Post bladder stone op - suitable diet?

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Teejay

Teejay

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Hi all

I currently have a lovely sow boarding with me at the moment, and she had a bladder stone removed about a week ago. She's healing well, was given a pretty much clean bill of health at her post-op vet check yesterday, but I am very aware how quickly bladder stones can reform, so I want to be sure that what I'm feeding her is a suitable diet.

Her owners have provided her dried feed (a muesli of some type), so I have no influence over that, but I'm more concerned about the veggie aspect of what she'll be eating.

My own 5 piggies get veggies according to the Ratewatchers Diet, and I would normally feed any boarding piggies the same diet, but is it safe to feed this diet to a piggie that's prone to bladder stones and only very recently had one removed?

As she's only with me for three days, I suppose I could play it very safe and just give her veggies that I know are low in calcium, such as peppers, baby sweetcorn, cucumber, brocolli, Romaine lettuce, etc

Oh, and my own piggies absolutely adore dried grass (Graze On), and I normally give this to my boarders to encourage them to eat, but I won't be giving any to the current boarder, as it's relatively high in Calcium.

Is that what you would do in the circumstances? Does this all sound like a good plan of action?

Tracey
 
Hi ginnypiggers, thanks for that - it's pretty much what I thought......she's had broccoli, green beans, carrot and green pepper for her tea!

Thanks again, Tracey
 
Dried grass is high on calcium is it?! My god I was feeding Rod quite a bit of that, I wonder if that's what caused his bladder stone :-((
 
Hi first_time_piggie_mum, don't take my word for it, but I beleive that the commercial dried grasses (Graze-On, Readigrass, etc) are quite high in calcium....so, if Rod was having lots of it, that could have been one of the reasons for him developing a bladder stone.

Tracey
 
Dried grass products - such as Grazeon, Justgrass and Readigrass do NOT have calcium in. Alfalfa DOES.
 
hello i spoke to the peeps who make readigrass they said their stuff has the right amount of calcium for bone structure etc. but due to differing info I'm not giving monkey any at all that was one thing that had changed recently was the addition of the grass which I'm not sure he had before we owned him, but either way I'm not giving the readigrass for now or again and I'm altering the diet to a more lower calcium type. this morning they have had cucumber one whole red pepper best for vit c. some carrot havent had that in a while and some little toms which i popped and deseeded. they are loving the pepper and carrots must have missed them lol. does anyone know if wild rocket is high low or medium calcium?
 
readigrass, justgrass and grazeon are literally...just...grass. It is chopped, dried grass. Nothing added to it, nothing taken away from it. So it is essentially the same as putting your guinea's out on the lawn for an afternoon of munching. It will have naturally occurring nutrients, vit.c, vit.d and probably a bit of calcium, along with everything else which occurs naturally in your lawn.
 
Hi Lizzie, well, that's actually what I thought originally.......it's 100% grass with nothing added and nothing (except the water) taken away........but I'm absolutely positive that I saw some warnings on this very forum that dried grass products such as these are high in calcium and should only be fed as an occasional treat.

My five piggies absolutely love their Graze-On, they'd rather have it than fresh grass!

Maybe I should start another thread to clarify, cos I'd love to feed it to mine more often.....they'll love me forever! x)

Tracey
 
Hi ginnypiggers, I can't find it on any of the 'calcium comparison' tables, but I think rocket is quite high.

What I do know is that, on the Ratewatchers diet, rocket is in the same category as basil, spring greens, dandelion greens, dill, mint and pak choi, which are all high calcium veggies.

Tracey
 
I know people who have had guinea's for 20/30+ years who feed dried grass products ad lib, and also mix it in with their feed - as I do. Mine get as much of it as they want to eat, my feed mix was recommended to me by people who have had guinea's for longer than I've been alive and, no offence, I'd be more inclined to believe them.

It is a grass substitute, which is routinely used for horses in the winter when they cannot go out on pasture as much, or for laminitic horses.

Alfalfa is another thing entirely - that does contain a lot of calcium and can cause kidney stones.
 
Hi Lizzie, I did a search and found one of the past threads I mentioned:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=70178&highlight=readigrass+calcium

I used to feed my Welsh Section D pony on Readigrass or GrazeOn (whichever the feed shop had in stock), but he was quite a poor doer and in hard work.....my laminitic chunkster of a cob, however, couldn't only have a handfull of it as an occasional treat, as it was far too calorific for his waistline and contained far too much concentrated sugar for his laminitis.

Tracey x
 
There are some links for another forum (which I can't post) regarding the same subject. I'd be happy to pm them to you if you are interested in learning more about it :)

I'm not having a go or anything, I just feel that it's a bit misconceptualised :D
 
Hi Lizzie, yes please to the links.....I really would like to include dried grass to my piggies' diets on a regular basis, as they love it so much.

I know you're not having a go, but, in my experience, quite often anecdotal evidence is presented as fact.....I can't say I've come across it so much in the guinea pig world, but when I had my horses, absolutely everyone seemed to be an expert! LOL!

When it came to my laminitic cob's nutrition, I sought the guidance of a highly respected nutritionist who specialised in metabolic conditions such as laminitis and EPSM, who warned me off all dried grass and other such 'concentrated' feeds for him due to the palatability and highly concentrated natural sugar content.

Anyway, that's beside the point, cos this thread's about possible calcium content and guinea pigs!

I'd love to read the links you have though!

Many thanks, Tracey
 
I'll pm you.

No worries, I understand :) I had a horse, but she didn't have laminitis, so tbh I wouldn't know how to treat it with horses, I just know that some people buy it for them :))
 
I cant remember what it was called that I gave to Rodney, but I bought it from a local garden centre (Pet Section). I'm pretty sure it wasnt called Readigrass or whatever....

It was labelled as pure dried grass, nothing added so I dont understand how it can be high in calcium if its the same as the stuff that they graze on when in a garden?
 
Just found out - Readigrass is made of Rye grass, which does not have high amounts of protein or calcium like Alfalfa.
 
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