Ok to give a small amount of this?....

Storm1974

Storm1974

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Camu powder....It's one of the highest forms of Vit C and myself and my partner have some every day, so I thought I would try a teeny tiny pinch on the boys veges once a day, do you think I should carry on, or stop? It's also full of antioxidants and not 'too' high in calcium, but if you think it's a bad idea, I will stop as I don't want to cause them any harm. I thought it could be beneficial for them, especially as they don't make their own vitamin C and any extra would keep them healthy....But what do you guys think, please? 😕

Here's some info on it..
Lesser Known Health Benefits Of Camu Camu, Nutrition And Vegan Recipes

I did an internet search on using it for pets, but only found info on using it for dogs and cats..
Top 5 Reasons to Use Camu Camu for Dogs and Cats
 
No it actually wont be beneficial. Piggies don’t need supplements. They get all they need from a healthy balanced diet.

Supplementing routinely with vit c can cause problems. Excess is excreted in the urine so at best, if their diet is a healthy one, then you’d be wasting your effort in giving them a supplement as it would just be coming straight out the other end.
At worst, their bodies become used to abnormally and unnecessarily high amounts which means if that level drops (even if the level it drops to would be considered normal to a non supplemented piggy) then it can cause scurvy.

You are better off to focus on a good healthy diet. A short two week course of vit c can be given in the case of an illness where the immune system needs a boost.
Routine supplementing for long periods means it would need to be decreased slowly so to not cause scurvy.
 
Piggies&buns said:
No it actually wont be beneficial. Piggies don’t need supplements. They get all they need from a healthy balanced diet.

Supplementing routinely with vit c can cause problems. Excess is excreted in the urine so at best, if their diet is a healthy one, then you’d be wasting your effort in giving them a supplement as it would just be coming straight out the other end.
At worst, their bodies become used to abnormally and unnecessarily high amounts which means if that level drops (even if the level it drops to would be considered normal to a non supplemented piggy) then it can cause scurvy.

You are better off to focus on a good healthy diet. A short two week course of vit c can be given in the case of an illness where the immune system needs a boost.
Routine supplementing for long periods means it would need to be decreased slowly so to not cause scurvy.
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Ok thanks. I have been giving them the Camu for maybe a week now, so should I just stop completely?
 
I suppose it's because I can't afford to buy organic veggies very often, so wasn't sure they were getting enough nutrients. It's pretty well known that most of our mass produced food we eat nowadays, is grown in nutrient deficient/depleted soil, so the food isn't as nutrient dense either. Also the way a lot of it is stored, causes it to lose a lot of it's Vitamin c. 😟
But, I guess, as they're really healthy boys and so young at the minute, what I am feeding them seems to be ok and if they do ever get ill, I should really save that Camu for then, because the extra Vit c will help!
 
Storm1974 said:
I suppose it's because I can't afford to buy organic veggies very often, so wasn't sure they were getting enough nutrients. It's pretty well known that most of our mass produced food we eat nowadays, is grown in nutrient deficient/depleted soil, so the food isn't as nutrient dense either. Also the way a lot of it is stored, causes it to lose a lot of it's Vitamin c. 😟
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You really don’t need to worry.
There is enough vit c in veg, grass, wild forage, hay, and pellets are fortified with it. They just don’t need supplementation.

We don’t see scurvy cases in well kept piggies on the forum. No long term owner on here supplements, I know I certainly don’t and haven’t in 35+ years of small animal keeping.
If we do see scurvy cases coming up on here it is generally where people have supplemented their piggies long term but then suddenly stopped or in rescue/neglect where piggies have not been fed properly ie being fed just muesli with no veg or being given rabbit pellets instead.
 
Can you cut them some fresh grass? Mine get it daily, if they are not used to it introduce it slowly. Fresh forage like dandelions and blackberry leaves. Their hay contain vit c, they really is no need for supplements.
 
piggieminder said:
Can you cut them some fresh grass? Mine get it daily, if they are not used to it introduce it slowly. Fresh forage like dandelions and blackberry leaves. Their hay contain vit c, they really is no need for supplements.
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They do get fresh grass daily, dandelions (But not too many as high in calcium, and apparently oxylates!), blackberry, raspberry leaves and some plantain....All a few times a week. So, then, thinking about that, I really don't need to give them the Camu do I. ☺️
 
Storm1974 said:
They do get fresh grass daily, dandelions (But not too many as high in calcium, and apparently oxylates!), blackberry, raspberry leaves and some plantain....All a few times a week. So, then, thinking about that, I really don't need to give them the Camu do I. ☺️
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Dandelions are slightly higher in calcium. However pellets are higher still.

I only feed my lot pellets two or three times a week (two in summer, three in winter). This gives me plenty of wiggle room regarding calcium etc so I don’t tend to worry what fresh foods I give them nor the quantities. They have a rather wet diet in that respect, lots of grass and wild forage, more than a cup of veg each per day. And loads and loads of hay.
 
Piggies&buns said:
This one - Safe wild weeds/plants you can feed your piggies
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Re that list and dandelions etc., apart from the calcium/oxylate content, do you know how much (Roughly) two piggies under 6 months can have over a week?
I seem to remember when I had my last piggies around 20 years ago, that I fed them quite a lot of dandelion leaves (If my memory serves me correct, as it was so long ago) and I don't remember any of them ever having any illnesses.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Dandelions are slightly higher in calcium. However pellets are higher still.

