Grass for guineapig with inflamed bladder

[Nina20]

Hello, my Guinea pig had a bladder stone removed two and a half months ago. He still has an inflamed bladder and is on metacam. Since a baby he’s had fresh grass, please can you advise me whether this is OK for a low calcium diet and an inflamed bladder.

He is really happy in himself, its just his wee colour is quite dark still. He also has potassium citrate in his water and the vet has talked about changing the metacam from cat to dog strength and also cystaid capsules (one a day) but I haven’t gone down these routes yet as he’s just finished septrim Antibiotic.

The vet has told me that cucumber is safe and as is little gem lettuce, do you know whether romaine lettuce is OK? He doesn’t like green beans and red pepper etc.

Any help about tackling inflamed bladders would be really welcome. This seems like a really persistent one which is such as shame as he recovered so well as his bladder stone operation. Thank you for your help.

 

[Siikibam]

Yes, fresh grass is fine. Grass and hay are staple parts of their diet. Romaine lettuce should also be okay. You want to avoid foods that are high calcium - spinach, parsley to name a few.

I’ll tag @Wiebke @Piggies&buns @VickiA @PigglePuggle they can help with the rest of your questions. I hope he’s feeling better soon.

PS have you tried him on the other colours of pepper? I would be more persistent as it’s a good source of vitamin c. Or try him on coriander (1-2 sprigs). They can have them daily.

 

[Wiebke]

Hello, my Guinea pig had a bladder stone removed two and a half months ago. He still has an inflamed bladder and is on metacam. Since a baby he’s had fresh grass, please can you advise me whether this is OK for a low calcium diet and an inflamed bladder.

He is really happy in himself, its just his wee colour is quite dark still. He also has potassium citrate in his water and the vet has talked about changing the metacam from cat to dog strength and also cystaid capsules (one a day) but I haven’t gone down these routes yet as he’s just finished septrim Antibiotic.

The vet has told me that cucumber is safe and as is little gem lettuce, do you know whether romaine lettuce is OK? He doesn’t like green beans and red pepper etc.

Any help about tackling inflamed bladders would be really welcome. This seems like a really persistent one which is such as shame as he recovered so well as his bladder stone operation. Thank you for your help.

Hi and welcome

We strongly recommend glucosamine for bladder wall issues, as that helps to strengthen the natural glucosamine coating of the walls of the urinary tract that prevents corrosive urine from coming into painful contact with raw tissue. Strengthening the coating can help to ease symptoms but it is not a quick fix and will take a few weeks to build up. Glucosamine is classed as a food supplement and not as a medication although it can in the case of arthritis and urinary tract problems in cats and guinea pigs act as such.
For ease of application, we recommend Feliway cat cystease capsules (widely available online). Mix the contents of one capsule with 2 ml of water; shake well until absorbed and then shake again before giving 1 ml of the mix every 12 hours. For the first week you can give the contents of one capsule every 12 hours.

What your piggy is suffering from is likely some bladder trauma; this can happen when a rather rough stone or sharp crystals are banging against walls with every pee that is made, scratching the coating and irritating the wall tissue. It can take a while to heal.

What strength of metacam (cat 0.5 mg or three times stronger dog 1.5 mg) have you been prescribed and which dosage? What weight is your piggy?

Please read the chapter on dietary measures for guinea pigs with urinary tract issues. More calcium comes into the diet via the water and from pellets, so filtering your water and restricting the pellet intake to 1 tablespoon per piggy per is much more effective than just looking at veg. Even no added calcium pellets contain still more calcium weight per weight than kale, the veg highest in calcium. Grass is the same as hay; it makes the bulk of the daily food intake (ca. 80%) and should be continued iand encouraged if you are feeding it; veg (ca. 15%) and pellets (ca. 5%) are replacing the supplementary role wild forage would have had.
Please don't cut all calcium out of the diet. Too low a diet in calcium can also cause an inbalance and lead to further problems.
Romaine lettuce is similar to gem lettuce; neither is the best variety but getting hold of good greens in a supermarket is not at all easy.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ced-general-and-special-needs-guinea-pig-Here is the link: diets.116460/

 

[Nina20]

Yes, fresh grass is fine. Grass and hay are staple parts of their diet. Romaine lettuce should also be okay. You want to avoid foods that are high calcium - spinach, parsley to name a few.

I’ll tag @Wiebke @Piggies&buns @VickiA @PigglePuggle they can help with the rest of your questions. I hope he’s feeling better soon.

PS have you tried him on the other colours of pepper? I would be more persistent as it’s a good source of vitamin c. Or try him on coriander (1-2 sprigs). They can have them daily.

