Food Ideas For A Guinea Pig With Ic And Another With Diabetes

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Claire W

Claire W

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So, due to Emma having IC and Ellen diabetes, they are both on a low calcium / sugar diet.

So far their daily veg intake consists of cucumber, celery (although Ellen isn't too keen on celery), green, orange and yellow pepper, coriander and lettuces. As a treat, they have parsley, cabbage and broccoli although like I say, these are provided once a week if that.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any other ideas on what veg I can feed that meets both Emma and Ellen's dietry requirements to spruce up their daily menu or is what I am feeding fine? I just don't want them to get board.

Also, does anyone know if it is safe to feed red pepper to diabetic guinea pigs? So far I haven't been doing as I understand it is higher in sugar than yellow, orange and green but I also know that red pepper contains the most vitamin C.
 
I agree with you Claire, I do believe it is high in sugar so I would presume it should most likely be avoided.

What about coriander I was always under the impression it is low calcium and can be fed daily if needed. It could be an occasional treat. I tend to avoid any high calcium for my Wilma thankfully she's just so excited about veggies it doesn't matter what she gets.
 
flintstones said:
I agree with you Claire, I do believe it is high in sugar so I would presume it should most likely be avoided.

What about coriander I was always under the impression it is low calcium and can be fed daily if needed. It could be an occasional treat. I tend to avoid any high calcium for my Wilma thankfully she's just so excited about veggies it doesn't matter what she gets.
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Thank you Jo. I think I will steer clear of red pepper then. Emma and Ellen do have coriander on a daily basis :)
 
I just googled coriander to double check, I am surprised at the calcium compared to green pepper which is 10mg per 100 grams. It is 67mg per 100 grams, I would make it a treat veg for your bladder pig.

Can't believe how complicated diet is.
 
flintstones said:
I just googled coriander to double check, I am surprised at the calcium compared to green pepper which is 10mg per 100 grams. It is 67mg per 100 grams, I would make it a treat veg for your bladder pig.

Can't believe how complicated diet is.
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Thank you for googling. Do you mean the green pepper or coriander as a treat for Emma (bladder pig).

You're right and diet is so confusing.

Thankfully Ellen's diabetes is under control but Emma is still doing bloody pees and doing the occasional squeak whilst going to the toilet and that's with a daily full cystease tablet and 0.2ml of metacam daily :(

Emma's last uirne sample which I asked to be spinned down showed no crystals but did show a tiny amount of bacteria so she is currently on septrin just to clear any infection.
 
I feed coriander daily to my IC pig but it is literally just a sprig twice a day. It is in the IC plan that was put together by someone I know and is included in the daily recommended veg on here. I think the whole thing with the plan is that portion sizes need to be well balanced. You could try different types of hay too?
 
helen105281 said:
I feed coriander daily to my IC pig but it is literally just a sprig twice a day. It is in the IC plan that was put together by someone I know and is included in the daily recommended veg on here. I think the whole thing with the plan is that portion sizes need to be well balanced. You could try different types of hay too?
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Thank you @helen105281 Thanks to following recent advice by yourself, I have upped Emma's cystease to one capsule a day compared to half and she is now on 0.2ml of metacam daily but she is still doing squeaky pees although after her recent urine check, she did have a small amount of bacteria so she is currently on a course of septrin. I just seem to be struggling with controlling her IC symptoms :(
 
Does she ever have any grass or readigrass?

Do you split the Metacam into am and pm?

The dose for Vegan Glucosamine can go even higher than for Cystease and Amy is on 250mg mg a day instead of 125mg, it does seem to help her.

Has she ever had a bladder flush?
 
helen105281 said:
Does she ever have any grass or readigrass?

Do you split the Metacam into am and pm?

The dose for Vegan Glucosamine can go even higher than for Cystease and Amy is on 250mg mg a day instead of 125mg, it does seem to help her.

Has she ever had a bladder flush?
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Thank you @helen105281 No, I haven't spilt her metacam dosage yet. Would it be wise to? My vet has said that I can increase her daily amount of metacam but I'm worried about her being on it long term although I know that overall quality is better than quantity of life.

I have only been giving her the full capsule of cystease since last Thursday so is it worth seeing how she goes for a bit longer before swapping to the vegan glucosamine?

Emma hasn't had grass since the summer and they never have redigrass

No, she has never had a bladder flush but her recent urine checks have come back clear for crystals / sludge x
 
I would try to split it if you can as their fast metabolism means it is out of the system quite quickly.

Yes give it a bit longer, but it is something to consider if needed.

That's good, they can both be a trigger so just wanted to rule that out.

Ok, Amy had a flush but it was a herbal one and it did seem to help, again something to consider further down the line, it was a product from Galen's Garden.
 
helen105281 said:
I would try to split it if you can as their fast metabolism means it is out of the system quite quickly.

Yes give it a bit longer, but it is something to consider if needed.

That's good, they can both be a trigger so just wanted to rule that out.

Ok, Amy had a flush but it was a herbal one and it did seem to help, again something to consider further down the line, it was a product from Galen's Garden.
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Thank you. I will try spitting the metacam and see where we go.

Does her diet sound OK to you? Although I will decrease the intake if needed x
 
Possibly skip the lettuce if possible, I used to feed loads and loads of lettuce (mainly romaine) and my Johnny had really bad bladder issues and I have been told that it is not recommended. There are obviously mixed opinions on it too. Parsley and brocolli I don't feed at all and the only cabbage they have is a slither of spring greens twice a day. I give a very occasional bit of carrot but I don't think that is recommended for IC pigs really.
 
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