Help with my new low calcium diet

BlueBird said:
Wow what a thread I started. Thanks everyone for the replies.

Just to confirm I had read that long term balanced feeding guide that many people have linked. My problem in particular is that we would struggle to get any spring greens and lettuce was recommended to be left out. This meant that my guineas wouldn't be able to have leaves of any kind on a regular basis which left my thinking. What the hell do I feed my pigs?!

Luckily we already have a water filter for ourselves. As it's nice having cold water in the colder months so that's an easy swap.

The vet on the checkup today has also today me to get oxbox Timothy hay shes the small animals specialist at the practice and has said that one several conferences oxbow Timothy has been tested to be the lowest calsium hay brand. Disappointing as I've got loads of my old hay left. :/


I think my vet mentioned this. She's asked me to get some kids vit c drops to support bladder walls recover. She's told me to syringe neat with all her other meds.
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I think any type of mixed leaf salad, as long as it doesnt always contain tonnes of spinach or kale, and plenty of coriander, are fine. Little gem and romaine lettuce are also fine. An occasional spinach leaf once or twice a week will definitely do no long term harm compared to feeding too many pellets. If you've switched to low calcium pellets and feed them much more sparingly and are filtering your water these are the main issues- I've never heard that hay type is an issue really compared to the pellets, and you can always mix old and new hay.
But hay can never guarantee the nutritional content as it is a natural product and varies by soil and season, personally having attended veterinary conferences sponsored by animal feed and veterinary drug companies myself I would be a bit sceptical of the claim that one very expensive brand of timothy hay outclasses all others!
 
BlueBird said:
Wow what a thread I started. Thanks everyone for the replies.

Just to confirm I had read that long term balanced feeding guide that many people have linked. My problem in particular is that we would struggle to get any spring greens and lettuce was recommended to be left out. This meant that my guineas wouldn't be able to have leaves of any kind on a regular basis which left my thinking. What the hell do I feed my pigs?!

Luckily we already have a water filter for ourselves. As it's nice having cold water in the colder months so that's an easy swap.

The vet on the checkup today has also today me to get oxbox Timothy hay shes the small animals specialist at the practice and has said that one several conferences oxbow Timothy has been tested to be the lowest calsium hay brand. Disappointing as I've got loads of my old hay left. :/


I think my vet mentioned this. She's asked me to get some kids vit c drops to support bladder walls recover. She's told me to syringe neat with all her other meds.
Click to expand...

Lettuce is OK for stone piggies but it can be one of the more common trigger foods for guinea pigs with sterile interstitial cystitis; otherwise the diet recommendations are all the same.
Greens are close relatives of kale that are native to Northern Europe. You can supplement with kale but give about half the amount in quantity and not necessarily every day and make sure that you always feed kale with some watery veg.
 
Was just checking whether chard was high in calcium or not and found this thread - blimey, didn't know how much calcium is in the grain free nuggets; also didn't know that dill has more calcium than parsley. Up until now my pigs have been having dill occasionally and parsley rarely - I'm going to switch that round now!
 
Helen82 said:
Was just checking whether chard was high in calcium or not and found this thread - blimey, didn't know how much calcium is in the grain free nuggets; also didn't know that dill has more calcium than parsley. Up until now my pigs have been having dill occasionally and parsley rarely - I'm going to switch that round now!
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It is all about finding the balance that works for you for the longer term. Keep in mind that you cannot cut out all calcium; your piggies need it to stay healthy.

Right now there are a couple of different approaches around re. how much green veg and what to feed. Both approaches are backed up by long term positive experiences.

Please be aware that you can never entirely prevent stones from happening; food is the area where you can greatly minimise the risk but there can be other factors in play that you cannot influence. I've not had any new stones for around 8 years (the last ones were an over-hang from a phase of experimenting) and yet, nearly 50 piggies down the line I suddenly have a piggy with a massive urethral stone out of the blue...
I've also had another one where the calcium absorption suddenly flipped and she produced a large stone in a matter of weeks in 2012; Cariad needed regular bladder flushes to prevent a build-up of sediment/crystals from turning into another stone. I was able to extend the interval between flushes but was over the following two 2 years until her death never able to completely prevent it. :(
 
Wiebke said:
It is all about finding the balance that works for you for the longer term. Keep in mind that you cannot cut out all calcium; your piggies need it to stay healthy.

Right now there are a couple of different approaches around re. how much green veg and what to feed. Both approaches are backed up by long term positive experiences.

Please be aware that you can never entirely prevent stones from happening; food is the area where you can greatly minimise the risk but there can be other factors in play that you cannot influence. I've not had any new stones for around 8 years (the last ones were an over-hang from a phase of experimenting) and yet, nearly 50 piggies down the line I suddenly have a piggy with a massive urethral stone out of the blue...
I've also had another one where the calcium absorption suddenly flipped and she produced a large stone in a matter of weeks in 2012; Cariad needed regular bladder flushes to prevent a build-up of sediment/crystals from turning into another stone. I was able to extend the interval between flushes but was over the following two 2 years until her death never able to completely prevent it. :(
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Thanks - I won't be cutting out calcium in their diet, was just surprised by those numbers! Sorry to hear about your piggy, hope something can be done x
 
Helen82 said:
Thanks - I won't be cutting out calcium in their diet, was just surprised by those numbers! Sorry to hear about your piggy, hope something can be done x
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Thank you!
Teggy has made a full recovery although it has not been quite an easy couple of weeks.
 
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