Thank you so much, what lovely people you are on here

 

[Nina20]

Hi and welcome

We strongly recommend glucosamine for bladder wall issues, as that helps to strengthen the natural glucosamine coating of the walls of the urinary tract that prevents corrosive urine from coming into painful contact with raw tissue. Strengthening the coating can help to ease symptoms but it is not a quick fix and will take a few weeks to build up. Glucosamine is classed as a food supplement and not as a medication although it can in the case of arthritis and urinary tract problems in cats and guinea pigs act as such.
For ease of application, we recommend Feliway cat cystease capsules (widely available online). Mix the contents of one capsule with 2 ml of water; shake well until absorbed and then shake again before giving 1 ml of the mix every 12 hours. For the first week you can give the contents of one capsule every 12 hours.

What your piggy is suffering from is likely some bladder trauma; this can happen when a rather rough stone or sharp crystals are banging against walls with every pee that is made, scratching the coating and irritating the wall tissue. It can take a while to heal.

What strength of metacam (cat 0.5 mg or three times stronger dog 1.5 mg) have you been prescribed and which dosage? What weight is your piggy?

Please read the chapter on dietary measures for guinea pigs with urinary tract issues. More calcium comes into the diet via the water and from pellets, so filtering your water and restricting the pellet intake to 1 tablespoon per piggy per is much more effective than just looking at veg. Even no added calcium pellets contain still more calcium weight per weight than kale, the veg highest in calcium. Grass is the same as hay; it makes the bulk of the daily food intake (ca. 80%) and should be continued iand encouraged if you are feeding it; veg (ca. 15%) and pellets (ca. 5%) are replacing the supplementary role wild forage would have had.
Please don't cut all calcium out of the diet. Too low a diet in calcium can also cause an inbalance and lead to further problems.
Romaine lettuce is similar to gem lettuce; neither is the best variety but getting hold of good greens in a supermarket is not at all easy.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ced-general-and-special-needs-guinea-pig-Here is the link: diets.116460/

Hello and Wow, I can’t thank you enough for your help and support, thank you so so much, what lovely people you are

I was told by the vet he had a very large bladder stone, as large as his bladder so what you’re saying about the bladder trauma would make sense. His bladder wall was also very thick due to this, must have been inflamed.

The septrim doesn’t seem to help his wee colour much which is still very dark in colour. He has now finished this though after a six week course.

I changed his pellets to OxBow Timothy hay ones, would you recommend another brand?

Great news about the grass as he loves it and I also think the water contents will be good for him so that’s a relief. He will be happy about that, it’s the highlight of his morning!

The vet gave me cat metacam but has said he would prescribe the dog strenght if needed. I have been giving Squeak 0.2ml twice a day of the cat version, he is just over 1kg. I will call the vet and get the dog version today if that will help.

The vet has said they would give us the cystease capsules, so I will get those today and order them online in the future.

I also put potassium citrate in his water, 3ml per 200ml of bottled spring water, should I change this water type?

I am cleaning him out twice a day, fresh hay, including the long Timothy hay, just desperately want the little man to get better as I love him so much. I shall look at the diet page you have referenced.

Thank you again so much, you’ve really helped and put my mind at ease, I now know what to do to help my little man, thank you x

 

[Free Ranger]

You can speak to your vet about upping his painkiller dose quite significantly I think if he needs it. Is it still hurting him to pee?
Cat strength is now licensed for piggies and so the vet practice I've been with for many years suddenly started giving cat instead of dog (unlicensed for piggies but used frequently in the past) and some of their younger vets flat out refused to give the dog one! A kilo is a good weight - my old George is 1.4 kilo and has dog strength twice a day for arthritis. He likes the taste and is moving around better on it so we are happy. Good luck little piggy - bladder problems are tough going x

 

[Wiebke]

Hello and Wow, I can’t thank you enough for your help and support, thank you so so much, what lovely people you are

I was told by the vet he had a very large bladder stone, as large as his bladder so what you’re saying about the bladder trauma would make sense. His bladder wall was also very thick due to this, must have been inflamed.

The septrim doesn’t seem to help his wee colour much which is still very dark in colour. He has now finished this though after a six week course.

I changed his pellets to OxBow Timothy hay ones, would you recommend another brand?

Great news about the grass as he loves it and I also think the water contents will be good for him so that’s a relief. He will be happy about that, it’s the highlight of his morning!

The vet gave me cat metacam but has said he would prescribe the dog strenght if needed. I have been giving Squeak 0.2ml twice a day of the cat version, he is just over 1kg. I will call the vet and get the dog version today if that will help.

The vet has said they would give us the cystease capsules, so I will get those today and order them online in the future.