I only feed my lot pellets two or three times a week (two in summer, three in winter). This gives me plenty of wiggle room regarding calcium etc so I don’t tend to worry what fresh foods I give them nor the quantities. They have a rather wet diet in that respect, lots of grass and wild forage, more than a cup of veg each per day. And loads and loads of hay.
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And oxylates apparently. Mine really love their pellets, so I do enjoy giving them their quota (Probably a tiny bit over 1tbsp per pig per day). They are quite low in calcium and don't contain any soy, which I actually think is more of a problem than calcium......
 
It's interesting isn't it that 20-30 years ago we fed everything 'wrong' and yet our piggies were far healthier than they are today. I go by the evidence of my eyes as far as diet is concerned now. If I see a lot of white spots appearing on the fleece I adjust their diet a bit. The only things I don't feed are kale (very rarely) and spinich (never).
 
piggieminder said:
It's interesting isn't it that 20-30 years ago we fed everything 'wrong' and yet our piggies were far healthier than they are today. I go by the evidence of my eyes as far as diet is concerned now. If I see a lot of white spots appearing on the fleece I adjust their diet a bit. The only things I don't feed are kale (very rarely) and spinich (never).
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I do feed kale, because the boys love it! The problem is you can only buy such big bags of it in the supermarket and we don't like it, so if I barely give them any, I have to throw most of it away! But I do try not to feed too much. 😕 I don't ever feed spinach though because of the high oxylate content.
 
I think Soy is a big problem and more of a problem than wheat.
I've had 3 guinea pigs with stones over the last 10 years (different times!). Each time I have had 6 guinea pigs all on the same diet drinking the same filtered water, 1 gets a stone the other's don't? I's a mine field and it will drive you mad if you let it. At one point I ended up so worried and obsessed by their diet I no longer enjoyed having them. There's a lot more to stones than diet! These days I do try to relax a bit about it enjoy having them and try not to over think everything.
My problem with kale exactly. I have a new boy I've adopted recently, I had a message from his old owner, his favourite food is kale! I did buy a bag but most of it ended up in my compost heap. I have planted some it's just starting to germinate, I hope it grows well, that way I can pick a little bit at a time. I do grow as much of their food as I can, it's lovely being able to wander down the garden and pick their dinner fresh.
 
piggieminder said:
I think Soy is a big problem and more of a problem than wheat.
I've had 3 guinea pigs with stones over the last 10 years (different times!). Each time I have had 6 guinea pigs all on the same diet drinking the same filtered water, 1 gets a stone the other's don't? I's a mine field and it will drive you mad if you let it. At one point I ended up so worried and obsessed by their diet I no longer enjoyed having them. There's a lot more to stones than diet! These days I do try to relax a bit about it enjoy having them and try not to over think everything.
My problem with kale exactly. I have a new boy I've adopted recently, I had a message from his old owner, his favourite food is kale! I did buy a bag but most of it ended up in my compost heap. I have planted some it's just starting to germinate, I hope it grows well, that way I can pick a little bit at a time. I do grow as much of their food as I can, it's lovely being able to wander down the garden and pick their dinner fresh.
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Yes I agree re Soy.
Also I'm the same as you worrying all the time about their diet and the possibllity of them getting stones, which does take away from the enjoyment of having them! 😟 I also know that getting stones can be a genetic thing and nothing to do with diet (Which is maybe why some of your pigs developed them while others, on the same diet, did not), so there's really nothing we can do about that, is there. 😕
That's a great idea growing your own food for them! I would love to do the same, but don't really know where to start in our garden and our soil is quite rubbish (Very stoney) as well, so it probably won't be that easy. Not to mention the fact that I always call my partner and I 'lazy gardeners' because we only do the bare minimum in the garden and actually let it all turn to grass for that reason! ☺️ Plus we have a dog who makes quite a mess of it, so that doesn't help!

So I guess we'll just have to keep on buying bags of kale and throwing most of it away, unless we can freeze it and defrost bits to give them now and then??
 
no you can’t freeze it. Piggies cannot eat any frozen/defrosted foods.

Do bear in mind that even low calcium pellets contain more calcium than kale. That is why I don’t feed pellets daily. Mine really love their pellets too but I just don’t give them!

I do grow a lot of veg myself for them.

Definitely yes there is more to it than diet.
 
You can grow a bit of most veg in planters and pots. I've got 3 waist high home made wooden planters where the winter lettuce, kale, rainbow chard, small carrots are growing now (hopefully!). I have some sheltered pots with parsley, mint and strawberrys in (they love strawberry leaves). In the winter the big pots I grow tomatoes in in summer get planted with grass, pulled up along the house wall the grass is sheltered from the cold weather and grows most of the time without getting frosted like the lawn does. I know most of the things I grow are medium/high in calcium but growing it myself means they get a small bit each occasionally and there's not half a bag to throw away. In the summer there's a massive list of things I grow in pots for the piggies. Seed keeps for years so only using one or two a season you can keep going without much expense (ignore use by dates!).
 
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