Hi everyone! My guinea pig Kiwi is 4 years old and has had calcium deposits in her urine for over 2 months now. The vet took an x-ray 2 months ago and found 1/4 of her bladder had sludge in it so Kiwi has been on potassium citrate since then (0.2ml 2x daily). It’s helping slightly but there are still quite a lot of calcium deposits. I used to give her romaine lettuce everyday and 2 months ago switched to green leaf lettuce. She doesn’t get any other veggies that have high calcium - she gets carrots, peppers, cucumber, etc. She is now drinking filtered water since the water in my house is hard. I switched from Obxow Adult Pellets to Small Pet Select pellets 2 months ago. Kiwi has been acting normal, eating and drinking, and she doesn’t look/sound in pain when she goes to the bathroom. The vet told me if the medicine doesn’t work to get all the calcium out, there isn’t really another solution. If anyone can help me figure out what else to do I would really appreciate it!
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Guinea Pig Calcium Deposits
- Thread starter kiwipig
- Start date
Welcome to the forum
Most calcium ones into the diet via pellets and drinking water. Filter her water and make sure pellets are kept to one tablespoon per pig per day only.
It is a good idea to give a piggy a wet diet to help frequent urination and keep the bladder flushing through particularly if they are not big drinkers - so lettuce, pepper, cilantro and cucumber are all safe to be fed daily with lettuce and cucumber containing a good amount of water.
Carrot should not feature in the diet much. It is very high in sugar and root veg should be best avoided particularly for a piggy with bladder issues.
If the sludge is packed tightly in her bladder then it needs to come out and that can be done via a bladder flush. However it requires an experienced and knowledgeable vet.
Most calcium ones into the diet via pellets and drinking water. Filter her water and make sure pellets are kept to one tablespoon per pig per day only.
It is a good idea to give a piggy a wet diet to help frequent urination and keep the bladder flushing through particularly if they are not big drinkers - so lettuce, pepper, cilantro and cucumber are all safe to be fed daily with lettuce and cucumber containing a good amount of water.
Carrot should not feature in the diet much. It is very high in sugar and root veg should be best avoided particularly for a piggy with bladder issues.
If the sludge is packed tightly in her bladder then it needs to come out and that can be done via a bladder flush. However it requires an experienced and knowledgeable vet.
Thank you so much for your response! I currently give her 1/8 cup of pellets a day (I lowered it from 1/4 cup since she was losing a lot of weight and the vet recommended that). I will decrease her pellets to 1 tbsp a day to see if that helps.
I buy filtered Deer Park water and run that through a brita filter also. Do you recommend another type of water?
I only feed her carrots once a week but the other veggies I names are daily.
How is a bladder flush done? The potassium citrate is supposed to bind to the calcium in her bladder and take it out which it definitely looks like it is doing, but this has been going on for a little under 2 months now and there are still calcium deposits so I’m not sure it’s doing much.
1/8 cup seems to convert to 2 US tablespons which is twice as much as she should be having. It will contribute too much calcium into the diet and mean she may not be eating enough hay.
Any adjustments to the diet takes weeks to have any effect on the calcium levels in the body. Changing the amount of pellets you feed will not make any difference to any sludge currently in her bladder though - that has to come out either through it being loose enough to be able to be urinated out, or through surgical (although a flush is not technically surgery) means.
A bladder flush is just that - a catheter inserted and the bladder flushed through to remove any sludge that will come out. It must be done by an experienced vet though.
Piggies have alkaline urine and often potassium citrate doesn’t help much as their urine just doesn’t adjust to attempts at being made more acidic.
I'm not familiar with that water and we are a UK based forum, so I’m not sure our suggestions would be of much use to you.
I will start cutting her food down to 1 tbsp per day. Is it okay to start today or should I do it gradually? Also, I found a conversation on this website where many people say to feed your guinea pig grain free pellets if they have bladder issues. I ordered some and it will arrive soon. Do I need to gradually give Kiwi the new pellets or can I just replace with the new ones?
Thank you for the info about the bladder flush and potassium citrate. I am hoping to speak to the vet later today about this.
Seven7
Forum Donator 2026/27
My Finn will be 7 yo this year and had never had issues. Finn gets Oxbow pellets and romaine lettuce daily as you described.
He has always had the same water I drink, from the filter called Brita Brand filter. All my boys drink a lot of water every day.
He has always had the same water I drink, from the filter called Brita Brand filter. All my boys drink a lot of water every day.