Can piggys do ok without fresh veg?

[devonbelle]

Some of you may remember the epic tale of Ben and the decline of his digestive system following his neutering 18 months ago. Well, now the fighting has well and truly ceased the boys are back together

HOWEVER feeding them together meant that Ben absolutely stuffed as much fresh veg as he could rolleyes and consequently ended up with dreadful diarrhea. We got that under control by putting Ben on a dry diet, then gradually reintroduced veg, keeping the boys separate for meal times! We have done this 3 times now, and every time we reintroduce him to veg, the problem starts up again (ie last night!). Our vet has checked him over and says he just seems ultra sensitive to veg.

So what to do next? When he eats veg his poo is not just soft, it is runny (sorry :{) and both he and Bill end up covered in it.
Have any of you ever kept piggies on a purely dry diet? What will I need to do to ensure he gets enough vit c and other essentials? Is there anything any of you would suggest?

Thanks.

 

[Wiebke]

You can keep a piggy on dry food if necessary. Good quality pellets are essential.

You may want to feed extra vitamin C though, or can you try to just give a vey small portion of fresh herbs? I would not give too many dried herbs as they contain much more calcium than fresh ones (due to the evaporated water), and that could lead to bladder stones/bladder slush in the long term, but a small pinch of freeze dried herbs with his pellets maybe something you could try?

I am sorry for your ongoing problems.

 

[Sarah from Chucklebunnies]

Is your little lad ultra sensitive to all veg or would there be a kind of veg he could still have? Extra vitamin c is a good idea, I agree with Wiebke totally there, but his gut is obviously reacting to veg with difficulty.

Perhaps you could try dried veg, this still has some goodness in it. Dried peas - are they a problem? You can get various dried veg, I tried my girls on it and they preferred fresh, but if there is no fresh there then perhaps it would work. Piggys would normally eat a fair bit of fresh food. Have you tried giving him grass? Does he react to that?

If all else fails, you can get power form supplements to put on food which would be good.

You could even try fruit wood; grape stems, apple stalks etc. Try rinds and stems rather than the richer parts of the fruits. There are still plenty of good nutrients in stems, bark, rinds and so on. (My piggies all eat this sort of thing)

I do feel sorry for your Ben, he has an epic case of irritable bowel hasn't he! All the best for future attempts at finding him some supplement to nuggets and hay.