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Oxbow multivitamin for Vitamin D?

Shelley anne

Shelley anne

Junior Guinea Pig
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It has been quite cold here and my Piggies have had no outdoor time for months. So I have been giving them an Oxbow Multi vitamin each day. What do you all think of this as an ongoing thing because I am worried about their Vitamin D levels.

They don't get pellets because I always end up with thick wee from my piggies and one of my girls I think has IC and squeaks in pain when she wees, even when eating 1 T pellets per day. As soon as we go off them, all fine. Had a vet check and all was good. So no pellets in my house at all.

They get a very varied diet, at least 8 different veg a day and plenty of grass twice a day so their diet is great apart from getting enough sunlight and vitamin D.
 
Shelley anne said:
It has been quite cold here and my Piggies have had no outdoor time for months. So I have been giving them an Oxbow Multi vitamin each day. What do you all think of this as an ongoing thing because I am worried about their Vitamin D levels.

They don't get pellets because I always end up with thick wee from my piggies and one of my girls I think has IC and squeaks in pain when she wees, even when eating 1 T pellets per day. As soon as we go off them, all fine. Had a vet check and all was good. So no pellets in my house at all.

They get a very varied diet, at least 8 different veg a day and plenty of grass twice a day so their diet is great apart from getting enough sunlight and vitamin D.
Click to expand...

Hi!

Pellets are the disposible element of the diet; as long as you do not overfeed on veg and your piggies are getting plenty of hay, you are fine.
Multivitamins are not a good idea because any excess vitamin A and D will collect in the liver and the body gets used to high levels of the water soluble vitamins even though the excess is excreted in the urine (this also goes for humans, by the way); especially vitamin C, which is also present in hay and grass and the reason why guinea pigs never had the need to make their own with it is abundant in their main food. Ironically, the body will react with scurvy symptoms as soon as levels drop for some reason even if the actual vitamin C supply is still above normal levels.

Vitamin supplements are a human concept and a very good earner for pet suppliers. It doesn't necessarily mean that what they offer is necessarily good for your pet or what they need... Especially not with a good general diet.

Do you filter your water? If not, please do so. Most of the calcium in the diet comes by water and pellets. You also want to stay off too much high calcium veg but still provide a modicum.

If you have a piggy with sterile interstitial cystitis, then management is with plenty of glucosamine because what is affected is the natural gucosamine coating of the walls in the urinary tract that prevents the corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue.
Mild cases can be addressed with oral glucosamine (Feliway cystease capsules are easiest to give because dosage is easy; you mix the contents of 1 capsule with 2 ml of water, shake and wait until the powder is absorbed, then shake again. Either syringe 1 ml of the mix twice daily or give it all at once once daily). For the bad cases, there are now cartrofen injections coming into use after recent research has shown that it also helps with cavy sterile cystitis. Cartrofen is a glucosamine based arthritis medication for humans and larger pets.
Acute IC flares are also supported with metacam, which is an anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller.

You can find some more information in our diet guide; see the chapter on special diets: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

Pellets are the disposible element of the diet; as long as you do not overfeed on veg and your piggies are getting plenty of hay, you are fine.
Multivitamins are not a good idea because any excess vitamin A and D will collect in the liver and the body gets used to high levels of the water soluble vitamins even though the excess is excreted in the urine (this also goes for humans, by the way); especially vitamin C, which is also present in hay and grass and the reason why guinea pigs never had the need to make their own with it is abundant in their main food. Ironically, the body will react with scurvy symptoms as soon as levels drop for some reason even if the actual vitamin C supply is still above normal levels.

Vitamin supplements are a human concept and a very good earner for pet suppliers. It doesn't necessarily mean that what they offer is necessarily good for your pet or what they need... Especially not with a good general diet.

Do you filter your water? If not, please do so. Most of the calcium in the diet comes by water and pellets. You also want to stay off too much high calcium veg but still provide a modicum.

If you have a piggy with sterile interstitial cystitis, then management is with plenty of glucosamine because what is affected is the natural gucosamine coating of the walls in the urinary tract that prevents the corrosive urine from coming into contact with raw tissue.
Mild cases can be addressed with oral glucosamine (Feliway cystease capsules are easiest to give because dosage is easy; you mix the contents of 1 capsule with 2 ml of water, shake and wait until the powder is absorbed, then shake again. Either syringe 1 ml of the mix twice daily or give it all at once once daily). For the bad cases, there are now cartrofen injections coming into use after recent research has shown that it also helps with cavy sterile cystitis. Cartrofen is a glucosamine based arthritis medication for humans and larger pets.
Acute IC flares are also supported with metacam, which is an anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller.

You can find some more information in our diet guide; see the chapter on special diets: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Click to expand...
What about vitamin d for indoor guinea pigs, if they dont eat pellets, how do they get this without a supplement?
 
Shelley anne said:
What about vitamin d for indoor guinea pigs, if they dont eat pellets, how do they get this without a supplement?
Click to expand...

If you really feel you want to supplement, then just go for vitamin D only. However, I can't tell you the correct dosage that is safe for guinea pigs.
 
Wiebke said:
If you really feel you want to supplement, then just go for vitamin D only. However, I can't tell you the correct dosage that is safe for guinea pigs.
Click to expand...
Are you able to tell me, have you seen plenty of indoor piggies that thrive without any pellets at all and only live indoors and get little outdoor sunlight for vitamin D.

I am worried about this and feel their diet is perfect apart from
their vitamin D levels. Do they get vitamin d from their diet at all?
 
Hi, I'm not an expert so wait for one of those but my piggies are indoor and only have a small amount of pellets. I've never given them vitamin supplements except when I had an arthritis piggy I gave her the oxbow joint support ones :) they are all healthy :)
 
My own piggies are mostly indoors without supplements. They still live mostly to a normal or even good average lifespan - the two piggies in my avatar both lived to around 8 years of age, for instance.

I haven't noticed a rise in dental problems because of them being indoors more as my lawn is too small to give all piggies constant outside access. In fact, so far the only dental problems I have had to deal with were root abscesses, and those are not caused by lack of vitamin D.
 
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