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Are These Calcium Deposits?

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aimzer

Adult Guinea Pig
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Found these tiny little white things in the girls cage tonight beside a slightly chalky urine stain. Are they calcium deposits?



Both pigs seem fine and I don't feed them any veg particularly high in calcium and they are on p@h nuggets.


Thanks in advance :)
 
My Amber gets calcium deposits its like patches of white on the fleece. Can't say I've ever seen them like that though? But it doesn't mean it isn't.

Amber is on p@h nuggets I put her on a strict veg plan but there are still quite a few calcium deposits so I think its the nuggets, in slowly changing her over to JR grainless though. Its better for her and also affordable.
What veg do you give your Piggies?
 
My Amber gets calcium deposits its like patches of white on the fleece. Can't say I've ever seen them like that though? But it doesn't mean it isn't.

Amber is on p@h nuggets I put her on a strict veg plan but there are still quite a few calcium deposits so I think its the nuggets, in slowly changing her over to JR grainless though. Its better for her and also affordable.
What veg do you give your Piggies?
Yeh that's the same with me. I have seen the odd white patch but never these little things :/
They get a variety of different veg. Yesterday they had a bit of mixed lettuce leaves (no iceberg), green bean and babycorn. Was going to buy them parsley today as a treat but don't think I'll bother now :(
 
Yeh that's the same with me. I have seen the odd white patch but never these little things :/
They get a variety of different veg. Yesterday they had a bit of mixed lettuce leaves (no iceberg), green bean and babycorn. Was going to buy them parsley today as a treat but don't think I'll bother now :(

Oh no parsley is really high in calcium!
Amber loves it so I only give it to her as a treat. To be fair I'm not trying to get rid of all the deposits just she's been doing loads recently. I think it's the nuggets though more than the veg!
I find this really helps, says how much calcium is in things and does it by colour too so basically tells you if it's high or not
http://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html
 
Oh no parsley is really high in calcium!
Amber loves it so I only give it to her as a treat. To be fair I'm not trying to get rid of all the deposits just she's been doing loads recently. I think it's the nuggets though more than the veg!
I find this really helps, says how much calcium is in things and does it by colour too so basically tells you if it's high or not
http://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html
I know it's high in calcium, that's why they rarely get it. They haven't had it in ages so was going to buy a bunch as a treat (even then they only get a couple of sprigs a day)
Yeh I have favourited that page and got a list of high calcium veg. They very rarely get any high calcium veg.

The nuggets say there is 8g of calcium per kg of nuggets. I have no idea if that's a lot or not :/
 
I know it's high in calcium, that's why they rarely get it. They haven't had it in ages so was going to buy a bunch as a treat (even then they only get a couple of sprigs a day)
Yeh I have favourited that page and got a list of high calcium veg. They very rarely get any high calcium veg.

The nuggets say there is 8g of calcium per kg of nuggets. I have no idea if that's a lot or not :/

Ah okay :D just thought I'd link you just in case.
Yeahh thats the same with amber, I'm finding it so hard to work out where its coming from, the only thing I can think is the nuggets, literally must be, amber is on 2 coriander sprigs, 2 celery chunks, pepper and cucumber. But yet she's still getting too many for my liking.
I'm changing on to JR Grainless so I can let you know if that makes any difference? I'm pretty sure it is the nuggets though.
 
Ah okay :D just thought I'd link you just in case.
Yeahh thats the same with amber, I'm finding it so hard to work out where its coming from, the only thing I can think is the nuggets, literally must be, amber is on 2 coriander sprigs, 2 celery chunks, pepper and cucumber. But yet she's still getting too many for my liking.
I'm changing on to JR Grainless so I can let you know if that makes any difference? I'm pretty sure it is the nuggets though.
I appreciate it thanks! I give my girls pepper daily too, forgot to mention that!
I know it's so difficult to understand. I too am thinking it might be nugget related. I don't usually get too much white patches but there are usually a couple in the corners when I clean them out.
Yeh please let me know how you get on with those. Where do you get them from? Online?
 
I appreciate it thanks! I give my girls pepper daily too, forgot to mention that!
I know it's so difficult to understand. I too am thinking it might be nugget related. I don't usually get too much white patches but there are usually a couple in the corners when I clean them out.
Yeh please let me know how you get on with those. Where do you get them from? Online?

It is really difficult, such a slow process!
I will let you know. I'm trying to find a more affordable brand which is still low in calcium and easier to than online.
I get it from zooplus, you can get a small bag to try. Its often on sale aswell.
http://m.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/food/guinea_pig/jr_farm/178336
 
With the JR Grainless, once you have changed over, if your pigs are adults they only need 10 grams a day. (Same with all pellets). So they'll last a while. When I changed mine over I put a bowl of each one in for a month.

Also, what hay do you use?

What does that white stuff feel like? Is it gritty?
 
