Next Question For You - Short Term Nugget Free Diet?

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BonBon2010

Adult Guinea Pig
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Is it possible to maintain a guinea pug without feeding nuggets?
I've currently got BonBon on a nugget free diet, so she's having everything she needs, vitamins and minerals through a hay diet, with probiotics, vitamins and minerals fed when syringed her fibre plex atm. It's not a long term thing, it's just until her digestive system settles back to normal, atm every time she eats nuggets she appears to dribble a bit (not like before, she is getting better), where as anything else doesn't cause it.
I'm looking at maybe up to two weeks, and then gradually reintroducing it as crushed nuggets rather than whole ones for a bit, then bringing back it in as it's normal form. Syringe feeding it is not an option (this includes recovery food) as atm she struggles to swallow it, I don't want her to breath it in. She's other wise doing really well, and over the last couple of days looks absolutely normal.
She's eating everything put in front of her, bar coriander (darn that guinea pig!), i'm now looking at ways to encourage her digestive system to start working properly.
Her poops are 50% better than they were, and she's now leaving the evidence she's starting to digest her food better, in her bed and not attached to her bottom or feet.
 
Our 3-some were without nuggets (gerty) for 2/3 weeks, Finny had excessive glucose in his urine and was a very large pig. His top weight was 1730g. He was being treated for diabetes he also had a very swollen stomach imagine an old fashioned light--bulb. As well as Rosie who was diagnosed again with bladder stones. We had heard that the gerty could contribute to stone formation. Rosie has had her op and Finny 's weight is slowly coming off and his shape returning. He is also being treated with glibenclamide. They now have cavy cuisine timothy pellets and a very small amount of gerty mixed in (for the change over). Rosie still has crystals in her urine but much fewer than before. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the omission of pellets in their diet or just co-incidence. I do find though that it is difficult for Rosie to maintain her weight and still needs 2 x top ups with critical care twice a day.
 
Thanks :) It's been a difficult few weeks with her, and I really don't want to rock the boat so to speak with her health. If I can continue nugget free but support her in other ways in a better way, I think she'll be popcorning to the moon and back :)
 
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