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Help! Too much calcium?

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I got Spike back in mid-April and they told me he was about 6 weeks old. That would make him about 4 months now. For the past month or so his pee has been leaving very hard white spots on the fleece in his cage. It's kind of gritty and really hard to wash out. I'm not sure if it's because he always pees in the same spots or if there's too much calcium in his diet. He's on Oxbow young guinea pig pellets and Timothy hay, and also has a small amount of a leafy green veggie (romaine, escorole, cilantro), a piece of carrot and a slice of red, yellow, or green pepper. He's been trying a few new veggies lately because my other guinea pig is a very picky eater so I've been looking for something he will eat. My Spike doesn't have that problem, he will eat anything lol. I also read that young piggies need more calcium as they grow but I feel like what Spike has going on isn't normal. I don't want to ignore it and he ends up with stones because I don't have the money for surgery. I just bought Oxbow adult guinea pig pellets for the lower calcium levels but I'm nervous to give it to him because he's not 6 months yet. I also ordered these urinary support tablets that had really good reviews. Any advice?
 

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I got Spike back in mid-April and they told me he was about 6 weeks old. That would make him about 4 months now. For the past month or so his pee has been leaving very hard white spots on the fleece in his cage. It's kind of gritty and really hard to wash out. I'm not sure if it's because he always pees in the same spots or if there's too much calcium in his diet. He's on Oxbow young guinea pig pellets and Timothy hay, and also has a small amount of a leafy green veggie (romaine, escorole, cilantro), a piece of carrot and a slice of red, yellow, or green pepper. He's been trying a few new veggies lately because my other guinea pig is a very picky eater so I've been looking for something he will eat. My Spike doesn't have that problem, he will eat anything lol. I also read that young piggies need more calcium as they grow but I feel like what Spike has going on isn't normal. I don't want to ignore it and he ends up with stones because I don't have the money for surgery. I just bought Oxbow adult guinea pig pellets for the lower calcium levels but I'm nervous to give it to him because he's not 6 months yet. I also ordered these urinary support tablets that had really good reviews. Any advice?
In regards to the health portion - I am so sorry, but I cannot offer any advice.
In regards to the pellets - Due to the differences in age between my piggies, I had to start giving one of mine Oxbow Adult Guinea Pig food when she was only 4-5 months (she was perfectly fine). :)
 
White spots are normal as it is excess calcium being excreted but if it feels gritty and you are concerned then i would see a vet.
Some calcium is needed in the diet but if you were feeding young piggy pellets then all the nutrients are adjusted accordingly. He is absolutely fine to eat the adult pellets, he didn’t need to be fed the young piggy pellets at all and could have had the adult pellets anyway. Just ensure that any pellets you feed are kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per day.

Any changes to the diet you make will take a while to have an effect but it won’t change anything that has already occurred ie if there is already sludge in his bladder.

Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per pig per day. Pellets are the least important and least healthy part of the diet and they still contain a lot of calcium so don’t overfeed them or leave constant access to pellets. Also, filter your drinking water as that will help remove calcium. They can have one cup of veg per day. Eating veg means they are getting water which will keep the bladder flushed through.
I’d also cut the carrot down - they should only be given as an occasional treat no more than a small piece once per week

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
All I can say in regards to the white spots is my pee pads have a lot of quarter-sized hard white spots where my boars tend to prefer to pee the most at.
Yes, I've read alot of people's piggies leave hard pee spots so I'm thinking it's extra hard because he likes to go in the same spots. He's not peeing blood or anything and he's still active and eating so I think he's okay for the most part
 
White spots are normal as it is excess calcium being excreted but if it feels gritty and you are concerned then i would see a vet.
Some calcium is needed in the diet but if you were feeding young piggy pellets then all the nutrients are adjusted accordingly. He is absolutely fine to eat the adult pellets, he didn’t need to be fed the young piggy pellets at all and could have had the adult pellets anyway. Just ensure that any pellets you feed are kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per day.

Any changes to the diet you make will take a while to have an effect but it won’t change anything that has already occurred ie if there is already sludge in his bladder.

Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per pig per day. Pellets are the least important and least healthy part of the diet and they still contain a lot of calcium so don’t overfeed them or leave constant access to pellets. Also, filter your drinking water as that will help remove calcium. They can have one cup of veg per day. Eating veg means they are getting water which will keep the bladder flushed through.
I’d also cut the carrot down - they should only be given as an occasional treat no more than a small piece once per week

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Thank you for that. I've read all over the internet that young pigs should have access to unlimited pellets so that's what I was doing 🙄 Starting today they will only get a tablespoon. Unfortunately due to covid/not working for a while I don't have vet money right now, so whatever is going on I have to try to fix on my own. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, he's eating normal and active. I do notice he rubs his bottom on the fleece but I think he does that to mark his scent since him and littlefoot share a cage. I bought Oxbow Urinary Support tablets and he's been on those for 2 days now while I'm waiting on the other supplement I bought to come in the mail. Also hasn't had any veggies in 2 days since I'm scared to have his calcium go any higher. Hopefully I'm doing something right 😩
 
Thank you for that. I've read all over the internet that young pigs should have access to unlimited pellets so that's what I was doing 🙄 Starting today they will only get a tablespoon. Unfortunately due to covid/not working for a while I don't have vet money right now, so whatever is going on I have to try to fix on my own. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, he's eating normal and active. I do notice he rubs his bottom on the fleece but I think he does that to mark his scent since him and littlefoot share a cage. I bought Oxbow Urinary Support tablets and he's been on those for 2 days now while I'm waiting on the other supplement I bought to come in the mail. Also hasn't had any veggies in 2 days since I'm scared to have his calcium go any higher. Hopefully I'm doing something right 😩

Rubbing his bottom is scent marking, that’s nothing to worry about.

Reintroduce the veg back into his diet. Even the highest calcium veg has lower calcium than pellets, so by stopping the veg you aren’t really helping this issue but you are inadvertently reducing his intake of other vital nutrients which could lead to other issues. Just ensure you don’t feed much of the high calcium veg. Give him unlimited hay, one cup of veg per day and one tablespoon of pellets per day.

Sadly the information you have read is incorrect, piggies should never have unlimited pellets so my guess is this is where a lot of his excess calcium is coming from. Do reduce the pellets down and if you live in a hard water area then filter the drinking water. These two things will reduce the calcium intake greatly.

As I said in my first comment though, these measures will help going forward but will not do anything to cure any problem which may already be existence, I am not saying there is a problem currently though - only a vet is able to determine that.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Rubbing his bottom is scent marking, that’s nothing to worry about.

Reintroduce the veg back into his diet. Even the highest calcium veg has lower calcium than pellets, so by stopping the veg you aren’t really helping this issue but you are inadvertently reducing his intake of other vital nutrients which could lead to other issues. Just ensure you don’t feed much of the high calcium veg. Give him unlimited hay, one cup of veg per day and one tablespoon of pellets per day.

Sadly the information you have read is incorrect, piggies should never have unlimited pellets so my guess is this is where a lot of his excess calcium is coming from. Do reduce the pellets down and if you live in a hard water area then filter the drinking water. These two things will reduce the calcium intake greatly.

As I said in my first comment though, these measures will help going forward but will not do anything to cure any problem which may already be existence, I am not saying there is a problem currently though - only a vet is able to determine that.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Thank you very much, I will make all adjustments 🙂
 
Do they have experience with guinea pigs?
 
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
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