now their poop look healthy. When I weighed them this morning, though, they weighed around 735gr and 840gr. Are they underweight for an adult pig?

 

[Piggies&buns]

How old are they?

Their weights -
There is no set weight for an adult piggy. What is important is that they are gaining weight or are stable in weight depending on their age.

White powdery pee and their diet -
This is the normal way they excrete calcium. As long as it remains powdery then it is fine. If it is gritty then it is a sign of potentially too much calcium in the diet.
Check the diet you are feeding them.
They need to eat mostly hay. It needs to make the majority of what they eat in a day. It needs to be available in the cage in large quantities for them to eat. It also makes great fun and enrichment for them to be able to play in big piles of loose hay in the cage.
Veg comes next. Make sure you do not feed tomato, carrot and apple often. They are considered as an occasional treat and should not be fed any more than once a week. These items do not actually need to be in the diet at all. Tomato is too acidic and can cause a lip infection called cheilitis and the carrot and apple is too high in sugar.
Pellets are just one tablespoon per pig per day. Do not allow constant access to pellets.
Water and pellets contribute most calcium to the diet so ensuring water is filtered and pellets kept limited can really help.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Weight Monitoring and Management

 

[PiggieSushi]

They're around 7 months old.
I see, thank you for the help! That's a relief.

I'm only giving them carrot, apple, and tomato occasionally, probably 1-2/week on a small amount. But I'll keep that in mind. Do I need to give them veggies daily or is it better to do less?

I do limit their pellets to ~15gr per day, though sometimes they didn't finish it.
I've been keeping their hay in the hay bag, and only a little on the floor. Thought it would make less mess that way. But they do poke their head in the bag often to search for the best one . I guess I'll spread more piles of hay on the floor in the kitchen area. Hope that will make them happier

 

[Piggies&buns]

They are not adult in that case so will still be gaining weight. Make sure you weigh them weekly as part of routine care.

They need veggies daily. Vegetables are more important than pellets in the diet.

Is that 15g of pellets each? If so, then it is possibly too much, particularly if they are not finishing them.

Piggies make mess with their hay, it is part of the fun!

 

[piggl]

Veggies are full of nutrients and vitamins which are needed for keeping a piggy happy and healthy.

The guide above goes much more into that but for my piggies, things they get daily include romaine lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper and some coriander etc.

Things I use in rotation are Spinach, Celery, Green beans, Baby sweetcorn, Brocoli.
Then the ‘treats’ are tomato’s, fruit, carrot etc.

It will be different for everyone, you will tune it to what’s available and what your piggies like.
Another thing you may find helpful are those guinea pig veg spreadsheets full of veggies and how often they are safe to feed, but do be aware these are often different for everyone one written, but it can be a nice guideline

 

[Wiebke]

They're around 7 months old.
I see, thank you for the help! That's a relief.

I'm only giving them carrot, apple, and tomato occasionally, probably 1-2/week on a small amount. But I'll keep that in mind. Do I need to give them veggies daily or is it better to do less?

I do limit their pellets to ~15gr per day, though sometimes they didn't finish it.
I've been keeping their hay in the hay bag, and only a little on the floor. Thought it would make less mess that way. But they do poke their head in the bag often to search for the best one . I guess I'll spread more piles of hay on the floor in the kitchen area. Hope that will make them happier

Hi

Please weigh your piggies once weekly all throughout their lives and give them a body onceover. If you have concerns, then take picures of the different body parts now and save them as a reference.

Adult guinea pigs over 15 months can weigh anything between 800-1800g and still be perfectly normal and healthy in themselves. I have had piggies that were overweight just crossing the 800g in their prime of life and a boar who was bordering underweight at 1400g and who could have easily carried another 200g and not be overweight. Both extremes actually lived to 8 years, so weight doesn't determine life expectancy unless it is actually gross overweight.
Because of this rather wide natural variance, it is important that you feel your piggies around the ribcage to see whether they are good weight in themselves or not (i.e. checking the piggy BMI or heft). That will then put the weekly weigh-in into the correct individual context. This is a method that works for all ages and sizes and tells you whether the weight is in the right ball park or not.

Since yours are only halfway to adulthood but have now left the fast growing stage behind, you will have to expect the occasional growth spurt in the coming months. The more hay or fresh growing grass (please dog pee-free) they eat, the better for their long term health and life expectancy. Using different hays (like meadow or orchard hay etc.) for variance is good way of enriching the diet as is the occasional forage treat and especially, making your piggies work or search for their food.

For more details (including how weight changes over the course of a life time) and for what to exactly look for when you are feeling for the heft, please have a read of these guide here, which you will hopefully find very helpful:
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not?
Early Signs Of Illness

Getting Started - Essential Information for New Owners

You can never brace for sudden illnesses but you can spot gradually developing conditions much better and earlier when they are still treatable by regular health monitoring.

You only need to worry about calcium pees when they happen on a near daily or daily basis or when you find sharp grit (i.e. crystals) in the powder.

 

[PiggieSushi]

Thank you very much for all the advices. Those really help new piggies parent like me I didn't see any white urine stain anymore, so that's a relief. I also added more hay for them which they munched happily.