With the JR Grainless, once you have changed over, if your pigs are adults they only need 10 grams a day. (Same with all pellets). So they'll last a while. When I changed mine over I put a bowl of each one in for a month.

Also, what hay do you use?

What does that white stuff feel like? Is it gritty?
Ok thanks! I use Hay for Pets hay. I bought a bag of meadow hay this time for a change as had the Ings hay last time.
They were just like hard little stones, not particularly crumbly or gritty.
 
They look like quite large nuggets, are you just putting a few in the bowl along with your p@h nuggets whilst changing over?

Yeahh at the moment I'm trying to get her off muesli but she's pretty much off the muesli now. So we put like 4 to start with in then one day we wouldn't give her any JR grainless atall just p@h, then slowly increased the JR grainless, its better about a week and a half so now were giving her a bowl of JR Grainless then a few p@h in the evening. We give her 10 new nuggets. They are quite big but you can easily snap them and make them smaller. But I think amber quite likes nibbling on them! They smell amazing too! I'd eat them...

20150226_110814_zps8i2mpr3g.jpg
 
Ok thanks! I use Hay for Pets hay. I bought a bag of meadow hay this time for a change as had the Ings hay last time.
They were just like hard little stones, not particularly crumbly or gritty.

Ah that's okay then, because I just noticed with mine that with Timothy hay calcium deposits are ridiculous :/ so I need to change my hay to good quality meadow hays.

That's a weird one, I don't have much experience with that, although Bert did something similar the other day (wasn't sure if it was boar glue though). One thing I could suggest is getting some dipsticks and testing their pee?

@piggyfan may be useful here
 
In my experience the only way of reducing calcium pellets is to switch to a lower calcium pellet that is sugar free and grainless. The only two recommended are bunny and vitakraft emotion.
 
Yeahh at the moment I'm trying to get her off muesli but she's pretty much off the muesli now. So we put like 4 to start with in then one day we wouldn't give her any JR grainless atall just p@h, then slowly increased the JR grainless, its better about a week and a half so now were giving her a bowl of JR Grainless then a few p@h in the evening. We give her 10 new nuggets. They are quite big but you can easily snap them and make them smaller. But I think amber quite likes nibbling on them! They smell amazing too! I'd eat them...

20150226_110814_zps8i2mpr3g.jpg
Oh man, they are huge! Is this the ones you only give them a couple of nuggets each per day? Or am I thinking of something else. Hmm wonder how I would make sure they were both getting an equal amount..

Ah that's okay then, because I just noticed with mine that with Timothy hay calcium deposits are ridiculous :/ so I need to change my hay to good quality meadow hays.

That's a weird one, I don't have much experience with that, although Bert did something similar the other day (wasn't sure if it was boar glue though). One thing I could suggest is getting some dipsticks and testing their pee?

@piggyfan may be useful here
Yes it is rather weird. I haven't noticed any more of these and neither of them are squealing when peeing.
 
Oh man, they are huge! Is this the ones you only give them a couple of nuggets each per day? Or am I thinking of something else. Hmm wonder how I would make sure they were both getting an equal amount..


Yes it is rather weird. I haven't noticed any more of these and neither of them are squealing when peeing.
Yeah, I'd just keep an eye on them, that's what I'm doing, and improve diet where you can :)

Pigs do need calcium to survive, but obviously not too much ha :')
 
Oh man, they are huge! Is this the ones you only give them a couple of nuggets each per day? Or am I thinking of something else. Hmm wonder how I would make sure they were both getting an equal amount...

Well I give amber 10.. But to be honest I know people measure them out but I've always just given amber as many as she can eat, and Thats what it days on the package as much as they can eat in a 24 hr period. I just fill up her bowl in the morning with two scoops from this little scoop thing I have and let her pick at it throughout the day, if I think there isn't much left at night I top it up. I've always done that and she's not over weight or anything? And I check her weight weekly.
 
Yeah, I'd just keep an eye on them, that's what I'm doing, and improve diet where you can :)

Pigs do need calcium to survive, but obviously not too much ha :')
I will do :) thanks for your input!

Well I give amber 10.. But to be honest I know people measure them out but I've always just given amber as many as she can eat, and Thats what it days on the package as much as they can eat in a 24 hr period. I just fill up her bowl in the morning with two scoops from this little scoop thing I have and let her pick at it throughout the day, if I think there isn't much left at night I top it up. I've always done that and she's not over weight or anything? And I check her weight weekly.
Ok, that's fine! Let me know if you notice less white pee spots :)
 
they look like crystals to me. i'd start by reducing pellets (if you feed more than 1/8 cup per pig per day maximum), or changing the pellets to a better one. :)
 
they look like crystals to me. i'd start by reducing pellets (if you feed more than 1/8 cup per pig per day maximum), or changing the pellets to a better one. :)
Thank you. They have been eating much more pellets since pets at home have made them slightly smaller and perhaps changed the ingredients. I will reduce the amount :)
 
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