I also put potassium citrate in his water, 3ml per 200ml of bottled spring water, should I change this water type?

I am cleaning him out twice a day, fresh hay, including the long Timothy hay, just desperately want the little man to get better as I love him so much. I shall look at the diet page you have referenced.

Thank you again so much, you’ve really helped and put my mind at ease, I now know what to do to help my little man, thank you x

Please change to dog strength metacam as you will need to give metacam in higher dosages for a while yet; it works out a lot cheaper than going through a bottle of cat metacam every week or two when you have to give 0.7-1 ml twice daily to a larger guinea pig (and that is a lower dosage) and there are only 10 ml bottles for cats and not 30 ml bottles, like for the dog metacam where your boy will only need ca. 0.3-0.5 ml or a little more twice daily, extrapolating from my own bladder piggies but metacam dosages for guinea pigs have gone up a lot in the intervening years. Guinea pigs don't have the kidney problems that other pet species get from metacam.

Please NEVER give medication via the water bottle and always via syringe with guinea pigs to make sure that they get the full benefit. You cannot control the intake via drinking, and as piggies have about double the amount of taste buds (and about 5 times more than a cat), they will usually drink less; which is exactly what you do NOT want with a bladder piggy!
MUCH more crucial than the potassium citrate is to filter your water in order to prevent more stones. The UK is a hard water country; this is more important for the rest of his life and to prevent any further stones in any piggies than any other measure you can take.

Please be aware that you have to be patient. It is going to take several weeks yet before you will notice any improvement.

 

[Sue and Smartie]

When Kanga had her surgery earlier in the year she was put on the cat Metacam but her dose was 1.3ml twice a day so quite a lot more than your boy is getting. Luckily she really liked the taste so it wasn't too hard to give her that amount.

 

[Nina20]

When Kanga had her surgery earlier in the year she was put on the cat Metacam but her dose was 1.3ml twice a day so quite a lot more than your boy is getting. Luckily she really liked the taste so it wasn't too hard to give her that amount.

Thank you for your help for for sharing Kanga’s dose, gosh, it’s more than double of Squeaks dose. Thanks for that x

 

[Nina20]

Please change to dog strength metacam as you will need to give metacam in higher dosages for a while yet; it works out a lot cheaper than going through a bottle of cat metacam every week or two when you have to give 0.7-1 ml twice daily to a larger guinea pig (and that is a lower dosage) and there are only 10 ml bottles for cats and not 30 ml bottles, like for the dog metacam where your boy will only need ca. 0.3-0.5 ml or a little more twice daily, extrapolating from my own bladder piggies but metacam dosages for guinea pigs have gone up a lot in the intervening years. Guinea pigs don't have the kidney problems that other pet species get from metacam.

Please NEVER give medication via the water bottle and always via syringe with guinea pigs to make sure that they get the full benefit. You cannot control the intake via drinking, and as piggies have about double the amount of taste buds (and about 5 times more than a cat), they will usually drink less; which is exactly what you do NOT want with a bladder piggy!
MUCH more crucial than the potassium citrate is to filter your water in order to prevent more stones. The UK is a hard water country; this is more important for the rest of his life and to prevent any further stones in any piggies than any other measure you can take.

Please be aware that you have to be patient. It is going to take several weeks yet before you will notice any improvement.

Thank you so much I did worry about the taste of the water with the potassium in it. I have ordered the dog metacam and also the Cystease. Thank you so much for all of your help, hopefully my little man will be on the road to recovery xx

 

[Nina20]

You can speak to your vet about upping his painkiller dose quite significantly I think if he needs it. Is it still hurting him to pee?
Cat strength is now licensed for piggies and so the vet practice I've been with for many years suddenly started giving cat instead of dog (unlicensed for piggies but used frequently in the past) and some of their younger vets flat out refused to give the dog one! A kilo is a good weight - my old George is 1.4 kilo and has dog strength twice a day for arthritis. He likes the taste and is moving around better on it so we are happy. Good luck little piggy - bladder problems are tough going x

Thank you so much, Squeak used to be the same weight as your George He lost quite a bit of weight with his bladder stone but is back loving his food again! I’ve ordered the dog strength from the vet and collect it tomorrow. Thank you for your good luck wishes, I didn’t know arthritis is something they can develop, but thinking about it I guess any creature can. Hope George is doing well, sounds like he is! Thanks again xx

 

[Free Ranger]

George is doing well, thank you! He has recently been hopping up onto a little shelf with a cuddle sack on - George hasn't been tempted from ground level for about a year so I'm happy that he's well enough to still have a go. It was fresh grass that fattened George up to his current weight as there is a meadow near us and we pull about as much as they can handle. Keep munching Squeak!