worried about my girls diet not being good

piggiemummy03x

piggiemummy03x

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hey everyone, making this post today as i am extremely concerned my girls aren’t getting enough of a varied diet and therefore may be lacking in vitamins and / or minerals.

my girls have basically always been on a controlled diet due to della having a bladder stone at just 13 weeks old. i have always fed the girls the same to make it easier and fair for them too.

the girls used to get peppers, cucumber, coriander, celery, green beans and lettuce, i removed the celery and beans a while back now when della was experiencing more bladder problems and i have also recently cut lettuce and coriander under vet’s instructions.

so daily my girls now only get pepper and cucumber (100g -150g between them) and a few piggie parcel pellets hand fed to them. i am obviously very worried this isn’t varied enough and would like to know what would be good too feed to bladder problem pigs so i can discuss with my vet the possibility of introducing them once more.

i have plenty of dried forage but understand this is higher in calcium so have also removed this for the time being as i’m so nervous of giving della anything that may increase her sludge. i have looked into fresh forage, but there isn’t much available in the garden and worry about picking it from public places..


i believe coriander is fine to be fed daily but wondered if there was other herbs i could feed that weren’t super high calcium and if these should be limited to once or twice a week?


what other veg is deemed safe for a bladder problem pig and is it okay to feed daily?


is fruit nutritional or is it more of a treat? i’ve never given my girls fruit before but wondered if there was any with good nutritional benefits i could add?


have i negatively impacted my girls by reducing down the variety in their diets or do you think they will be okay?☹️
 
So a safe daily diet for a sludge/stone to piggy is coriander, lettuce, cucumber and pepper.
As we said in your other thread, I’m surprised so much leafy veg and therefore fluid has been cut out as a wet diet is a good one! It keeps the bladder flushing through.

The best herb for daily is coriander. The others to be fed more in rotation.

Fruit I would avoid. There is no need for it to be in the diet. Yes it contains vitamins but it’s also sugary and their diet should not contain fruit sugars.
 
Piggies&buns said:
So a safe daily diet for a sludge/stone to piggy is coriander, lettuce, cucumber and pepper.
As we said in your other thread, I’m surprised so much leafy veg and therefore fluid has been cut out as a wet diet is a good one! It keeps the bladder flushing through.

The best herb for daily is coriander. The others to be fed more in rotation.

Fruit I would avoid. There is no need for it to be in the diet. Yes it contains vitamins but it’s also sugary and their diet should not contain fruit sugars.
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thanks so much! yes i’m really concerned its been cut out too, I'm going to mention this ‘wet diet’ to our vet and say how john chitty had recommended it etc and see how it goes!
 
You can always rinse the veggies to add a little more water too
 
The key thing they need apart from hay is vit C and the pepper you are giving is brilliant for that. Mine get a dull diet of lettuce, cucumber, pepper, coriander every day with an odd bit of what I might chop up for dinner here and there. Never heard any complaints.
 
Bill & Ted said:
You can always rinse the veggies to add a little more water too
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i already pour some filtered water on their veggie plate for veg to soak in as ive started leaving it on the side for a few hours as read its not good to feed straight out the fridge!
 
Tigermoth said:
The key thing they need apart from hay is vit C and the pepper you are giving is brilliant for that. Mine get a dull diet of lettuce, cucumber, pepper, coriander every day with an odd bit of what I might chop up for dinner here and there. Never heard any complaints.
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thankyou!
 
piggiemummy03x said:
i already pour some filtered water on their veggie plate for veg to soak in as ive started leaving it on the side for a few hours as read its not good to feed straight out the fridge!
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For me, the veg comes out of the fridge and is prepared and only sits on the side while I refresh hay and water, so it may only be 10 minutes between getting out of the fridge and and being fed. I don’t leave mine out for hours before feeding - it just find it start to dry up and goes wilted is left out for long particularly in this weather
 
If you have access to fresh grass that always goes down wonderfully too. :)
And if your piggies dare to eat it you can always try courgette (mine just shredded it and left it for me to clear up) 😂
 
poggle said:
Just wondered why it's not good straight out of the fridge? Do I need to change what I do?
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I’ve never had any issues in 30+ years of animal keeping. As I say, usually 10 or so minutes have passed between prepping the veg and getting it into them but I would not leave it out of the fridge on purpose prior to feeding
 
Piggies&buns said:
For me, the veg comes out of the fridge and is prepared and only sits on the side while I refresh hay and water, so it may only be 10 minutes between getting out of the fridge and and being fed. I don’t leave mine out for hours before feeding - it just find it start to dry up and goes wilted is left out for long particularly in this weather
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yes this is what i used to do however saw something not long ago about how veggie’s shouldnt be cold out the fridge.. if you think it’ll be okay ill go back to it because i definitely wouldnt want to eat room temperature cut up veg!
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’ve never had any issues in 30+ years of animal keeping. As I say, usually 10 or so minutes have passed between prepping the veg and getting it into them but I would not leave it out of the fridge on purpose prior to feeding
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thankyou! i won’t bother any more then lol!
 
Cold veg straight out of the fridge is supposed to lead to upset tummies (according to some sources!). I have a routine with veg time that means it's probably out of the fridge for 5 - 10 mins before being delivered. I've never had a problem with this.
 
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